That the Poles were strongly Catholic contributed to such friction, and thus Polonia or the Polish Americans formed even tighter links with each other, relying on ethnic cohesiveness not only for moral support, but financial, as well. Polish fraternal, national, and religious organizations such as the Polish National Alliance, the Polish Union, the Polish American Congress, and the Polish Roman Catholic Union have been instrumental in not only maintaining a Polish identity for immigrants, but also in obtaining insurance and home loans to set the new arrivals on their own feet in their new country.
Such friction abated as Poles assimilated in their host country, to be supplanted by new waves of immigrants from other countries. Polish Americans have, however, continued to maintain a strong ethnic identity into the late twentieth century. With the end of World War I and the re-establishment of an independent Polish state, it was believed that there would be a huge exodus of Polish immigrants returning to their homeland.
Such an exodus did not materialize, though immigration over the next generation greatly dropped off. But political oppression in Europe between the wars, displaced persons brought on by World War II, and the flight of dissidents from the communist regime did account for a further half million immigrants— many of them refugees—from Poland between and the late s and the fall of communism. The fourth wave of Polish immigration is now underway.
This is comprised mostly of younger people who grew up under communism. Though not significant in numbers because of immigration quotas, this newest wave of post-Cold War immigrants, whether they be the short-term workers, wakacjusze, or long-term residents, continue to add new blood to Polish Americans, ensuring that the ethnic community continues to have foreign-born Poles among its contingent. Estimates from the census placed the number of either foreign born Poles or native born with at least one Polish parent at near three million.
Over eight million claimed Polish ancestry in their background in the census and 9. A large part of such identity and cohesiveness was the result of outside conditions. It has been noted that initial friction between Polish immigrants and "established" Americans played some part in this inward looking stance.
Additionally, such commonly held beliefs as folk culture and Catholicism provided further incentives for communalism. Newly arrived Poles generally had their closest contacts outside Polish Americans with their former European neighbors: Czechs, Germans, and Lithuanians.
Over the years there has been a degree of friction specifically between the Polish American community and Jews and African Americans. However, during the years of partition, Polish Americans kept alive the belief in a free Poland.
Such cohesiveness was further heightened in the Polish American community during the Cold War, when Poland was a satellite of the Soviet Union. But since the fall of the Soviet empire and with free elections in Poland, this outer threat to the homeland is no longer a factor in keeping Polish Americans together. The subsequent increase in immigration of the fourth wave of younger Poles escaping difficult transition times at home has added new numbers to immigrants in the United States, but it is yet to be seen what their effect will be on Polish Americans.
Poles are one of the biggest immigration minority. Political emigration is one of least known fact in Polish American society. Links to OSU Resources. Ohio Link Database. Online Journals List. Jan Tyssowski. Joseph Karge, Civil War general.
Brigadier General Albin F. Under Bismar culture and language were forced upon the Poles. It was the German belief that this policy of Germanization was imperative to make the Poles loyal citizens. While acknowledging the right to an education, the government refused to construct and provide resources for more than a token educational system.
By , as much as 52 percent of all male and 59 percent of all female Galicians over six years of age were illiterates. The lack of or limited increase in educational standards and opportunities, along with linguistic and religious persecutions initiated by Bismarck's Kulturkampf policy served as an impetus for Polish emigration from Prussian Poland.
Polish emigration from Russian Poland which commenced in was due in the main to a crop failure, high rate of unemployment in the textile industry due to labor problems, and the institution of universal military service.
The Civil War accelerated American industrial growth, and expansion in terms of physical plant and productivity continued throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Technological innovation and sophistication transformed industrial methods, ushering in the age of mass production. Rooted in limited individual responsibility and standardized tasks, industrial production was increasingly freed from its dependence upon the services of the craftsman-specialist and the quantitative constraints of an inflexible apprentice-training system.
The most valuable labor resource, as well as greatest employment need, quickly became cheap, un- and semi-skilled people who could be molded to perform a mundane, repetitive operation.
Like the majority of America's immigrants in the years , Poles helped to fill this vacuum. Industrialists exploited the foreign borns' vulnerability; their willingness to work long hours in order to escape the drudgery. The majority of Polish immigrants settled in urban areas.
