Greeks going to Western states to work on railroad gangs and in mines. As early as , it was estimated by the Greek Consul General in New York that there were between 30, and 40, Greek laborers in the American West. They found work in the mines and smelters of the Rocky Mountain region, especially Colorado see Buried Unsung: Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre by Zeese Papanikolas and Utah, and on the railroad throughout the west.
Greek railroad laborers were especially concentrated in California, where in , there were more Greeks proportionate to the total state population than anywhere else in the U. Though Greeks came to the West as manual laborers, many began to move into the middle class early on. Even before World War I, but especially in the 20s, many Greeks began to leave the mines and railroads to become storeowners, establishing restaurants, bars, candy stores, or confectioneries, hotels and other businesses at a rapid rate.
Though many remained blue-collar workers, the main development was toward the emergence of a Greek American bourgeoisie. Eventually, women arrived from the old country and a normal life was made possible, which further attenuated middle class aspirations 2. Greeks going to New England mill towns to work in the textile and shoe factories. New England was a second major destination of Greek immigrants, where they worked in textile and shoe factories.
Although they settled in many towns in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the foremost mill town was Lowell, Massachusetts, a community that has a special significance in the history of Greek Americans. By , Lowell, with a total population of ,, had 20, Greeks. Greek towns appeared in all parts of the U. Lowell, Massachusetts, had one of the first and most extensive Greek towns. Greeks who went to the large Northern cities, principally New York and Chicago and worked in factories, or as busboys, dishwashers, bootblacks and peddlers, mostly in the big cities of the Middle Atlantic and Great Lakes states.
Many Greeks in Chicago worked in meatpacking plants, steel mills and factories. But many others took the entrepreneurial route. It was in this capacity that the Greek immigrant was to make his most distinguishing mark on American society. Newly arrived and often still boys, Greek immigrants, who started out as bootblacks, busboys or peddlers of fruit, candy and flowers, somehow managed to set aside a portion of their meager profits, their mercantile future almost predestined.
Once they settled in, the immigrants began developing a social life initially based around Greek coffee shops. Soon schools and churches were set up followed by the first Greek newspapers.
Tarpon Springs, Florida The first Greek immigrants arrived to this city during the s, to work as divers in the sponge harvesting industry. In , John Cocoris introduced a new technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs and recruited Greek divers from the Dodecanese Islands and Halki in particular. By the s, there was a very productive sponge industry in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. After a red tide algae bloom in that wiped out the sponge fields, most of the sponge boats and divers switched to fishing and shrimping.
Today, the town is mostly shops, restaurants, and museums dedicated to the memory of Tarpon Springs' earlier industry. The American government curtailed immigration policy and quotas, commencing an extensive campaign to 'Americanize' the immigrants and assimilate the millions of immigrants who had arrived in the previous two decades, particularly those from Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
In general terms, the Greeks reacted positively to assimilation. There were other similar organizations that worked to achieve a balance between Americanization and preserving Greek identity such as GAPA and the Archdiocese, which acquired considerable prestige from the s onwards following the enthronement of Archbishop Athinagoras. Around the same time various other organizations also helped Greek overcome the financial crisis of When the Greek-Italian War started in , Greek-Americans mobilized in support of Greece, and Greeks were viewed in a particularly positive light by American popular opinion.
The s saw the coming of age of the second generation of Greek-Americans, and with it social improvement for them and further integration of the Greek Diaspora into American society.
At the same time, the climate of radicalism and reflection in America at that time helped thenew generation of Greeks abroad, and in particular women, break free of traditional, patriarchal family structures within the Greek-American family.
The turn towards Hellenism became all the stronger with the arrival of new immigrants after World War II while the reputation acquired by Greeks in America strengthened the sense of pride in their Greek roots. Immigration flows increased in the period from to leading to the establishment of 'Greek town' in the Astoria area of New York.
The two-sided development of the Greek presence in America - assimilation coupled with a retention of Greek identity - found its perfect form of expression in the demonstrations over the Cyprus question after In November Greece held its first free elections in more than a decade. Parliament adopted a new constitution in , and a civilian government was established.
