Countries and Their Cultures

Amish

2011-11-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

The year 1993 marked the existence of 300 years of Amish life. Extinct in their European homeland, today they live in more than 200 settlements in 22 states and the Canadian province of Ontario. The Amish are one of the more distinctive and colorful cultural groups across the spectrum of American pluralism. Their rejection of automobiles, use of horse-drawn farm machinery, and distinctive dress set them apart from the high-tech culture of modern life.

HISTORY

Amish roots stretch back to sixteenth-century Europe. Impatient with the pace of the Protestant Reformation, youthful reformers in Zurich, Switzerland, outraged religious authorities by baptizing each other in January 1525. The rebaptism of adults was then a crime punishable by death. Baptism, in the dissidents' view, was only meaningful for adults who had made a voluntary confession of faith. Because they were already baptized as infants in the Catholic Church, the radicals were dubbed Anabaptists, or rebaptizers, by their opponents. Anabaptism, also known as the Radical Reformation, spread through the Cantons of Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The rapid spread of Anabaptist groups threatened civil and religious authorities. Anabaptist hunters soon stalked the Reformers. The first martyr was drowned in 1527. Over the next few decades, thousands of Anabaptists burned at the stake, drowned in rivers, starved in prisons, or lost their heads to the executioner's sword. The 1,200-page Martyrs Mirror, first published in Dutch in 1660 and later in German and English, records the carnage. Many Amish have a German edition of the Martyrs Mirror in their homes today.
The Swiss Anabaptists sought to follow the ways of Jesus in daily life, loving their enemies, forgiving insults, and turning the other cheek. Some Anabaptist groups resorted to violence, but many repudiated force and resolved to live peaceably even with adversaries. The flames of execution tested their faith in the power of suffering love, and although some recanted, many died for their faith. Harsh persecution pushed many Anabaptists underground and into rural hideaways. Swiss Anabaptism took root in rural soil. The sting of persecution, however, divided the church and the larger society in Anabaptist minds. The Anabaptists believed that the kingdoms of this world anchored on the use of coercion clashed with the peaceable kingdom of God.
By 1660 some Swiss Anabaptists had migrated north to the Alsace region of present-day France, which borders southwestern Germany. The Amish came into the picture in 1693 when Swiss and South German Anabaptists split into two streams: Amish and Mennonite. Jakob Ammann, an elder of the Alsatian church, sought to revitalize the Anabaptist movement in 1693. He proposed holding communion twice a year rather than the typical Swiss practice of once a year. He argued that Anabaptist Christians in obedience to Christ should wash each others' feet in the communion service. To promote doctrinal purity and spiritual discipline Ammann forbade fashionable dress and the trimming of beards, and he administered a strict discipline in his congregations. Appealing to New Testament teachings, Ammann advocated the shunning of excommunicated members. Ammann's followers, eventually called Amish, soon became another sect in the Anabaptist family.

SIGNIFICANT IMMIGRATION WAVES

Searching for political stability and religious freedom, the Amish came to North America in two waves—in the mid-1700s and again in the first half of the 1800s. Their first settlements were in southeastern Pennsylvania. Eventually they followed the frontier to other counties in Pennsylvania, then to Ohio, Indiana, and to other Midwestern states. Today Amish settlements are primarily located in the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest regions of the United States. Very few Amish live west of the Mississippi or in the deep south. In Europe, the last Amish congregation dissolved about 1937.

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Flowing with the rising tide of industrialization in the late nineteenth century, some clusters of Amish formed more progressive Amish-Mennonite churches. The more conservative guardians of the heritage became known as the Old Order Amish. In the twentieth century some Old Order Amish, hankering again after modern conveniences, formed congregations of New Order Amish in the 1960s. The small numbers of New Order Amish groups sometimes permit their members to install phones in their homes, use electricity from public utilities, and use tractors in their fields.
At the turn of the twentieth century the Old Order Amish numbered about 5,000 in North America. Now scattered across 22 states and Ontario they number about 150,000 children and adults. Nearly three quarters live in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Other sizeable communities are in Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Wisconsin. A loose federation of some 900 congregations, the Amish function without a national organization or an annual convention. Local church districts—congregations of 25 to 35 families—shape the heart of Amish life.

Acculturation and Assimilation

The Amish have been able to maintain a distinctive ethnic subculture by successfully resisting acculturation and assimilation. The Amish try to maintain cultural customs that preserve their identity. They have resisted assimilation into American culture by emphasizing separation from the world, rejecting higher education, selectively using technology, and restricting interaction with outsiders.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND BELIEFS

The word Amish evokes images of buggies and lanterns. At first glance Amish groupings across North America appear pressed from the same cultural mold. A deeper look reveals many differences among Amish groups. Some affiliations forbid milking machines while others depend on them. Mechanical hay balers widely used in some areas are taboo in others. Prescribed buggy tops are gray or

This photograph, taken in 1986, features an Amish family from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They are harvesting corn so that they may feed their livestock during the winter months.

black in many affiliations but other groups have white or yellow tops. Buttons on clothing are banished in many groups, but acceptable in others. The dead are embalmed in one settlement but not in another. Some bishops permit telephones in small shops, but others do not. Artificial insemination of livestock is acceptable in one district but not in another. In some communities virtually all the men are farmers, but in others many adults work in small shops and cottage industries. In still other settlements Amish persons work in rural factories operated by non-Amish persons. Practices vary between church districts even within the same settlement. Diversity thrives behind the front stage of Amish life. Several distinctive badges of ethnic identity unite the Old Order Amish across North America: horse-and-buggy transportation; the use of horses and mules for field work; plain dress in many variations; a beard and shaven upper lip for men; a prayer cap for women; the Pennsylvania German dialect; worship in homes; eighth-grade, parochial schooling; the rejection of electricity from public utility lines; and taboos on the ownership of televisions and computers. These symbols of solidarity circumscribe the Amish world and bridle the forces of assimilation.
Amish life pivots on Gelassenheit (pronounced Ge-las-en-hite), the cornerstone of Amish values. Roughly translated, this German word means submission, yielding to a higher authority. In practice it entails self-surrender, resignation to God's will, yielding to others, self-denial, contentment, and a quiet spirit. The religious meaning of Gelassenheit expresses itself in a quiet and reserved personality and places the needs of others above self. It nurtures a subdued self, gentle handshakes, lower voices, slower strides, a life etched with modesty and reserve. Children learn the essence of Gelassenheit in a favorite verse: "I must be a Christian child, / Gentle, patient, meek, and mild, / Must be honest, simple, true, / I must cheerfully obey, / Giving up my will and way."
Another favorite saying explains that JOY means Jesus first, Yourself last, and Others in between. As the cornerstone of Amish culture, Gelassenheit collides with the bold, assertive individualism of modern life that seeks and rewards personal achievement, self-fulfillment, and individual recognition at every turn.
The spirit of Gelassenheit expresses itself in obedience, humility, and simplicity. To Amish thinking, obedience to the will of God is the cardinal religious value. Disobedience is dangerous. Unconfessed it leads to eternal separation. Submission to authority at all levels creates an orderly community. Children learn to obey at an early age. Disobedience is nipped in the bud. Students obey teachers without question. Adults yield to the regulations of the church. Among elders, ministers concede to bishops, who obey the Lord.
Humility is coupled with obedience in Amish life. Pride, a religious term for unbridled individualism, threatens the welfare of an orderly community. Amish teachers also remind students that the middle letter of pride is I. Proud individuals display the spirit of arrogance, not Gelassenheit. They are pushy, bold, and forward. What non-Amish consider proper credit for one's accomplishments the Amish view as the hankerings of a vain spirit. The Amish contend that pride disturbs the equality and tranquility of an orderly community. The humble person freely gives of self in the service of community without seeking recognition.
Simplicity is also esteemed in Amish life. Simplicity in clothing, household decor, architecture, and worship nurtures equality and orderliness. Fancy and gaudy decorations lead to pride. Luxury and convenience cultivate vanity. The tools of self-adornment—make-up, jewelry, wrist watches, and wedding rings—are taboo and viewed as signs of pride.

