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Polish American
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A Polish American is a U.S. citizen of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Americans of Polish descent.
More than one million Poles immigrated to the United States, primarily during the late 19th and early 20th century.
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Encyclopedia
A Polish American is a U.S. citizen of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Americans of Polish descent.
More than one million Poles immigrated to the United States, primarily during the late 19th and early 20th century. Exact immigration numbers are unknown. Due to the partitions of Poland, the Polish state did not exist at the time, when the precursor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service classified immigrants, according to country of origin, rather than to ethnicity. In particular, the three partitions gave rise to the terms Russian, German and Austrian Poles, as seen in the context of Polish immigration to the United States. According to the 2000 United States Census, 667,414 Americans of age 5 years and older, reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of the census groups who speak a language other than English or 0.25% of the U.S. population.
History
During the period of 1795-1919 on occupied Polish lands, the Polish nation was forced to define itself as disjointed and oppressed minority within three neighboring empires: Russian, Prussian and Austrian. The Polonia community in the United States, however, was founded on a unified national culture and society. Consequently, it assumed the place and moral role of the fourth province. As the State of Poland entirely lost its independence at the end of the 18th century due to military partitions by foreign powers, Polish patriots, among them Kazimierz Pulaski and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, left for America to fight for American Independence.
They were preceded by immigrants such as Jacob Sadowski, who in 1770, settled in New York with his sonsthe first white men to penetrate as far as Kentucky. It is said that Sandusky, Ohio, was named after him.
The largest wave of Polish immigration to America occurred in the early 20th century. Officially, more than 1.5 million Polish immigrants were processed at Ellis Island, between 1899 and 1931. In addition, many Polish immigrants arrived at the port of Baltimore. The actual numbers of ethnically Polish arrivals at that time would be difficult to estimate due to prolonged occupation of Poland by neighboring states, with total loss of its international status. Similar circumstances developed in the following decades: during the Nazi German occupation of Poland in World War II; and further, in the communist period, under the Soviet military and political dominance with re-drawn national borders.
Between 1870 and 1914, more than 3.6 million people departed from Polish territories (of whom 2.6 arrived in the U.S.) Serfdom was abolished in Prussia in 1808, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1848 and in Czarist Russia, in 1861. In the late 19th century, the beginnings of industrialization, commercial agriculture and a population boom, that exhausted available land, transformed Polish peasant-farmers into migrant-laborers. Racial discrimination and unemployment drove them to emigrate.
Initially, the Polish emigrants to America came mainly from the German part of the partitioned Poland, where they were targeted by Bismarck's official policy of anti-Catholic Kulturkampf. Only after 1900, the Prussian Poles were outnumbered by immigrants from Austrian and Russian Poland.
Also, the Russian section of the partition, Congress Poland, was undergoing considerable industrialization, particularly the textile capital of Lódz, the Manchester of Imperial Russia and the iron-foundries of Piotrków Trybunalski. The decline of these areas, after the Russo-Japanese War and the 1905 Russian Revolution, led to a mass exodus of laborers, first to Germany, Denmark and France, then eventually to the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Argentina. At its peak, in 1912-1913, annual emigration to the U.S., from the Polish provinces of the Russian Empire, exceeded 112,345 (including large numbers of Jews, Lithuanians and Belarusians).
In the Polish provinces of Austrian Galicia, chiefly rural, but with laborers in the mines and factories of Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia and Lower Austria, land shortages, crop failures and the loosening of travel restrictions led to another exodus, mainly to Germany, Austria proper, France and the United States. The 1910 United States Census recorded more than 900,000 new immigrants, who spoke Polish.
According to the 2000 United States Census, 667,414 Americans of age 5 years and older, reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than English or 0.25% of the U.S. population.
Occupations
Lopata (1976) argues that Poles differed from most ethnics in America, in several ways. First, they did not plan to remain permanently and become "Americanized." Instead, they came temporarily, to earn money, invest in property and wait for the right opportunity, to return to Poland. Their intention was to buy land there, to ensure themselves of a desirable social status, within the familiar world of a limited reference group. However, the coming of World War I in 1914, made the return almost impossible. By the end of the war, when travel became possible again, many of the temporary migrants had decided to become permanent Americans. After Poland regained independence in 1918 and was building a strong country again, many Poles tried to return. Since all the ills of life in Poland could be blamed on foreign occupation, the immigrants did not resent the Polish upper classes, as much as the immigrants of other European countries detested the top layers of their home countries. Their relation with the mother country was, in fact, unique. It strongly influenced Polonia's life.
