Polish Americans

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Polish Americans are American of predominantly Polish descent. There was a large immigration of Polish Catholics to the U.S. 1890-1914. Some returned but most stayed. They were unskilled farm workers but did not enter farming in America. Instead they took unskilled manual labor jobs in burgeoning heavy industry, especially coal mining (in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois), meatpacking (in Chicago), steel (Pittsburgh, Gary), construction (in many large cities). The favorite destinations were large industrial cities near the Great Lakes , especially Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

Immigrants

Immigration occurred in three waves. The early group, which came before 1929, was generally made up of farmers who immigrated for economic reasons; the second group consisted of post-World War II displaced persons and was more likely to be urban and educated. The third group contained more recent urban, educated immigrants who were escaping a Communist government. The first generation experienced downward social-occupational mobility, whereas by the second generation social-occupational mobility turned upward.[1]

Politics

Wincenty Michal Barzynski, born in Poland, served as a Roman Catholic missionary to the new Polish communities in Texas in 1866 before beginning a 25-year-long tenure as pastor of Saint Stanislaw Kostka parish in Chicago in 1869. One of the most important and controversial individuals in late-19th-century Polonia, his work provides insight into the reaction of Polish immigrants to the world of modern industrial capitalism. While working-class Poles generally felt that capitalism strained and ruptured familial and social ties, they nonetheless rejected radicalization and socialism, thanks in large part to the leadership and opposition to socialism of priests like Barzynski. For pastors such as Barzynski, the issue of labor versus capital was less important than the greater struggle to build a lasting Polish community in the United States. By 1900 the priests allowed the workers to join labor unions, at least those controlled by conservative Irish Catholics.[2]

Polish Americans kept a low profile in politics after 1900. The urban machines tried to minimize the number of voters before 1928 (so they could control local elections), but reversed course in 1928, so that big city majorities could carry the state's electoral votes. Poles started voting, but few became politiians.[3]

Schools

A wave of Polish immigrants after 1980 put new pressure on both the public and parochial school systems of Chicago and other large cities to institute bilingual education programs, similar to those for Spanish-speaking students. After many years of uneven results, Chicago in 2003 had Polish bilingual programs in 19 elementary schools and five secondary schools. The Catholic schools prefer the immersion approach with non-English speaking pupils placed in regular classrooms, sometimes with help from volunteers. Another change in Chicago education has been the development of Saturday schools that offer specialized language and cultural classes that are unavailable in the regular school systems. These Saturday schools are found in the suburbs as well as in Chicago itself and allow Polish Americans to encourage their children to learn and appreciate their heritage.[4]


Bibliography

  • Anders-Silverman, Deborah. Polish-American Folklore. U of Illinois Press, 2000.
  • Brozek, Andrzej. Polish Americans, 1854-1939 (1985)
  • Bukowczyk, John J. A History of the Polish Americans (2007)* Bukowczyk, John J. And My Children Did Not Know Me: A History of the Polish-Americans (1987)
  • Bukowczyk, John J., ed. Polish Americans and Their History. U of Pittsburgh Press, 1996.
  • Bukowczyk, John J. Poletown: Urban change in industrial Detroit : the making of Detroit's east side, 1850-1990 (1991)
  • Erdmans, Mary Patrice. Opposite Poles: Immigrants and Ethnics in Polish Chicago, 1976-1990. (1998). 267 pp.
  • Greene, Victor. For God and Country: The Rise of Polish and Lithuanian Ethnic Consciousness in America, 1860-1910. (1975). 202 pp.
  • Galush, William J. For More Than Bread: Community and Identity in American Polonia, 1880-1940, (East European Monographs, distributed by Columbia University Press; 313 pages; 2007). Explores competing versions of Polish identity in Polish-American communities during the period.
  • Gladsky, Thomas S. Princes, Peasants and Other Polish Selves: Ethnicity in American Literature. (1992), ISBN 0870237756. online version
  • Jackson, David J. "Just Another Day in a New Polonia: Contemporary Polish-American Polka Music." Popular Music and Society. 26#4 (2003) pp: 529+. online version
  • Kantowicz, Edward R. Polish-American Politics in Chicago, 1888-1940 (1975) 267 pages excerpt and text search
  • Lopata, Helena Znaniecka, Polish Americans: Status Competition in an Ethnic Community (1976), ISBN 0136864368. online version
  • Mcginley, Theresa Kurk. "Embattled Polonia Polish-Americans and World War II." East European Quarterly. 37#3 2003. pp: 325+. online version
  • Majewski, Karen. Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880-1939, (2003) - 248 pages excerpts and text search
  • Nowakowski, Jacek. Polish-American Ways (1989)
  • Pacyga, Dominic A. Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago: Workers on the South Side, 1880-1920. (1991). 322 pp. excerpt and text search
  • Parot, Joseph John. Polish Catholics in Chicago, 1850-1920: A Religious History. (1982) 298 pp.
  • Pula, James S. Polish Americans: An Ethnic Community (1995)
  • Pula, James S. "Image, Status, Mobility and Integration in American Society: The Polish Experience." Journal of American Ethnic History 16 (1996): 74-95.
  • Sadler, Charles. "Pro-Soviet Polish Americans: Oskar Lange and Russia's Friends in the Polonia, 1941-1945," Polish Review 22, (1977), 4: 30+
  • Silverman, Deborah. Polish-American Folklore (2000) excerpt and text search
  • Wytrwal, Joseph A. Poles in American History and Tradition (1969),
  • Zurawski, Joseph L. Polish American History and Culture: A Classified Bibliography (1975)

Primary sources

External links

notes

  1. ↑ Celia Berdes, and Adam A. Zych, "Immigration Incarnate: Elderly Polish Immigrants and Ethnics Demonstrate the History of an Immigration and its Effects on Social Class." Polish American Studies 2005 62(1): 43-51. Issn: 0032-2806
  2. ↑ John Radzilowski, "Rev. Wincenty Barzynski and a Polish Catholic Response to Industrial Capitalism." Polish American Studies 2001 58(2): 23-32. Issn: 0032-2806
  3. ↑ Edward R. Kantowicz, Polish-American Politics in Chicago, 1888-1940 (1975)
  4. ↑ Geraldine Balut Coleman, "Educating Polish Immigrants Chicago Style: 1980-2002." Polish American Studies 2004 61(1): 27-38. Issn: 0032-2806
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