AMISH SURVIVAL

The Amish do not actively evangelize. They do welcome outsiders, but few make the cultural leap. Membership in some settlements doubles about every 20 years. Their growth is fueled by a robust birth rate that averages seven children per family. The defection rate varies by settlement, but is usually less than 20 percent. Thus, six out of seven children, on the average, remain Amish.
Beyond biological reproduction, a dual strategy of resistance and compromise has enabled the Amish to flourish in the modern world. They have resisted acculturation by constructing social fences around their community. Core values are translated into visible symbols of identity. Badges of ethnicity—horse, buggy, lantern, dialect, and dress—draw sharp contours between Amish and modern life.
The Amish resist the forces of modernization in other ways. Cultural ties to the outside world are curbed by speaking the dialect, marrying within the group, spurning television, prohibiting higher education, and limiting social interaction with outsiders. Parochial schools insulate Amish youth from the contaminating influence of worldly peers. Moreover, ethnic schools limit exposure to threatening ideas. From birth to death, members are embedded in a web of ethnicity. These cultural defenses fortify Amish identity and help abate the lure of modernity.
The temptations of the outside world, however, have always been a factor in Amish life. Instead of forbidding contact outright, the Amish tolerate the custom of rumschpringen , or running around. This custom allows Amish teenagers and young adults to flirt for a few years with such temptations as drinking, dating, and driving cars before they accept baptism and assume their adult responsibilities within the Amish community. Though such behavior is, for the most part, relatively mild, in recent years it has included more extreme activities. In 1998, for example, two Amish men in Lancaster County were charged with selling cocaine to other young people in their community. And in 1999, as many as 40 Amish teenagers turned violent after a drinking spree and seriously vandalized a Amish farmstead. While community elders express increasing concern about such events, they stress that most youthful behavior does not exceed reasonable bounds.
The survival strategy of the Amish has also involved cultural compromises. The Amish are not a calcified relic of bygone days, for they change continually. Their willingness to compromise often results in odd mixtures of tradition and progress. Tractors may be used at Amish barns but not in fields. Horses and mules pull modern farm machinery in some settlements. Twelve-volt electricity from batteries is acceptable but not when it comes from public utility lines. Hydraulic and air pressure are used instead of electricity to operate modern machines in many Amish carpentry and mechanical shops. Members frequently ride in cars or vans, but are not permitted to drive them. Telephones, found by farm lanes and shops, are missing from Amish homes. Modern gas appliances fill Amish kitchens in some states and lanterns illuminate modern bathrooms in some Amish homes.
These riddles of Amish life often baffle and, indeed, appear downright silly to outsiders. In reality, however, they reflect delicate bargains that the Amish have struck between their desire to maintain tradition while enjoying the fruits of progress. The Amish are willing to change but not at the expense of communal values and ethnic identity. They use modern technology but not when it disrupts family and community stability.
Viewed within the context of Amish history, the compromises are reasonable ways of achieving community goals. Hardly foolish contradictions, they preserve core values while permitting selective modernization. They bolster Amish identity while reaping many benefits of modern life. Such flexibility boosts the economic vitality of the community and also retains the allegiance of Amish youth.

CUISINE

Food preferences among the Amish vary somewhat from state to state. Breakfast fare for many families includes eggs, fried potatoes, toast, and in some communities, commercial cereals such as Corn-flakes and Cheerios. Typical breakfast foods in Pennsylvania also include shoofly pie, which is sometimes dipped in or covered with coffee or milk, stewed crackers in warm milk, mush made from corn meal, and sausage. Puddings and scrapple are also breakfast favorites. The puddings consist of ground liver, heart, and kidneys from pork and beef. These basic ingredients are also combined with flour and corn meal to produce scrapple.
For farm families the mid-day dinner is usually the largest meal of the day. Noontime dinners and evening suppers often include beef or chicken dishes, and vegetables in season from the family garden, such as peas, corn, green beans, lima beans, and carrots. Mashed potatoes covered with beef gravy, noodles with brown butter, chicken potpie, and sauerkraut are regional favorites. For side dishes and deserts there are applesauce, corn starch pudding, tapioca, and fruit pies in season, such as apple, rhubarb, pumpkin, and snitz pies made with dried apples. Potato soup and chicken-corn-noodle soup are commonplace. In summer months cold fruit soups consisting of strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries added to milk and bread cubes appear on Amish tables. Meadow tea, homemade root beer, and instant drink mixes are used in the summer.
Food preservation and preparation for large families and sizeable gatherings is an enormous undertaking. Although food lies beyond the reach of religious regulations, each community has a traditional menu that is typically served at large meals following church services, weddings, and funerals. Host families often bake three dozen pies for the noontime meal following the biweekly church service. Quantities of canned food vary by family size and preference but it is not uncommon for a family to can 150 quarts of apple sauce, 100 quarts of peaches, 60 quarts of pears, 50 quarts of grape juice, and 50 quarts of pizza sauce.
More and more food is purchased from stores, sometimes operated by the Amish themselves. In a more progressive settlement one Amishwoman estimates that only half of the families bake their own bread. The growing use of instant pudding, instant drinks, snack foods, and canned soups reflects growing time constraints. The use of commercial food rises as families leave the farm and especially as women enter entrepreneurial roles.

TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

The Amish church prescribes dress regulations for its members but the unwritten standards vary considerably by settlement. Men are expected to wear a wide brim hat and a vest when they appear in public. In winter months and at church services they wear a black suit coat which is typically fastened with hooks and eyes rather than with buttons. Men use suspenders instead of belts.
Amish women are expected to wear a prayer covering and a bonnet when they appear in public settings. Most women wear a cape over their dresses as well as an apron. The three parts of the dress are often fastened together with straight pins. Various colors, including green, brown, blue, and lavender, are permitted for men's shirts and women's dresses, but designs and figures in the material are taboo. Although young girls do not wear a prayer covering, Amish children are typically dressed similar to their parents.

HOLIDAYS

Sharing some national holidays with non-Amish neighbors and adding others of their own, the Amish calendar underscores both their participation in and separation from the larger world. As conscientious objectors, they have little enthusiasm for patriotic days with a military flair. Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and the Fourth of July are barely noticed. Labor Day stirs little interest. The witches and goblins of Halloween run contrary to Amish spirits: pumpkins may be displayed in some settlements, but without cut faces. And Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday slips by unnoticed in many rural enclaves.
Amish holidays earmark the rhythm of the seasons and religious celebrations. A day for prayer and fasting precedes the October communion service in some communities. Fall weddings provide ample holidays of another sort. Amish without wedding invitations celebrate Thanksgiving Day with turkey dinners and family gatherings. New Year's Day is a quiet time for family gatherings. In many communities a second day is added to the celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. The regular holiday, a sacred time, flows with quiet family activities. The following day, or second Christmas, Easter Monday, and Pentecost Monday, provides time for recreation, visiting, and sometimes shopping. Ascension day, the day prior to Pentecost, is a holiday for visiting, fishing, and other forms of recreation.
Christmas and Easter festivities are spared from commercial trappings. Families exchange Christmas cards and gifts. Some presents are homemade crafts and practical gifts, but are increasingly store bought. Homes are decorated with greens but Christmas trees, stockings, special lights, Santa Claus, and mistletoe are missing. Although eggs are sometimes painted and children may be given a basket of candy, Easter bunnies do not visit Amish homes. These sacred holidays revolve around religious customs, family gatherings, and quiet festivities rather than commercial trinkets and the sounds of worldly hubbub. Birthdays are celebrated at home and school in quiet, pleasant ways, with cakes and gifts. Parents often share a special snack of cookies or popsicles with school friends to honor a child's birthday.

