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The Mission of The Center for Working-Class Studies is Challenging Myths, Honoring Workers, Engaging Communities
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45% of Americans identify themselves as working class. Some economists say that as many as 62% of Americans are working class.
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Our online resources and teaching workshops model innovative approaches to teaching about class, race, and diversity.

Steeltown Digital Libary

The Steeltown Digital Library provides access to primary sources reflecting the history of the Mahoning Valley, including many of the sources discussed in Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown. The site also offers lesson plans for using local history in middle and high school courses.

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Worker Portraits

During the 2006-2007 academic year, Sherry Linkon and Alyssa Lenhoff coordinated a project to create an exhibit and report on how work is changing in the Mahoning Valley. "Worker Portraits: Faces of Strength" involved Youngstown State University (YSU) journalism students in writing profiles of individual workers, and CWCS affiliate Rosemary D'Apolito conducted research on demographic patterns. In April 2007, the resulting exhibit opened at the Youngstown Historical Center, featuring a dozen profiles, with beautiful photographs by Steve Cagan, and an accompanying booklet. We hope to take the exhibit on tour around the Mahoning Valley over the next two years.

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Working-Class Literature

These sites provide a wide range of resources -- bibliographies, lists of writers and works, links to texts, and collections of images, sound files, and documents.

Featured authors include Raymond Carver, Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, and John Steinbeck.

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