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Serbian Americans

Serbian Americans[a] (Serbian: српски Американци / srpski Amerikanci) or American Serbs (амерички Срби / američki Srbi), are Americans of ethnic Serb ancestry. As of 2013, there were about 190,000 American citizens who identified as having Serb ancestry. However, the number may be significantly higher, as there were some 290,000 additional people who identified as Yugoslavs[b] living in the United States.[3]

Serbian Americans
Српски Американци
Srpski Amerikanci


American Serbs
Амерички Срби
Američki Srbi
Total population
191,538 (2022)[1]
500,000 (est* 2000)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
American English and Serbian
Religion
Serbian Orthodox Church
Related ethnic groups
Serbian Canadians and other Slavic Americans, European Americans

The group includes Serbian Americans living in the United States for one or several generations, dual Serbian–American citizens, or any other Serbian Americans who consider themselves to be affiliated with both cultures or countries.

History edit

 
Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery and Seminary in Libertyville, Illinois

One of the first Serb immigrants to the United States was the settler George Fisher, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1815, moved to Mexico, fought in the Texan Revolution, and became a judge in California. Another notable early Serb in America was Basil Rosevic, who founded a shipping company, the Trans-Oceanic Ship Lines, around the year 1800.[4] In the early 1800s, many Serb sailors and fishermen from Montenegro and Herzegovina immigrated to New Orleans seeking employment. In 1841, Serbs founded the Greek Orthodox parish with Greek immigrants in New Orleans, further solidifying their presence in the region.[5]

Serbian Americans fought in the American Civil War, primarily on the side of the Confederacy, as most Serbs living in America at the time were in Louisiana and Mississippi. Several Confederate military units were formed by Serbs in Louisiana, such as the Cognevich Company (named for Stjepan Konjevic, who immigrated to Louisiana in the 1830s), and the First and Second Slavonian Rifles. At least 400 Serbs fought in these three units during the Civil War.[6] Several other known Serbian soldiers in the Civil War came from Alabama and Florida, specifically from Pensacola.

Other Serbs settled in Alabama, Illinois,[7] Mississippi and California, where they joined the Gold Rush.[8] Serb immigrants first came in significant numbers to the United States in the late 19th century from the Adriatic regions of Austria-Hungary and areas of the Balkans.[9] During this time, most Serb immigrants to the United States settled in mid-western industrial cities or in California, which had a climate similar to that of the Dalmatian coast.[3] Serb men often found employment in mines, and numerous Serb families moved to mining towns throughout the country.[9] Serbian miners and their families also settled in great numbers in Alaska, and the primary hub of Alaskan Serbs was in Juneau. In 1943, many Serbian-American miners were killed in the Smith Mine disaster in Montana.[9]

 
First meeting of the NACA in 1915 (Mihajlo Pupin seated first from right)

The number of Serbs who immigrated to the United States is difficult to determine as Serb immigrants were often variously classified by their country of origin, thus as Turks, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Dalmatians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians and Austro-Hungarians.[3] In the 1910 census, there were 16,676 Serbs from Austria-Hungary, 4,321 from Serbia, and 3,724 from Montenegro.[10]

Serbian-Americans volunteered in the First Balkan War.[11] During World War I, as many as 15,000 Serbian-American volunteers returned to the Balkans to fight for the Allied cause in their homeland. Serbs in the United States who did not volunteer to fight marched for the creation of Yugoslavia, sent aid to the Balkans through the Red Cross, formed a Serbian Relief Committee, and urged notable Americans to support the Serbian cause.

Distinguished Serbian American scientist Mihajlo Pupin, a friend of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, led the Serbian National Defence (SND), a Serbian-American organization which collected money and attempted to influence American public opinion with regard to the Balkans.[12] During World War I, Pupin's Consulate in New York served as a center of Serbian-American diplomacy and volunteering of Serbian Americans to the Serbian front.[13] In the 1912–18 period, thousands of Serbian-American volunteers came from Alaska and California.[14]

After World War II many Serbs immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia after the country came under the authoritarian rule of Communist leader Josip Broz Tito.[15] Since then, many Serbian American cultural and religious organizations have been formed in the United States. A number of Serbian American engineers worked on the Apollo program.[16][17][18]

With the fall of Communism and the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Serbs in the United States have established several interest groups, the most organized of which is the Serbian Unity Congress (SUC).[19]

Alaska edit

Alaskan Serbs
Аљаски Срби
Aljaski Srbi
 
Members of the Serbian Society in Juneau in 1928
Regions with significant populations
Juneau, Sitka, Fairbanks, Ketchikan
Languages
English, Serbian
Religion
Serbian Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
Serbian American, Montenegrin Americans, Serbian Canadians

Serbs (and Montenegrins) have lived in Alaska since the earliest days of American settlement in the 19th century. Many Serbs came in the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890s to seek fortune, just like they had done in the earlier California Gold Rush.

The primary areas of Serbian and Montenegrin settlement were Juneau, Douglas, Fairbanks, and Sitka. Many Serbs settled in the Canadian Yukon during the gold rush as well, such as legendary prospector Black Mike Vojnić.

 
The St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Juneau, which was built by Serbs and Tlingit natives.

