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Back of the Yards: The Making of a Local Democracy
"Robert A. Slayton's Back of the Yards is one of the finest accounts I have ever read on an urban, working-class neighborhood in twentieth-century America. Its focus on family, politics, and worklife is penetrating and its conclusions reinforce an emerging scholarly picture of ordinary people exercising unique forms of power."—John Bodnar, author of The A History of Immigrants in Urban America
291 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1986
43 people want to read
About the author
Robert A. Slayton
8 books2 followersRobert Slayton is is the Henry Salvatori Professorship in American Values and Traditions at Chapman University.
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March 4, 2023
Every year during the Summer, except during Covid, there is a book fair at the South end of Chicago's Loop along what is called Printer's Row. It is a great opportunity to pick up some great deals on used and new books and listen to guest authors speak. My wife and I attended as is our custom and I picked up a few books as that is the purpose of attending as far as I'm concerned. This book was one of those books and it caught my attention as it is a Chicago history as was one of my other purchases. This book, however, was of particular interest because it was about an area of Chicago that my wife and I are both quite familiar with. She lived in the Back of the Yards for quite some time while the families of both of my parents are from a community called Canaryville which is located at the Front of the yards. My father's family home was on 43rd and Emerald and Emerald is one street East of the International Amphitheatre which was the site of several national party conventions . One of my early memories was as a 4 year old standing on 43rd street as the motorcade carrying Dwight Eisenhower to the 1952 Republican Convention at the Amphitheater passed by while I and everybody else was yelling "I Like Ike". The history of my home town is not only a favorite subject area of mine it's a history that is incredibly interesting, shocking, amusing, and disgusting. Could a reader ask for more?
As a history of only one community in Chicago you would think that this book would hold very limited appeal to a reader. In fact the book really amounts to a social case study of this neighborhood from its early beginnings up to the time near the publishing date of this book which was 1986. The author at the time of publication was a research specialist for the Chicago Urban League and I suspect that the material for this book was part of a graduate thesis as the author is now a retired university professor. So we have a social case study of a small area of the country's second largest (at the time) city written by a budding academic. I agree that these are poor inducements for reading let alone purchasing a book but I would like to give you reasons for reconsidering any first impressions.
The author selected this neighborhood because it is so much like other communities in this country composed of Eastern European immigrants that are almost exclusively Roman Catholic and that work for an industry that dominates the community and its economy. This community, known as the Back of the Yards, which refers to Chicago's Union Stockyards, is located West of the Stockyards. For those not familiar with Chicago the West boundary of the Yards is Ashland Avenue and the East boundary is Halsted Avenue. North to South the Yards extend from 39th St. (Pershing Rd.) to 47th St. This is the area that Upton Sinclair used as the basis for his book The Jungle which is another reason I think the author decided to use this area for his study. What this area is is a typical residential community in a large urban area composed of East European immigrants working for a single industry. This community is probably no different from any such community in any large urban center clustered around a dominant industry like steel, mining, textiles, automotive, shipping, etc. If the reader is from such an area then this book will have him or her nodding their head in recognition of the things reported in this book. Much of it is sad but other parts are amusing while yet there are also surprises. I was surprised to learn of the nearly reflexive dislike various immigrants had for other ethnic groups. Additionally while the vast majority of them held a common religious faith all insisted on their own ethnic centered parish and then actively fought with the diocesan authorities and the archbishop in order to maintain their ethnic isolationism. The ethnic enclaves centered on their parish church became a problem for the Catholic Church hierarchy because its perceived threat to "American Culture". The Church needed its ethnic members to assimilate with the mainstream culture or risk alienation. This was a continuing issue until the Depression struck. During this time the ethnic parishes couldn't cope with the needs of its members as the demands were too great. It became apparent and necessary that the historic hostilities be forgotten and bridge building begin. This is where the book becomes something of a brief view of successful community organizing which saw the Back of the Yards surviving the Depression and then go on to thrive during the post WWII era.
