Between 1890 and 1924, Italian immigrants flocked to Ohio's Mahoning Valley. The area's burgeoning iron and steel industries beckoned with job prospects for immigrants fleeing southern and eastern Europe--particularly from southern Italy, a region that at the time lacked opportunity and highly taxed its natives. Upon the arrival of these new residents, neighborhoods such as Youngstown's Smoky Hollow and Brier Hill offered accepting communities, and Niles Fire Brick Factory Company and Trumbull Blast Furnace provided employment. Assimilation was not always easy, and discrimination did occur, but Italian Americans ultimately prospered, making a mark not only as steelworkers but also as shopkeepers, grocers, restaurateurs, tradesmen, educators, doctors, lawyers, legislators, and mayors. This book explores the immigration experience, community, workplace dynamics, celebrations, worship, heritage, and lasting impact of the second-largest ethnic group in Ohio's Mahoning Valley.

Between 1890 and 1924, Italian immigrants flocked to Ohio's Mahoning Valley. The area's burgeoning iron and steel industries beckoned with job prospects for immigrants fleeing southern and eastern Europe--particularly from southern Italy, a region that at the time lacked opportunity and highly taxed its natives. Upon the arrival of these new residents, neighborhoods such as Youngstown's Smoky Hollow and Brier Hill offered accepting communities, and Niles Fire Brick Factory Company and Trumbull Blast Furnace provided employment. Assimilation was not always easy, and discrimination did occur, but Italian Americans ultimately prospered, making a mark not only as steelworkers but also as shopkeepers, grocers, restaurateurs, tradesmen, educators, doctors, lawyers, legislators, and mayors. This book explores the immigration experience, community, workplace dynamics, celebrations, worship, heritage, and lasting impact of the second-largest ethnic group in Ohio's Mahoning Valley.

The entire Italian American experience—from America's earliest days through the present—is now available in a single volume. This wide-ranging work relates the entire saga of the Italian-American experience from immigration through assimilation to achievement. The book highlights the enormous contributions that Italian Americans—the fourth largest European ethnic group in the United States—have made to the professions, politics, academy, arts, and popular culture of America. Going beyond familiar names and stories, it also captures the essence of everyday life for Italian Americans as they established communities and interacted with other ethnic groups. In this single volume, readers will be able to explore why Italians came to America, where they settled, and how their distinctive identity was formed. A diverse array of entries that highlight the breadth of this experience, as well as the multitude of ways in which Italian Americans have influenced U.S. history and culture, are presented in five thematic sections. Featured primary documents range from a 1493 letter from Christopher Columbus announcing his discovery to excerpts from President Barack Obama's 2011 speech to the National Italian American Foundation. Readers will come away from this book with a broader understanding of and greater appreciation for Italian Americans' contributions to the United States.

In 1796, Daniel Shehy of Tipperary was the first Irish man to settle in Youngstown. In the early nineteenth century, the Ulster Irish moved into the region. Later, massive waves of Irish refugees from the Potato Famine settled in the area and filled the labor needs of the steel mills, canals, and railroads. Irish in Youngstown and the Greater Mahoning Valley recounts the history of the first Irish immigrants to settle the Valley up to the present and their prominent roles in community politics, arts, business, sports, entertainment, and religion. Through vintage images of families, church leaders, business owners, politicians, Irish dancers, and philanthropists, this book celebrates the influence of the Irish on the Greater Mahoning Valley.

All you need is love and cookies. Everyone loves cookies, but the people of the Steel Valley take this love to another level. Nowhere else in America will you behold hundreds--or even thousands--of cookies piled high for events of all kinds. This is the regionally famous cookie table. But how did this tradition start? Why do residents of the Pittsburgh and Youngstown areas always create them not just for weddings but for birthdays, graduations, fundraisers, community events, and so much more? How did this once quaint local custom become a social media phenomenon? How are the cookies made, and how is a cookie table organized? Join author and cookie table enthusiast Alice Crosetto on a delectable journey through this beloved Steel Valley tradition.

The new edition of the most up-to-date, interdisciplinary history of Ohio currently available Now in its second edition, Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State surveys the long and rich history of Ohio from its earliest geological periods to the present day. Designed for undergraduate students and general readers alike, this accessible volume describes the pivotal events in Ohio’s history while discussing the major social, economic, and political trends that have shaped the state over time. Concise chapters cover Ohio prehistory and the First Ohioans, European contact, the formation of the Northwest Territory, early statehood and national politics, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the two World Wars, the 1950s and 1960s, and more. Incorporating the latest scholarship from history, archaeology, and political science, the second edition moves the story of Ohio into the second decade of the twenty-first century. Revised chapters contain new data and updated coverage of early Ohio society, major economic developments, early statehood, Ohio and national politics, and Ohio from the 1970s through 2020. Explores the breadth of Ohio’s past using a clear and engaging narrative style Includes thematic chapters focusing on major social, economic, and political trends Discusses Ohio’s influence on national nineteenth-century politics Covers the geological and topographical history of Ohio Examines Ohio’s transformation into an industrial state from 1865–1920 Contains numerous high-quality maps, drawings, and photographs Written by two authors with decades of combined academic experience in teaching Ohio history, Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State, Second Edition remains an essential resource for college-level students enrolled in courses on Ohio History, professionals working in historical societies, museums, and other institutions that focus on the state’s history, and general readers looking for a highly readable study of Ohio’s past.