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Greek Immigrants in the United States So far we have dedicated two articles that have had a great impact and we thank once again the readers of protothema.gr. Initially, the article titled “The first Greeks in the United States from the time of Columbus to the end of the 18th century” on 6/5/2019 and then the article titled “Greek immigrants in the United States”. : This is how the Greek community was born on 12/10/2019. At the end of this article, we promised to return to the great chapter on Greek immigration to the United States, to see what the first difficult years were like in their new homeland, what their professions were and how they were treated. Americans Of particular interest is the unknown pogrom of the Ku-Klux-Klan (Ku-Klux-Klan, hereafter KKK) racist and terrorist organization against the Greeks in the Nebraska Group, specifically in South Omaha in 1909 after the murder of a greek police officer.
From Ellis Island to the “promised land”
Our 12/10/2019 article was completed with the comprehensive inspection that Greek immigrants were subjected to on Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
There, as we have seen, after extensive checks, most people received the “OK” from the US authorities, but there were some who, for various reasons, could not stay in the United States. and they were forced to return to Greece. But what was the sequel for those who stayed in the United States? The early years of expatriates on the other side of the Atlantic were particularly difficult. However, they managed to stand on their own feet, working hard in inhumane conditions. Cowardly, some began opening some stores, significantly improving their standard of living. The money the Greeks made in the United States. they returned a large percentage of their families as remittances (“checks”). Among other things, expats had to deal with the very frequent and hostile attitude of Americans, who of course were also immigrants, as they had been in the United States. only a few decades before the Greeks. The culmination of the racist behavior of the Americans towards the Greeks was the pogrom launched against them by the KKK in 1909 in the Nebraska Group. Let’s take a closer look at all these very interesting facts and events, we believe.
As we mentioned in the article on 12/10/2019, 458 Greeks were rejected by the US authorities because they suffered from contagious or other diseases. Americans also wanted to avoid exploiting human labor by unconscious employers as much as possible. In the early 20th century, many employers had contracts with workers in various European countries, and the contracts they signed made them subordinate to employers. The competent immigration authorities, whenever they discovered that immigrants would become objects of infamous exploitation, rejected possible victims of unconscious employers. Thus, in 1903, 111 Greeks who had signed contracts in our country were rejected. In 1904 53 were excluded, in 1905 60, in 1906 432, 63 in 1907 and 44 in 1908. The percentages of Greeks excluded between 1900 and 1908 were from 1 to 4.3%. In the period from 1936 to 1945, of the 14,043 Greeks who came to the United States. 313 were excluded for various reasons (2.2%). On Ellis Island there were special interpreters from the Immigration Service who knew Greek and explained immigration laws to newcomers and pointed out immigration laws and provisions that favored newcomers. One of them, George Christoforidis of Mytilene, had served thousands of Greeks for many years. Those admitted to the United States from Ellis Island to Battery Place in New York or New Jersey rail stations if they were to meet relatives or acquaintances outside of New York City to work or settle there.
In general, immigrants belonging to this category also had their train ticket to their final destination when they left Greece. The earliest nuclei of Greek communities were built in the cities of New England and especially in Lowell and the outskirts of Boston, Chicago, and generally in the eastern and western states. But the main stop for immigrants was New York, which served as Babis Malafouris writes as a “cleaning house”, a place of compensation between Europe and America. His arrival in Manhattan marked a new chapter in the life of immigrants.
Despite the difficulties and obstacles, the Greeks began to become familiar with the habits of their new homeland, to learn English, to participate more fully in the life of the United States. as citizens with equal rights and obligations.
The completely inexperienced, fatally speaking, began to work hard on the railroads and the mines. But some, more daring and leading the demon of the Greek businessman, leaving a small table on the corner of a busy street or with a wheelchair, sold cheap sweets, fruits and vegetables or flowers.
According to the official report of the Consul General of Greece, in 1901 there were around 1,500 wandering Greek florists and as many or more in Chicago.
Very often, the Greek sellers would fight each other for the best position. Sometimes they did not have the required permission and were arrested by the American police and brought to court.
However, with courage and patience, the Greeks slowly became familiar with the difficult conditions in the United States. And, generally by making big savings, they saved money so they could return to Greece with a good bonus.
In the areas where the Greeks gathered, “centers” were slowly created, where only our compatriots frequented. The first Greek restaurant in New York was Bazanos on Roosevelt Street. Gradually, many restaurants and cafes were created, which were not only entertainment venues, but also employers’ agencies of the first Greek immigrants.
The Greeks who met in these cafes were, for the most part, single and had no social or spiritual contact with other American citizens.
In the cafes, they received their correspondence from Greece, met with their villagers, and learned the news by reading Greek newspapers. There they ate Greek food, drank Greek coffee (“sipping noisy coffee from small cups,” writes the American writer Ernest Poole in 1910), playing backgammon or cards, and arguing about politics.
The professions of the first Greek immigrants in the USA USA
In the early years of immigration from the countries of southern and southeastern Europe, newly arrived immigrants who knew neither the language nor the working conditions of the United States, contributed their compatriots to small businesses or brokers, in exchange for housing , food and a small amount of money was used for his work. Initially, this system of work was implemented by Italians to railway builders and workers. Therefore, the Italian term “padrone” was introduced for employers who essentially governed their newly arrived compatriots. US immigration authorities USA showed an early interest in immigrants who had come to the country without guaranteed work. Thus, for the Greeks in particular, Alcibiades Sarafis, an inspector from the immigration service, was commissioned to study the working conditions of the new Greeks. The findings of Sarafi’s investigation were published in 1911 in a special report by immigration authorities titled “The Greek Padrone System in the United States.”