In 1893, Serbian miners in Alaska built the Orthodox Church in Juneau alongside the native Orthodox Tlingit people, who had been converted to Orthodoxy by the Russians decades before.[20][21] By World War I there were two Serbian societies established in Juneau and in Douglas (Saint Sava Church) for the preservation of Serbian and Russian customs and heritage in Alaska.[22] In 1905 a newspaper called "The Serbian Montenegrin" was founded in Douglas.[23]

St. Sava Church (also spelled "Savva") was a church of the Russian Mission that was located in Douglas, Alaska. Its construction was due, in no small part, to Fr. Sebastian Dabovich (now St. Sebastian of Jackson and San Francisco), who, in 1902, had been appointed Dean of the Sitka Deanery and the superintendent of Alaskan missions. Although under the Russian Orthodox Church, and a "daughter" parish of St. Nicholas Church in Juneau, St. Sebastian found it important that the Serbians that had come to the area— mostly to work in mining— had a church that was "home" to them. On July 23, 1903, Fr. Sebastian, along with Hieromonk Anthony (Deshkevich-Koribut) and the priest Aleksandar Yaroshevich, consecrated the Church of St. Sava in Douglas. However, the sparse records that remain of this church indicate that by the 1920s it may have been sitting empty, and in 1937 a fire swept through Douglas, destroying most of the town, including St. Sava Church. It was not rebuilt.

Serbs also made up a large number of the miners at the Treadwell gold mine until its collapse in 1917 and subsequent closure in 1922. In 1907, during the union conflicts involving the Western Federation of Miners, two Serb miners were killed in an underground shaft; one was a union member, one was not. The funeral procession for the nonunion man was accompanied by a march from the Serbian Slavonic Hall and they ran into the union group of Serbs. The union Serbs demanded the nonunion deceased not be buried in the same cemetery, and some two hundred Serbs of both sides filled the streets. The U.S. Marshal and neutral townsmen had to calm the group in order for the funeral procession to continue.[24] In 1910, there was a massive explosion on the 1,100 foot level of the Mexican mine at Treadwell. 39 men were killed, 17 of whom were Serbian.[25]

During the World War I, many Serbian Americans volunteered to fight overseas, with thousands coming from Alaska.[14]

In 1930s and 40s Fairbanks, Yugoslav immigrants, mainly Serbs and Montenegrins, owned a great number of businesses and bars in the city. In between the world wars, many Serbian Alaskan men returned to Yugoslavia to find brides and bring them back to Alaska to start families.[26]

Today there is a vibrant Serbian community, particularly in Juneau, but Serbs can be found across the state.[27]

Recently, it has become commonplace for Serbian workers to come to Alaska annually to work for a few months in canneries, where food and accommodation is provided. These workers stay on temporary work visas, and speak English.[28]

Publications edit

Serbian Americans have historically published and continue to publish a number of newspapers in both the Serbian and English languages. The oldest Serbian American newspaper currently in publication is the Pittsburgh-based bilingual American Srbobran, which has been in circulation since 1906.[29]

Notable Serbian newspapers published in the United States[29] edit

Population edit

 
Serbian language in the U.S.

Demographics edit

Number of declared Americans of "Serbian ancestry"
Year Number
1980[30]
100,941
1990[31]
116,975
2000[32]
140,337
2010[33]
187,739

A total of 187,738 citizens of the United States declared Serb ethnicity in 2010 (while the 2012 American Community Survey has an estimate of 199,080). It is highly likely that among the citizens who declared Yugoslavian ethnicity (328,547 in 2010; 310,682 in 2012 estimation) are additional ethnic Serbs.[3]

Major centers of Serbian settlement in the United States include Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Milwaukee (12,000[34]), Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Jackson, California.[3]

Various ethnic organizations put the number of Serbian Americans at more than 350,000.[3]

Serbian-born population edit

Serbian-born population in the U.S. since 2010:[35]

Year Number
2010 30,715
2011  30,758
2012  35,765
2013  36,160
2014  33,628
2015  36,969
2016  37,654
2017  38,203

Notable people edit

Notable Serbian Americans among others include recipients of the Medal of Honor such as World War I veterans Jake Allex and James I. Mestrovitch.[36] In 1905, Rade Grbitch, a Serb from South Chicago, was awarded the Medal of Honor by the United States Navy for heroic action on the Pacific Coast (Interim Awards, 1901–1911). The most decorated Serbian veterans of World War II were Mitchell Paige and John W. Minick, both recipients of the Medal of Honor, and George Musulin, an officer of the Office of Strategic Services and naval intelligence, better known for Operation Halyard. In Vietnam, Lance Sijan, received the Medal of Honor posthumously. Butch Verich, Mele "Mel" Vojvodich, and Milo Radulovich are other notable veterans. George Fisher was a 19th-century Serb settler who played an important role in the Texan Revolution.[8]

 
Embassy of Serbia, Washington, D.C.

Rose Ann Vuich was the first female member of the California State Senate. Helen Delich Bentley is a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Maryland (1985–95). The port of Baltimore was named Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore after her in 2006. Mike Stepovich was the last appointed governor of the Territory of Alaska in the 1950s. Many notable Serbian Americans have been active in the fields of film and art, such as Slavko Vorkapić, Brad Dexter and Peter Bogdanovich. Karl Malden won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor while Steve Tesich was Oscar-winning screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away. Predrag Bjelac is mostly known for his roles in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Catherine Oxenberg is an actress who is a daughter of Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević, from Karađorđević Dynasty. Darko Tresnjak is a theatre and opera director born in Zemun, who won four Tony Awards in 2014.[37]

 
Nikola Tesla Corner in New York City

Charles Simic and Dejan Stojanovic are notable poets. Gerald Petievich is a writer of crime novels (turned into movies) and Walt Bogdanich (1950) is an investigative journalist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Specialized Reporting in 1985, the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2005 and the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2008. Bogdanich led the team that won the 2008 Gerald Loeb Award for their story "Toxic pipeline". Branko Mikasinovich is a scholar of literature as well as a noted Slavist and journalist. He has appeared as a panelist on Yugoslav press on ABC's "Press International" in Chicago and PBS's "International Dateline" in New Orleans. Alex N. Dragnich is the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award for distinguished service to Vanderbilt University, and he is author of numerous books on Serbian/Yugoslav history.