Official estimates were that 30% of the emigrants, from the Russian provinces of Poland-Lithuania returned home. The return rate for non-Jews was closer to 50-60%. More than two-thirds of emigrants from Austrian Galicia to the U.S. returned. Russian and Austrian Poles came from areas oriented to a feudal society, where classless Jews performed the essential middle roles of artisans, merchants and moneylenders.
American employers considered Polish immigrants better suited than Italians, for arduous manual labor in coal-mines, slaughterhouses and steel mills, particularly in the primary stages of steel manufacture. Consequently, Polish migrants were recruited for work in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the heavy industries (steel mills, iron foundries, slaughterhouses, oil and sugar refineries), of the Great Lakes cities of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Cleveland.
Polish communities as part of urban America
The vast majority of Polish immigrants settled in urban areas, attracted by jobs in industry. The minority, by some estimates, only ten percent, settled in rural areas.
One of the most notable of the urban Polish American communities is in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. The Almanac of American Politics 2004 states that "Even today, in Archer Heights (a neighborhood of Chicago), you can scarcely go a block without hearing someone speaking Polish."
There are about 10 million Americans of Polish descent. Chicago bills itself as the largest Polish city outside of Poland, with approximately 185,000 Polish language speakers. The influence of Chicago's Polish community is demonstrated by the numerous Polish-American organizations: the Polish Museum of America, Polish American Association, Polish American Congress, Polish National Alliance, Polish Falcons and the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America. In addition, Illinois has more than one million people that are of Polish descent, the third largest ethnic group after the German and Irish Americans.
Chicago's Polish community is concentrated along the city's Northwest and Southwest Sides, along Milwaukee and Archer Avenues, respectively. Chicago's Taste of Polonia festival is celebrated at the Copernicus Foundation, in Jefferson Park, every Labor Day weekend. Nearly 3 million people of Polish descent live in the area between Chicago and Detroit, including Northern Indiana, a part of the Chicago metropolitan area.
Further north, along Lake Michigan's coast, Milwaukee's Polish population has always been overshadowed by the city's more prominent German inhabitants. Nevertheless, the city's once numerous Polish community built a number of magnificent Polish Cathedrals, among them the magnificent Basilica of St. Josaphat and St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. The city is also home to Polish Fest, the largest Polish festival in the United States, where Polish Americans from all over Wisconsin and nearby Chicago, come to celebrate Polish Culture, through music, food and entertainment.
Michigan's Polish population of more than 850,000, is third, behind that of New York and Illinois. Polish Americans make up 8.6% of Michigan's total population. The city of Detroit had a very large Polish community, which historically settled in Poletown and Hamtramck. Poletown was cleared of residents, to make way for the General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant. Much of Hamtramck's Polish population moved on to the suburbs and have been replaced by Arab American and African American citizens, in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Polish influence is still felt throughout the entire Metro Detroit area, especially the suburb of Wyandotte, which is slowly emerging as the major center of Polish American activities in the state. An increase in new immigration from Poland is helping to bolster the parish community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a host of Polish American civic organizations, located within the city of Wyandotte. Also, the Detroit suburb of Troy is home to the American Polish Cultural Center, where the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame has over 200 artifacts on display from over 100 inductees, including Stan Musial and Mike Krzyzewski.
The city of Cleveland, Ohio has a large Polish community, especially in historic Slavic Village, as part of its Warszawa Section. Poles from this part of Cleveland migrated to the suburbs, such as Garfield Heights, Parma and Seven Hills. The more affluent of Cleveland's Polish community live in Brecksville, Independence and Broadview Heights. Many of these Poles return to their Polish roots, by attending masses at St. Stanislaus Church, on East 65th Street and Baxter Avenue. Poles in Cleveland celebrate the annual Harvest Festival, which is usually held at the end of August. It features polka music, Polish food and all things Polish. Cleveland's other Polish section is in Tremont, located on Cleveland's west side. The home parishs are St. John Cantius and St. John Kanty. They also host Polish celebratory events in Cleveland.
