Black Monday brought community response, lawyer Staunton Lynd recalls

YOUNGSTOWN

When struck by a loss, family members turn to one another for support.

As the steel industry was being taken away from Youngstown, steelworkers and the community were ready to fight to save thousands of jobs.

“A community was like a little family and when there was a major assault on the ability to provide, you didn’t [fall apart],” said Staughton Lynd, a labor lawyer during that time. “Instead, a family tended to draw together and you made it through,”

“People couldn’t imagine the mills closing,” Lynd added. “Despite the fact that there had been concern, it’s also a fact that it took people by surprise.”

Still, the biggest surprise awaiting the Mahoning Valley was the realization that efforts to save its steel future were futile.

A group of religious leaders was among the first to take action.

The group became known as the Ecumenical Coalition. Its goal was to replenish jobs through a worker/community-run Youngstown Sheet & Tube Campbell Works.

Read more about it in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.