Nikola Tesla and Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin are world-known scientists. Another accomplished Serbian-American scientist, Miodrag Radulovački, was named the 2010 Inventor of the Year at the University of Illinois[38] for producing a dozen potential therapies for sleep apnea. Hall of fame basketball player, Pete Maravich (1947–1988) is listed among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Sasha Knezev: is a Serbian American filmmaker known for American Addict, American Addict 2, Fragments of Daniela and Welcome to San Pedro.[39]

Predrag Radosavljević is a renowned former Serbian-American soccer player and famous for scoring a goal against Brazil, the then-no. 1 team, to help the United States defeat Brazil for the first time with a 1–0 win in 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[40]

In Alaska edit

In popular culture edit

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The community is commonly referred to as Serbian Americans in English, and more rarely as Serb Americans. In Serbian, the community is known as [the] American Serbs (амерички Срби / američki Srbi), and more rarely as Serbs in America (Срби у Америци / Srbi u Americi).
  2. ^ Yugoslav nationality or panethnicity of the 20th century was made up of 6 South Slavic ethnic groups who inhabited Yugoslavia: Bosniaks, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes. The Serbs were the most numerous of the groups.

References edit

  1. ^ "Selected Population Profile in the United States". U.S. Census Bureau. 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  2. ^ Lopušina, Marko (2000). Srbi u Americi (in Serbian). Beograd. ISBN 9788663290976.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Powell 2005, p. 267.
  4. ^ Dorich, William. "Who Are the Serbs?" World Affairs Council of Orange County. California, Irvine. 1995. Speech.
  5. ^ Durniak, Gregory, Constance Tarasar, and John H. Erickson. Orthodox America: 1794-1976: Development of the Orthodox Church in America. New York: Orthodox Church in America. Department of History and Archives, 1975. Print.
  6. ^ Vujnovich, Milos M. Yugoslavs in Louisiana. Gretna: Pelican, 1974. Print.
  7. ^ Doughty Fries, Sylvia (1992). NASA Engineers and the Age of Apollo. Washington, D.C.: NASA. pp. 5. ISBN 0-16-036174-5.
  8. ^ a b Henderson & Olasiji 1995, p. 124.
  9. ^ a b c Alter 2013, p. 1257.
  10. ^ Blagojević 2005, p. 30.
  11. ^ Rodney P. Carlisle; Joe H. Kirchberger (January 1, 2009). World War I. Infobase Publishing. pp. 11–. ISBN 978-1-4381-0889-6.
  12. ^ Bock-Luna 2005, p. 25.
  13. ^ Serbian Studies. Vol. 4–5. North American Society for Serbian Studies. 1986. p. 19.
  14. ^ a b Serb World. Vol. 5–6. Neven Publishing Corporation. 1988. p. 40.
  15. ^ Powell 2005, pp. 267–268.
  16. ^ "Srbi "poslali" Amerikance na Mesec!". www.novosti.rs (in Serbian (Latin script)). Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  17. ^ Vladimir. "To Christ and the Church". Serbica Americana. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  18. ^ "Serbs of the Apollo Space Program Honored | Serbian Orthodox Church [Official web site]". www.spc.rs. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  19. ^ Paul 2002, p. 94.
  20. ^ . stnicholasjuneau.org. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015.
  21. ^ Archer, Laurel. Northern British Columbia Canoe Trips. Surrey, B.C.: Rocky Mountain, 2010. Print.
  22. ^ Arnold, Kathleen R. "The Mining Frontier and Other Migrations." Contemporary Immigration in America a State-by-state Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, an Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015. 28-29. Print.
  23. ^ Nicolson, Mary C.; Slemmons, Mary Anne (1998). Alaska Newspapers On Microfilm, 1866-1998. Fairbanks/Juneau: University of Alaska Fairbanks/Alaska State Library. pp. 63–64.
  24. ^ Kelly, Sheila. "Labor Troubles and the Western Federation of Miners." Treadwell Gold: An Alaska Saga of Riches and Ruin. Fairbanks: U of Alaska, 2010. 143. Print.
  25. ^ Kelly, Sheila. "Tough Grind of the Hard-Rock Miner." Treadwell Gold: An Alaska Saga of Riches and Ruin. Fairbanks: U of Alaska, 2010. 110. Print.
  26. ^ Ferguson, Judy. "Interior Immigrants: From a Tiny Country to the Great Land." Heartland Magazine 21 Mar. 1999: n. pag. Print.
  27. ^ "HOME". mysite.
  28. ^ "Man from Belgrade Earned Serbian Annual Salary in Alaska in 55 Days." Telegraf.rs. N.p., 5 Jan. 2017. Web. 12 June 2017.
  29. ^ a b "Newspapers Published in Serbia and the Diaspora". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  30. ^ "Rank of States for Selected Ancestry Groups with 100,00 or more persons: 1980" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  31. ^ "1990 Census of Population Detailed Ancestry Groups for States" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. September 18, 1992. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  32. ^ "Ancestry: 2000". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  33. ^ "Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  34. ^ "[SNN] Serbian Americans savor the good times, each other". Mail-archive.com. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  35. ^ "American FactFinder - Results". Archived from the original on February 14, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  36. ^ Sourcefabric (November 11, 2014). "Oni ne zaboravljaju: Predstavnici ambasade SAD obišli grob Joka Meštrovića". Vijesti.me. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  37. ^ "Performing Arts CT: Live Theater Shows - Hartford Stage". Hartfordstage.org. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  38. ^ . Usaserbs.net. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  39. ^ Knezev, Sasha. "Official Website". 888films.
  40. ^ "USA vs. Brazil history: Preki, Keller, Confederations Cup, more". September 7, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2021.