The first Socialist government in Greece gained control in , the year Andreas Papandreou—the son of George Papandreou and a member of the Panhellenic Socialist movement—succeeded conservative Georgios Rallis as prime minister. In a conservative-communist coalition formed a new government, and pledging that Greece would be an active participant in the greater European community, Papandreou was reelected.
According to official records, the Greek sailor Don Teodoro or Theodoros, who sailed to America with the Spanish explorer Panfilio de Narvaez in , was the first Greek to land in America. The names of other Greek sailors who may have come to America during this period are John Griego and Petros the Cretan. Andrew Turnball and his wife Maria Rubini, daughter of a wealthy Greek merchant, persuaded approximately colonists to journey to America and settle. With the promise of land, Greek colonists primarily from Mani in the south of Greece, as well as Italians, Minorcans, and Corsicans, began arriving in Florida on June 26, The colony was an overwhelming failure and was officially disbanded on July 17, , but many of the colonists had already moved to neighboring Saint Augustine, where they were becoming successful as merchants and small businessmen.
A small community of Greeks also built a chapel and school there. The first wave of Greek immigrants included about 40 orphans who had survived the Greek Revolution of and who were brought to the United States by American missionaries; survivors of the massacre of Chios by the Turks; and merchant sailors who settled in the Americas. The U. Greek population remained small until the s, when poor economic conditions in Greece prompted many Greeks to immigrate to the United States.
During the s most who came were from Laconia notably, from the city of Sparta , a province of the Peloponnesus in southern Greece. Beginning in the s, Greeks began arriving from other parts of Greece, principally from Arcadia, another province in the Peloponnesus. The largest numbers arrived during and Most were young single males who came to the United States to seek their fortunes and wished to return to Greece as soon as possible. About 30 percent of those who came before did return, some of whom went to fight in the Balkan Wars of The Immigration Acts of and reversed the open-door policy of immigration and established quotas.
The Act of limited the number of Greek admittants to 3,, while the Act of limited the number to Legal petition increased the quota, and during about 10, Greeks were admitted. Another 17, Greeks were admitted under the Refugee Relief Act of , and 1, were accepted as a result of further legislation in The Immigration Act of abandoned the quota system and gave preference to immigrants with families already established in the United States.
The new Greek arrivals usually were better educated than their predecessors and included men and women in equal numbers, as well as family groups. From to a total of , Greeks immigrated to the United States.
After , the number of Greeks entering the United States is as follows: 3, ; 2, ; 2, ; 2, ; 2, ; 2, ; 2, ; 2, ; 1, ; 1, The Census reported the number of people claiming at least one ancestry as Greek at 1,, During the s Greeks began settling in major urban areas, including the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest. The first immigrants settled in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. The city of Lowell, Massachusetts, attracted the majority of Greeks, and by it had the third largest Greek community in the United States.
The largest Greek settlement in the twentieth century was in New York. Greeks also settled in western Pennsylvania, particularly Pittsburgh, and in the Midwestern cities of Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Chicago. In the first half of the twentieth century, this unique settlement of Greeks made its living by sponge diving. Attracted to mining and railroad work, large numbers of Greeks settled in Salt Lake City, with smaller numbers inhabiting Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada.
The heaviest early concentration on the Pacific Coast was in San Francisco. Today, Greeks live primarily in urban areas and are increasingly moving to the South and West.
The Census reveals that New York State still has the largest population of Greeks, with the highest concentration in the Astoria section of the borough of Queens.
The next largest populations are in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Florida. Few negative Greek stereotypes persist. Greeks share the American work ethic and desire for success and are largely perceived as hardworking and family-oriented.
They are also said to possess a "Zorba"-like spirit and love of life. However, many Greek Americans perceive the recent Greek immigrants as "foreign" and often as a source of embarrassment. Greeks have an assortment of traditional customs, beliefs, and superstitions to ensure success and ward off evil and misfortune. Old beliefs persist in some communities in the United States.
For example, belief in the "evil eye" is still strong and is supported by the Greek Orthodox church as a generalized concept of evil. Precautions against the evil eye not endorsed by the church include wearing garlic; making the sign of the cross behind the ear of a child with dirt or soot; placing an image of an eye over the lintel; wearing the mati, a blue amulet with an eye in the center; and recitation of a ritual prayer, the ksematiasma.
