Coal Dust on Your Feet is a historical ethnography of Shamokin, Pennsylvania and its surrounding borough of Coal Township. This anthracite coal fueled the industrial revolution and its miners generated the rise of organized labor, both of which make the region of northeast Pennsylvania one of great economic and historic importance. The ethnographic field site of the study spans a century and a half as it looks at the history and ties to the home countries of the immigrants who established and worked the coal mines. Details of individual lives and family histories enliven accounts of industry and the struggles of the unions, means of livelihood, ethnicity, associational life and ceremonial occasions. It will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, scholars of urban studies and labor historians, and contributes to the canon of literature on community and sense of place. The study focuses on the rise and decline of the mining industry, on the ethnic groups that formed the town's neighborhoods, and on the changes that have taken place in ethnicity, religion, class and community. It covers the period of prosperity when the factories of the New York garment industry moved into town for the middle years of the twentieth century and made Shamokin a shopping mecca. Today, the town is decimated by economic decline and population loss, but ethnicity remains an identity option and still has economic content. The strong sense of place of the people of the town rooted in their cultural and militant heritage, has given rise to a wider community of former residents who return to visit, participate in events and buy ethnic foods and cultural items. This wider community of belonging and identity helps to boost morale, sense of community and economy, in what is now primarily a retirement town with commuters traveling to work in nearby cities.
Janet MacGaffey is professor emeritus of anthropology at Bucknell University.
Illustrations Tables Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Part One: The Coal Era One: Historical Background and Conditions of Life in the Mining Era Two: Early Immigrants: The Emergence of Ethnic Identity and Social Hierarchy Three: Eastern and Southern European Immigration: Ethnicity at its Peak Four: Religion, Class and Ethnicity Part Two: Industrial Strife, National and Global Politics, the Decline of Ethnicity and Religion Five: The Militant Heritage of Labor and a New Industry for the Town Six: Prosperity and Decline Part Three: Recovering Heritage and Community Seven: Ethnicity in the Twenty First Century Eight: Community, Sense of Place, and Changes in Economics and Politics Today Nine: Conclusion Bibliography Index About the Author
MacGaffey's Coal Dust on Your Feet is a fascinating, readable account of the history of community life in the Pennsylvania coal regions. MacGaffey is a master anthropological ethnographer, committed to digging out a vast number of details about ethnicity, labor history, and the particular background of different towns. This not only provides an education for a coal region researcher like myself, it also gives us general theoretical understanding of ethnicity and class identity by anchoring insights in extensive, specific information about the people and the place. This is a masterful book that should be widely read by social scientists as well as by residents of the Lower Anthracite region. -- Carl Milofsky, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bucknell University Coal Dust on Your Feet is an engaging addition to the Great American story-the story of ethnic support in easing the transition to a new society and the decline of that support as generations become more and more assimilated. In her account of the peopling of a Pennsylvania mining town, Janet MacGaffey captures the critical role heritage initially played in residents' lives. But it is diluted when they overcome ethnic barriers in order to resist the economic forces that are undermining their ability to eke out a living. One of key ingredients in MacGaffey's account is the extraordinarily important part food has played in defining and perpetuating the lingering ties to peoples' origins. This is a highly readable book that can be savored by a wide audience. -- Sandra T. Barnes, professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania
