On a Burning Deck: Return to Akron: An Oral History of the Great Migration

In the earliest decades of the 20th century, more than twenty-eight million men and women-black and white-began "The Great Migration" north from the Deep South and Appalachia, lured by high wages and the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.Among the white southerners who left their homes, literally hundreds of thousands came to work in the rubber factories of Ohio during the teens and twenties, forever changing its culture, history and politics. Who were they? Other than the throwaway term of "hillbillies," the astonishing fact is that historians really haven't had any idea at all. They tell us that no records, no memoirs, no photographs, no letters home exist for these workers during this defining period of northeast Ohio's history. However, there was one archive that none of these historians knew existed.Based on over 50 hours of previously unpublished oral histories and dozens of family photos, "On A Burning Deck, Return to Akron" continues their story begun in "On A Burning Deck, The Road to Akron," as the head of the family struggles to support a family during recession, depression and strike only to eventually take his place in local government, personally establishing a modern police department and shepherding his community's growth in the years following World War II.Meticulously researched, rich in detail, thoroughly referenced for historical perspective, and completely indexed with hundreds of names, this contextual oral history offers the only first-hand account of industrial Ohio's boom years. A must-read for anyone interested in 20th century history, Kentucky or Ohio history, industrial relations, local governance or genealogy, "On A Burning Deck" is a tale well-told with wry humor and deep insight into the people, the "hillbillies," who built modern industrial Ohio.

Tom Jones was born in Akron, Ohio when it was still ＂The Rubber Capital of the World＂ and the acrid smell of sulphur in the air was a matter of civic pride. Like his grandfather and his father before him, he, too, was employed at Firestone Tire & Rubber as a young man. Following his graduation from Kent State University, he packed his Chevette, fled what was then rapidly becoming known as ＂the rustbelt＂ and (like his grandfather before him) headed to a boomtown-Houston. Following the collapse of the oil industry in Houston three years later, he found employment within the advertising industry in San Antonio for twenty years as a nationally award-wining copywriter. Ten of these years were at his own firm, Flying Terrier Creative Company, which was named after a stray dog with a broken tail that he adopted off the street. That dog’s name was Waldo, which inspired his first book, Waldo Maccabees, In the Footsteps of Christ-a fictionalized narrative of the ministry of Christ as seen through the eyes of His dog. Following the publication of Waldo Maccabees, Tom completed the two-volume non-fiction work On A Burning Deck, An Oral History of The Great Migration. The first volume, The Road to Akron, offers the only complete portrait in the historical record of one family’s origins in rural Kentucky, migration to Akron in 1917, and work in the rubber factories. The second volume, Return to Akron, continues their story as the head of the family struggles to support his family during recession, depression and strike only to eventually take his place in local government, personally establishing a modern police department and shepherding his community’s growth in the years following World War II. Tom lives in New Braunfels, Texas, with his wife, Steffanie. To contact the author, he can be reached at: Tom@OnABurningDeck.com