As I stated the book was published in 1986. The ethnic churches and enclaves of the Back of the Yards are mostly gone now. The Stockyards closed down in the early 1970's. The area that contained the Stockyards has been cleared and turned into an industrial park and while it provides employment for local residents it is no where near the scale of employment offered by the Armour and Swift meat packing companies. The children of the ethnic families that are the subject of this book have moved away as their circumstances and education allowed but such evolution is part of the story this book tells. If you come from a family of Eastern European heritage that came to this country and found awful work at criminally low wages and lived a hand to mouth existence then you will identify with the history reported in this book. If you presently live in a community in dire straits then the later part of this book may you give some ideas on how to go about turning things around. This book might be about a Chicago neighborhood but it's also a template for community restoration. Enjoy.
As a history of only one community in Chicago you would think that this book would hold very limited appeal to a reader. In fact the book really amounts to a social case study of this neighborhood from its early beginnings up to the time near the publishing date of this book which was 1986. The author at the time of publication was a research specialist for the Chicago Urban League and I suspect that the material for this book was part of a graduate thesis as the author is now a retired university professor. So we have a social case study of a small area of the country's second largest (at the time) city written by a budding academic. I agree that these are poor inducements for reading let alone purchasing a book but I would like to give you reasons for reconsidering any first impressions.
The author selected this neighborhood because it is so much like other communities in this country composed of Eastern European immigrants that are almost exclusively Roman Catholic and that work for an industry that dominates the community and its economy. This community, known as the Back of the Yards, which refers to Chicago's Union Stockyards, is located West of the Stockyards. For those not familiar with Chicago the West boundary of the Yards is Ashland Avenue and the East boundary is Halsted Avenue. North to South the Yards extend from 39th St. (Pershing Rd.) to 47th St. This is the area that Upton Sinclair used as the basis for his book The Jungle which is another reason I think the author decided to use this area for his study. What this area is is a typical residential community in a large urban area composed of East European immigrants working for a single industry. This community is probably no different from any such community in any large urban center clustered around a dominant industry like steel, mining, textiles, automotive, shipping, etc. If the reader is from such an area then this book will have him or her nodding their head in recognition of the things reported in this book. Much of it is sad but other parts are amusing while yet there are also surprises. I was surprised to learn of the nearly reflexive dislike various immigrants had for other ethnic groups. Additionally while the vast majority of them held a common religious faith all insisted on their own ethnic centered parish and then actively fought with the diocesan authorities and the archbishop in order to maintain their ethnic isolationism. The ethnic enclaves centered on their parish church became a problem for the Catholic Church hierarchy because its perceived threat to "American Culture". The Church needed its ethnic members to assimilate with the mainstream culture or risk alienation. This was a continuing issue until the Depression struck. During this time the ethnic parishes couldn't cope with the needs of its members as the demands were too great. It became apparent and necessary that the historic hostilities be forgotten and bridge building begin. This is where the book becomes something of a brief view of successful community organizing which saw the Back of the Yards surviving the Depression and then go on to thrive during the post WWII era.
As I stated the book was published in 1986. The ethnic churches and enclaves of the Back of the Yards are mostly gone now. The Stockyards closed down in the early 1970's. The area that contained the Stockyards has been cleared and turned into an industrial park and while it provides employment for local residents it is no where near the scale of employment offered by the Armour and Swift meat packing companies. The children of the ethnic families that are the subject of this book have moved away as their circumstances and education allowed but such evolution is part of the story this book tells. If you come from a family of Eastern European heritage that came to this country and found awful work at criminally low wages and lived a hand to mouth existence then you will identify with the history reported in this book. If you presently live in a community in dire straits then the later part of this book may you give some ideas on how to go about turning things around. This book might be about a Chicago neighborhood but it's also a template for community restoration. Enjoy.
Displaying 1 of 1 review