HEALTH ISSUES

Contrary to popular misconceptions the Amish use modern medical services to some extent. Lacking professionals within their ranks, they rely on the services of dentists, optometrists, nurses, and physicians in local health centers, clinics, and hospitals. They cite no biblical injunctions against modern health care nor the latest medicine, but they do believe that God is the ultimate healer. Despite the absence of religious taboos on health care, Amish practices differ from prevailing patterns.
The Amish generally do not subscribe to commercial health insurance. Some communities have organized church aid plans for families with special medical costs. In other settlements special offerings are collected for members who are hit with catastrophic medical bills. The Amish are unlikely to seek medical attention for minor aches or illnesses and are more apt to follow folk remedies and drink herbal teas. Although they do not object to surgery or other forms of high-tech treatment they rarely employ heroic life-saving interventions.
In addition to home remedies, church members often seek healing outside orthodox medical circles. The search for natural healing leads them to vitamins, homeopathic remedies, health foods, reflexologists, chiropractors, and the services of specialized clinics in faraway places. These cultural habits are shaped by many factors: conservative rural values, a preference for natural antidotes, a lack of information, a sense of awkwardness in high-tech settings, difficulties accessing health care, and a willingness to suffer and lean on the providence of God.
Birthing practices vary in different settlements. In some communities most babies are born at home under the supervision of trained non-Amish midwives. In other settlements most children are born in hospitals or at local birthing clinics. Children can attend Amish schools without immunizations. Some parents follow the advice of family doctors or trained midwives and immunize their children, but many do not. Lax immunization is often due to cost, distance, misinformation, or lack of interest. Occasional outbreaks of German measles, whooping cough, polio, and other contagious diseases prompt public health campaigns to immunize Amish children. Amish elders usually encourage their people to cooperate with such efforts. In recent years various health providers have made special efforts to immunize Amish children.
Marriages within stable geographical communities and the influx of few converts restricts the genetic pool of Amish society. Marriages sometimes occur between second cousins. Such intermarriage does not always produce medical problems. When unique recessive traits are common in a closed community certain diseases simply are more likely to occur. On the other hand, a restricted gene pool may offer protection from other hereditary diseases.
A special type of dwarfism accompanied by other congenital problems occurs at an exceptionally high rate in some settlements. Higher rates of deafness have also been found. In the late 1980s, Dr. Holmes Morton identified glutaric aciduria in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Amish community. Unrecognized and untreatable before, the disease is a biochemical disorder with symptoms similar to cerebral palsy. Approximately one in every 200 Amish infants inherits the disease. By 1991, Dr. Morton had organized a special clinic that tested some 70 percent of Amish infants and treated those diagnosed with the disease in the Lancaster settlement.
Another condition, Crigler-Najjar syndrome, occurs more frequently among the Amish and the Mennonites than in the general population. The condition is difficult to treat, and can result in brain damage and early death. The Amish have worked eagerly with researchers who are studying a new type of gene therapy for the treatment of this disease. In 1989, the Amish community united, barnraising style, to build the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, a facility that treats Crigler-Najjar patients.

Language

The Amish speak English, German, and a dialect known as Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch. The dialect is the Amish native tongue and should not be confused with the Dutch language of the Netherlands. Originally a German dialect, Pennsylvania Dutch was spoken by Germanic settlers in southeastern Pennsylvania. The folk pronunciation of the word German, Deutsche, gradually became Dutch in English, and eventually the dialect became known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Even the Amish who live outside of Pennsylvania speak the Pennsylvania German dialect. In Amish culture, the dialect is used mainly as a form of oral communication: it is the language of work, family, friendship, play, and intimacy.
Young children live in the world of the dialect until they learn English in the Amish school. Students learn to read, write, and speak English from their Amish teachers, who learned it from their Amish teachers. But the dialect prevails in friendly banter on the playground. By the end of the eighth grade, young Amish have developed basic competence in English although it may be spoken with an accent. Adults are able to communicate in fluent English with their non-Amish neighbors. When talking among themselves, the Amish sometimes mix English words with the dialect, especially when discussing technical issues. Letters are often written in English, with salutations and occasional phrases in the dialect. Competence in English varies directly with occupational roles and frequency of interaction with English speakers. Ministers are often the ones who are best able to read German. Idioms of the dialect are frequently mixed with German in Amish sacred writings. Although children study formal German in school they do not speak it on a regular basis.

GREETINGS AND OTHER POPULAR EXPRESSIONS

Common Pennsylvania Dutch greetings and other expressions include: Gude Mariye— Good morning; Gut-n-Owed— Good evening; Wie geht's?— How are you?; En frehlicher Grischtdsaag— a Merry Christmas; Frehlich Neiyaahr— Happy New Year; kumm ball widder— come soon again. When inviting others to gather around a table to eat, a host might say Kumm esse.

Family and Community Dynamics

The immediate family, the extended family, and the church district form the building blocks of Amish society. Amish parents typically raise about seven children, but ten or more children is not uncommon. About 50 percent of the population is under 18 years of age. A person will often have more than 75 first cousins and a typical grandmother will count more than 35 grandchildren. Members of the extended family often live nearby, across the field, down the lane, or beyond the hill. Youth grow up in this thick network of family relations where one is rarely alone, always embedded in a caring community in time of need and disaster. The elderly retire at home, usually in a small apartment built onto the main house of a homestead. Because the Amish reject government aid, there are virtually no families that receive public assistance. The community provides a supportive social hammock from cradle to grave.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

A church district comprises 25 to 35 families and is the basic social and religious unit beyond the family. Roads and streams mark the boundaries of districts. Members are required to participate in the geographic district in which they live. A district's geographic size varies with the density of the Amish population. As districts expand, they divide.
A bishop, two preachers, and a deacon share leadership responsibilities in each district without formal pay or education. The bishop, as spiritual elder, officiates at baptisms, weddings, communions, funerals, ordinations, and membership meetings. The church district is church, club, family, and precinct all wrapped up in a neighborhood parish. Periodic meetings of ordained leaders link the districts of a settlement into a loose federation.
The social architecture of Amish society exhibits distinctive features. Leisure, work, education, play, worship, and friendship revolve around the immediate neighborhood. In some settlements, Amish babies are born in hospitals, but they are also born at home or in local birthing centers. Weddings and funerals occur at home. There are frequent trips to other settlements or even out of state to visit relatives and friends. But for the most part the Amish world pivots on local turf. From home-canned food to homemade haircuts, things are likely to be done near home. Social relationships are multi-bonded. The same people frequently work, play, and worship together.
Amish society is remarkably informal and the tentacles of bureaucracy are sparse. There is no centralized national office, symbolic national figurehead, or institutional headquarters. Apart from schools, a publishing operation, and regional historical libraries, formal institutions simply do not exist. A loosely organized national committee handles relations with the federal government for all the settlements. Regional committees funnel the flow of Amish life for schools, mutual aid, and historical libraries, but bureaucracy as we know it in the modern world is simply absent.
The conventional marks of modern status (education, income, occupation, and consumer goods) are missing and make Amish society relatively homogeneous. The agrarian heritage places everyone on common footing. The recent rise of cottage industries in some settlements and factory work in others threatens to disturb the social equality of bygone years, but the range of occupations and social differences remains relatively small. Common costume, horse and buggy travel, an eighth-grade education, and equal-size tombstones embody the virtues of social equality.

These Amish families are gathered together to eat a traditional meal.

The practice of mutual aid also distinguishes Amish society. Although the Amish own private property, like other Anabaptists they have long emphasized mutual aid as a Christian duty in the face of disaster and special need. Mutual aid goes beyond barn raisings. Harvesting, quilting, birthing, marriages, and funerals require the help of many hands. The habits of care encompass all sorts of needs triggered by drought, disease, death, injury, bankruptcy, and medical emergency.

GENDER ROLES

Amish society is patriarchal. Although school teachers are generally women, men assume the helm of most leadership roles. Women can nominate men to serve in ministerial roles but they themselves are excluded from formal church roles; however, they can vote in church business meetings. Some women feel that since the men make the rules, modern equipment is permitted more readily in barns and shops than in homes. In recent years some women have become entrepreneurs who operate small quilt, craft, and food stores.
Although husband and wife preside over distinct spheres of domestic life, many tasks are shared. A wife may ask her husband to assist in the garden and he may ask her to help in the barn or fields. The isolated housewife is rarely found in Amish society. The husband holds spiritual authority in the home but spouses have considerable freedom within their distinctive spheres.

