American Warsaw by Dominic A. Pacyga

Author:Dominic A. Pacyga [Pacyga, Dominic A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS000000 History / General
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2019-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Saint Michael’s Church, seen from Russell Square Park on Eighty-Third Street. The neo-Gothic structure was built during the pastorate of Bishop Paul Rhode, the first Polish American Bishop of the Catholic Church. In the 1930s, the parish proved to be crucial for the development of the Russell Square Community Committee. The St. Michael’s Boys Club met in the parish facilities. (Chicago Public Library, Special Collections, SSCC 1.37.)

The efforts in the Bush neighborhood inspired the citywide expansion of the Chicago Area Project. Saul Alinsky, however, felt that Shaw and McDonald’s efforts were too conservative. He soon left the project and eventually made his way to the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Here, too, Poles made up a large percentage of the population; three Polish parishes stood near the packinghouses. Alinsky successfully organized that neighborhood and went on to take his program to working-class neighborhoods across the country. The Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council became a prime example of a local organization having an impact on the day-to-day lives of residents. It also became a major supporter of the United Packinghouse Workers of America–CIO in the union’s successful effort to organize the meatpacking industry at the heart of that community.29

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