Further reading edit

  • Alter, Peter T. (2013). "Serbs and Serbian Americans, 1940-present". In Barkan, Elliott Robert (ed.). Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, LLC. pp. 1, 257–1, 263. ISBN 978-1-59884-220-3.
  • Susan Auerbach (1994). "Serbian Americans". Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism: Names and name changes-Six Nations. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-1-85435-675-8.
  • Blagojević, Gordana (2005). Срби у Калифорнији: обредно-религијска пракса и етницитет верника српскикх православникх парокхија у Калифорнији. Etnografski institut SANU. ISBN 978-86-7587-033-3.
  • Bock-Luna, Birgit (2005). The Past in Exile: Serbian Long-distance Nationalism and Identity in the Wake of the Third Balkan War. Berlin, Germany: LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-8258-9752-9.
  • Henderson, George; Olasiji, Thompson Dele (1995). Migrants, Immigrants, and Slaves: Racial and Ethnic Groups in America. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. ISBN 0-8191-9738-6.
  • Kisslinger, J. The Serbian Americans (Chelsea House, 1990).
  • Kosier, Ljubomir Stefan (1926). Srbi, hrvati i slovenci u Americi: ekonomsko-socijalni problemi emigracije. b.i.
  • Lopušina, Marko; Lopušina, Dušan (October 14, 2013). Srbi u Americi. Agencija TEA BOOKS. ISBN 978-86-6329-097-6.
  • Marković, Luka (1975). Borba u iseljeništvu za novu Jugoslaviju. Izdavački centar Komunist.
  • Pejović, Luka M. (1934). Život i rad američkih Srba.
  • Paul, Rachel (2002). "Serbian-American Mobilization and Lobbying: The Relevance of Jasenovac and Kosovo to Contemporary Grassroots Efforts in the United States". In Ambrosio, Thomas (ed.). Ethnic Identity Groups and United States Foreign Policy. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-97532-0.
  • Powell, John (2005). Encyclopedia of North American Immigration. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438110127.
  • Radovich, Milan. “The Serbian Press.” In The Ethnic Press in the United States: A Historical Analysis and Handbook, edited by Sally M. Miller, (Greenwood Press, 1987) pp 337–51. .
  • Slepčević, Pero (1917). Srbi u Americi: Beleške o njihovu stanju, radu i nacionalnoj vrednosti. Ujedinjenja.
  • Šotra-Gaćinović, Milena (1990). Viđenja iz iseljeničkog života u Americi. Vojnoizdavački i novinski centar.
  • Stevanović, Bosiljka. "Serbian Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2014), pp. 133–149. online
  • Vidaković-Petrov, Krinka (2007). Срби у Америци и њихова периодика. In-t za književnost i umetnost. ISBN 9788670951297.
  • Vuković, Sava (1998). History of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America and Canada 1891–1941. Kragujevac: Kalenić.

External links edit

  • USA SERBS/Serbian-American network
  • Famous Serbian Americans
  • Serbian National Defense Council of America
  • Serb National Federation
  • Serbs for Serbs
  • Serb Life eMagazine
  • About the notable Alaskan Serb Dapcevich family