SOCIAL GATHERINGS

Various social gatherings bring members together for times of fellowship and fun beyond biweekly worship. Young people gather in homes for Sunday evening singing. Married couples sometimes gather with old friends to sing for shut-ins and the elderly in their homes. Work frolics blend work and play together in Amish life. Parents gather for preschool frolics to ready schools for September classes. Endof-school picnics bring parents and students together for an afternoon of food and games.
Quilting bees and barn raisings mix goodwill, levity, and hard work for young and old alike. Other moments of collective work (cleaning up after a fire, plowing for an ill neighbor, canning for a sick mother, threshing wheat, and filling a silo) involve neighbors and extended families in episodes of charity, sweat, and fun. Adult sisters, sometimes numbering as many as five or six, often gather for a sisters day, which blends laughter with cleaning, quilting, canning, or gardening.
Public auctions of farm equipment are often held in February and March and attract crowds in preparation for springtime farming. Besides opportunities to bid on equipment, the day-long auctions offer ample time for farm talk and friendly fun. Games of cornerball in a nearby field or barnyard often compete with the drama of the auction. Household auctions and horse sales provide other times to socialize. Family gatherings at religious holidays and summer family reunions link members into familial networks. Single women sometimes gather at a cabin or a home for a weekend of fun.

This group of Amish boys is watching a horse and mule auction in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This annual event attracts Amish farmers from throughout the Midwest.

Special meetings of persons with unique interests, often called reunions, are on the rise and attract Amish from many states: harnessmakers, cabinetmakers, woodworkers, blacksmiths, businesswomen, teachers, the disabled, and the like. The disabled have gathered annually for a number of years. Among youth, seasonal athletics are common: softball, sledding, skating, hockey, and swimming. Volleyball is a widespread favorite. Fishing and hunting for small game are preferred sports on farms and woodlands. In recent years some Amishmen have purchased hunting cabins in the mountains where they hunt white-tailed deer. Deep-sea fishing trips are common summertime jaunts for men in Pennsylvania. Others prefer camping and canoeing. Pitching quoits is common at family reunions and picnics.
Leisure and pleasure have long been suspect in Amish life. Idleness is viewed as the devil's workshop. But the rise of cottage industries and the availability of ready cash has brought more recreational activities. Amish recreation is group oriented and tilted more toward nature than toward taboo commercial entertainment. The Amish rarely take vacations but they do take trips to other settlements and may stop at scenic sites. Some couples travel to Florida for several weeks in the winter and live in an Amish village in Sarasota populated by winter travelers from settlements in several states. Trips to distant sites in search of special medical care sometimes include scenic tours. Although some Amish travel by train or bus, chartered vans are by far the most popular mode. Traveling together with family, friends, and extended kin these mobile groups bond and build community life.

INTERACTION WITH OTHERS

Amish culture and religion stresses separation from the world. Galvanized by European persecution and sanctioned by scripture, the Amish divide the social world into two pathways: the straight, narrow way to life, and the broad, easy road to destruction. Amish life embodies the narrow way of self-denial. The larger social world symbolizes the broad road of vanity and vice. The term world, in Amish thinking, refers to the outside society and its values, vices, practices, and institutions. Media reports of greed, fraud, scandal, drugs, violence, divorce, and abuse confirm that the world teems with abomination.
The gulf between church and world, imprinted in Amish minds by European persecution, guides practical decisions. Products and practices that might undermine community life, such as high school, cars, cameras, television, and self-propelled farm machinery, are tagged worldly. Not all new products receive this label, only those that threaten community values. Definitions of worldliness vary within and between Amish settlements, yielding a complicated maze of practices. Baffling to outsiders, these lines of faithfulness maintain inter-group boundaries and also preserve the cultural purity of the church.

WEDDINGS

The wedding season is a festive time in Amish life. Coming on the heels of the harvest, weddings are typically held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from late October through early December. The larger communities may have as many as 150 weddings in one season. Fifteen weddings may be scattered across the settlement on the same day. Typically staged in the home of the bride, these joyous events may involve upwards of 350 guests, two meals, singing, snacks, festivities, and a three-hour service. The specific practices vary from settlement to settlement.
Young persons typically marry in their early twenties. A couple may date for one to two years before announcing their engagement. Bishops will only marry members of the church. The church does not arrange marriages but it does place its blessing on the pair through an old ritual. Prior to the wedding, the groom takes a letter signed by church elders to the bride's deacon testifying to the groom's good standing in his home district. The bride's deacon then meets with her to verify the marriage plans.
The wedding day is an enormous undertaking for the bride's family and for the relatives and friends who assist with preparations. Efforts to clean up the property, paint rooms, fix furniture, pull weeds, and pave driveways, among other things, begin weeks in advance. The logistics of preparing meals and snacks for several hundred guests are taxing. According to custom, the day before the wedding the groom decapitates several dozen chickens. The noontime wedding menu includes chicken roast—chicken mixed with bread filling, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed celery, pepper cabbage, and other items. Desserts include pears, peaches, puddings, dozens of pies, and hundreds of cookies and doughnuts.
The three-hour service—without flowers, rings, solos, or instrumental music—is similar to an Amish worship service. The wedding includes congregational singing, prayers, wedding vows, and two sermons. Four single friends serve the bride and groom as attendants: no one is designated maid of honor or best man. Amish brides typically make their own wedding dresses from blue or purple material crafted in traditional styles. In addition to the groom's new but customary black coat and vest, he and his attendants often wear small black bow ties.
Several seatings and games, snacks, and singing follow the noon meal. Young people are paired off somewhat randomly for the singing. Following the evening meal another more lively singing takes place in which couples who are dating pair off— arousing considerable interest because this may be their first public appearance. Festivities may continue until nearly midnight as guests gradually leave. Some guests, invited to several weddings on the same day, may rotate between them.
Newly married couples usually set up housekeeping in the spring after their wedding. Until then the groom may live at the bride's home or continue to live with his parents. Couples do not take a traditional honeymoon, but visit relatives on weekends during the winter months. Several newlywed couples may visit together, sometimes staying overnight at the home of close relatives. During these visits, family and friends present gifts to the newlyweds to add to the bride's dowry, which often consists of furniture. Young men begin growing a beard, the functional equivalent of a wedding ring, soon after their marriage. They are expected to have a "full stand" by the springtime communion.

FUNERALS

With the elderly living at home, the gradual loss of health prepares family members for the final passage. Accompanied by quiet grief, death comes gracefully, the final benediction to a good life and entry into the bliss of eternity. Although funeral practices vary from community to community, the preparations reflect core Amish values, as family and friends yield to eternal verities.
The community springs into action at the word of a death. Family and friends in the local church district assume barn and household chores, freeing the immediate family. Well-established funeral rituals unburden the family from worrisome choices. Three couples are appointed to extend invitations and supervise funeral arrangements: food preparation, seating arrangements, and the coordination of a large number of horses and carriages.
In the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, settlement a non-Amish undertaker moves the body to a funeral home for embalming. The body, without cosmetic improvements, returns to the home in a simple, hardwood coffin within a day. Family members of the same sex dress the body in white. White garments symbolize the final passage into a new and better eternal life. Tailoring the white clothes prior to death helps to prepare the family for the season of grief. Women often wear the white cape and apron worn at their wedding.
Friends and relatives visit the family and view the body in a room on the first floor of the home for two days prior to the funeral. Meanwhile community members dig the grave by hand in a nearby family cemetery as others oversee the daily chores of the bereaved. Several hundred guests attend the funeral in a barn or home typically on the morning of the third day after death. During the simple hour-anda-half-long service, ministers read hymns and scriptures, offer prayers, and preach a sermon. There are no flowers, burial gowns, burial tents, limousines, or sculpted monuments.
The hearse, a large, black carriage pulled by horses, leads a long procession of other carriages to the burial ground on the edge of a farm. After a brief viewing and graveside service, pallbearers lower the coffin and shovel soil into the grave as the bishop reads a hymn. Small, equal-sized tombstones mark the place of the deceased in the community of equality. Close friends and family members then return to the home for a meal prepared by members of the local congregation. Bereaved women, especially close relatives, may signal their mourning by wearing a black dress in public settings for as long as a year. A painful separation laced with grief, death is nevertheless received gracefully as the ultimate surrender to God's higher ways.