Greeks may also respond to a compliment with the expression ptou, ptou, to keep the evil eye from harming the person receiving the compliment. Greeks also "knock wood" to guard against misfortune, and reading one's fortunes in the patterns of coffee dregs remains popular. The Greeks "have a saying for it": In wine there is truth; You make my liver swell You make me sick ; This Greek American girl displays her pride both in her heritage and her new country.
God ascends stairs and descends stairs Everything is possible for God ; An old hen makes the tastiest broth Quality improves with age ; He won't give her any chestnuts He wouldn't cut her any slack ; I tell it to my dog, and he tells it to his tail To pass the buck ; I went for wool, and I came out shorn To lose the shirt off one's back ; Faith is the power of life. Greek food is extremely popular in the United States, where Greek American restaurants flourish.
In Greek restaurants and in the home, many of the traditional recipes have been adapted and sometimes improved on to suit American tastes. In Greece meals are great social occasions where friends and family come together and the quantity of food is often impressive. Olive oil is a key ingredient in Greek cooking and is used in quantity. Traditional herbs include parsley, mint, dill, oregano especially the wild oregano rigani , and garlic.
You will find on most Greek tables olives, sliced cheese such as feta, kaseri, and kefalotiri , tomato, and lemon wedges, along with bread.
Fish, chicken, lamb, beef, and vegetables are all found on the Greek menu and are prepared in a variety of ways. Soup, salad, and yogurt are served as side dishes. Sheets of dough called phillo are layered and filled with spinach, cheese, eggs, and nuts. Greeks create such masterpieces as moussaka, a layered dish of eggplant, meat, cheese, and bread crumbs sometimes served with a white sauce.
Other popular Greek dishes in the United States include souvlakia, a shish kabob of lamb, vegetables, and onions; keftedes, During the Epiphany Ceremonies at the Greek Orthodox church in Tarpon Springs in Florida, fifty boys from the ages of 13 to 18 dive into the water and try to retrieve a tossed cross, which is said to bring the winner a year of good luck.
Greek meatballs; saganaki, a mixture of fried cheese, milk, egg, and flour; dolmathes yalantzi, grape leaves stuffed with rice, pine nuts, onions, and spices; and gyros, slices of beef, pork, and lamb prepared on a skewer, served with tomatoes, onions, and cucumber yogurt sauces on pita bread. Salads always accompany a meal. The traditional Greek salad salata a la greque is made with lettuce or spinach, feta cheese, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, olives, oregano, and olive oil.
The national drink of Greece is ouzo "oozoh" , an anise-flavored liquor that tastes like licorice and that remains popular with Greek Americans. Traditionally, it is served with appetizers mezethes such as olives, cheese, tomato, and lemon wedges. A popular Greek wine, retsina, is produced only in Greece and is imported to the United States. Greek traditional costumes come in a variety of styles, some dating back to ancient times. Women's clothing is heavy, with many layers and accessories, designed to cover the entire body.
The undergarments include the floor-length poukamiso shirt made of linen or cotton and the mesofori under-skirt and vraka panties , usually of muslin. The outer garments consist of the forema-palto, a coat-dress of embroidered linen; the fousta skirt of wool or silk; the sigouni, a sleeveless jacket of embroidered wool worn outside the forema-palto; the kontogourni or zipouni, a short vest worn over the fousta; the podia, an apron of embroidered wool or linen; and finally the zonari, a long belt wrapped many times around the waist.
Buckles on these belts can be very ornate. Traditionally, men's costumes are less colorful than women's costumes. Men's urban and rural clothing styles vary by region.
The anteria is a long dress coat with wide sleeves once worn in the city. In rural areas, men wore the panovraki or its variation, the vraka , white or dark woolen pants, narrow at the bottom and wide at the waist, with the poukamiso, a short pleated dress. The foustanela is a variation on the old style and soon became the national costume of Greece. The foustanela is a short white skirt of cotton or muslin with many folds that is worn above the knee.
