Greek Community in Chicago: Attitude in the USA

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Greek Americans have been considered as citizens of the United States since their migration to the country. As per the 2000 censure in the US, there were more than one million Greeks in the United States with a majority of them still speaking their native Greek language at home. More than three million people in the United States claim Greek ancestry. Most of the Greeks are concentrated in Chicago, Boston, New York, and Detroit.

In the United States, Greeks have been viewed and received with mixed visions everywhere they go. There is a feeling of admiration, ridicule, puzzlement and sometimes hate for these people who are sometimes considered as the genius of civilization. They are credited with having made some of the greatest contribution to western civilization in America and other parts of the world. in the social and academic life, Greeks have been viewed as very strange and have been used to refer to difficult things through the common saying “it is all Greek” to mean that one doesn’t understand what is being said. Throughout history, Greeks have occupied a high profile place in American social political life.

The above phrase presents the ambiguity of something that one is told clearly explain the earlier American perception of the Greeks. Greeks have gone through a process before they were finally accepted to the life of the American people. They have been misunderstood and discriminated for along time especially the early year of the twentieth century. There were widespread discriminations of the Greeks laborers, destruction of their business, incineration and expulsion of Greek communities in some parts of America and the rest of the world. (Makedon, 1998)

Greek community started establishing themselves in the United States from 1850s. They settled in the New Orleans and consecutively established the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of them were coming from Asians and Aegean Islands. Chicago is one of the states in the United States that has majority of Greek Settlers. They started arriving in Chicago in the 1840s through the sea. Greeks have a history of being one of the leading world explorers mainly through the sea. They were seamen and they came from New Orleans through Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and finally arrived in Chicago. Their movement was prompted by some economic activity that they were undertaking through the sea. In their migration, they engaged in one of the most prosperous commerce of that time around the Great Lakes regions. (Saloutos, 1964)

Many of the Greeks who came to United States for trade purposes returned home with stories of the new land and the prospects of economic activities that existed in the land. One of the Greek early visitor Christ Chakonas came to Chicago in 1873 and explored the money making opportunities in the land. He returned home and recruited many other Greeks who came and secured jobs in the construction industry.

They came and took on almost all kinds of businesses in Chicago including food peddling, street merchants, and others. Most of them were coming from Sparta. When they returned home and explained their success in the land, others followed them especially from village of Laconia and Arcadia and formed a small community on the Near North side. This saw the emergence of Chicago as the centre of Greek immigrant in the United States. Chicago formed the larges centre with highest Greek concentration prior to the Second World War after which New York emerged as the centre. (Higham, 1972)

In the begging most of the immigrants to were mainly males. Males were the ones who migrated first which could be attributed to their desire to escape from poverty from their homeland which was occupied by the Turks. They could also have migrated in a bid to escape from being recruited in the Turkish army. Most of these immigrants came for financial fortunes and hoped to go back and join their families having made enough money which could help them offset their family debts or pay marriage dowries for their family females. This can be evidenced by the fact that by the time the Second World War started, about 40 percent of all Greek immigrants had returned back to their homeland.

After the success of the males, female Greeks also started to stream in. the first woman to arrive to Chicago from Greek was Georgia Bitzis in 1885. She came as the bride of Captain Peter Colley. After her arrival, there were many other Greek brides who followed. Most of them came as brides in order to keep with their customers which dictated that a woman cannot work outside the homestead. Although many Greek women arrived in Chicago, they did not participate actively in any economical activity until the Great Depression of 1930s when most of them started seeking for economic activities due to the economic constraints at that time. (Papanikolas, 1993)

Most of the Greeks settled in the central city where they could conduct their food peddling business. As more and more arrived there was population pressure in the city and some turned to operate on the Near West Side which was later to be called ‘Greek Delta’. It is here where the Greek community formed a social class of their own which had its own of life including churches, schools, business, social and economical association, and other spheres of life. The community had its own shops, doctors, lawyers, restaurants, and other business aspects. It was here in Chicago the fire newspaper to be written in Greek on American soil was published in 1904. by 1913, the Greek Press was in operation. (Cronin, 1991)