EDUCATION

The Amish supported public education when it revolved around one-room schools in the first half of the twentieth century. Under local control, the one-room rural schools posed little threat to Amish values. The massive consolidation of public schools and growing pressure to attend high school sparked clashes between the Amish and officials in several states in the middle of the twentieth century. Confrontations in several other states led to arrests and brief stints in jail. After legal skirmishes in several states, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its blessing to the eighth-grade Amish school system in 1972, stating that "there can be no assumption that today's majority is 'right' and the Amish and others are 'wrong. "' The court concluded that "a way of life that is odd or even erratic but interferes with no rights or interests of others is not to be condemned because it is different."
Today the Amish operate more than 850 parochial schools for some 24,000 Amish children. Many of the schools have one room with 25 to 35 pupils and one teacher who is responsible for teaching all eight grades. A few Amish children attend rural public schools in some states but the vast majority go to parochial schools operated by the Amish.
A scripture reading and prayer opens each school day, but religion is not formally taught in the school. The curriculum includes reading, arithmetic, spelling, grammar, penmanship, history, and geography. Both English and German are taught. Parents want children to learn German to enhance their ability to read religious writings, many of which are written in formal German. Science and sex education are missing in the curriculum as are the other typical trappings of public schools: sports, dances, cafeterias, clubs, bands, choruses, computers, television, guidance counselors, principals, strikes, and college recruiters.
A local board of three to five fathers organizes the school, hires a teacher, approves curriculum, oversees the budget, and supervises maintenance. Teachers receive about $25 to $35 per day. The cost per child is roughly $250 per year, nearly 16 times lower than many public schools where per pupil costs often top $4,000. Amish parents pay public school taxes and taxes for their own school.
Schools play a critical role in the preservation of Amish culture. They not only reinforce Amish values, but also shield youth from contaminating ideas. Moreover, schools restrict friendships with non-Amish peers and impede the flow of Amish youth into higher education and professional life. Amish schools promote practical skills to prepare their graduates for success in Amish society. Some selective testing indicates that Amish pupils compare favorably with rural peers in public schools on standardized tests of basic skills.
Amish teachers, trained in Amish schools, are not required to be certified in most states. Often the brightest and best of Amish scholars, they return to the classroom in their late teens and early twenties to teach. Amish school directors select them for their ability to teach and their commitment to Amish values. Frequently single women, they typically drop their occupation if wed. Periodic meetings with other teachers, a monthly teachers' magazine, and ample common sense prepare them for the task of teaching 30 students in eight grades. With three or four pupils per grade, teachers often teach two grades at a time. Pupils in other classes ponder assignments or listen to previews of next year's lessons or hear reviews of past work. Classrooms exhibit a distinct sense of order amidst a beehive of activity. Hands raise to ask permission or clarify instructions as the teacher moves from cluster to cluster teaching new material every ten or 15 minutes. Some textbooks are recycled from public schools while others are produced by Amish publishers. Students receive a remarkable amount of personal attention despite the teacher's responsibility for eight grades. The ethos of the classroom accents cooperative activity, obedience, respect, diligence, kindness, and the natural world. Despite the emphasis on order, playful pranks and giggles are commonplace. Schoolyard play in daily recesses often involves softball or other homespun games.
Amish schools exhibit a social continuity rarely found in public education. With many families sending several children to a school, teachers may relate to as few as a dozen households. Teachers know parents personally and special circumstances surrounding each child. In some cases, children have the same teacher for all eight grades. Indeed, all the children from a family may have the same teacher. Amish schools are unquestionably provincial by modern standards. Yet in a humane fashion they ably prepare Amish youth for meaningful lives in Amish society.

Religion

At first glance the Amish appear quite religious. Yet a deeper inspection reveals no church buildings, sacred symbols, or formal religious education even in Amish schools. Unlike most modern religions, religious meanings pervade all aspects of Amish lives. Religion is practiced, not debated. Silent prayers before and after meals embroider each day with reverence. The Amish way of living and being requires neither heady talk nor formal theology.
The Ordnung, a religious blueprint for expected behavior, regulates private, public, and ceremonial behavior. Unwritten in most settlements, the Ordnung is passed on by oral tradition. A body of understandings that defines Amish ways, the Ordnung marks expected Amish behavior: wearing a beard without a mustache; using a buggy; and speaking the dialect. It also specifies taboos: divorce; filing a lawsuit; wearing jewelry; owning a car; and attending college. The understandings evolve over the years and are updated as the church faces new issues: embryo transplants in cattle; using computers and facsimile machines; and working in factories. Core understandings, such as wearing a beard and not owning a car, span all Old Order Amish settlements but the finer points of the Ordnung vary considerably from settlement to settlement.
Although ordained leaders update the Ordnung in periodic meetings, each bishop interprets it for his local congregation. Thus, dress styles and the use of telephones and battery-powered appliances may vary by church district. Once embedded in the Ordnung and established as tradition, the understandings rarely change. As new issues face the church, leaders identify those which may be detrimental to community life. Non-threatening changes such as weed-whackers and instant coffee may be overlooked and gradually slip into Amish life. Battery-powered video cameras, which might lead to other video entanglements with the outside world, would surely be forbidden.
Children learn the ways of the Ordnung by observing adults. The Ordnung defines the way things are in a child's mind. Teenagers, free from the supervision of the church, sometimes flirt with worldly ways and flaunt the Ordnung. At baptism, however, young adults between the ages of 16 and 22 declare their Christian faith and vow to uphold the Ordnung for the rest of their life. Those who break their promise face excommunication and shunning. Those choosing not to be baptized may gradually drift away from the community but are welcome to return to their families without the stigma of shunning.

WORSHIP SERVICES

Worship services held in Amish homes reaffirm the moral order of Amish life. Church districts hold services every other Sunday. A group of 200 or more, including neighbors and relatives who have an "off Sunday," gather for worship. They meet in a farmhouse, the basement of a newer home, or in a shed or barn. A fellowship meal at noon and informal visiting follow the three-hour morning service.
The plain and simple but unwritten liturgy revolves around congregational singing and two sermons. Without the aid of organs, offerings, candles, crosses, robes, or flowers, members yield themselves to God in the spirit of humility. The congregation sings from the Ausbund, a hymnal of German songs without musical notations that date back to the sixteenth-century Anabaptists. The tunes passed across the generations by memory are sung in unison without any musical accompaniment. The slow, chant-like cadence means a single song may stretch over 20 minutes. Extemporaneous sermons, preached in the Pennsylvania German dialect, recount biblical stories as well as lessons from farm life. Preachers exhort members to be obedient to Amish ways.
Communion services, held each autumn and spring, frame the religious year. These ritual high points emphasize self-examination and spiritual rejuvenation. Sins are confessed and members reaffirm their vow to uphold the Ordnung. Communion is held when the congregation is at peace, when all members are in harmony with the Ordnung. The six- to eight-hour communion service includes preaching, a light meal during the service, and the commemoration of Christ's death with bread and wine. Pairs of members wash each others feet as the congregation sings. At the end of the communion service members give an alms offering to the deacon, the only time that offerings are collected in Amish services.