Poles, in Cleveland, were instrumental in forming the Third Federal Savings and Loan, in 1938. After seeing fellow Poles discriminated against by Cleveland's banks, Ben Stefanski formed Third Federal. Today the Stefanski family still controls the bank. Unlike Cleveland's KeyBank and National City Corp., which have their headquarters in Downtown Cleveland, Third Federal is on Broadway Avenue in the Slavic Village neighborhood. Third Federal Savings and Loan is in the top 25 saving and loan institutions in the United States. In 2003, they acquired a Florida banking company and have branches in Florida and Ohio.
Other industrial cities, with major Polish communities, include: Buffalo, New York, a city whose Polish neighborhood dispersed into the suburbs and became integrated; Philadelphia, Columbus, Ohio, Boston, Baltimore, New Britain, Connecticut, Portland, Oregon, Minneapolis, Rochester, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Duluth, Minnesota. Despite the lack of new large-scale Polish immigration, some cities are emerging with strong Polish American communities. South Bend, Indiana, has a large Polish population for a mid-sized city. Milwaukee and Denver experienced major increases in their Polish populations, during the last 10 years. There is also a tendency among Poles from Chicago and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to move to Florida.
Luzerne County, in northeastern Pennsylvania, is the only county in the United States, where a plurality of residents state their ancestry as Polish. (See: Maps of American ancestries) This includes the cities of Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazelton and Nanticoke. Many of the immigrants were drawn to this area, because of the mining of Anthracite coal in the region. Polish influences are still common today, in the form of church bazaars, polka music and polish cuisine. It is widely believed that Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, is one of the largest growing Polish communities in the United States.
In addition, New Jersey also boasts a large Polish population, primarily in the North. Wallington and Garfield are two towns, that combined have a population of 41,000 residents. Of those, roughly 12,000 are Polish. Out of all of Bergen County, roughly 7% consists of Polish-Americans. In addition, towns like Elmwood Park, Clifton and East Rutherford, all have decent Polish populations.
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska represent a different type of settlement with significant Polish communities, having been established in rural areas. Historian John Radzilowski estimates that up to a third of Poles in Minnesota settled in rural areas, where they established 40 communities, that were often centered around a Catholic church. Most of these settlers came from the Polish lands that had been taken by Prussia during the Partitions, with a sub-group coming from Silesia. The Kaszub minority, from Poland's Baltic coast, was also strongly represented among Polish immigrants to Minnesota, most notably in Winona.
Religion
Most immigrants to North America from the Polish lands, who considered themselves Polish in ethnic or national orientation, were Roman Catholic. These people were responsible for building the Polish Cathedrals, found in the Great Lakes and New England regions and the Mid-Atlantic States. Poles, in the Chicago metropolitan area, founded the following churches: St. Stanislaus Kostka, Holy Trinity, St. John Cantius, Holy Innocents, St. Helen, St. Fidelis, St. Mary of the Angels, St. Hedwig, St. Josaphat, St. Francis of Assisi (Humboldt Park), St. Hyacinth Basilica, St. Wenceslaus, Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Stanislaus B&M, St. James (Cragin), St. Ladislaus, St. Constance, St. Mary of Perpetual Help, St. Barbara, SS. Peter & Paul, St. Joseph (Back of the Yards), Five Holy Martyrs, St. Pancratius, St. Bruno, St. Camillus, St. Michael (South Chicago), Immaculate Conception (South Chicago), St. Mary Magdalene, St. Bronislava, St. Florian, St. Mary of Czestochowa (Cicero), St. Simeon (Bellwood), St. Blase (Summit), St. Isidore the Farmer (Blue Island), St. Andrew the Apostle (Calumet City) and St. John the Baptist (Harvey), as well as St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital, on the Near West Side.
