Life on the Allegheny Plateau
AN IMMIGRANT COAL MINER'S SON GROWS UP IN HILLBILLY AMERICA

The lives of the immigrants and their children during the era of the Great Depression and World War II was a long journey filled with hard work, prejudice, and sacrifice. Chronicled within this book are the stories and memories of one of these immigrant children. Born the ninth of ten children to Polish immigrants in central Pennsylvania, Edward Jedrziewski, the son of a coal miner, learned at a tender age the expectations of this life. From being taught to pull weeds as a toddler to facing bigotry through high school, the stories shared touch the heart and offer a colorful education to the uninitiated.

In hillbilly America during the early 20th century, future prospects were often limited to growing up to work in the coal mines for boys or getting married at a young age for girls. But Edward’s family was different, a fact for which they were often ridiculed. Edward’s father had grown up in Poland working the fields of the land owner. He wanted more for his children than the coal-mining life he now had. Through hard work, perseverance, and determination, the children of this immigrant family pushed out of the societal expectations and went to colleges, nursing schools, or trade schools.

Often unbelievable, these stories open the reader’s eyes to the difficult road so many immigrants and their children faced. It truly was a long, hard row to hoe.