Some worked in New England's textile mills, while others helped to build railroads and produce lumber in the West. Their cohorts in the Midwest found jobs in the meatpacking industry, especially in Chicago; and in the steel mills of Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; and Gary, Indiana. After a short term in industry a few of the immigrants were able to purchase farms in the semi-abandoned farmlands of the East, especially in New England.
Due to their frugal life style they made a success of farming. In fact, many cities in Massachusetts and Connecticut maintain a large Polish population to this day which attests to their successful agrarian enterprises. The Pole was in search of political and social freedoms and the economic opportunities denied him in Europe.
While, America,. World War I halted the flow of Poles to the United States, at least for the duration of the hostilities.
Many Polish-Americans hoped that the defeat of Germany would bring about a restoration of their homeland. Supporting the United States' intervention in the war, they patriotically worked to assure an American victory. The prominent pianist, Ignace Paderewski became the informant for his country and came to America in Wherever and whenever he could, he visited the large cities and spoke of his country's situation. It was his hope to free a country he loved by acquainting the American public with the existing conditions.
Opposed to injustice he preferred to "rely on superiority of right over might, and to that end he counselled love, not insurrection. President Wilson, after being encouraged by the House to "endorse the movement for Polish independence" stated: "I take, it for granted that statesmen everywhere are agreed that there shall be a united, independent and autonomous Poland. The years to saw the slow progression which eventually led to the United States intervention.
In the beginning, this involvement was emotional and, later, became economic. During this time Paderewski appealed to the Polish Falcons for their help to recruit a Kosciuszko Army to fight alongside the Americans. The Falcons unanimously voted in favor of Paderewski's suggestion when War was officially declared on April 6, This Kosciuszko Army grew to , men of which 28, were volunteers from the United States and others were prisoners of the Central Powers.
They were under the command of General Jozef Haller. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, states of these troops: The American contigent of the Polish Army is made up of men moved by the inspiration of the principles involved on the Allied side in this conflict, and their presence on the Western front representing both their adherence to America as the country of their adoption, and to Poland, free and self-governing, as the country of their inspiring sight.
Among the Polish-American communities a constant, patriotic feeling persisted during this war effort to free Poland from German domination. Thus, it could be seen that their participation in the War had a twofold purpose: to support America and to aid Poland in her pursuit of independence.
Because of the victory which gave Poland her independence, the American Poles gained much prestige. They became more conscious of their heritage and developed outstanding Polish cultural institutions for the preservation of their heritage. Shortly after the German attack on Poland and the bombing of Warsaw, appeals were made to gain the support of the American Poles and their descendants similar to those made at the outbreak of World War I.
General Sikorski and other renowned Polish leaders toured the United States and spoke to residents earnestly soliciting their help. The recruitment was poor, however, as the second and third generation young American Poles were willing to fight only in the American Army. During a second tour through the United States, Sikorski's appeals to the Poles were filled with sarcastic remarks which accused the Poles of neglecting their homeland.
Because of his remarks, Sikorski's cause was lost. Moreover, the American Poles retaliated in an anger which was shocking. Now there existed an obvious attitudinal change among the American Poles quite different from what was felt in World War I. The greater concern was now for America and her war problems.
Army and Navy records list 20 percent as American Poles. Throughout the United States recruiting offices stated that 50 percent of their volunteers were of Polish descent and were "among the first to enlist. Americans of Polish ancestry contributed to war efforts heavily. They also contributed generously to service organizations and organized special committees to aid both war victims of Poland and Polish refugees.
More than ten million dollars was contributed to alleviate the suffering. They also provided additional means for religious services for needy war victims. Finally, they contributed additional funds for relief, and in doing so, kept alive in America the reasons for Polish freedom.
Upon the termination of World War II many of the prejudices that prevailed among ethnic and racial groups, prior to World War II were now diminishing rapidly. People accepted new ideas, listened. By the end of the war about ten million were left homeless in Europe. They were labeled Displaced Persons or D. It was anticipated that the countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, would eventually absorb them. The United Stated, still apparently sympathetic towards Poland's cause and remembering the aid received by past Polish leaders in previous wars, passed the D.
