 Map showing the population of Slovenes in the United States by state according to the American Community Survey 2010 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 175,099 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Ohio (Greater Cleveland),Pennsylvania,Illinois,Minnesota,Wisconsin,California | |
| Languages | |
| American English,Slovene | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic,Lutheran | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| White Americans,Slovene Canadians |
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Slovene Americans orSlovenian Americans areAmericans of full or partialSlovene or Slovenian ancestry. Slovenes mostly immigrated to America during theSlovene mass emigration period from the 1880s toWorld War I.
The first Slovenes in the United States wereCatholic missionary priests in the early 19th century.[1] Two of the earliest such missionaries were Anton Kappus andFrederic Baraga.[2] Many of these early immigrants were bilingual Slovene - German speakers.[3] Baraga's sisterAntonija Höffern became the first Slovene woman to immigrate to the United States in 1837.[4]
The peak of emigration from what is now Slovenia was between 1860 and 1914; during this period, between 170,000 and 300,000 left areas that are now part of Slovenia.[5] By 1880 there were around 1,000 Slovene Americans, many of whom worked in the Upper Midwest as miners; within 30 years, about 30,000 to 40,000 Slovenian immigrants lived in the area ofCleveland, Ohio, the center of Slovene American culture.[1] The early waves of migrants were predominantly single men, many of whom (over 36% in the period 1899–1924) returned home after earning money in the United States,[6] mostly in unskilled labor.[1] Many stayed, however, and Slovene women followed in settling in the United States.[1]
In 1914, Cleveland was the third most-populous Slovene city in the world, afterTrieste andLjubljana.[7] Within Cleveland, Slovene Americans developed their own cultural and social institutions, including Slovene-owned groceries, bars, furniture stores, clothing shops, and other businesses; Catholic parishes and elementary schools; mutual aid and fraternal societies; and even a Slovene bank (established inSt. Clair, Cleveland in 2010).[7] By the 1930s, five out of 32 members of theCleveland City Council were Slovene.[7] Most Slovene Americans living in Cleveland eventually moved to the city's suburbs, although cultural institutions within the city limits remain significant. TheCleveland metropolitan area remains home to the largest population of Slovenians in the world outside of Slovenia.[8]
Later Slovene arrivals migrated to the industrial cities or to mining towns in theUpper Midwest,Ohio andPennsylvania. Two later periods of increased immigration to the United States were the years immediately after World War I (1919–1923) and World War II (1949–1956).[9] Slovene post–World War II migrants consisted primarily of political refugees fleeingJosip Broz Tito's communist regime inYugoslavia; this group of migrants was generally older and better educated than earlier waves of Slovene migrants.[8]
Among Slovene immigrants, some were devoutlyCatholic, while others were secular andanticlerical,[6] with some holding liberal or socialist views.[7] The division between the two groups was a prominent feature of Slovene-American communal life for much of the 20th century.[6] A minority of Slovene immigrants practiced theLutheran faith.[9]
In the state of Michigan there areBaraga County,Baraga, Michigan,Baraga Township,Baraga Correctional Facility andBaraga State Park which are named after the Slovene missionaryFrederic Baraga. The town ofSt. Stephen, Minnesota, was initially calledSveti Štefan v gozdu[10] orSveti Štefan v gozdovih[11] (literally, 'Saint Stephen in the Woods'); its roots date back to the 19th century, when it was founded by Slovene immigrants to the United States. It later became the city of Saint Stephen northwest of Minneapolis.
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The Slovene population in the United States has been historically concentrated in theGreat Lakes andNortheastern United States including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado. Three quarters of Slovene Americans live in six states:
In1910 census reported 183,431 people of Slovene mother tongue living in the United States. By the time of the1920 census, that figure had increased to 208,552. Following the enactment of restrictive immigration laws in the 1920s, the number of Slovenes immigrating to the United States declined.[19] The1990 census reported 124,437 Slovene-identifying people.[6] According to the data for the year 2000, 175,099 persons identified themselves as Slovenian, which indicates a (positive) shift in self-image or the perception of Slovenian identity. It is estimated that in the USA live around 300,000 Americans of Slovene descent.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Slovene Americans established a variety of social groups, includingfraternal organizations,[6]mutual insurance, and self-help societies,[20] and cultural and educational institutions, such as choral and drama societies,gymnastics groups, and Slovene-language newspapers.[20] The establishment of Slovene American insurance companies allowed immigrants to protect themselves against discrimination and fraud.[21] A number of mergers and name changes took place during the 20th century,[22] Some Slovene American fraternal, benevolent, social, and cultural organizations include:
TheSlovenian Genealogy Society, International[37] helps members trace their Slovene roots.
A total of 39 Slovene parishes were established in the United States.[7] The first Slovenenational parish with a Slovene priest was formed in 1891 in Chicago.[20] Four Slovene parishes were subsequently established on the east side of Cleveland:St. Vitus's (Sveti Vit) (established 1893); St. Lawrence (established 1901); St. Mary of the Assumption (1905), and St. Christine's (1925).[7][20] St. Vitus's eventually grew to encompass a school and convent; a large new church in theLombard Romanesque style, was built in 1932.[38]
St. Cyril Roman Catholic Church in theEast Village, Manhattan, was established in 1916 as a Slovene parish.[39] Holy Family Roman Catholic Church was established in 1908 inKansas City, Kansas by immigrants fromLower Carniola.[40]
Shrine of Bishop Baraga | |
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The Slovenian Chapel of Our Lady of Brezje, in theBasilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., is the dedicated Slovenian National Marian Shrine, founded in 1971.[41]
Multiple Slovene choruses have been formed, including The Singing Slovenes inDuluth, Minnesota (founded in 1980),[42] the Ely Slovenian Chorus inEly, Minnesota (founded in 1969 by Mary Hutar, final performance in 2009);[43] the Fantje na vasi (Boys from the Village) men'sa cappella choir in Cleveland (founded in 1977);[44] and theZarja Singing Society, Cleveland (founded in 1916).[45]
The first newspaper established by Slovene Americans wasAmeriški Slovenec (American Slovene), which was published in Chicago beginning in 1891 and subsequently in Cleveland.[20] It originally had three versions: a Slovene-language edition, a standard English edition, and an English edition with Slovenephonetic spelling.[20] The newspaper continues today as aweekly.[20]
Between 1891 and the 1990s, more than a hundred other Slovene-language newspapers and publications were established in the United States; only a handful were in print for more than a few years.[20] TheUniversity of Minnesota Libraries has catalogued some 45 Slovene-language newspapers published in the United States in a variety of locations, including Pueblo, Denver, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and New York.[49]
Ustanovljene dne 4. februarja, 1934
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