serbian, americans, serbian, српски, Американци, srpski, amerikanci, american, serbs, амерички, Срби, američki, srbi, americans, ethnic, serb, ancestry, 2013, there, were, about, american, citizens, identified, having, serb, ancestry, however, number, signific. Serbian Americans a Serbian srpski Amerikanci srpski Amerikanci or American Serbs americhki Srbi americki Srbi are Americans of ethnic Serb ancestry As of 2013 there were about 190 000 American citizens who identified as having Serb ancestry However the number may be significantly higher as there were some 290 000 additional people who identified as Yugoslavs b living in the United States 3 Serbian AmericansSrpski Amerikanci Srpski Amerikanci American SerbsAmerichki Srbi Americki SrbiSt Sava Trinity Chapel ComplexTotal population191 538 2022 1 500 000 est 2000 2 Regions with significant populationsArizonaIllinoisNew YorkCaliforniaAlaskaPennsylvaniaWisconsinIndianaLouisianaWashingtonOregonColoradoOhioMontanaNevadaMinnesotaTexasFloridaMichiganLanguagesAmerican English and SerbianReligionSerbian Orthodox ChurchRelated ethnic groupsSerbian Canadians and other Slavic Americans European Americans The group includes Serbian Americans living in the United States for one or several generations dual Serbian American citizens or any other Serbian Americans who consider themselves to be affiliated with both cultures or countries Contents 1 History 1 1 Alaska 1 2 Publications 1 2 1 Notable Serbian newspapers published in the United States 29 2 Population 2 1 Demographics 2 2 Serbian born population 3 Notable people 3 1 In Alaska 4 In popular culture 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksHistory edit nbsp Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery and Seminary in Libertyville IllinoisOne of the first Serb immigrants to the United States was the settler George Fisher who arrived in Philadelphia in 1815 moved to Mexico fought in the Texan Revolution and became a judge in California Another notable early Serb in America was Basil Rosevic who founded a shipping company the Trans Oceanic Ship Lines around the year 1800 4 In the early 1800s many Serb sailors and fishermen from Montenegro and Herzegovina immigrated to New Orleans seeking employment In 1841 Serbs founded the Greek Orthodox parish with Greek immigrants in New Orleans further solidifying their presence in the region 5 Serbian Americans fought in the American Civil War primarily on the side of the Confederacy as most Serbs living in America at the time were in Louisiana and Mississippi Several Confederate military units were formed by Serbs in Louisiana such as the Cognevich Company named for Stjepan Konjevic who immigrated to Louisiana in the 1830s and the First and Second Slavonian Rifles At least 400 Serbs fought in these three units during the Civil War 6 Several other known Serbian soldiers in the Civil War came from Alabama and Florida specifically from Pensacola Other Serbs settled in Alabama Illinois 7 Mississippi and California where they joined the Gold Rush 8 Serb immigrants first came in significant numbers to the United States in the late 19th century from the Adriatic regions of Austria Hungary and areas of the Balkans 9 During this time most Serb immigrants to the United States settled in mid western industrial cities or in California which had a climate similar to that of the Dalmatian coast 3 Serb men often found employment in mines and numerous Serb families moved to mining towns throughout the country 9 Serbian miners and their families also settled in great numbers in Alaska and the primary hub of Alaskan Serbs was in Juneau In 1943 many Serbian American miners were killed in the Smith Mine disaster in Montana 9 nbsp First meeting of the NACA in 1915 Mihajlo Pupin seated first from right The number of Serbs who immigrated to the United States is difficult to determine as Serb immigrants were often variously classified by their country of origin thus as Turks Croats Slovenes Montenegrins Dalmatians Bosnians Herzegovinians and Austro Hungarians 3 In the 1910 census there were 16 676 Serbs from Austria Hungary 4 321 from Serbia and 3 724 from Montenegro 10 Serbian Americans volunteered in the First Balkan War 11 During World War I as many as 15 000 Serbian American volunteers returned to the Balkans to fight for the Allied cause in their homeland Serbs in the United States who did not volunteer to fight marched for the creation of Yugoslavia sent aid to the Balkans through the Red Cross formed a Serbian Relief Committee and urged notable Americans to support the Serbian cause Distinguished Serbian American scientist Mihajlo Pupin a friend of U S President Woodrow Wilson led the Serbian National Defence SND a Serbian American organization which collected money and attempted to influence American public opinion with regard to the Balkans 12 During World War I Pupin s Consulate in New York served as a center of Serbian American diplomacy and volunteering of Serbian Americans to the Serbian front 13 In the 1912 18 period thousands of Serbian American volunteers came from Alaska and California 14 After World War II many Serbs immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia after the country came under the authoritarian rule of Communist leader Josip Broz Tito 15 Since then many Serbian American cultural and religious organizations have been formed in the United States A number of Serbian American engineers worked on the Apollo program 16 17 18 With the fall of Communism and the disintegration of Yugoslavia Serbs in the United States have established several interest groups the most organized of which is the Serbian Unity Congress SUC 19 Alaska edit Alaskan SerbsAљaski Srbi Aljaski Srbi nbsp Members of the Serbian Society in Juneau in 1928Regions with significant populationsJuneau Sitka Fairbanks KetchikanLanguagesEnglish SerbianReligionSerbian OrthodoxRelated ethnic groupsSerbian American Montenegrin Americans Serbian Canadians Serbs and Montenegrins have lived in Alaska since the earliest days of American settlement in the 19th century Many Serbs came in the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890s to seek fortune just like they had done in the earlier California Gold Rush The primary areas of Serbian and Montenegrin settlement were Juneau Douglas Fairbanks and Sitka Many Serbs settled in the Canadian Yukon during the gold rush as well such as legendary prospector Black Mike Vojnic nbsp The