EXCOMMUNICATION

Baptism, worship, and communion are sacred rites that revitalize and preserve the Ordnung. But the Amish, like other human beings, forget, rebel, experiment, and stray into deviance. Major transgressions are confessed publicly in a members meeting following the worship service. Violations of the Ordnung—using a tractor in the field, posing for a television camera, flying on a commercial airline, filing a lawsuit, joining a political organization, or opening a questionable business—are confessed publicly. Public confession of sins diminishes self-will, reminds members of the supreme value of submission, restores the wayward into the community of faith, and underscores the lines of faithfulness which encircle the community.
The headstrong who spurn the advice of elders and refuse to confess their sin face a six-week probation. The next step is the Meidung, or shunning—a cultural equivalent of solitary confinement. Members terminate social interaction and financial transactions with the excommunicated. For the unrepentant, social avoidance becomes a lifetime quarantine. If their stubbornness does not mellow into repentance, they face excommunication.

Employment and Economic Traditions

Amish life is rooted in the soil. Ever since European persecution pushed them into rural areas, the Amish have been farmers. The land has nurtured their common life and robust families. Since the middle of the twentieth century, some of the older and larger Amish settlements in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have shifted to nonfarm occupations because of the pressure of urbanization. As urbanization devoured prime farmland, prices soared. Land, for example, in the heart of Pennsylvania's Lancaster Amish settlement sold for $300 an acre in 1940. In the 1990s, the same land sold for $8,000 to $10,000 an acre. If sold for development, prices can double or even triple.
The shrinking and expensive farmland in some of the older settlements has forced a crisis in the Amish soul. The Amish have also contributed to the demographic squeeze with their growing population. The community has coped with the crisis in several ways. First, farms have been subdivided into smaller units with intensive cropping and larger concentrations of livestock. Second, some families have migrated to the rural backwaters of other states where farms could be purchased at much lower prices. Third, in some settlements a majority of families no longer farms, but works in small shops, rural factories, or in various trades. But even ex-farmers insist that the farm remains the best place to raise a family.
The rise of cottage industries and small shops marks an historic turn in Amish life. Mushrooming since the 1970s, these new enterprises have reshaped Amish society. By the late 1990s, such small industries employed more than half the Amish adults in Lancaster County. Amish retail shops sell dry goods, furniture, shoes, hardware, and wholesale foods. Church members now work as carpenters, plumbers, painters, and self-trained accountants. Professionals, like lawyers, physicians, and veterinarians, are missing from Amish ranks because of the taboo on high school and college education. The new industries come in three forms. Home-based operations lodged on farms or by newly built homes employ a few family members and neighbors. Bakeshops, craft shops, hardware stores, health food stores, quilt shops, flower shops, and repair shops of all sorts are but a few of the hundreds of home-based operations. Work in these settings revolves around the family. A growing number of these small cottage industries cater to tourists but many serve the needs of Amish and non-Amish neighbors alike.
Larger shops and manufacturing concerns are housed in newly constructed buildings on the edge of farms or on commercial plots. These formal shops with five to ten employees manufacture farm machinery, hydraulic equipment, storage barns, furniture, and cabinetry. Some metal fabrication shops arrange subcontracts with other manufacturers. The larger shops are efficient and profitable. Low overhead, minimal advertising, austere management, modest wages, quality workmanship, and sheer hard work grant many shops a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Mobile work crews constitute a third type of industry. Amish construction groups travel to building sites for commercial and residential construction. The construction crews travel in hired vehicles and in some settlements they are permitted to use electric tools powered by portable generators and on-site electricity.
The rise of cottage industries may, in the long run, disturb the equality of Amish life by encouraging a three-tier society of farmers, entrepreneurs, and day laborers. Parents worry that youth working a 40-hour week with loose cash in their pockets will snub traditional Amish values of simplicity and frugality. The new industries also increase contact with the outside world which will surely prompt even more changes in Amish life. Despite the occupational changes, virtually no Amish are unemployed or receive government unemployment benefits.

Politics and Government

The Amish view government with an ambiguous eye. Although they support and respect civil government, they also keep a healthy distance from it. On the one hand, they follow biblical admonitions to obey and pray for rulers and encourage members to be law-abiding citizens. On the other hand, government epitomizes worldly culture and the use of force. European persecutors of the Anabaptists were often government officials. Modern governments engage in warfare, use capital punishment, and impose their will with raw coercion. Believing that such coercion and violence mock the gentle spirit of Jesus, the Amish reject the use of force, including litigation. Since they regulate many of their own affairs they have less need for outside supervision.
When civil law and religious conscience collide, the Amish are not afraid to take a stand and will obey God rather than man, even if it brings imprisonment. They have clashed with government officials over the use of hard hats, zoning regulations, Workers' Compensation, and building codes for schools. However, as conscientious objectors many have received farm deferments or served in alternative service programs during times of military draft.
The church forbids membership in political organizations and holding public office for several reasons. First, running for office is viewed as arrogant and out of character with esteemed Amish values of humility and modesty. Second, office-holding violates the religious principle of separation from the world. Finally, public officials must be prepared to use legal force if necessary to settle civic disputes. The exercise of legal force mocks the stance of nonresistance. Voting, however, is viewed as a personal matter. Although the church does not prohibit it, few persons vote. Those who do vote are likely to be younger businessmen concerned about local issues. Although voting is considered a personal matter, jury duty is not allowed.
The Amish pay federal and state income taxes, sales taxes, real estate taxes, and personal property taxes. Indeed, they pay school taxes twice, for both public and Amish schools. Following biblical injunctions, the Amish are exempt from Social Security tax. They view Social Security as a national insurance program, not a tax. Congressional legislation, passed in 1965, exempts self-employed Amish persons from Social Security. Amish persons employed in Amish businesses were also exempted by congressional legislation in 1988. Those who do not qualify for the exemption, Amish employees in non-Amish businesses, must pay Social Security without reaping its benefits. Bypassing Social Security not only severs the Amish from old age payments, it also closes the spigot to Medicare and Medicaid.
The Amish object to government aid for several reasons. They contend that the church should assume responsibility for the social welfare of its own members. The aged, infirm, senile, and disabled are cared for, whenever possible, within extended family networks. To turn the care of these people over to the state would abdicate a fundamental tenet of faith: the care of one's brothers and sisters in the church. Furthermore, federal aid in the form of Social Security or Medicare would erode dependency on the church and undercut its programs of mutual aid, which the Amish have organized to assist their members with fire and storm damages and with medical expenses.
Government subsidies, or what the Amish call handouts, have been stridently opposed. Championing self-sufficiency and the separation of church and state, the Amish worry that the hand which feeds them will also control them. Over the years they have stubbornly refused direct subsidies even for agricultural programs designed for farmers in distress. Amish farmers do, however, receive indirect subsidies through agricultural price-support programs.
In 1967 the Amish formed the National Amish Steering Committee in order to speak with a common voice on legal issues related to state, and especially, federal government. The Steering Committee has worked with government officials to resolve disputes related to conscientious objection, zoning, slow-moving vehicle emblems, Social Security, Workers' Compensation, and the wearing of hard hats at construction sites. Informally organized, the Steering Committee is the only Amish organization which is national in scope.

THE FUTURE OF AMISH SOCIETY

The future shape of Amish life escapes prediction. Particular outcomes will be shaped not only by unforeseen external forces, such as market prices, government regulations, and rates of urbanization, but also by internal politics and the sentiments of particular Amish leaders. Without a centralized decision-making process, let alone a strategic planning council, new directions are unpredictable. Migrations will likely continue to new states and to the rural areas of states where the Amish presently live.
The willingness of many Amish to leave their plows for shops and cottage industries in the 1970s and 1980s signalled a dramatic shift in Amish life. Microenterprises will likely blossom and bring change to Amish life as they increase interaction with the outside world. These business endeavors will probably alter the class structure and cultural face of Amish society over the years. But the love of farming runs deep in the Amish heart. Faced with a growing population, many families will likely migrate to more rural areas in search of fertile soil.
The cultural flavor of twenty-first century Amish life may elude forecast, but one pattern is clear. Settlements which are pressed by urbanization are the most progressive in outlook and the most updated in technology. Rural homesteads beyond the tentacles of urban sprawl remain the best place to preserve traditional Amish ways. If the Amish can educate and retain their children, make a living, and restrain interaction with the larger world, they will likely flourish into the twenty-first century. But one thing is certain: diversity between their settlements will surely grow, mocking the staid stereotypes of Amish life.

