At the Library

So I am at the library right now doing some homework (a.k.a. reading The Craft of Research) when I realized that I could find some books to gain some background knowledge on my possible topic, Lithuanians working in the stockyards of Chicago in the early 1900s.  I found Lithuanian Emigration to the United States: 1868-1950, by Alfonsas Eidintas, where I saw a specific section of the book devoted to "Difficult Beginnings Overseas and Getting Established."  I also found a more specific book called Lithuanians in Multi-Ethnic Chicago Until World War II, by David Fainhauz, where I also found a specific sections on "Lithuanian Immigrants in Chicago," and "Lithuanians and the Development of Urban-Industrial Society."  Hopefully these two books will help me gain some background knowledge on my possible topic.

Since I had already done a research paper/interview on Lithuanians immigrating to the United States, and the first book mentioned, Lithuanian Emigration to the United States:1868-1950, wasn't that much of a surprise to me, I WAS surprised to find such a specific book relating to Lithuanians in Chicago before WWII.

After reading some of the materials from the books I will post what was included in these books for future reference.

Possible Research Topic

Being Lithuanian, as you can see by the wonderful flag that is on my page, I wanted to try to find a Lithuanian labor community where I didn't need to fly to my homeland to find some information on the topic.  After a long weekend of thinking, and nothing else, I realized that there was a Lithuanian community in Chicago in the early 1900's that was related to labor.  If you have ever read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, you will know what I am talking about.

Here's the general idea of the topic.  Lithuanian immigrants in the late 1800's and early 1900's moved to major cities like New York, Detroit, and mainly in Chicago.  There they were trying to find any sort of job that they could find.  At that time in Chicago, the meat packing industry was booming and the owners of those companies were looking for cheap immigrant labor.  This is where most Lithuanians went to work despite horrible wages and working conditions.  This brought the community together in a way, but I would need to do more research to try to find out more on the topic to see if it could even pass as a reasonable research topic.  That's pretty much it.

Beef Industry, Chicago, 1900

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beef_industry_panorama_1900_loc.jpg

Videos and Articles compared to In-class Movie

I saw a lot of similarities in the videos and articles compared to the movie.  What seems to be the general consensus between mine workers and their families in their small communities is that mining is just a job, and they need the money, because in most cases the families and their surrounding communities are surrounded by poverty.  The mine workers don't necessarily enjoy their jobs, but it's money in their pocket.  It also seems that whenever there is a bad occurrence in a specific community, for example the local mine explodes, the families gather together and pray and help the families who are directly affected by the explosion.  The families that I believe are directly connected are the ones who have had a grandfather, father, or brother lost in the disaster.  These families not only lost their loved ones, but also lost a great source of income.  The surrounding families would do anything to help the families that have lost a family member.  In the example of a strike or some other union related problem, the entire community gathers together to attempt to get what they want or even need the power company to give them.  A perfect example is that of Harlan County.  The people of this community all came together when the local mine was attempting to stop the local UMW's strike.  Everyone, even more so the women, were organizing ways to win the strike.

In regards to Blankenship's speech, he mentioned that American workers have the right to keep their jobs instead of having companies get cheaper labor in other countries.  Whenever he mentioned this, the crowd, especially the men cheered.  In one case, I heard a man scream "I love you!"

First Blog Post

My name is Julius Lietuvninkas.  I am a sophomore History/Secondary Ed major.  My experience with history is slightly limited.  I took a WRA class that was centered around history and we were required to write an extensive research paper where we had to interview someone who was affected by WWII.  This is where my interest in history is.  I enjoy studying Pre-, During-, and Post-WWII European and American History.  This time period is most interesting for me because I am Lithuanian and my family was directly affected by this major time in history.  If it weren't for the war, I would not be here sitting and typing this blog.  My grandparents had to flee Lithuania to escape the terrible power of the Russian and German armies.  That's pretty much it.