St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Juneau which was built by Serbs and Tlingit natives In 1893 Serbian miners in Alaska built the Orthodox Church in Juneau alongside the native Orthodox Tlingit people who had been converted to Orthodoxy by the Russians decades before 20 21 By World War I there were two Serbian societies established in Juneau and in Douglas Saint Sava Church for the preservation of Serbian and Russian customs and heritage in Alaska 22 In 1905 a newspaper called The Serbian Montenegrin was founded in Douglas 23 St Sava Church also spelled Savva was a church of the Russian Mission that was located in Douglas Alaska Its construction was due in no small part to Fr Sebastian Dabovich now St Sebastian of Jackson and San Francisco who in 1902 had been appointed Dean of the Sitka Deanery and the superintendent of Alaskan missions Although under the Russian Orthodox Church and a daughter parish of St Nicholas Church in Juneau St Sebastian found it important that the Serbians that had come to the area mostly to work in mining had a church that was home to them On July 23 1903 Fr Sebastian along with Hieromonk Anthony Deshkevich Koribut and the priest Aleksandar Yaroshevich consecrated the Church of St Sava in Douglas However the sparse records that remain of this church indicate that by the 1920s it may have been sitting empty and in 1937 a fire swept through Douglas destroying most of the town including St Sava Church It was not rebuilt Serbs also made up a large number of the miners at the Treadwell gold mine until its collapse in 1917 and subsequent closure in 1922 In 1907 during the union conflicts involving the Western Federation of Miners two Serb miners were killed in an underground shaft one was a union member one was not The funeral procession for the nonunion man was accompanied by a march from the Serbian Slavonic Hall and they ran into the union group of Serbs The union Serbs demanded the nonunion deceased not be buried in the same cemetery and some two hundred Serbs of both sides filled the streets The U S Marshal and neutral townsmen had to calm the group in order for the funeral procession to continue 24 In 1910 there was a massive explosion on the 1 100 foot level of the Mexican mine at Treadwell 39 men were killed 17 of whom were Serbian 25 During the World War I many Serbian Americans volunteered to fight overseas with thousands coming from Alaska 14 In 1930s and 40s Fairbanks Yugoslav immigrants mainly Serbs and Montenegrins owned a great number of businesses and bars in the city In between the world wars many Serbian Alaskan men returned to Yugoslavia to find brides and bring them back to Alaska to start families 26 Today there is a vibrant Serbian community particularly in Juneau but Serbs can be found across the state 27 Recently it has become commonplace for Serbian workers to come to Alaska annually to work for a few months in canneries where food and accommodation is provided These workers stay on temporary work visas and speak English 28 Publications edit Serbian Americans have historically published and continue to publish a number of newspapers in both the Serbian and English languages The oldest Serbian American newspaper currently in publication is the Pittsburgh based bilingual American Srbobran which has been in circulation since 1906 29 Notable Serbian newspapers published in the United States 29 edit Serb Sentinel New York City 1901 1923 Ujedinjeno srpstvo Chicago 1905 1948 American Srbobran Pittsburgh 1906 present Radnicka Borba Cleveland Detroit 1907 1970 Srpska Borba Chicago 1946 The Path of Orthodoxy Leetsdale 1965 present Srpska zora Chicago 1975 Ogledalo Chicago 2003 presentPopulation edit nbsp Serbian language in the U S Demographics edit Number of declared Americans of Serbian ancestry Year Number 1980 30 100 941 1990 31 116 975 2000 32 140 337 2010 33 187 739 A total of 187 738 citizens of the United States declared Serb ethnicity in 2010 while the 2012 American Community Survey has an estimate of 199 080 It is highly likely that among the citizens who declared Yugoslavian ethnicity 328 547 in 2010 310 682 in 2012 estimation are additional ethnic Serbs 3 Major centers of Serbian settlement in the United States include Chicago Los Angeles New York City Milwaukee 12 000 34 Pittsburgh Phoenix and Jackson California 3 Various ethnic organizations put the number of Serbian Americans at more than 350 000 3 Serbian born population edit Serbian born population in the U S since 2010 35 Year Number 2010 30 715 2011 nbsp 30 758 2012 nbsp 35 765 2013 nbsp 36 160 2014 nbsp 33 628 2015 nbsp 36 969 2016 nbsp 37 654 2017 nbsp 38 203Notable people editFor a more comprehensive list see List of Serbian Americans nbsp George Fisher nbsp Nikola Tesla nbsp Mihajlo Pupin nbsp Jake Allex Mandusich nbsp Momcilo Đujic nbsp Karl Malden nbsp Mitchell Paige nbsp Bill Ray nbsp Brad Dexter nbsp David Albala nbsp George Voinovich nbsp Peter Bogdanovich nbsp Steve Tesich nbsp Marina Abramovic nbsp Gregg Popovich nbsp Rod Blagojevich nbsp Dillon Francis nbsp Teresa A H Djuric nbsp Sasha Alexander nbsp Milla Jovovich nbsp Stana Katic nbsp Rhonda Rajsich nbsp Alex Smith nbsp Milan Panic nbsp Helen Delich Bentley nbsp Paulina Lebl Albala nbsp Miodrag Radulovacki nbsp Bernhard Caesar Einstein nbsp Lance Sijan Notable Serbian Americans among others include recipients of the Medal of Honor such as World War I veterans Jake Allex and James I Mestrovitch 36 In 1905 Rade Grbitch a Serb from South Chicago was awarded the Medal of Honor by the United States Navy for heroic action on the Pacific Coast Interim Awards 1901 1911 The most decorated Serbian veterans of World War II were Mitchell Paige and John W Minick both recipients of the Medal of Honor and George Musulin an officer of the Office of Strategic Services and naval intelligence better known for Operation Halyard In Vietnam Lance Sijan received the Medal of Honor posthumously Butch Verich Mele Mel Vojvodich and Milo Radulovich are other notable veterans George Fisher was a 19th century Serb settler who played an important role in the Texan Revolution 8 nbsp Embassy of Serbia Washington D C Rose Ann Vuich was the first female member of the California State Senate Helen Delich Bentley is a former Republican member of the U S House of Representatives from the State of Maryland 1985 95 The port of Baltimore was named Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore after her in 2006 Mike Stepovich