Act which permitted , to enter the United States providing they were assured jobs, shelter, and a sponsor. Hayden Wilkes Barre: Virginia Genealogies, , pp. Coulter, Charles W. The Poles of Cleveland. Fleming, Thomas J. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, Inc. Fox, Paul. The Poles in America. New York: George H. Doran Company, Groisser, Philip L. Mastering American History. New York: Keystone Education Press, Haiman, Miecislaus. Kosciuszko: Leader and Exile.
Poland and the American Revolutionary War. Illinois: Polish Roman Catholic Union, Polish Past in America Polish Pioneers of California. The Poles in the Early History of Texas. Halecki, Oscar. A History of Poland. New York: Roy Publication, Katz, William Loren. Slavery to Civil War New York: Franklin Watts, Inc. Lerski, Jerzy Jan. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, Levy, Donald. Mann, Arthur. Immigrants in American Life. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, Martin, Michael and Leonard Gelber.
Dictionary of American History. New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams and Company, Pap, Michael S. Ethnic Communities of Cleveland. Reddaway, W. Great Britain: Cambridge at the University Press, Thomas, William and Florian Znaniecki. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Wieczerzak, Joseph W.
New York: Wayne Publishers, Inc. Wytrwal, Joseph A. America's Polish Heritage. Michigan: Endurance Press, Poles in American History and Tradition. Minnesota: Lerner Publications Co. They came at different times, for different reasons and from different backgrounds and circumstances which affected where they settled in the United States.
Arrivals since then have been under the rigid quota system and have been minimal. The earliest Polish settlers, although only a handful, were prosperous businessmen, adventurers and political exiles. Outside of Jamestown, the earliest settlements were in New York, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, and the immigrants found employment on individual farms, plantations and in businesses.
Polish immigrants, like many others, often had romantic visions of reestablishing their old homeland in America. This was especially true of exiles from a land partitioned by Prussia, Russia and Austria, where their only means of identity was a language and a religion. In , a group of exiles from Austria illustrated this desire. In a petition to the Congress they asked for land in Illinois to establish a new Poland.
The petition was granted, but the land was ultimately abandoned and the original political exiles settled in New York, Albany, Philadelphia, Boston and the Midwest. The "pioneer" period of Polish settlement began with the founding of a farming community at Panna Maria, Texas, in ,.
In , a family from West Prussia settled in Portage County, Wisconsin and founded Polonia which eventually grew to a prosperous rural community. The Polish population of Wisconsin continued to grow and by the state had the largest number of Polish residents in the United States. Patterns of settlement shifted after , and other states rapidly caught up and passed Wisconsin in the total number of Polish residents. Although small numbers of Poles immigrated to the United States through the midth century, the large influx of Poles did not begin until the 's.
Early settlements were mostly on an individual basis, many immigrants taking advantage of the Homestead Act. It is difficult to ascertain the number of arrivals during this period but in all likelihood it was fairly small. By , only 10 parishes had been formed, a statistic of great importance, as Father Jasinski points out: Probably the most poignant suffering and the most far-reaching in its effects was that caused by the strange environment and foreign tongue.
Unprepared for his new living conditions, the immigrant Pole found himself frequently exploited. He became painfully aware of his ignorance of the language and customs of his new country. He sensed the danger of personal, moral, religious and social disintegration. To avoid this tragedy, he clung to his Polish Catholic traditions, to his prayers and devotions; he associated closely with fellow immigrants, preferably with those from the same region of Poland as himself.
Polish immigrants in America tried to reconstruct, as far as possible, the primary social system of the old country. They settled in compact masses, where rent was low and land was cheap, and established communities in which they could build a church. By at least 30, Poles lived in America scattered throughout the thirty-four states and seven territories comprising the Union.
Poles fought for both the South and the North. After the Civil War, American railroads imported Polish immigrants to Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa to settle in agricultural and mining colonies. The Burlington-Missouri Railroad, alone, moved families to Nebraska in to land that it had acquired by Congressional land grants and resold to the Poles. At least one-third of the total Polish immigration ventured into farming; some in the South, some in the Midwest and the others scattered over the Northwest.