Poles established approximately 50 Roman Catholic parishes in Minnesota. Among them: St. Wojciech (Adalbert) and St. Kazimierz (Casimir) in St. Paul; Holy Cross, St. Philip, St. Hegwig (Jadwiga Slaska) and All Saints, in Minneapolis; Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. Casimir's in Duluth; and St. Kazimierz (Casimir) and St. Stanislaw Kostka in Winona. A few of the parishes of particular note, founded by Poles elsewhere in Minnesota, include: St. John Cantius in Wilno; St. Jozef (Joseph) in Browerville; St. John in Baptist in Virginia; St. Mary in Czestochowa; St. Wojciech (Adalbert) in Silver Lake; Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Opole; Our Lady of Lourdes in Little Falls; St. Stanislaus Kostka in Sobieski; and St. Isadore in Moran Township.
To assert their independence from the Irish American-dominated Catholic Church, a group of Roman Catholics of Polish descent broke away, to form the Polish National Catholic Church, which is headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Poland is also home to followers of Protestantism and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Small groups of both of these groups also immigrated to the United States. One of the most celebrated painters of religious icons in North America today is a Polish American Eastern Orthodox priest, Fr. Theodore Jurewicz, who singlehandedly painted New Gracanica Monastery in Third Lake, Illinois, over the span of three years.
A small group of Polish Muslims, of Lipka Tatar origin from the Bialystok region, helped cofound the first Muslim organization in Brooklyn, New York, in 1907 and later, a mosque, which is still in use.
Polish American culture
Cultural contributions of Polish Americans cover a broad spectrum including media, publishing industry, religious presence, artistic life, cuisine and museumss as well as festivals.
Media
Among the most notable Polish American media groups are: the Hippocrene Books (founded by a Polish American George Blagowidow); TVP Polonia; Polsat 2 International; Polvision; TV4U New York; WPNA Radio Chicago; RadioPol (Polish Radio Stations Online); the Chicago Polish Downtown; Polonia Today and the Warsaw Voice. There are also Polish American newspapers and magazines, such as the Dziennik Zwiazkowy in Chicago, the Nowy Dziennik in New York and Tygodnik Polski in Detroit, not to mention the Ohio University Press Series in Polish American Studies, Przeglad Polski Online, Polish American Journal, and the Polish News Online, among others.
Cultural identity
Even in long-integrated communities, remnants of Polish culture and vocabulary remain. Roman Catholic churches built by Polish American communities often serve as a vehicle for cultural retention.
During the 1950s-1970s, the Polish wedding was often an all-day event. Traditional Polish weddings in Chicagoland, in areas such as the southeast side of Chicago, inner suburbs like Calumet City and Hegewisch, and Northwest Indiana suburbs, such as Whiting, Hammond and East Chicago, always occurred on Saturdays. The receptions were typically held in a large hall, such as a VFW Hall. A polka band of drums, a singer, accordion, and trumpet, entertained the people, as they danced traditional dances, such as the oberek, "Polish Hop" and the waltz. Always an important part of Slavic culture, food played a very important role. The musicians, as well as the guests, were expected to enjoy ample amounts of both food and drink. Foods, such as Polish sausage, sauerkraut, pierogi and kluski were common. Common drinks were beer, screwdrivers and highballs. Many popular Polish foods became a fixture in the American cuisine of today, including kielbasa (Polish sausage), babka cake, kaszanka (kasanzka) and pierogi, among many.
Polish American cultural groups include the White Eagle Lodge, Polish American Arts Association and the Polish Falcons. The Polish community was long the subject of anti-Polish sentiment in America. The word, Polack, has become a racial slur. Much of this prejudice was associated with anti-Catholicism and early 20th century worries, about being overrun by Eastern European immigrants.
Among the many Polish American writers are a number of poets, such as Phil Boiarski, Hedwig Gorski, John Guzlowski, John Minczeski, Linda Nemec Foster, Leonard Kress (poet and translator), Cecilia Woloch, Kim Kikel and Mark Pawlak (poet and editor), along with novelists Leslie Pietrzyk, Thad Rutkowski, Suzanne Strempek Shea and others.
Museums
Considering the size of the Polish-American population in the U.S. the Polish museums remain under-funded and are not among the primary museums even though they are certainly worth a visit, especially for those who wish to learn about the people who have helped mold the American history. The collections of art and memorabilia are usually bigger than expected.
