On A Burning Deck

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 Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and other states of the Deep South and Appalachia. This, as all were lured to the industrial centers of our country by high wages and the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Among the white southerners who left their homes, tens of thousands left Kentucky and came to work in the rubber factories of Ohio during the teens and twenties, forever changing the state’s 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. 

In Susan Allyn Johnson’s 2006 dissertation, “Industrial Voyagers: A Case Study of Appalachian Migration to Akron, Ohio, 1900-1940,” she writes: “Virtually absent from historical narratives are the experiences of the 1.3 million white southerners who left the South before the Great Depression.” “Furthermore,” she adds, “they were less likely . . . to write letters or keep the sort of personal journals that have served to document the experiences of sojourners of earlier eras.” 

In his 2011 work, The Devil’s Milk, author John Tully notes, “No rubber worker has left his or her memoirs, and those captains of industry who did write focused on invention and commerce, not the lives of the laborers.” 

With this seemingly gaping lack of information on these early laborers, it is hardly surprising that there is also no body of historical literature documenting the impact of any of these individuals as they moved into positions of responsibility in local government in Ohio. In fact, for all their contributions to the industrial growth of Ohio in the 20th Century, the individual role of these people, these migrants, has been completely lost and forgotten—until now. 

Based on over 50 hours of oral histories, as well as dozens of rare photos from archives and museums around the country, On A Burning Deck combines the previously published paperback versions of On A Burning Deck, The Road to Akron and On A Burning Deck, Return to Akron into one, handsome hardback volume. Filled with additional information and dozens of previously unpublished photos, On A Burning Deck is the only work to offer a complete portrait of one family’s origins in rural Kentucky, migration to Akron, Ohio, work in the rubber factories and eventual impact on local politics and government. 

Meticulously researched, rich in detail, thoroughly referenced for historical perspective, and completely indexed with hundreds of names, this contextual oral history is a must-read for anyone interested in 20th-century history, Ohio or Kentucky 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 came from Western Kentucky to build modern industrial Ohio and forever leave their imprint.