Media

PRINT

Arthur Graphic Clarion.
Newspaper of the Illinois Amish country.
Contact: Allen Mann, Editor.
Address: P.O. Box 19, Arthur, Illinois 61911.
Telephone: (217) 543-2151.
Fax: (217) 543-2152.

Die Botschaft.
Weekly English newspaper with correspondents from many states that serves Old Order Mennonite and Old Order Amish communities.
Contact: Brookshire Publications, Inc.
Address: 200 Hazel Street, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17608-0807.

The Budget.
Weekly Amish/Mennonite community newspaper.
Contact: George R. Smith, National Editor.
Address: Sugarcreek Budget Publishers, Inc., 134 North Factory Street, P.O. Box 249, Sugarcreek, Ohio 44681-0249.
Telephone: (216) 852-4634.
Fax: (216) 852-4421.

The Diary.
Monthly publication that lists migrations, marriages, births, and deaths. It also carries news and feature articles.
Contact: Pequea Publishers.
Address: P.O. Box 98, Gordonville, Pennsylvania 17529.

The Mennonite: A Magazine to Inform and Challenge the Christian Fellowship in the Mennonite Context.
Contact: J. Lorne Peachey, Editor.
Address: 616 Walnut Avenue, Scottdale, Pennsylvania 15683.
Telephone: (800) 790-2493.
Fax: (724) 887-3111.
E-mail: themennonite@gcmc.org.
Online: http://www2.southwind.net/~gcmc/tm.html .

Mennonite Quarterly Review.
Scholarly journal covering Mennonite, Amish, Hutterian Brethren, Anabaptist, Radical Reformation, and related history and religious thought.
Contact: John D. Roth, Editor.
Address: Mennonite Historical Society, 1700 South Main Street, Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana 46526.
Telephone: (219) 535-7111.
Fax: (219) 535-7438.
E-mail: mqr@goshen.edu.

Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage.
Founded in January of 1978. Quarterly historical journal covering Mennonite culture and religion.
Contact: David J. Rempel Smucker, Editor.
Address: Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17602-1499.
Telephone: (717) 393-9745.
Fax: (717) 393-8751.

Organizations and Associations

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society (LMHS).
Individuals interested in the historical background, theology, culture, and genealogy of Mennonite and Amish related groups originating in Pennsylvania. Collects and preserves archival materials. Publishes the Mirror bimonthly.
Contact: Carolyn C. Wenger, Director.
Address: 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17602-1499.
Telephone: (717) 393-9745.
Fax: (717) 393-8751.

National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom (NCARF).
Committee of professors, clergymen, attorneys, and others that provides legal defense for Amish people, since the committee feels the Amish have religious scruples against defending themselves or seeking court action.
Contact: Rev. William C. Lindholm, Chair.
Address: 30650 Six Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan 48152.
Telephone: (734) 427-1414.
Fax: (734) 427-1419.
E-mail: wmlind@flash.net.
Online: http://www.holycrosslivonia.org/amish .

Museums and Research Centers

Mennonite Historical Library.
Address: Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana 46526.
Telephone: (219) 535-7000.

Ohio Amish Library.
Address: 4292 SR39, Millersburg, Ohio 44654.

Pequea Bruderschaft Library.
Address: P.O. Box 25, Gordonville, Pennsylvania 17529.

The Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups.
Address: Elizabethtown College, One Alpha Drive, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania 17022.
Telephone: (717) 361-1470.

Sources for Additional Study

The Amish and the State. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
Amish Society, fourth edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
The Amish Wedding and Other Special Occasions of the Old Order Communities. Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 1988.
Hostetler, John A. Amish Life. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 1983.
Kline, David. Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer's Journal. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1990.
Kraybill, Donald B. The Riddle of Amish Culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
Kraybill, Donald B., and Marc A. Olshan. The Amish Struggle with Modernity. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1994.
Nolt, Steven M. A History of the Amish. Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 1992.
The Puzzles of Amish Life. Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 1990.
Scott, Stephen. Why Do They Dress That Way? Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 1986.

Algerian americans

2011-11-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

Algeria is an Arab country in Northern Africa that gained independence from France in 1962. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Morocco and Tunisia, Algeria is more than three times the size of Texas. Its name is Arabic for "the islands," and it is believed to be a reference to the 998 kilometers of coastline beside the rocky islands of the Mediterranean. The country is mostly high plateau and desert with some mountains. The Sahara desert covers 80 percent of the entire country. Natural resources include petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, uranium, lead, and zinc. Algeria has the fifth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world, is the second largest gas exporter, and ranks fourteenth for oil reserves. Its population of 30 million speaks Arabic, the official language, as well as French and Berber dialects. Algeria's ethnic mix is 99 percent Arab-Berber, with less than one percent European. The term Berber is derived from the Greeks, who used it to refer to the indigenous people of North Africa. Algerian Arabs, or native speakers of Arabic, include descendants of Arab invaders and of native Berbers. Since 1966, however, the Algerian census no longer has a category for Berbers. Algerian Arabs, the major ethnic group of the country, constitute 80 percent of Algeria's people and are culturally and politically dominant. The lifestyle of Arabs varies from region to region. There are nomadic herders in the desert, settled cultivators and gardeners in the Tell, and urban dwellers on the coast. Linguistically, the groups differ little from each other, except that dialects spoken by nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples are thought to be derived from Beduin dialects. The dialects spoken by the urban population of the north are thought to stem from those of early seventh-century invaders. Urban Arabs identify with the Algerian nation, whereas remote rural Arabs are more likely to identify with a tribe.
Islam is the state religion, and 99 percent of Algerians are Sunni Muslim, one of two Islamic sects into which Muslims split 30 years after the death of the religion's founder, the Prophet Mohammed. The remaining one percent of Algerians are Christians and Jews. The national capital is Algiers. The flag is described as two equal vertical bands of green and white with a red, five-pointed star within a red crescent. The crescent, star, and color green are traditional symbols of Islam.

HISTORY

Algeria was populated around 900 B.C. by Berbers, a group from North Africa that was influenced by Carthaginians, Romans, and Byzantines. The Romans urbanized Algeria and maintained a military presence there in the second century. Algeria was ruled next by Vandals, a Germanic tribe, who were in turn conquered by Byzantine Arabs, who brought the Islamic faith to the region. Beginning in the early sixteenth century, Algeria was part of the Ottoman Empire for 300 years, and became a distinct province between Tunisia and Morocco. European nations, and eventually the United States, were required to pay tribute to these countries of North Africa, which ruled the shipping lanes of the Mediterranean until the French invaded Algeria in 1830.

