Detroit's Polonia
Detroit's Polonia

Author: Cecile Wendt Jensen

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738539997

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More than a century has passed since the first Poles settled in Detroit. The first communities were established on the east side of Detroit, but the colony expanded rapidly to the west neighborhoods, and Poles in Detroit still identify themselves as East- or Westsiders. The pioneers left Poland for freedom of language and religion, and to own property. They replicated village life in the big city, living in close-knit neighborhoods anchored by the parish church. Polish immigrants made cigars, built railroad cars, molded stoves, established businesses and breweries, and moved into the political arena. The struggles and triumphs of these early settlers are on display in the pages of Detroit Polonia, a photographic history that links future generations with their Polish heritage.

Polish American History before 1939
Polish American History before 1939

Author: Adam Walaszek

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-09-20

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1000963993

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The history of private lives of the first and second generations of Polish immigrants in the United States is viewed from the perspective of migrants themselves. What did the migrants do? How did they behave? How protagonists (men, women, children) with their own words presented their experience? Their experience is compared with one of the other groups. The book discusses migration processes, formation of neighborhoods, experiences at work, daily and family lives, functioning of parishes and tensions related to it, and construction of people’s identities and their constant reformulations. Migrants created mutual-aid societies, which played not only economic, but also ideological and political roles. Experiences of immigrants’ children at home and at school are presented, mostly in their own words and from their own perspective. Cultural activities reflect constant changes of groups’ self-identity. The book also depicts the relations between the Polish migrants and members of other ethnic groups – in the streets, public spaces, politics, and within the Catholic church. People lived in pluri-cultural, culturally diverse, contexts, and thus relations with “the others” were complex. The panorama ended in the year 1939, when after the Great Depression, the group entered into a new period of transformation during the war.

Detroit's Mount Elliott Cemetery
Detroit's Mount Elliott Cemetery

Author: Cecile Wendt Jensen

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738540931

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Mount Elliott Cemetery is Detroit's oldest extant cemetery, started by the Catholic community in 1841. The consecrated ground is named for architect Robert T. Elliott, who was instrumental in purchasing the land and was the first interment. The roads in the cemetery honor religious leaders: (Pope) Pius Avenue, Bishop LeFevere Avenue and Place, and Bishop Borgess Avenue. The remaining roads carry biblical themes: Calvary Avenue, Holy Cross Place, Trinity Avenue, and Resurrection Avenue. Remains from Detroit's St. Anne's cemetery were brought to Mount Elliott, where French, German, and Irish surnames abound. The tombstones at Mount Elliott reflect family names well known in the tricounty area: Beaubien, Campau, Caniff, Chene, Cicotte, Moran, and Moross. These religious, business, and political leaders have left their names on buildings, roads, and landmarks. They are commemorated here with handcrafted marble, granite, and zinc memorials. Mausoleums honor families, including Palms, Scanlon, and Welch. Military burials include those who served in Napoleon's army, the War of 1812, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam. The special areas for the Detroit firemen and many Catholic religious orders pay homage to the groups of men and women who worked so selflessly to protect and serve the city. The Mount Elliott Cemetery Association provides perpetual care for Mount Elliott Cemetery and four sister cemeteries: Mount Olivet, Resurrection, All Saints, and Guardian Angel.

The Changing Face of Inequality
The Changing Face of Inequality

Author: Olivier Zunz

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1982

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 9780226994581

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Originally published in 1983, The Changing Face of Inequality is the first systematic social history of a major American city undergoing industrialization. Zunz examines Detroit's evolution between 1880 and 1920 and discovers the ways in which ethnic and class relations profoundly altered its urban scene. Stunning in scope, this work makes a major contribution to our understanding of twentieth-century cities.

Detroit's Lost Poletown: The Little Neighborhood That Touched a Nation
Detroit's Lost Poletown: The Little Neighborhood That Touched a Nation

Author: Brianne Turczynski

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2021-02-08

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1467145793

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Poletown was a once vibrant, ethnically diverse neighborhood in Detroit. In its prime, it had a store on every corner. Its theaters, restaurants and schools thrived, and its churches catered to a multiplicity of denominations. In 1981, General Motors announced plans for a new plant in Detroit and pointed to the 465 acres of Poletown. Using the law of eminent domain with a quick-take clause, the city planned to relocate 4,200 residents within ten months and raze the neighborhood. With unprecedented defiance, the residents fought back in vain. In 2004, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the eminent domain law applied to Poletown was unconstitutional--a ruling that came two decades too late.

Detroit Food
Detroit Food

Author: Bill Loomis

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2014-01-28

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 1625848609

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The infamous images of Detroit's crumbling buildings, abandoned homes and weed-choked parks are known worldwide. Seldom shown are the city's thriving food ways, quietly rebuilding neighborhoods block by block with urban farms, locally made fare, new restaurants and an innovative, homegrown spirit that is attracting entrepreneurs and culinary enthusiasts from across the nation. Old neighborhoods are coming back to life with the smell of simmering soup, the crunch of new pickles and the aroma of all-day barbeque. Magnificent Art Deco clubs and speakeasies painstakingly restored to their former beauty are busy serving great local food. Author Bill Loomis goes behind the graffiti and ruins to explore how the passion for eating well is proving essential to Detroit's comeback..

Solidarity and Fragmentation
Solidarity and Fragmentation

Author: Richard Jules Oestreicher

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2023-02-03

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 0252054660

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How did the interplay between class and ethnicity play out within the working class during the Gilded Age? Richard Jules Oestreicher illuminates the immigrant communities, radical politics, worker-employer relationships, and the multiple meanings of workers' affiliations in Detroit at the end of the nineteenth century.

For Faith and Fortune
For Faith and Fortune

Author: JoEllen McNergney Vinyard

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 9780252067075

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Even before the massive European immigrations of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Detroit had a tradition of Catholicism. Multiple immigrant groups became part of the city and considered it important to educate their daughters as well as their sons within the Church. JoEllen McNergney Vinyard's comprehensive examination of parochial education in Detroit within the broader context of that city's urbanization patterns yields a richly detailed addition to our understanding of the European immigrant experience. For Faith and Fortune will be of interest to historians and scholars of urban studies, particularly immigration, schooling, and the Catholic experience.