was the last appointed governor of the Territory of Alaska in the 1950s Many notable Serbian Americans have been active in the fields of film and art such as Slavko Vorkapic Brad Dexter and Peter Bogdanovich Karl Malden won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor while Steve Tesich was Oscar winning screenwriter playwright and novelist He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away Predrag Bjelac is mostly known for his roles in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian Catherine Oxenberg is an actress who is a daughter of Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđevic from Karađorđevic Dynasty Darko Tresnjak is a theatre and opera director born in Zemun who won four Tony Awards in 2014 37 nbsp Nikola Tesla Corner in New York City Charles Simic and Dejan Stojanovic are notable poets Gerald Petievich is a writer of crime novels turned into movies and Walt Bogdanich 1950 is an investigative journalist He won the Pulitzer Prize for Specialized Reporting in 1985 the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2005 and the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2008 Bogdanich led the team that won the 2008 Gerald Loeb Award for their story Toxic pipeline Branko Mikasinovich is a scholar of literature as well as a noted Slavist and journalist He has appeared as a panelist on Yugoslav press on ABC s Press International in Chicago and PBS s International Dateline in New Orleans Alex N Dragnich is the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award for distinguished service to Vanderbilt University and he is author of numerous books on Serbian Yugoslav history Nikola Tesla and Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin are world known scientists Another accomplished Serbian American scientist Miodrag Radulovacki was named the 2010 Inventor of the Year at the University of Illinois 38 for producing a dozen potential therapies for sleep apnea Hall of fame basketball player Pete Maravich 1947 1988 is listed among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History Sasha Knezev is a Serbian American filmmaker known for American Addict American Addict 2 Fragments of Daniela and Welcome to San Pedro 39 Predrag Radosavljevic is a renowned former Serbian American soccer player and famous for scoring a goal against Brazil the then no 1 team to help the United States defeat Brazil for the first time with a 1 0 win in 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup 40 In Alaska edit Mike Stepovich last appointed territorial Governor of Alaska Serbian father John Dapcevich former Mayor of Sitka Alaska Marko Dapcevich most recent former Mayor of Sitka Alaska Alex Miller Alaskan statehood lobbyist Bill Ray politician Steve Vukovich politician John Hajdukovich pioneer and entrepreneur in Big Delta Mike Pusich former Mayor of Douglas AlaskaIn popular culture editTesla Nation documentary film on Serbian Americans Brad Dexter plays Senator East who gives a Serbian lecture in the 1975 film Shampoo Craig Wasson plays a Serbian American Danilo Prozor in the 1981 film Four Friends In the film Danilo has conflicts with his father his struggle with his heritage his lingering relationship with a girlfriend and his thwarted marriage to a Long Island debutante Timothy Carhart plays a Serbian American detective Ian Zenovich in the 1985 film Witness The name Zenovich originally Zenovic is of Serbian origin Sam Rockwell plays a Serbian American boxer Pero Mahalovic in the 2002 film Welcome to Collinwood Tom Cruise plays a Serbian American Stefan Djordjevic in the film All the Right Moves George Clooney s film Good Night and Good Luck is based on the events surrounding the discharging of American Serb Milo Radulovich during the American Red Scare Simone Simon plays Serbian born fashion designer Irena Dubrovna in the 1942 film Cat People She also appears in The Curse of the Cat People a 1944 sequel to Cat People Philip Dorn plays Draza Mihailovic in the 1943 Hollywood film Chetniks The Fighting Guerrillas In the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV the protagonist Niko Bellic is a Serbian who immigrated to the United States There are some Serbian supporting characters in the game as well Diplomatic Siege 1999 American action film features Serbian kidnappers demanding the release of a war criminal Killing Season 2013 American action thriller film featuring feud between American and Serb veterans Someone Else s America Serbian Cyrillic Tuђa Amerika a 1995 Goran Paskaljevic film depicting the lives of a Serb illegal immigrant and his family in Long IslandSee also edit nbsp Serbia portal nbsp United States portal St Sava Church Douglas Alaska Serbs List of Serbs Serbia United States relations Serbs in Alaska Serbian Home Serbs in Canada Serbs in South America Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery and Seminary Trinity Chapel Complex New Gracanica Monastery Monastery of St Paisius Safford Saint Petka Serbian Orthodox Church Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Eastern America Shadeland Most Holy Mother Of God Monastery Springboro Pennsylvania Sheffield Lake Ohio St Mark Serbian Orthodox Monastery Sheffield Ohio Richfield Ohio Synaxis St Archangel Gabriel Serbian Orthodox Monastery also known as New Marcha Richfield Ohio St Nikolaj of Zica Monastery China Michigan Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church Jackson California European Americans Yugoslav AmericansNotes edit The community is commonly referred to as Serbian Americans in English and more rarely as Serb Americans In Serbian the community is known as the American Serbs americhki Srbi americki Srbi and more rarely as Serbs in America Srbi u Americi Srbi u Americi Yugoslav nationality or panethnicity of the 20th century was made up of 6 South Slavic ethnic groups who inhabited Yugoslavia Bosniaks Croats Macedonians Montenegrins Serbs and Slovenes The Serbs were the most numerous of the groups References edit Selected Population Profile in the United States U S Census Bureau 2022 Retrieved November 7 2023 Lopusina Marko 2000 Srbi u Americi in Serbian Beograd ISBN 9788663290976 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link a b c d e f Powell 2005 p 267 Dorich William Who Are the Serbs World Affairs Council of Orange County California Irvine 1995 Speech Durniak Gregory Constance Tarasar and John H Erickson Orthodox America 1794 1976 Development of the Orthodox Church in America