Late Modernity and Community Change in Lattimer No. 2: The American Twentieth Century as Seen through the Archaeology of a Pennsylvania Anthracite Town

Roller, Michael P.

doi:10.1007/s41636-017-0087-2

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This large‐scale migration to the region created a ready workforce, usually with more available workers than jobs. Surplus labor allowed the coal operators to keep wages relatively low with the threat that there were more available, hungry men willing to move into the mines (Roller, 2015, 2018, 2019; Shackel, 2019).…”

Section: Historical Background: Race and Racism In The Anthracite Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our initial work focused on the lives of the mining communities with the goal of using archaeology to understand the social, economic, and material consequences of unchecked capitalism in these mining communities. Our work helped to find the original location of an 1897 labor massacre site (Roller, 2019;Shackel, 2018). Subsequently, the archaeology project focused on the immigrant miners and their families in the various coal patch towns in the region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Past and present: Immigration and museum exhibitions in the anthracite coal region

Schriner,

Shackel

2023

Museum Anthropology

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Northeastern Pennsylvania was home to the anthracite coal industry for about two centuries. The area was originally settled by various waves of immigrants, first from western then southern and eastern Europe. The new immigrant miners faced many forms of prejudice and were exploited in a system of unchecked capitalism. They were racialized and placed at the bottom of the job hierarchy. Some capitalists did not consider them human, and therefore not deserving of safe working conditions, descent housing and equal pay. At the turn of the twenty‐first century, a new wave of Hispanic immigrants from the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America entered the region to work mainly in low‐paying fulfillment center jobs. Their arrival is being met with various forms of xenophobia, much like the immigrant miners faced over a century ago. The online exhibition “We Are Anthracite,” hosted by the Anthracite Heritage Museum, addresses the call from the American Alliance of Museums for museums to be civically engaged, build social capital and connecting new populations to place. The exhibition bridges the experiences between the past coal mining communities and new Hispanic immigrants. The state‐operated museum hosting this exhibition lends validity to the new immigrants' place in this region, creating a narrative that their experiences are similar to the region's inhabitants' ancestors. By connecting common experiences, past and present, we are creating a form of bridging social capital that connects these different populations. While the northeastern Pennsylvania immigrant story is not well‐known, it is rich and complex like many Rust Belt communities undergoing similar major demographic shifts.

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Section: Historical Background: Race and Racism In The Anthracite Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%