First Greek-Americans

[Prokomenos]

The first Greek known to have arrived on U.S. soil was a man named Don Theodoro, who landed on Florida with the Narváez expedition in 1528. He died during the expedition, as did most of his companions.

In 1592, Greek captain Juan de Fuca (Ioannis Fokas or Apostolos Valerianos) sailed up the Pacific Coast in search of the fabled Northern Passage between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. He reported discovering a body of water that was later identified as the strait that today bears his name. The Juan de Fuca Strait forms part of the International Boundary between the United States and Canada.

In 1768, about 500 Greeks from Smyrna, Crete and Mani settled in New Smyrna, Florida (near present-day New Smyrna Beach). The colony was unsuccessful, and the settlers moved to St. Augustine, Florida in 1776, where their traces were lost to history.

The first significant Greek community to develop was in New Orleans during the 1850s. By 1866, the community was numerous and prosperous enough to have a Greek consulate and the first Greek Orthodox church in the United States. During that period, most Greek immigrants to the New World came from Asia Minor, and those Aegean islands still under Ottoman rule. By 1890, there were almost 15,000 Greeks living in the U.S.

Immigration picked up in the 1890s, mostly because economic opportunity in the U.S., displacement caused by the hardships of Ottoman rule, the Balkan Wars and World War I. 450,000 Greeks arrived to the States between 1890 and 1917, most working in the cities of the Northeast and smaller numbers hired labor for the railroads and mines of the American West; another 70,000 arrived between 1918 and 1924.

Greek immigration, contrasted with most other European immigrantion to the US, at this time was over 90% male (Italian and Irish immigration which averaged 50% to 60% male). Many Greek immigrants expected to work and return to their homeland after earning capital and dowries for their families. Two factors changed attitudes and facilitated permanent immigration. 1) Loss of homeland: In 1913 at the conclusion of the Balkan Wars, the home towns of 60,00 Greeks in America were converted to Bulgarian territory, and, in 1923, the homes of approximately 250,000 Greeks in America were converted from Ottoman to Turkish territory and, in both cases, these Greeks were de jure denaturalized from those homelands and lost the right of return and their familes were made refugees. The first widely implimented US immigration limits against Europeans were made in 1923, creating an impetus for immigrants to apply for citizenship, bring their families and permanently settle in the U.S. Less than 30,000 arrived between 1925 and 1945, many of whom were "picture brides" for single Greek men.

The events of the early 1920's also provided the stimulus for the first permanent national Greek American religious and civic organizations.
Greeks again began to arrive in large numbers after 1945, fleeing the economic devastation caused by World War II and the Greek Civil War. From 1946 until 1982, approximately 211,000 Greeks emigrated to the United States. These later immigrants were less influenced by the powerful assimilationst pressures of the 1920's and 1930's and revitalized Greek American identity, especially in areas such as Greek language media.
After the 1981 admission of Greece to the European Union, numbers fell to an average of less than 2,000 annually. In recent years, Greek immigration to the United States has been minimal; in fact, net migration has been towards Greece. Over 72,000 U.S. citizens currently live in Greece (1999); most of them are Greek Americans.

The predominant religion among Greeks and Greek-Americans is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. There are also a number of Americans who descend from Greece's large Sephardic and Romaniote Jewish communities.

[Napalm]

It is also possible that many Greeks came before or many who were not discovered yet. Many Greeks were living in other European countries thanks to the ottoman occupation. Many would of made their last names to sound like a name to their host country.

For example, Greeks living in Spain or working on Spainish naval vessels would of taking Spanish sounding names. This makes it harder to trace Greeks since people looking at historic logs would see the Spanish name and assume Spanish.

[Prokomenos]

Thats a very good point napalm..

[Napalm]

The thought came to me from an AHEPA article where they discovered that Greeks had fought in the American Civil war. They had Spanish names since they served in the Spanish navy before they landed in the US. Greeks were always serving in foreign navies during ottoman times because they wanted naval experience for the inevitable day for liberty! So there is definately a strong possibility there are many more Greeks involved early in America's history.

