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On A Burning Deck: An Oral History of the Great Migration
In the earliest decades of the 20th century, more than twenty-eight million men and women--black and white--began "The Great Migration" north from Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and other states of the Deep South and Appalachia. This, as all were lured to the industrial centers of our country by high wages and the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.
Among the white southerners who left their homes, tens of thousands left Kentucky and came to work in the rubber factories of Ohio during the teens and twenties, forever changing the state's culture, history, and politics. Who were they? Other than the throwaway term of "hillbillies," the astonishing fact is that historians really haven't had any idea at all.
In Susan Allyn Johnson's 2006 dissertation, "Industrial Voyagers: A Case Study of Appalachian Migration to Akron, Ohio, 1900-1940," she writes: "Virtually absent from historical narratives are the experiences of the 1.3 million white southerners who left the South before the Great Depression." "Furthermore," she adds, "they were less likely . . . to write letters or keep the sort of personal journals that have served to document the experiences of sojourners of earlier eras."
In his 2011 work, The Devil's Milk, author John Tully notes, "No rubber worker has left his or her memoirs, and those captains of industry who did write focused on invention and commerce, not the lives of the laborers."
With this seemingly gaping lack of information on these early laborers, it is hardly surprising that there is also no body of historical literature documenting the impact of any of these individuals as they moved into positions of responsibility in local government in Ohio. In fact, for all their contributions to the industrial growth of Ohio in the 20th Century, the individual role of these people, these migrants, has been completely lost and forgotten--until now.
Based on over 50 hours of oral histories, as well as dozens of rare photos from archives and museums around the country, On A Burning Deck combines the previously published paperback versions of On A Burning Deck, The Road to Akron and On A Burning Deck, Return to Akron into one, handsome hardback volume. Filled with additional information and dozens of previously unpublished photos, On A Burning Deck is the only work to offer a complete portrait of one family's origins in rural Kentucky, migration to Akron, Ohio, work in the rubber factories and eventual impact on local politics and government.
Meticulously researched, rich in detail, thoroughly referenced for historical perspective, and completely indexed with hundreds of names, this contextual oral history is a must-read for anyone interested in 20th-century history, Ohio or Kentucky history, industrial relations, local governance or genealogy. On A Burning Deck is a tale well-told with wry humor and deep insight into the people, the "hillbillies," who came from Western Kentucky to build modern industrial Ohio and forever leave their imprint.
Book Details
- Publisher: Thomas W. Jones
- Publish Date: Dec 1st, 2019
- Pages: 614
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.00in - 6.00in - 1.31in - 2.13lb
- EAN: 9780578562704
- Categories: • United States - 20th Century• United States - State & Local - Midwest(IA,IL,IN,KS,MI,MN,MO• United States - State & Local - South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,
About the Author
More books by Tom Jones
Praise for this book
Winner of the Ohio Local History Alliance History Outreach Award as Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Local History in Ohio. Winner of the Kentucky Historical Society Kentucky History Awards.
"Jones (Waldo Maccabees: In the Footsteps of Christ) shares the entertaining story of his grandparents' early 20th-century move from Kentucky north to find work in Ohio's burgeoning rubber industry. The oral- history format allows Jones to step back and let his paternal grandparents--Florence and mischievous Haskell--relate stories from their childhoods and young adulthoods. While Florence dutifully describes her education and years of teaching, Haskell's anecdotes of tough rural Kentucky and the early years of Ohio factory work stand out. Though Haskell shares fond remembrances of fights and pranks, the pain he felt from the abuse inflicted on him by his well-respected father, a local magistrate, comes through throughout. Jones judiciously uses contemporaneous newspaper coverage of the era and family photographs to supplement his grandparents' recollections. Jones also uses his grandfather's own term hillbillies without resorting to stereotyping or mocking Kentucky's culture . . . Jones's enlightening book provides new insights into the white Southerners who migrated north prior to the Great Depression."
--Publishers Weekly
". . . meticulously researched narratives . . . a rich oral history . . . Anyone interested in 20th century Kentucky or Ohio, industrial history, oral history, or genealogy should dig into this . . ."
Book Notes
Kentucky Ancestors Online
A Publication of the Kentucky Historical Society
"In March 1917, Haskell Jones was nineteen years old when he stepped off a train in Akron. He had traveled from Mayfield, Kentucky, traveling north on the news that a good-paying job would be waiting for him when he arrived. After paying $16 for the train ticket, he had six dollars in his pocket. The rubber industry was booming in those weeks before America entered World War I and with employment agents riding the trains, jobs in the tire factories were easy to come by. This proved especially handy for thousands of young migrating Kentuckians who were quick to show insubordination and equally quick to pick a fight . . . an intimate history of the first great migration. Historians have written extensively about African American migration out of the rural south, and Jones seeks to round out the story by including the voices of white Appalachians who also came north for industrial jobs . . . Weaving his grandfather's story with passages providing historical context, Jones has crafted a compelling narrative that left me wanting to know more of the family story."
Pat Williamsen
Executive Director
Ohio Humanities
". . . Jones puts their words in a rich context due to his extensive research in other sources and the literature. This is good history, but also a compelling story, well told."
William H. Mulligan, Jr., PhD
President, Jackson Purchase Historical Society
". . . a fascinating history of the Great Migration . . . this is not just a family tale. The Jones gang provides a peephole to the larger realities of the era, supplemented by Jones' original reporting and extensive research of existing literature . . ."
Bob Dyer
Akron Beacon Journal
"By the conclusion . . . a person will embrace the Jones as if they were kin . . . and the record of rubber in Akron is all the richer and more complete for it."
Steve Love
Co-author, Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron