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Slovak heritage celebrated at library meeting
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Authors Susan Summers (left) and Loretta Ekoniak showed off their book, "Slovaks of the Greater Mahoning Valley," after their discussion at the Austintown Friends of the Library Jan. 23 meeting.
By SARAH FOOR
The Jan. 23 meeting of the Friends of the Austintown library tackled organization business, but the meeting also featured an exploration of the Slovak heritage of the Mahoning Valley by authors Loretta Ekoniak and Susan Summers.
The authors, who recently published their local history book through Arcadia Publishing, said their project illuminated the great cultural heritage that Slovak peoples have in the Youngstown area.
“We found that there were books on Slovaks in Cleveland and in Pittsburgh — why not Youngstown? Through two years of research, we found an amazing amount of information from 19 Slovak churches, schools, sports teams and businesses. There is a Slovak history here that is very strong,” Ekoniak explained.
Slavic people are those who lived in Slovenia, but Slavic minorities living in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia also immigrated to America, and especially the Mahoning Valley to work in factories and steel mills.
During their discussion, Ekoniak and Summers explored how the people lived in Slovenia and how their lives changed after moving to America. The team shared photos of cultural events Youngstown Slovaks celebrated, including a traditional Christmas celebration called Jaslickare, mock weddings and cultural plays. Many Slovaks in the area were very active in fraternal organizations and sports.
As the presentation closed, Ekoniak invited any interested parties to join the American Slovak Cultural Association, which she leads as president.
Summers and Ekoniak said that passion for their subject led them through the two years of research for their book.
“It was important to each of us because in part, we looked at our own families, but interest in the cultural history of our area is always growing. We’ve had requests for the book to be sent to California, Alabama and Texas, among others. Youngstownites are everywhere,” Summers said.
“It was a very satisfying personal journey for us. If we inspire others to start looking into their own family history, we’ll be very happy,” Ekoniak added.