Poles had been recruited to work on tobacco and vegetable farms as early as With their knowledge of the land, they restored hundreds of thousands of depleted acres to high-grade yield again. The Poles lived on friendly terms with their neighbors and became as much an integral part of the region as the original New Englanders.
After a few immigrants discovered this paradise. Most of the farming settlements were established by The Polish immigrant, by reclaiming abandoned farms and specializing in onion and tobacco crops, prospered. In the Midwest they planted corn and wheat; in the Connecticut Valley they raised tobacco, onions and asparagus; on Long Island they specialized in truckfarming. Of this number, The "closing" of the frontier by forced the nation's, immigrants to look to other than agriculture for work.
The post-Civil War period was the beginning of the large flow of Polish immigrants to the United States: The decade added nearly 35, Poles to the population of the United States; the decade ending nearly 99,; and the last decade nearly , In there were , natives of Poland in the United States. The "Great. The constant growth of population was absorbed within the existing communities causing sanitary problems as apartments were divided and subdivided. In , still prior to the peak years of Polish immigration, the City Homes Association, published its REPORT on the housing conditions of three ethnic pockets that had been bypassed by urban expansion.
The total population of this sample neighborhood was 13,, an average of This put the density of the "Polish Quarter" at three times that of the most crowded portions of Tokyo, Calcutta, and many other Asiatic cities. It was incredible that in one city block area, a total of 1, people children comprising families lived in an area measuring three and one half acres. There was an average of 3. This continuous flow of immigrants had a subtle change which was particularly critical at a time when the native birth rate was beginning to fall.
Poles went to the cities because of their own economic needs and the demands of industrialization, not because they were urban folk. They found employment wherever they could; they were forced to go into the mills and down into the worst mines.
Poles were often disliked and feared by their English-speaking counterparts because of their determination and hard work. They were manipulated and swindled by employers who were hungry for profit. In desperation and for protection, Poles formed tighter and tighter groups that others called a ghetto and the Poles knew as "home.
Industrial growth and the increasing demand for labor centered along the eastern seaboard and followed the railroads across the Midwest. Poles followed these paths, too, employed mostly as unskilled laborers. There was no industry in which they were not represented, but most were either in manufacturing or mining industries. Since the earliest arrivals were husbands and sons, outnumbering women two to one, they often accepted the most menial jobs to raise the necessary funds to bring their families over.
Pennsylvania had one of the largest groups of immigrants, a result of its coal industry and advertising. In the advertisements attention was called to the state's universal suffrage with equal rights to all regardless of race, religion or belief.
It emphasized that Pennsylvania, moreover, was the only state that tolerated Roman Catholics, with the exception of Maryland. With the arrival of wives and children, the need for better wages, and a concern for better living conditions, pushed the Poles to an equal level with their English-speaking workers.
The arrival of most of the Polish immigrant families made the Poles realize the need to organize, and they began to look closely at the unions. The Immigration Commission of accused America's immigrants of being the cause for long hours, low pay, poor working conditions and, consequently, for the failure of labor unions.
In fact, the truth is that the United Mine Workers entered the field only after spontaneous demonstrations by Poles in and The former contest started as a single mine protest and spread quickly through all the Middle Field, Hungarian settlements.
Unfortunately the demonstrations ended in the tragic Lattimer Massacre where about 60 striking immigrants were killed or wounded.
In labor unrest centered in Polish Nanticoke and Glen Lyon where the union did participate but objected to immigrant aggressiveness. In both cases the workers won significant gains. New factories like those in Cincinnati and Cleveland attracted immigrants, employing skilled and unskilled laborers. By Poles were the largest number of workers in Midwestern industries and mining. They were heavily employed in the textile mills of New England: the census showed Poles in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and by the number had increased to ; there were between three and four thousand Poles in New Bedford in They were also employed in cloth manufacturing in Baltimore, but in much smaller number.
In Milwaukee they worked in the leather industry. In Chicago they were primarily employed in the slaughtering and meatpacking houses. Without America's wealth of ready and able foreign-born laborers, the nation's growth, prosperity and power would have been seriously hampered:. Polish community growth and cohesion were maintained through language, religion and especially its social aspects, the desire for independence and rapid intro-community organizational growth.
