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Lithuanian Americans who are Americans by citizenship or permanent residence, but are of Lithuanian birth or descent. In 2019, there were an estimated 632,169 people in the U.S. who identified as being of Lithuanian origin or ancestry. Lithuanian Americans form by far the largest group within the Lithuanian diaspora. Chicago has historically had the largest number of Lithuanian Americans and the largest Lithuanian diaspora in the world.
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History of Lithuanian Americans
It is believed that Lithuanian emigration to the United States began in 1659 when Alexander Curtius arrived in New Amsterdam (present day New York City). Until about 1870s immigrants from the Lithuanian territory were mostly noble. Towards the end of 19th century, peasant Lithuanians started to settle in the mining areas of the U.S. such as Pennsylvania and other industrial areas like Chicago. Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle (1906) portrays the daily life of early Lithuanian immigrants to Chicago.
Prior to 1918, Lithuanians were typically listed in U.S. documents as Polish, German, or Russian since Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire. Many Lithuanian families also gave Polish versions of their names upon arrival in the U.S., since due to the language ban that existed in Lithuania at that time. Polish had become prevalent. After the declaration of the independence of Lithuania, Lithuanians began to list themselves as Lithuanians in official documents and on the U.S. Federal Census.
The first major wave of Lithuanian immigration to the U.S., which began in the 1890, ended with the strict immigration laws that passed in the U.S. in the early 1920s. A second wave of Lithuanians emigrated to the United States as a result of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 and the Nazi occupation that followed in 1941. After the war's end and the subsequent reoccupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, these Displaced Persons were allowed to immigrate from DP camps in Germany to the United States and to apply for American citizenship thanks to a special act of Congress, which bypassed the quota system that was still in place until 1967. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 ultimately led to the immigration of approximately 36,000 Lithuanians. Before that, the nationality quota was only 384 Lithuanians per year.
Immigration of Lithuanians into the U.S. resumed after Lithuania regained its independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990. This wave of immigration has tapered off recently with tougher U.S. immigration requirements. The entry of Lithuania into the EU has also made countries such as Ireland and the United Kingdom a more accessible option for potential Lithuanian emigrants.
Lithuanian Americans Today
Lithuanian Americans today are still a relatively small ethnic group in the U.S. but are still visible in the broader culture. Chicago has the largest Lithuanian community in the United States, and with approximately 100,000 self-identified ethnic Lithuanians, it has the largest population of Lithuanians of any municipality outside Lithuania itself. The old "Lithuanian Downtown" in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood was once the center of Lithuanian political activity for the whole United States.
In the Northeast, Another large Lithuanian community can be found in the Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania, particularly in Schuylkill County where the small borough of New Philadelphia has the largest per capita percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in the United States. A large community of Lithuanian descent can be found in the coal mining regions of Western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia Panhandle, and Northeastern Ohio tri-state area. There is also a small but vibrant Lithuanian community in Presque Isle, Maine.
In the Western U.S., Grand County, Colorado's Lithuanian-American community has the unusual distinction in that it is the only sizable immigrant population in an otherwise fairly homogeneous population in a rural, mountainous community. Many Lithuanian refugees settled in Southern California after World War II; they constitute a community in Los Angeles. The majority of Los Angeles' Lithuanian community resides around the St. Casimir Lithuanian Church in Los Feliz, in so-called "Little Lithuania."
Lithuanian Days in Pennsylvania is the longest-running ethnic festival in the United States.
The states with the largest Lithuanian-American populations are:
- Illinois – 87,294
- Pennsylvania – 78,330
- California – 51,406
- Massachusetts – 51,054
- New York – 49,083
The above incorporates some text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Resources
Amerikos lietuviai yra Amerikos piliečiai, kurie yra lietuvių kilmės arba yra gimę Lietuvoje.
Lietuvių imigraciją į JAV prasidėjo net 17 - ame amžiuje. Iki maždaug 1870 metų lietuviai įmigravę į JAV buvo daugiausia bajorai. Maždaug nuo 1870 - ųjų Lietuvos valstiečiai pradėjo apsigyventi anglių kasyklomis turtingose teritorijose kaip Pensilvanija ar kituose industriniuose miestuose kaip Čikaga. Uptono Sinclair'o knyga "Džiunglės" (1906) parodo kasdieninį lietuvių imigrantų gyvenimą Čikagoje. Tik po Lietuvos nepriklausomybės paskelbimo, lietuviai galėjo oficialiai naudoti Lietuvos vardą oficialiuose dokumentuose JAV. Iki 1918 metų lietuviai dažnai buvo pristatomi kaip rusai ar lenkai, nes iki tų metų Lietuva buvo Rusijos Imperijos dalimi.
JAV gyvena daugiau nei 600,000 Amerikos lietuvių (2014)
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Vikipedijos straipsnis: Amerikos Lietuviai
Global True Lithuania: Lietuviškas paveldas JAV