[half greek]

What about Christopher Columbus, some say he was Greek.

There is also a theory that Christopher Columbus may have come from the island of Chios in Greece. Chios was under Genoese control at the time, and thus part of the Republic of Genoa, Columbus said he came from the Republic of Genoa, not necessarily Genoa itself. The island of Chios was under the Genoese rule (1346 - 1566 AD),

Columbus kept his journal in Latin and Greek instead of the Italian of Genoa. He is known to have referred to himself as "Columbus de Terra Rubra" (Columbus of the Red Earth). Chios was known for the red soil in the south of the island where mastic trees grow, and the Genoese are known to have traded with these. Columbus also wrote about the gum-mastic called mastika which comes only from Chios.

There is also a village named Pirgi in the island of Chios where to this day many of its inhabitants carry the surname "Columbus." The name Columbus is carved above many doors in the villages of Pirgi and Cimbori. A priest with the "Columbus" surname traces his ancestry on the island back over 600 years.


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[Prokomenos]

I had heard that to but I dont believe it. Im pretty sure he was a Spaniard.

[yiozik]

I found this: The Journey: The Greek American Dream LINK:
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ABOUT THE FILM
The Journey: The Greek American Dream (documentary, 87 mins., high definition 16/9)
While conducting research on a feature film "A Friendship in Smyrna," filmmaker Maria Iliou discovered a wealth of previously unseen archival photographic and film footage from over fifty public and private collections which tell the fascinating history of Greek immigrants to the United States. Along with historian Alexander Kitroeff and several scholars and guests, she brings these stories and photographs to life in order to explore and document a very special story from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The film narrates the Greek immigration to America from 1890 to 1980. Interviews with prominent Greek Americans including Senator Paul Sarbanes, writers George Pelecanos and Elias Kulkundis, poet Olga Broumas, film critic/historian Dan Georgakas, Ellis Island Archivist George Tselos, Hellenic Studies professors Martha Klironomos and Artemis Leontis, researcher Gus Chatzidimitriou, Father Bob Stephanopoulos, and historian Alexander Kitroeff complement the photographic and filmic archival footage.

"Time Regained"
A Statement by the Director, Maria Iliou
It was chance, or rather inevitable chance, and the magic of a stolen glimpse of day-to-day life viewed through old, forgotten photographs and films that led me to prepare this documentary.

A sudden opportunity in the form of a Fulbright Award brought me to New York three years ago and a chain of coincidences led me to various archives in various cities around America where I encountered many images of the Greek immigration of America, forgotten, locked away in cupboards.

The materials were so stunning that I could find no peace. It was a combination of personal history, my father who had sold tobacco in America in the 1950's, glances full of melancholy and hope which stared out at me from the photographs, coupled with the certainty that the collective memory is something vitally important which one should not let slip away, that cast me into an adventurous round of research and travel from one US city to another.

Along the way I met historian Alexander Kitroeff who studied the materials and became a valuable consultant; and I also encountered collaborators and sponsors from both sides of the Atlantic who warmly supported this adventure.

Alexander and I narrate the story of Greek migration to America using unknown archival material from US archives, dividing the story into three sections: I. Immigrants 1890–1920, II. Becoming Americans 1920–1960 and III. The Revival of Ethnicity 1960–1980.

While the documentary gradually began to take shape, the materials themselves, the very story we had narrated, brought to us a new idea which had always been inside us, but which now took form. These forgotten photographs and films gave back to us our collective memory and simultaneously allowed us to view the present and future from a different perspective. The 'memory regained' from such an experience reminds us that accepting diversity and 'otherness' can be valuable for a society that knows how to evolve.

I feel the need to wholeheartedly thank the sponsors, collaborators, and friends who made it possible to collect the materials and to realize the documentary.

For more information about the history of Greek immigration to the US, click here.

[Prokomenos]

Good find yiozik Im going to definately check this out.