Among the best known Polish American museums are the Polish Museum of America in West Town, Chicago; founded in 1935, the largest ethnic museum in the U.S. sponsored by the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America. The Museum Library ranks as one of the best, outside of Poland. Equally ambitious is the Polish American Museum located in Port Washington, New York, founded in 1977. It features displays of folk art, costumes, historical artifacts and paintings, as well as bilingual research library with particular focus on achievements of the people of Polish heritage in America. There is also the Polish Museum of Winona, known as the Polish Cultural Institute of Winona, Minnesota.
Festivals
Bibliography
- Anders-Silverman, Deborah. Polish-American Folklore. U of Illinois Press, 2000.
- Andrzej Brozek. Polish Americans, 1854-1939 (1985)
- John J. Bukowczyk. And My Children Did Not Know Me: A History of the Polish-Americans (1987)
- John J. Bukowczyk, ed. Polish Americans and Their History. U of Pittsburgh Press, 1996.
- Erdmans, Mary Patrice. "Opposite Poles: Immigrants and Ethnics in Polish Chicago, 1976-1990" (1998) Penn State Press.
- William J. Galush. For More Than Bread: Community and Identity in American Polonia, 1880-1940, (East European Monographs, distributed by Columbia University Press; 313 pages; 2007). Explores competing versions of Polish identity in Polish-American communities during the period.
- Thomas S. Gladsky; Princes, Peasants and Other Polish Selves: Ethnicity in American Literature. (1992), ISBN 0870237756.
- David J. Jackson; "Just Another Day in a New Polonia: Contemporary Polish-American Polka Music." Popular Music and Society. 26#4 (2003) pp: 529+.
- Helena Znaniecka Lopata; Polish Americans: Status Competition in an Ethnic Community (1976), ISBN 0136864368.
- Theresa Kurk Mcginley; "Embattled Polonia Polish-Americans and World War II." East European Quarterly. 37#3 2003. pp: 325+.
- Karen Majewski. Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880-1939, (2003) - 248 pages
- Jacek Nowakowski. Polish-American Ways (1989)
- Pula, James S. Polish Americans: An Ethnic Community (1995)
- Pula, James S. "Image, Status, Mobility and Integration in American Society: The Polish Experience." Journal of American Ethnic History 16 (1996): 74-95.
- Charles Sadler, "Pro-Soviet Polish Americans: Oskar Lange and Russia's Friends in the Polonia, 1941-1945", Polish Review 22, (1977), 4: 30+
- Deborah Silverman. Polish-American Folklore (2000)
- William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. 2 vol 1920, ISBN 0252010922 (1984 printing). ; famous classic
- Joseph A. Wytrwal. Poles in American History and Tradition (1969),
- Joseph L. Zurawski, Polish American History and Culture: A Classified Bibliography (1975)
Appendix 1: Polish American communities
Polish-Americans comprise a multigenerational ethnic community. Names listed in this category include: Polish-American enclaves with cultural organizations; media outlets; and broadly defined community resources.
Appendix 2: Polish Americans by state totals
According to the 2000 United States Census, the U.S. states with the largest numbers of self-reported Poles and Americans of Polish ancestry are:
- 01. New York (986,141)
- 02. Illinois (932,996)
- 03. Michigan (854,844)
- 04. Pennsylvania (824,146)
- 05. New Jersey (576,473)
- 06. Wisconsin (497,726)
- 07. California (491,325)
- 08. Ohio (433,016)
- 09. Florida (429,691)
- 10. Massachusetts (323,210)
- 11. Connecticut (284,272)
- 12. Minnesota (240,405)
| 13. Texas (228,309)14. Maryland (184,364)15. Indiana (183,989)16. Arizona (126,665)17. Virginia (124,647)18. Colorado (101,190)19. Missouri (90,448)20. Georgia (82,765)
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Appendix 3: Polish Americans by percentage of the total population
See also
External links
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- , Immigration..., Library of Congress
- , State University of New York at Buffalo; information about Poland, Polish universities, Polish Studies and Polish American heritage
- , Chicago
- , New York
- , University of Chicago
- , Classic Buffalo.com
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- , Portage County (WI) Historical Society
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- , Chicago
- , division of PNA, Garfield Heights, OH
- New York-based Polish language Web Portal
- Polish Business Network in US & Canada
- , Polish Businesses and Organizations in the United States
- Pulaski Day Parade in New York
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