It is worn with the fermizi, a jacket of velvet or serge with long sleeves that is thrown over the back; waist-high white stockings; and a shirt with wide sleeves made of cotton, muslin, or silk. The foustanela is a common sight on Greek Independence Day. In Chicago and New York, cities with a sizable Greek population, people dress in traditional costumes and sing the national anthem.
The program of events also includes a parade, public address, folk dance, song, and poetry recitation. Greek music and dance are an expression of the national character and are appreciated by people of all ethnic backgrounds. For the Greeks, the sounds and rhythms express their very essence: their dreams, sorrows and joys. Add dancing and nothing more need be said.
Varieties of Greek popular music include dimotika thimotika , laika, and evropaika. Dimotika are traditional rural folk songs often accompanied by a clarinet, lute, violin dulcimer, and drum.
Laika is an urban style of song, developed at the beginning of the twentieth century, which may feature the bouzouki, a long-necked stringed instrument.
Evropaika is Eurostyle music set to Greek words that is popular with the older generation. Traditional Greek dances may be danced in a circle, in a straight line, or between couples. The kalamatianos is an ancient dance with many variations in which both men and women participate. All variations are performed by the leader who stands facing the semicircle.
First danced in the mountainous region of Epirus in northwestern Greece, the tsamiko, traditionally danced by men, is today performed by both men and women. It was danced by the fighters and rebels in the Greek Revolution of The hasapiko is a popular folk dance for both men and women that is danced in a straight line, with one dancer holding the shoulder of the other.
The sirtaki, a variation of the hasapiko, culminates with the "Zorba" dance popularized in the movie Zorba the Greek. Although the Zorba has no roots in Greek dance history, it does capture the mood and temperament of the Greek spirit. Originating in the Middle East, the tsifteteli is a seductive dance performed by one or two people. The zeibekiko is a personal dance traditionally danced only by men, either singly or as a couple.
It is a serious, completely self-absorbed dance in which the dancer freely improvises the steps. Greek is a conservative language that has retained much of its original integrity. Modern Greek is derived from the Attic Koine of the first century A. During Byzantine times, the language underwent modifications and has incorporated many French, Turkish, and Italian words.
Modern Greek retained the ancient alphabet and orthography of the more ancient language, but many changes have taken place in the phonetic value of letters and in the spelling. Although about 75 percent of the old words remain from the ancient language, words often have taken on new meanings. Modern Greek also retains from the ancient language a system of three pitch accents acute, circumflex, grave. In , a monotonic accent one-stress accent was officially adopted by the Greek government.
Greeks are fiercely proud of the continuity and relative stability of their language and much confusion and debate persists about "correct Greek. In demotic Greek was recognized as the official spoken and written language of Greece and is the language adopted for liturgical services by the Greek Orthodox church in the United States. Modern Greek contains 24 characters with seven vowels and five vowel sounds.
Today Greek language schools continue to encourage the study of Greek, and new generations are discovering its rich rewards. If there is one self-defining concept among Greeks, it is the concept of philotimo, which may be translated as "love of honor. It shapes and regulates an individual's relationships as a member of both a family and the community. Because the acts of each individual affect the entire family and community, each person must work to maintain both personal and family honor.
It is philotimo that "laid the foundation for Greek success in America," wrote G. Kunkelman in The Religion of Ethnicity. The idea of family and attachment to the Greek Orthodox church remains strong among Greek Americans. In many communities, the ideal family is still a patriarchy where the man, as husband and father, is a central authority figure and the woman a wife and mother. Children are highly valued, and frequently parents will sacrifice a great deal to see that their children accomplish their goals.
Elderly parents may still move in with their children, but "Americanization," with accompanying affluence, assimilation, and mobilization, has rendered this arrangement less practicable. Another change from traditional Greek custom is the rising number of marriages between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Greeks. The Yearbook of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America reports that between and , the number of marriages between Orthodox Greeks was 35,, while the number between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Greeks was 53,; the divorce rate is 6, and 5,, respectively.
The wedding service conducted by a Greek Orthodox priest may be said in both Greek and in English, but the traditional elements of the Greek wedding remain unchanged. The hour-long ceremony is conducted around a small table on which two wedding crowns, the book of the Gospels, the wedding rings, a cup of wine, and two white candles are placed. The two-part Greek Orthodox wedding includes the betrothal and the wedding proper. During the betrothal the rings are blessed to signify that the couple is betrothed by the church.
