Illinois boasts one of the most visible concentrations of Poles in the United States. Chicago is home to one of the largest Polish ethnic communities outside Poland itself. Yet no one has told the full story of our state’s large and varied Polish community—until now. Poles in Illinois is the first comprehensive history to trace the abundance and diversity of this ethnic group throughout the state from the 1800s to the present. Authors John Radzilowski and Ann Hetzel Gunkel look at family life among Polish immigrants, their role in the economic development of the state, the working conditions they experienced, and the development of their labor activism. Close-knit Polish American communities were often centered on parish churches but also focused on fraternal and social groups and cultural organizations. Polish Americans, including waves of political refugees during World War II and the Cold War, helped shape the history and culture of not only Chicago, the “capital” of Polish America, but also the rest of Illinois with their music, theater, literature, food. With forty-seven photographs and an ample number of extensive excerpts from first-person accounts and Polish newspaper articles, this captivating, highly readable book illustrates important and often overlooked stories of this ethnic group in Illinois and the changing nature of Polish ethnicity in the state over the past two hundred years. Illinoisans and Midwesterners celebrating their connections to Poland will treasure this rich and important part of the state’s history.

This book attempts to discover the names of the first Polish settlers in Illinois, when they came to Illinois and their stories when possible. Some left complete stories about themselves while others only a very small amount. The time period starts in 1818, the year Illinois became a state and ends in 1850. I found much more information between 1818 and 1850 then I thought I would so I cut the book off at 1850. The Polish settlers are divided into five different categories. 1. Polish Political Exiles from Russia. 2. Polish emigrants from mainly German occupied Poland. 3. Polish Jews. 4. People of Polish descent, those persons with a Polish ancestor. 5. Emigrants from an undetermined county whose last names look Polish.

There is a great deal of information on the native peoples of the United States, which exists largely in national publications. Since much of Native American history occurred before statehood, there is a need for information on Native Americans of the region to fully understand the history and culture of the native peoples that occupied Illinois and the surrounding areas. The first section is contains an overview of early history of the state and region. The second section contains an A to Z dictionary of tribal articles and biographies of noteworthy Native Americans that have contributed to the history of Illinois. The third section contains several selections from the classic book, A Century of Dishonor, which details the history of broken promises made to the tribes throughout the country during the early history of America. The fourth section offers the publishers opinion on the government dealings with the Native Americans, in addition to a summation of government tactics that were used to achieve the suppression of the Native Americans.

This is a hodgepodge of a disorderly, systematically arranged collection of Polish nobility. On these pages you will learn everything about: descent, nobility, aristocratic literature, aristocratic name endings, aristocratic association, genealogy, bibliography, books, family research, research, genealogy, history, heraldry, heraldry, herbalism, information, literature, names, aristocratic files, nobility, personal history, Poland, Szlachta, coat of arms, coat of arms research, coat of arms literature, nobility, knights, Poland, herbarz. Conglomeration, translations into: English, German, French. Dies ist ein Sammelsurium einer ungeordneten, systematisch geordneten Sammlung des polnischen Adels. Auf diesen Seiten erfahren Sie alles über: Abstammung, Adel, Adelsliteratur, Adelsnamenendungen, Adelsverband, Genealogie, Bibliographie, Bücher, Familienforschung, Forschung, Genealogie, Geschichte, Heraldik, Heraldik, Kräuterkunde, Informationen , Literatur, Namen, Adelsakten, Adel, Personengeschichte, Polen, Szlachta, Wappen, Wappenforschung, Wappenliteratur, Adel, Ritter, Polen, Herbarz. Sammelsurium, Übersetzungen in: Englisch, Deutsch, Französisch. Il s'agit d'un méli-mélo d'une collection désordonnée et systématiquement organisée de la noblesse polonaise. Sur ces pages, vous apprendrez tout sur : l'ascendance, la noblesse, la littérature aristocratique, les terminaisons de noms aristocratiques, l'association aristocratique, la généalogie, la bibliographie, les livres, la recherche familiale, la recherche, la généalogie, l'histoire, l'héraldique, l'heraldique, l'herboristerie, l'information, la littérature, les noms, dossiers aristocratiques, noblesse, histoire personnelle, Pologne, Szlachta, armoiries, recherche d'armoiries, littérature d'armoiries, noblesse, chevaliers, Pologne, herbarz. Conglomération, traductions en : anglais, allemand, français.

This book examines how ordinary factory workers became unionists and national political participants by the mid-1930s.

A comparative study of Polish migrants in the Ruhr Valley and in northeastern Pennsylvania, The Borders of Integration questions assumptions about race and white immigrant assimilation a hundred years ago, highlighting how the Polish immigrant experience is relevant to present-day immigration debates.