New York Orthodox Church in America Department of History and Archives 1975 Print Vujnovich Milos M Yugoslavs in Louisiana Gretna Pelican 1974 Print Doughty Fries Sylvia 1992 NASA Engineers and the Age of Apollo Washington D C NASA pp 5 ISBN 0 16 036174 5 a b Henderson amp Olasiji 1995 p 124 a b c Alter 2013 p 1257 Blagojevic 2005 p 30 Rodney P Carlisle Joe H Kirchberger January 1 2009 World War I Infobase Publishing pp 11 ISBN 978 1 4381 0889 6 Bock Luna 2005 p 25 Serbian Studies Vol 4 5 North American Society for Serbian Studies 1986 p 19 a b Serb World Vol 5 6 Neven Publishing Corporation 1988 p 40 Powell 2005 pp 267 268 Srbi poslali Amerikance na Mesec www novosti rs in Serbian Latin script Retrieved July 8 2019 Vladimir To Christ and the Church Serbica Americana Retrieved July 8 2019 Serbs of the Apollo Space Program Honored Serbian Orthodox Church Official web site www spc rs Retrieved July 8 2019 Paul 2002 p 94 The History of St Nicholas Church stnicholasjuneau org Archived from the original on February 23 2015 Archer Laurel Northern British Columbia Canoe Trips Surrey B C Rocky Mountain 2010 Print Arnold Kathleen R The Mining Frontier and Other Migrations Contemporary Immigration in America a State by state Encyclopedia Santa Barbara CA Greenwood an Imprint of ABC CLIO LLC 2015 28 29 Print Nicolson Mary C Slemmons Mary Anne 1998 Alaska Newspapers On Microfilm 1866 1998 Fairbanks Juneau University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska State Library pp 63 64 Kelly Sheila Labor Troubles and the Western Federation of Miners Treadwell Gold An Alaska Saga of Riches and Ruin Fairbanks U of Alaska 2010 143 Print Kelly Sheila Tough Grind of the Hard Rock Miner Treadwell Gold An Alaska Saga of Riches and Ruin Fairbanks U of Alaska 2010 110 Print Ferguson Judy Interior Immigrants From a Tiny Country to the Great Land Heartland Magazine 21 Mar 1999 n pag Print HOME mysite Man from Belgrade Earned Serbian Annual Salary in Alaska in 55 Days Telegraf rs N p 5 Jan 2017 Web 12 June 2017 a b Newspapers Published in Serbia and the Diaspora Library of Congress Retrieved August 25 2022 Rank of States for Selected Ancestry Groups with 100 00 or more persons 1980 PDF United States Census Bureau Retrieved November 30 2012 1990 Census of Population Detailed Ancestry Groups for States PDF United States Census Bureau September 18 1992 Retrieved November 30 2012 Ancestry 2000 United States Census Bureau Archived from the original on February 12 2020 Retrieved November 30 2012 Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2010 American Community Survey 1 Year Estimates United States Census Bureau Archived from the original on January 18 2015 Retrieved November 30 2012 SNN Serbian Americans savor the good times each other Mail archive com Retrieved October 7 2017 American FactFinder Results Archived from the original on February 14 2020 Retrieved April 23 2018 Sourcefabric November 11 2014 Oni ne zaboravljaju Predstavnici ambasade SAD obisli grob Joka Mestrovica Vijesti me Retrieved September 5 2019 Performing Arts CT Live Theater Shows Hartford Stage Hartfordstage org Retrieved October 7 2017 Serb is Inventor of the Year in Illinois UIC OTM Announces 2010 Inventor of the Year Usaserbs net Archived from the original on April 26 2012 Retrieved October 7 2017 Knezev Sasha Official Website 888films USA vs Brazil history Preki Keller Confederations Cup more September 7 2015 Retrieved April 2 2021 Further reading editAlter Peter T 2013 Serbs and Serbian Americans 1940 present In Barkan Elliott Robert ed Immigrants in American History Arrival Adaptation and Integration Santa Barbara California ABC CLIO LLC pp 1 257 1 263 ISBN 978 1 59884 220 3 Susan Auerbach 1994 Serbian Americans Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism Names and name changes Six Nations Marshall Cavendish ISBN 978 1 85435 675 8 Blagojevic Gordana 2005 Srbi u Kaliforniјi obredno religiјska praksa i etnicitet vernika srpskikh pravoslavnikh parokhiјa u Kaliforniјi Etnografski institut SANU ISBN 978 86 7587 033 3 Bock Luna Birgit 2005 The Past in Exile Serbian Long distance Nationalism and Identity in the Wake of the Third Balkan War Berlin Germany LIT Verlag Munster ISBN 978 3 8258 9752 9 Henderson George Olasiji Thompson Dele 1995 Migrants Immigrants and Slaves Racial and Ethnic Groups in America Lanham Maryland University Press of America ISBN 0 8191 9738 6 Kisslinger J The Serbian Americans Chelsea House 1990 Kosier Ljubomir Stefan 1926 Srbi hrvati i slovenci u Americi ekonomsko socijalni problemi emigracije b i Lopusina Marko Lopusina Dusan October 14 2013 Srbi u Americi Agencija TEA BOOKS ISBN 978 86 6329 097 6 Markovic Luka 1975 Borba u iseljenistvu za novu Jugoslaviju Izdavacki centar Komunist Pejovic Luka M 1934 Zivot i rad americkih Srba Paul Rachel 2002 Serbian American Mobilization and Lobbying The Relevance of Jasenovac and Kosovo to Contemporary Grassroots Efforts in the United States In Ambrosio Thomas ed Ethnic Identity Groups and United States Foreign Policy Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 0 275 97532 0 Powell John 2005 Encyclopedia of North American Immigration Infobase Publishing ISBN 9781438110127 Radovich Milan The Serbian Press In The Ethnic Press in the United States A Historical Analysis and Handbook edited by Sally M Miller Greenwood Press 1987 pp 337 51 Slepcevic Pero 1917 Srbi u Americi Beleske o njihovu stanju radu i nacionalnoj vrednosti Ujedinjenja Sotra Gacinovic Milena 1990 Viđenja iz iseljenickog zivota u Americi Vojnoizdavacki i novinski centar Stevanovic Bosiljka Serbian Americans in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America edited by Thomas Riggs 3rd ed vol 4 Gale 2014 pp 133 149 online Vidakovic Petrov Krinka 2007 Srbi u Americi i њihova periodika In t za knjizevnost i umetnost ISBN 9788670951297 Vukovic Sava 1998 History of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America and Canada 1891 1941 Kragujevac Kalenic External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serbian diaspora in the United States USA SERBS Serbian American network Famous Serbian Americans Serbian National Defense Council of America Serb National Federation Serbs for Serbs Serb Life eMagazine About the notable Alaskan Serb Dapcevich family Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Serbian Americans amp oldid 1220424682, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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