The priest first blesses the rings and then, with the rings, blesses the couple, touching their foreheads with the sign of the cross. The rings are placed on the bride's and groom's right hands, and the official wedding sponsors koumbari exchange the rings three times. During the wedding ceremony the bride and groom each hold a lighted white candle and join right hands while the priest prays over them.
Crowns stephana joined with a ribbon are placed on their heads, and the koumbaros male or koumbara female is responsible for exchanging the wedding crowns three times above the heads of the couple during the service. Traditionally read are the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians and the second chapter of the Gospel of Saint John, which stress the mutual respect and love the couple now owe each other and the sanctity of the married state.
After the couple shares a common cup of wine, they are led around the table by the priest in the Dance of Isaiah, which symbolizes the joy of the church in the new marriage. The koumbaros follows, holding the ribbon that joins the crowns. With the blessing of the priest, the couple is proclaimed married, and the crowns are removed. The wedding reception reflects the influence of both Greek and American tradition and is notable for its abundance of food, dancing, and singing.
The wedding cake is served along with an assortment of Greek sweets that may include baklava and koufeta —traditional wedding candy—is often distributed in candy dishes or in bombonieries small favors given to guests after the wedding.
The koumbari who act as wedding sponsors usually act as godparents for a couple's first child. The baptism begins at the narthex of the church, where the godparents speak for the child, renouncing Satan, blowing three times in the air, and spitting three times on the floor.
They then recite the Nicene Creed. The priest uses the child's baptismal name for the first time and asks God to cleanse away sin. The priest, the godparents, and the child go to the baptismal font at the front of the church, where the priest consecrates the water, adding olive oil to it as a symbol of reconciliation.
The child is undressed, and the priest makes the sign of the cross on various parts of the child's body. The godparents rub olive oil over the child's body, and the priest thrice immerses the child in the water of the baptismal font to symbolize the three days Christ spent in the tomb.
The godparents then receive the child and wrap it in a new white sheet. During chrismation, immediately following baptism, the child is anointed with a special oil miron , which has been blessed by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
The child is dressed in new clothing, and a cross is placed around its neck. After the baptismal candle is lighted, the priest and godparents hold the child, and a few children walk around the font in a dance of joy.
Finally, scriptures are read, and communion is given to the child. The funeral service in the Greek Orthodox church is called kithia. Traditionally, the trisayion the three holies is recited at the time of death or at any time during a day mourning period. In the United States the trisayion is repeated at the funeral service.
At the beginning of the service, the priest greets the mourners at the entrance of the church. An open casket is arranged so that the deceased faces the altar.
During the service mourners recite scriptures, prayers, and hymns, and they are invited by the priest to pay their last respects to the deceased by filing past the casket and kissing the icon that has been placed within. The family gathers around the casket for a last farewell, and the priest sprinkles oil on the body in the form of the cross and says a concluding prayer.
After the priest, friends, or family members deliver a brief eulogy, the body is taken immediately for burial endaphiasmos. At the cemetery the priest recites the trisayion for the last time and sprinkles dirt on the casket while reciting a prayer. After the funeral guests and family share a funeral meal makaria , which traditionally consists of brandy, coffee, and paximathia hard, dry toast.
A full meal may also be served, with fish as the main course. As stated in the introduction to American Aphrodite, "Greek-American women have been without a voice since the first Greek immigrants arrived here as wives, mothers, sisters and daughters, usually, but not always, some months behind the menfolk, making no sound, proclaiming no existence.
Since the earliest period of settlement in the United States, the burden of preserving Greek culture and tradition has been the responsibility of women.
Women among the first and second generations of immigrants became the traditional keepers of songs, dances, and other folk customs and often cut themselves off from the xeni, the foreigners, who were essentially anyone outside the Greek community. Today many Greek women are seriously challenged in their efforts to accommodate the values of two different worlds.