In the Near West Side, Greek community formed the Greektown which housed most of the Greeks. However it was displaced in the 1960s by University of Illinois Campus. This led to a major relocation of the Greeks with most of them settling in Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, Woodlawn, South Shore, Pullman, Austin, and other areas. By the end of 20^th century, the Greek community had expanded to occupy other Chicago neighborhoods but the Greektown business community had remained very intact and active for all that time and had even started expanding to other areas. The hate that has been directed toward Greeks had been through an opposite admiration of their success.

They established themselves as business community and took on most of business activities in Chicago. It was reported that by the late 1920s, Greeks operated more than 10, 000 stores selling more than $2 million daily. They owned restaurants, industries, flowers and vegetables merchandise, and other businesses. They controlled about one third of all the businesses in Chicago. (Lymberopoulos, 1999)

Despite moving for all those miles and interacting with other communities, it was peculiar how the Greeks maintained their practices. They formed one Greek Orthodox Church in 1885 in a rented facility and by 1892 they established their own house of worship. In 1897, they put up a permanent church Holy Trinity in Peoria Street in Greektown areas. In 1923, Chicago became a diocesan centre for the church in America overseeing the church in Midwestern states. (Stacy, 1982)

This was closely followed by establishment of Greek Orthodox parochial schools along the areas where the churches were established. They established their first Socrates Elementary school in 1908. Other schools were established which followed a bilingual English and Greek curriculum. In these schools, Greek Orthodox faith was taught together with Greek language and culture. (George, 1997)

Hence although the Greek community mixed with other communities, they did not lose their cultural practices. This is evidenced n the way they strived to establish their own churches and schools in which they passed on the knowledge about their faith and their culture. This helped in perpetuation of Greek faith and culture which has not been lost up to date. (Andrew, 1990)

With the atrocities that ensued against communities from the Middle East during the Second World War, many more Greeks moved to United States under the Displaced Persons Act. The immigration increased in 1965 with the enactment of National Origins Act. More than 260, 000 Greeks entered United States at this time and were housed by their relatives who had already settled in Chicago. It was recorded that there were about 70,000 Greeks in Chicago according to the 1990 census. This figure has continued to rise and by 2000 census there were about 93,140 Greeks living here. (Moskos, 1980)

The Greek community however has changed and has integrated more with other communities living along them. There are more Greeks who have taken career in important professionals like medicine, politic and their tradition legacy of business success has not withered either.

Conclusion

Understanding of the immigration pattern of the Greeks to Chicago is important because it helps us to get an insight on how their population has grown over the years. It is also important for us to understand how this community has been able to preserve their culture and faith for that long time. This gives a clear understanding of how the Greek community has been able to understand itself. Initially it was observed that most Greeks anglicized their names in order to secure employment but this has changed over time as the community embraced others and integrated with them. In deed the Greek community has made tremendous contribution to the success of America in many fields. This understanding helps us to appreciate them more.

Reference

Andrew, T. (1990). Education and Greek Immigrants in Chicago. Chicago University Press.

Cronin, W. (1991). Chicago and The Great West. New York: Willey

George, E. (1997). Salt Lake City. Ohio: Swallow Press.

HIgham, J. (1972). Pattern of American Nativism 1860-1925. New York: Athenaeum.

Lymberopoulos, J. (1999). Greek Immigration. Collinsville: Good Shepherded School Press.

Makedon, A. (1998). The Social Psychology of Immigration: Greek American Experience. Chicago University.

Moskos, C. (1980). Greek Americans: Struggle and Success. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Papanikolas, D. (1993). Stories of Greek Immigrants. Ohio: Ohio State University Press.

Saloutos, T. (1964). Greeks in the United States. Cambridge: Harvard University.

Stacy, D. (1982). Hellenism in Chicago. Cambridge: Harvard University.

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Greek Community in Chicago: Attitude in the USA

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