Steel and Identity: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Lorain, OH

Description

Located thirty miles west of Cleveland and situated on the intersection of Lake Erie and the Black River, the growth of Lorain, Ohio as an industrial city has in many ways mirrored that of Cleveland.   Lorain is literally titled the "international city" because of its ethnic diversity, ranging from Russian to Hungarian, to Mexican and Puerto Rican groups.  Most ethnic groups traveled to Lorain to take advantage of the abundance of work during the early twentieth century. 

Specifically, the growth of the hispanic population in Lorain is directly related to the steel industry.   This exhibit begins to explore that relationship.  First Mexicans arrived in the 1920s to work at the National Tube Company, then Puerto Ricans came to work in the late 1940s. 

Compare and contrast the Mexican experience and the Puerto Rican experience of arriving and adapting to the community in Lorain. 

Credits

Emily Miller

Sections

Steel and Work in Lorain

  The steel industry in Lorain led to the growth of the hispanic community in the area. Both the Mexican and Puerto Rican groups were initally recruited to come work in the steel mill.  This section provides a brief overview of the history of steel in Lorain.  Then it looks at the recruitment process of both groups.        

"You Can't Be Mexican"

This section looks at daily life more specifically  for Mexicans through a textual analysis of a memoir by Frank S. Mendez.  Born in 1925, Mendez was born in Iowa to Mexican immigrant parents and moved to Lorain with his family in the same year. His father worked in the steel mill and his maternal grandmother raised Frank and his three siblings in various residences in South Lorain.  The pages in this section contain excepts from the text, "You Can't Be Mexican: You Talk Just Like Me," that provide insight as to what life was like living in South Lorain as the son of a Mexican immigrant. 

Assimilation in Lorain

This section looks at the community groups that developed for and by both families of Mexican and Puerto Rican decent.  Also highlighted is the desire to differentiate between the two ethnicities by the groups themselves. 

References and Standards