In this revealing report, Sarafis states that between 1900 and 1910, the migrant labor prevention system prevailed, mainly among Greeks, Italians, Turks, Bulgarians, Austrians and Mexicans.
Among the Greeks, the system “operated” in every city in the United States. with a population of more than 10,000 inhabitants. In the vast majority of them, the Greek workers recruited were poll workers (“glazers”) and, secondly, railway workers, laundries (“saucers”) and street vendors of fruits and vegetables. Street vendors and polishers were generally 12 to 17 years old, while railroad workers and miners were over 20 years old.
According to Sarafi’s report, employers provided children with food, a healthy home, clean and adequate food, and a salary of $ 50 to $ 100 a year, decent wages and living conditions for those who worked in flower shops. By contrast, the rest of the children lived in dirty and unhealthy rooms, often in the same buildings with horse stables!
Worst of all, the living conditions of the children working in the polishers were better. In general, in a house with three or four rooms, more than ten children lived. Three and four in each room, very often. In some rooms there were no beds and the children slept on the floor. In her report, Sarafis mentions the following reasons, which damaged children’s health: many hours of work and their restriction in the same place. Unhealthy living conditions, sleep and complete lack of ventilation in their living areas. Restriction of children in shops (polishers), with poor ventilation. Inadequate diet The dust from clients’ shoes and the poison from the paints the children breathed were particularly harmful to their health. Relevant is the report of the doctor, Consul General of Greece, N. Salopoulos to Sarafis: “μαι I am convinced that all children under 18 who work for a few years in the polishers suffer from chronic diseases of the stomach and liver that predispose them to lung diseases. ” The children’s bodies were dirty, as they rarely bathed, and their clothing was completely unsuitable for winter in the United States. , which were much more violent than those in Greece. For these reasons, N. Salopoulos closes his report as follows:
“In my opinion, it would be much better, and for the benefit of young Greeks, to prohibit them from entering the United States, rather than allowing these children to land here to work in such jobs.”
Remittances to Greece
Despite their very low rates and the difficulties they faced, Greek immigrants to the United States sent remittances to their own home. In his book “Greece Today, The Aftermath of the Refugee Impact,” Eliot Grinnell Mears, a former United States trade follower, writes that Greek remittances abroad to our country were 97 million. dollars, in 1919. In 1920 it reached $ 1.21 million. However, beginning in 1922, these amounts began to decrease and fluctuated between $ 30 million and $ 40 million in the following years.
Racism against the Greeks and the pogrom of the Ku Klux Klan in Omaha
Among other things, Greek immigrants to the United States had to deal, at least in the first decades of the 20th century, with the racist behavior of Americans. In the infamous 1911 “Dillingham Commission Report”, the Greeks are described as “uneducated people, without polite manners, with strange names and habits, and with a peculiar language that did not even resemble Ancient Greek, while the color of his skin was melancholic. ” And, in any case, they gave the impression that they were people of lower quality who could never reach the level of other Americans, that is, it was not possible for them to become good Americans and, therefore, they were not desirable ” .
Therefore, the Greeks were included in those ethnic groups whose presence should be limited to America, that is, their number should be minimized.
In 1909, the Greeks were also under the scrutiny of the infamous Ku-Klux-Klan. This racist and terrorist organization was founded on Christmas Eve 1865 in the small town of Pulaski, Tennessee, by a group of tectonic officers from the Southern Army, whose goal was to restore order and white supremacy in the southern states. United. .Α. Its name comes from two thirds, from a corruption of the Greek word “circle”. In fact, many of the early members of the organization, though Anglo-Saxon and Protestant fanatics, were admirers of ancient Greek culture.
On February 19, 1909, after a heated argument between a Greek worker, Giannis Masouridis, and an American police officer, Edward Lowery, the Greek killed the American. This, combined with unemployment and the economic crisis of the time, led Americans to take action against the Greeks. The local newspaper “Omaha Evening Bee” caused tension with its publications. In an article on February 21, 1909, he wrote: “It is time to free our city from these vile people and take revenge on the blood of our police,” he said.
“A drop of American blood is worth more than the blood of Greeks worldwide.”
Powered by the CCP, in the afternoon of the same day, an angry mob stormed the Greek neighborhood, where 2,500 people lived, and completely destroyed it. Immediately afterwards, the Hellenism of America, with the newspaper “Atlantis” in front, mobilized. Reports and letters of protest from the Church, organizations, associations and communities to the US federal government. USA They have resulted in this intervention, stopping vandalism and compensating the Greeks for their damaged properties. The most caring behavior of the Greeks since then, their gradual integration into American society and their spiritual and spiritual development, combined with the establishment on July 22, 1922, in Atlanta, Georgia, by AHEPA (Progressive Association of American Hellenic Education ), directed by them. George Nikolopoulos and Ioannis Angelopoulos, as a result, never happened again to the detriment of Greek immigrants.
In his book “The Greek-Americans” (2006), Babis Marketos estimates that more than 1.5 million expats lived in the United States 15 years ago. He writes that his number should be between 1,672,000 and 1,936,000 today (2006).
There are now thousands of Greek Americans living on the other side of the Atlantic. Their offer to our country is vast and timeless and we are confident that this will continue in the future, as even if some have an exclusively American education, they love Greece and are inextricably linked to it.
Sources: Babis Malafouris “Greeks of America 1528-1948”, NEW YORK 1948.
George Briasoulis, “The American Greeks and the Ku Klux Klan”, in the magazine “CUESTIONES HISTÓRICAS”, vol.49, MARCH 2006.
BAMBIS MARKETOS, “Greek-American History of the Greek Greek Diaspora”, PAPAZISI PUBLICATIONS 2006.
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