The pressure to remain part of the community, obey parents' rules, and be "good Greek girls" who marry "well" and bear children is still strong. The conflict arises between family loyalty and self-realization, between duty to parents and community and the pursuit of the "American way of life. The pursuit of education and a career is secondary and may even be perceived as "un-Greek" or unwomanly.
Although Greeks tend to be a highly educated ethnic group, the pursuit of higher education remains the province of men. The Census reports that twice as many Greek men as women received university degrees, with a significantly higher proportion of men going on to receive advanced degrees.
I felt she would understand a woman's heart. Theodore Salutos in The Greeks in the United States wrote: "Hellenism and Greek Orthodoxy—the one intertwined with the other—served as the cord that kept the immigrant attached to the mother country, nourished his patriotic appetites and helped him preserve the faith and language of his parents. The early churches grew out of the kinotitos community where a symvoulion board of directors raised the money to build the church.
As Greek communities grew, other churches were established in New York ; Chicago ; Lowell, Massachusetts ; and Boston By , there were Greek churches in the United States. Today, the liturgy and spirit of the Greek Orthodox church help to keep alive Greek ethnic cultural traditions in the United States.
According to Kunkelman, to a Greek American, "ethnicity is synonymous with the church. One is a Greek not because he is a Hellene by birth; indeed many of Greek parentage have abandoned their identities and disappeared into the American mainstream.
Rather one is Greek because he elects to remain part of the Greek community and an individual is a member of the Greek community by virtue of his Altar boys light candles in preparation for a church service at St. Irene, located in Queens, New York. For many, the Greek Orthodox church is the center of community life. Therefore, although post immigration to the U. As a result, Greek Americans revitalized their ethnic populations, while many new Asian and Hispanic ethnic groups emerged.
The influx of Greek immigrants since the s has expanded the Greek population in the United States from fewer than one million in to about 1.
The most striking demographic characteristic of this current Greek American population is that the number of the American born of full Greek parentage is double the number of the immigrant group: , to ,, respectively. As far as concerns the remaining , Greek Americans, , have at least one Greek immigrant grandparent and , are of mixed parentage. The post immigrants showed residential patterns similar to the earlier Greek immigrants; Greek Americans are dispersed throughout the United States but they have settled in large urban cities.
Traditionally, Greek Americans have been concentrated in New York. It has been well documented that New York has been a preferable place of initial disembarkation and permanent settlement since the early period of Greek mass immigration to the United States, slightly over a hundred years ago.
They settled by hundreds in the city. Approximately one in four of all Greek Americans resides in the Empire State. Greeks have inhabited the Astoria section of Queens, New York, during the second wave of mass immigration , and it has been considered the largest Hellenic settlement outside of Greece or Cyprus.
In this respect, the sociological analysis of Greek immigration to the US remains incomplete. The findings of this research are important to Greek American sociological literature and Greek American studies in general since they provide new knowledge on a group that has, so far, not been studied adequately.
This is an interesting characteristic since the traditional pattern of Greek immigration, similar to other immigrant groups in America, was predominately male immigration. The median age 39 years old is slightly higher than the national level 37 years old. At the same time, the percentage of year-old and younger Greek Americans 23 is close to the national average Also, the average family size of three members is similar for New York and the rest of the country, while fertility rates are slightly higher for New York Greek Americans 6.
This is an indication of a significant transformation of the group, since it supports that the post Greeks are beyond the immigrant generation. Greek Americans are no longer an immigrant group, but an American ethnic group. Greeks are now Americans of a certain ethnic background. This finding supports our hypothesis that the Greek American community still has a strong cultural attachment, with lower cultural assimilation rates than Greek Americans in the rest of the United States.
A sociological explanation of this is the fact that New York has received the majority of the post immigrants, who replenish the Greek population of the area. Source: U. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Higher Education Traditionally, Greek Americans value education, and the census figures support this. Income Overall, Greek Americans show a higher median income or average earnings than the general population on both the national and local levels.
Greek Americans are represented in many different industries. We should note that the American Community Survey did not include the category of food services. Overall, there are significant differences in poverty rates between Greek Americans and the general population at both the national and local levels. Greek Americans in New York City have a lower level of poverty in all categories.
Immigration and Naturalization Services, Annual Report ,
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