In the 1920s and 1930s the Mahoning Valley was a culturally fragmented society.  Traditional white Protestant values favored control of drinking, gambling, and Sunday activities.  Catholics saw Sunday as a day of recreation and disliked state intervention, as did the Jewish population who worshipped on Saturday.  The enormous influx of southern and eastern Europeans, who represented many ethnic groups and were primarily Catholic, aggravated the situation.

Adding to the mix were African-Americans who had migrated north to work in the mills.  While there were no formal Jim Crow laws, there was discrimination in housing and hiring.  African-Americans were hired only for the hardest, dirtiest and hottest of jobs in the mills, and were the first to be let go when there was an economic downturn.

The Ku Klux Klan, revived as a social organization for white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants, arrived in the Valley late in 1922.  The Klan worked behind the scenes to elect Klan-endorsed mayors and councilmen in many Valley communities.  Local residents who wanted to preserve religious freedom and foster racial equality fought back by stealing and publishing the Klan membership list.  A Klan attempt to march in Niles resulted in a day-long riot as Irish and Italian residents put up barricades to stop the march.  Later exposure of misconduct by Klan leaders resulted in the downfall of the local organization.  The Klan lost, but the fragmentation of the Valley population into rival ethnic and racial groups continued.

Do you know what a ‘Jim Crow’ law is?  How well do you think Americans get along today?  What could we do to get along better?  To learn more about the history of our Valley, visit the Arms Family Museum of Local History.  For a better look at these pictures, go to www.mahoninghistory.org.  Click on ‘Education,’ then click on ‘What Do You Know’ for a list of articles.  Each article has small images you can click on to enlarge or download a file.