Outline
- Introduction.
- First phase of immigration and settlement
- Second phase of immigration.
- Greeks’ contribution and achievement.
Introduction
Greek immigrants started arriving in Chicago back in 1840s. Initially, they comprised of seamen who had come from Orleans with an aim of trading with the Americans. After realizing the potential of trade in the area, some of the immigrant s returned to their homeland country and came back with their friends and relatives. They comprised of young men and boys who were escaping the hunger that had rocked their country while some were evading being recruited into the Turkish army. Most of these Greeks had a plan of going back home with lot money that could help them settle all their family debts as well as cater for dowries. By the time world war two erupted, most of the Greek communities had managed to go back to their motherland (Andrew, 1995, 260-302).
First phase of immigration and settlement
The first Greek woman to come to Chicago was called Goergia Bitzis Pooley back in 1885 who was the bride of Captain Peter Pooley. More numbers of women started arriving after 1904 with most of them coming to work as picture brides. According to the Greeks’ customs, Greek women were not supposed to work outside their homes and this hindered them from migrating to other countries. It was until when the stock market crashed in 1930 that Greek women, strained by the economic hardships decided to look for employment outside their homes. The Greek immigrants first settled in the central city for it was the most convenient place with respect to their working place as well as getting goods for their food selling businesses. At the beginning of twentieth century, the Greeks started settling on the Near West Side which was later named as Greek Delta. Here the Greeks interacted with other European immigrants and established an apparently comprehensive cultural closed society which had a network of churches, businesses, shops, schools, joint gain communities and hometown associations comprising of restaurants and ever present coffee houses. This lead to the emergence of the first Greek American newspaper called the Greek star in the year 1904 and subsequently the foundation of the Greek press in 1913. By the year 1930, there were already approximately 30,000 Greek immigrants in Chicago (Wayne, 1971, 48-56).
Greektown on the near West Side continued being the meeting point of the Greeks in Chicago until the new University of Illinois in Chicago campus displaced it in the year 1960. The Greeks relocated to other Greek settlements that existed at that time such as Lincoln Square which was referred as the Greektown North, Pullman on the South Side and South Shore. By the end of the twentieth century, the Greek-Americans had spread to other towns that neighboured Chicago such as Lake View, South Chicago and Ashburn. Despite the displacement and relocation, the old business community that existed in Greektown, remained unshaken and even expanded through neighbourhood development that aimed at attracting more influential residents. Even though the Greeks had come from a background dominated by agricultural activities, they quickly adopted to trade activities. By late 1920s they owned most of the restaurants, manufactured ice creams, planted and sold flowers as well as dealing with the sales of fruits and vegetables in Chicago. These Greek immigrants worshiped in Greek orthodox Church starting from 1885 where they collaborated with the Slavic Orthodox believers in renting rooms for worship. A separate Greek Orthodox Church was built in the year 1892, in a rented quarter at Union and Randolph Street which was later transferred to Masonic hall which was close to the market where most of the Greeks were working (Pacyga, 2009, pp. 43-45).
They relied on the church for their spiritual needs and in facilitation of social networking. Most of their major life events such as death, birth, marriage and initiation were celebrated through customary religious rituals. For instance their wedding took about an hour and had varied components: the blessing of rings, reading the scriptures, running around a table three times in front of the church which and which was lead by the priest, lighting of candles and drinking from one cup. Some of the additional customs that preceded the wedding service included the godfather to the bride shaving the groom and the partners putting on red sashes which signified their chastity before they got married. The service could also be followed by a ritual of darning crucifixes of red material on the corners of the couple’s mattress, male children being bounced on the mattress or family members carrying the mattress for the newly wed couple around in circle (Oscar, 1959, pp. 90-98).
Second phase of immigration
After World War two, a new wave of Greek immigration was witnessed with most of them coming to Chicago under the Displaced Persons Act. With the repeal of the National Origins Act in 1965, the number of Greek immigrants to Chicago increased drastically. By 1990, the census conducted in the United States showed that there were more than 70, 000 Greek immigrants in the town of Chicago. By the year 2000, there were about 93,14o Greek people in Chicago. Most of the immigrants, however, moved to the suburbs which saw most of them become successful. The Greek immigrants contributed greatly to the development of the economy of Chicago and the United State at large. The government of the United State knew that the immigrant would be of great importance in improving the economy of their country and hence tried to come up with favourable terms of migration.
Greeks’ Contributions and achievements
At first most of the Chicago people did not divulge that the Greeks had a positive impact to their economy. Instead they argued that their coming resulted to reduction in birth rate among the people of Chicago. They believed that the poor living conditions among the Greeks lead to the native-born population fearing of going through the same thus not willing to bear children. Instead, it was the industrial competition that the Greeks immigrants brought about that checked the population increase among the people of Chicago. Currently, Greek immigrants have become self reliant with most of them running small businesses, others participating in trade while others own restaurants (Mielke, 2005, Par.11). The Greek immigrants also have established groceries which sell various Greek cheeses, different kinds of olive oil, and jars of sweets manufactured out of orange or watermelon rinds. The establishment of schools also lead to the Greeks attaining knowledge. Subsequently, the Greek-American professionals established hospitals that mostly served the Greeks. It led also to the neighbouring schools introducing a bilingual Greek-English curriculum. Greek nightclubs serving both the Greeks and the Americans have also mushroomed in Chicago in the recent years. The Greeks still prefers buying a two bedroom flat where they use the ground floor and lease the upper floor to their fellow Greeks as they used to do in Greektown in the past (Moskos, 2004, pp.45-58).
Reference
Andrew, K. T. (1995). Greek Survival in Chicago. In Ethnic Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait, ed. Melvin G. Holli and Peter d’A. Jones. 260–302. Web.
Mielke, F. (2005). Where immigrants can feel at home: The many faces of Chicago. Web.
Moskos, C. C. (2004). Greek Americans struggle and success. 2nd Ed, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Oscar, H. (1959). Immigration as a Factor in American History. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Pacyga, D. (2009). Chicago: City of the Big “Little” Museums. Journal of American ethnic history, 28 (3), 43-45.
Wayne, M. (1971). Ed. Makers of America. Vol. 3, Seekers after Freedom, 1849-1870. n.p.: William Benton, Publisher.