Artwork from the dust jacket for William Attaway's 1941 novel Blood on the Forge.
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Stories of the Black Experience
As interpreters of narratives in the public space, we at Rivers of Steel are conscious about what stories we are telling and the ways in which those stories are told. We strive to be representative of our region as a whole—through the lens of our industrial and cultural heritage. With a region as diverse as ours, that opens the door to a lot of stories! Through our storytelling, we try to lend a new perspective or shed light on lesser-known tales. Today, we do both as we focus on the industrial Black experience.
For today's featured piece, we return to our A Literary Look series to consider William Attaway's 1941 book Blood on the Forge. Dr. Kirsten Paine's take invites new audiences to read this fictional story set in 1919 that speaks to the realities of Black life in the mills and the industrialized communities that surrounded them during the era of the Great Migration. Her view examines the novel's historical context and its place in the canon of Harlem Renaissance works.
The celebration of Black History Month provided an opportunity to tell this particular story at this time. However, since our narratives on this topic are not limited to one month of the year, we thought we'd share a few "in case you missed it" stories that were not published in February—including this piece on The Complicated (and Even Subversive) Legacy of Pullman Porters and another about the lasting legacy of Cumberland "Cap" Posey.
Since its earliest days as an organization, Rivers of Steel has collected oral histories of everyday people in an effort to capture our region's stories. One of those biographies belonged to John Hughey. Like the characters in Blood on the Forge, John's family was part of the Great Migration, having arrived in Pittsburgh from the South in 1919. John was born in Rankin in 1925, became a laborer at the Carrie Furnaces at age 22, and worked his way up, becoming the head grievance officer for the union while continuing to work full time at the mill until it went offline in 1982. Read more of his story.
Oral histories are still an active part of what we do today. In fact, we are currently looking for folks who lived in or spent time at the Hawkins Village community in Rankin. If this is you or someone you know, please contact us at archives@riversofsteel.com to learn more about the project.
Of course, we're always seeking the stories of iron- and steelworkers, too, including the recollections of those workers' families. Reach out!
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Detail of dust jacket for William Attaway's 1941 novel Blood on the Forge.
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FEATURED STORY
A Literary Look—Blood on the Forge
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For Black History Month, Dr. Kristen L. Paine introduces us to William Attaway’s Blood on the Forge, a 1941 novel primarily set in Homestead in 1919 that connects us with the lives of characters uprooted by the Great Migration. In the process, Paine explores a Pittsburgh-related contribution to the Harlem Renaissance and considers how it reveals aspects of our region's cultural and socioeconomic heritage.
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Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Pullman porters, steward, and conductor standing in front of a New York Central Railroad car, September 8, 1950. Courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh via Historic Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Company Records Collection. |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Stories about the Black Experience in Pittsburgh
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From the legacy of Black workers at the Carrie Blast Furnaces to the Pullman Porters' subversive act of distributing the Pittsburgh Courier across the nation, these three stories examine different aspects of the Black experience in industrial Pittsburgh—in the mills, on trains, and on riverboats.
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Hawkins Village Addition by John R. Shrader, 1956. Courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh via Historic Pittsburgh, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center Collection.
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ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Hawkins Village Memories
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As part of the Hawkins Village redevelopment project, Rivers of Steel is working with the Allegheny County Economic Development office, the Pennsylvanian State Historic Preservation Office, and the Housing Authority of Allegheny County to document the history of the Hawkins Village community. We are collecting oral histories as part of that documentation and interpretation, which will be archived at Rivers of Steel. |
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Help preserve our region’s industrial and cultural heritage! Your tax-deductible contribution will help ensure that Rivers of Steel can continue to offer vital, engaging, community-based arts, education, and heritage programs for the residents of southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond.
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