The exile of the Jesuits from Poland in brought priests to America who could speak Polish and who had the education and the capability of forming cohesive groups. By necessity, Poles worked in situations where no Polish was spoken. To combat loneliness and the strangeness of American customs, unity with fellow Poles was cherished. Desires to unite all Polish Americans brought about the development of national organizations for the betterment and the support of the Polish community in the United States.
Since the primary focal point for community organization had been the parish church, it naturally followed that the first national Polish organization evolved from the efforts of a priest. It was followed by the Polish National Alliance in which later became the strongest Polish fraternal organization in America.
Another group that was formed for the well being of the Poles was the Polish American Congress. These primary groups, family, church and fraternal organizations contributed to the growth of the established Polish community:.
By , there were parishes mostly east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River. At the turn of the 20th century, two parishes were larger in size than many dioceses. In , St. Stanislaus Kosta Parish in Chicago boasted a membership of over 50, parishioners, and the Buffalo parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr numbered 30, The church also became the disseminator of news, of shipwrecks and other calamaties.
And of great importance, it also provided for the education of the immigrant's children:. The remarkable growth in parochial schools in the Polish parish can be attributed to the arrival of the Felician Sisters in at the invitation of Reverend Joseph Dabrowski.
It was also through his efforts that a Polish Seminary was established in Detroit in The Polish Seminary has since expanded to include a preparatory boarding high school for boys, a liberal arts co-educational college, and a graduate school of theology. Through the years it has been the single most important contributor of leadership to the Polish parishes in the United States. The period following World War I can be considered a turning point at which Polish immigrants were faced with a major decision concerning their futures.
For those who had been waiting for a free Poland, it was now possible to return home. Others had to make the choice of whether they wished to become United States citizens and to define themselves regarding nationality, as Poles or Americans. The vast majority had families, and they considered a second uprooting undesirable:. The immigrant of was entirely different from the Polish immigrant of Of the new arrivals only 2. They were not destitute, like their precursors, in spite of the fact that most of the immigrants after World War I were refugees.
Poland's independence after World War I confronted the Polish community with the possibility of its own disintegration. Those who chose to remain permanently in the United States had to face new difficulties. As they obtained a functional command of the English language, they were exposed to the non-Catholic, assimilationist propaganda of the schools, the government, the press, the theater, the radio, friends, neighbors and classmates.
They were torn between their Polish Catholic heritage and the modern, technical American society. To be truly American, they fearfully believed, meant to give up their language, culture and friends. The American Catholic Church also echoed such ideas. Bishops Ireland and Gibbons promoted the "hibernization" of the immigrants,.
These attempts to assimilate the Poles periodically created feelings of contempt for everything Polish in some immigrants and their children, and to rejection of their Polish heritage by changing their names to hide their Polish past. The situation created social problems within the home and the church, and a gap between the younger and older generations grew.
The use of Polish language was abandoned in some parishes and some Polish parochial schools eliminated Polish language instruction from their curricula. Despite such serious problems, the Polish American community was maintained. Poles received little assistance in their efforts to find solutions to the problems of assimilation and isolationism. Tragically, they felt themselves caught between being poor citizens and poor Catholics, or Poles.
Poles felt insulted by the paternal condescension of the American community and reacted against racist, anti-Catholic and anti-Polish hostility. Their sense of frustration was further compounded by the desire in Catholic circles to "Americanize the immigrants in order to Catholicize America. It was a desperate and debilitating situation: The Catholic Poles thus found themselves in a dire predicament: to become accepted Catholics in America they would have to reject their Polish heritage; to become accepted Catholics in America, they would have to reject their own Catholic Polish heritage and adopt an Americanized version of English culture together with the equally unfamiliar form of English Catholicism.
Some of the foreign born chose to sever relations with their parish and Polish Catholic heritage. Others fell away from the church and joined Protestant denominations. An independent religious denomination, the Polish National Catholic Church in America, was organized by other immigrants under the leadership of Reverend Francis Hodur.
The majority, however, chose to remain Polish Catholic and to remain a distinct group within the American environment.
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