MODERN ERA

In 1834 France annexed Algeria, then a population of three million Muslims, as a colony. France developed Algerian agriculture, mining, and manufacturing, centering the economy around small industry and a highly developed export trade. Algerian and European groups formed two separate subcultures with very little interaction or intermarriage. Many Algerians lost their lands to colonists, traditional leaders were eliminated, and Muslims paid higher taxes than the European settlers. The colonial regime seriously hindered the overall education of Algerian Muslims who, prior to French rule, relied on religious schools to learn reading, writing, and religious studies. The French refused to provide money to maintain mosques and schools, but spent money on the education of Europeans.
After World War I, a generation of Muslim leadership called the Young Algerians emerged. The first group to call for Algerian independence was the Star of North Africa, a group that formed in Paris in 1926. Then in World War II, Algerian Muslims supported the French, and after France's defeat by Germany, stripped Algerian Jews of their French citizenship. The Allies, with a force of 70,000 British and U. S. troops under Lt. Gen. Eisenhower, landed in Algiers and Oran in November 1942, and were joined by Algerian Muslims who fought for their homeland. At the end of the war, Algerians demanded the creation of an independent Algerian state federated with France. Instead, they were granted an Algerian Assembly allowing a small voice in self-government.
Algerians emerged from 132 years of rule by a European culture with the War of Independence (1954–1962). Nearly one million Algerians died during the War of Independence. The Arabization of Algerian society brought about this inevitable break with France. The French government had consistently maintained a tolerant position toward the survival of Arab culture in daily life and local political affairs. Upon independence, approximately one million Europeans, including 140,000 Jews, left Algeria. Most of those departing had French citizenship and did not identify with the Arab culture. In the early 1980s, the total foreign population was estimated at roughly 117,000. Of this number, about 75,000 were Europeans, including about 45,000 French. Many foreigners worked as technicians and teachers. Algeria and France continued many beneficial economic and preferential relationships.
After independence, the resultant one-party, secular government organized public-sector enterprises into state corporations in an economy described as Algerian socialism. But fundamental Islamists who wanted to redefine Algerian identity clashed with the existing political system. The push to become more Arabic was seen as a means of national unity and was used by the national government as a tool to ensure national sovereignty. After gaining independence, Algerian street signs and shop signs were changed to Arabic, despite the fact that 60 percent of the population at that time could not read Arabic. Fundamentalists wanted Algeria to totally eliminate the legacy from its colonial past, but Arabization was, and is, a controversial issue. In 1961 Algeria joined with other Arab nations to establish the Organization of Petroleum exporting Countries (OPEC) to take control of the power of the international oil market. Laws in the 1990s required the Arabization of secondary school and higher education, and made Arabic the only legal language in government and politics.
The pressure to Arabize was resisted by Berber population groups, such as the Kabyles, the Chaouia, the Tuareg, and the Mzabt. The Berbers, who constitute about one-fifth of the Algerian population, had resisted foreign influences since ancient times. They fought against the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Ottoman Turks, and the French after their 1830 occupation of Algeria. In the fighting between 1954 and 1962 against France, Berber men from the Kabylie region participated in larger numbers than their share of the population warranted. Since independence, the Berbers have maintained a strong ethnic consciousness and a determination to preserve their distinctive cultural identity and language.
A new constitution in 1989 dropped the word socialists from the official description of the country and guaranteed freedom of expression, association and meeting, but withdrew the guarantee of women's rights granted in the 1976 constitution. This same year saw the formation of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), an umbrella organization for fundamentalist subgroups that sought to create a single Islamic state in which Islamic law is strictly applied. The FIS was banned by the government in 1992. In April of 1999, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, backed by Algeria's powerful military, won a presidential election in which all six other candidates withdrew to protest fraud. Bouteflika, 63, a former foreign minister, took 73.8 percent of the vote to become Algeria's first civilian president in more than three decades. There is an elected parliament, but the main opposition party, the Islamic Salvation Front, is still banned.

THE FIRST ALGERIANS IN AMERICA

From 1821 until 1830, only 16 immigrants from all of Africa arrived in the United States. From 1841 until 1850, 55 more arrived. In immigration records until 1899 and in census records until 1920, all Arabs were recorded together in a category known as "Turkey in Asia." Until the 1960s, North African Arabs were counted as "other African." Mass migrations of Muslims to the United States did not happen because Muslims feared that they would not be permitted to maintain their traditions. Census records suggest that only a few hundred Muslim men migrated between 1900 and 1914.

SIGNIFICANT IMMIGRATION WAVES

More than 1 million Arabs live in the United States. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, there were approximately 3,215 people of Algerian ancestry living in the United States. Of this group, 2,537 cited Algerian ancestry as their primary ancestry, and 678 people cited Algerian as second ancestry.
Algeria was introduced as an immigrant record category in 1975, and 72 Algerians immigrated that year. Immigrant numbers increased gradually so that by 1984 there were 197 immigrants. Fourteen were relatives of U.S. citizens, and 31 were admitted on the basis of occupational preference. In 1998, 1,378 Algerians were winners of the DV-99 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery is conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
The U.S. Census is not allowed to categorize by religion so the number of Islamic followers can not be counted. However, the census is permitted to list Arab ancestry. In many cases, Algerian immigrants are listed as "Other Arabs" when statistics are cited. Of the "other Arabs" category in the 1990 U.S. Census, 45 percent were married, 40 percent were female, and 60 percent were male.

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Algerian Americans have settled in urban areas such as New York City, Miami, Washington, and Los Angeles. The 1990 U.S. Census lists New York City as the port of entry for 2,038 Algerians, followed by Washington with 357 Algerians, and Los Angeles as entry for 309 Algerians. Of the 48 Algerians who became American citizens in 1984, 12 settled in California, eight in Florida, four in New York, three in Texas, and 24 in other places. Many Algerian Americans came seeking a better education or to flee instability and religious persecution. Employment opportunities for professionals such as scientists, physicians, and academics result in a geographically wide settlement pattern of immigrants, often in communities without other Algerian Americans.
Still, Algerian Americans have created communities in university cities and urban areas such as Dallas, Austin and Houston, Texas, and Boston, Massachusetts, and North California. For example, in the late 1990s, there were an estimated 12,500 African immigrants from many different countries living in the Dallas area. The Algerian Americans often form association such as the Algerian American Association of Houston, a local community sponsoring events, providing an environment to preserve and promote the Algerian heritage within the American fabric. Many of these organizations aim at strengthening ties of friendship and cooperation between the United States and Algeria.

Acculturation and Assimilation

Many Algerian Americans are highly-educated Berbers with professional occupations. Most Algerian American women abandon the hidjab, the head scarf veil worn with a loose gown as a symbol of modest Islamic dress, when they arrive. Generally, they have fewer children, cook fewer meals, and gradually adapt to American social customs. There is no segregation of sexes at social gathering in homes and churches except among the most traditional Muslims. Algerian Americans sometimes have as much difficulty gaining acceptance among American-born African Americans as they do among whites. Algerian Americans who hold to Muslim beliefs purposely resist many aspects of assimilation as an expression of their religious beliefs. However, their children learn English and adapt to the new culture so that by the second and third generations, Algerian Americans are well assimilated and better educated than their parents. A study by Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi of Muslim immigrant communities in the West found that second generation Muslims compete for places at universities with ambitions of becoming doctors and engineers. The younger generation plans to own homes and cars. Between 70 and 80 percent of western Muslims do not feel bad about drinking, dancing, and dating. Most western couples select their own marriage partners, though most Muslim marriages are arranged in Algeria.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND BELIEFS

Algerian Americans continue the cultural traditions of Muslims. Umma, the Arabic word for "community," makes no distinction between a citizen of a particular country and the worldwide Muslim community. Thus, the universal Arab society may move from country to country without losing their distinct culture. Muslims pray at a mosque on Friday, and in this way an American city's Arab community comes together for the sharing of culture and identity. Once in a lifetime a devout Muslim makes the pilgrimage to Mecca, called the Hajj. Most Algerian Americans observe Ramadan, a month of fasting.

PROVERBS

Algerian culture is rich in proverbs. Examples include: "If you want the object to be solid, mold it out of your own Clay." "None but a mule denies his origin." "The friend is known in a time of difficulty." "An intelligent enemy is better than an ignorant friend." "The iron is struck while it is hot." "Barber learn on the head of orphans." "He who has been bitten by a snake is afraid of a palmetto cord." "One day is in favor of you and the next is against you." "God brings to all wheat its measure" meaning it is natural to marry a person of one's own class or position. "Ask the experienced one, don't ask the doctor" is the answer a woman gives when she is reproved for speaking ill of another woman. "Eye does not see, heart does not suffer" means to deliberately ignore a family member whose conduct is not good. "The forest is only burnt by its own wood" is the complaint of a parent whose child causes him trouble. "The son of a mouse will only turn out to be a digger" means that children become like their parents. "If your friend is honey, don't eat it all" means that you should not demand too much from your friend. "He who mixes with the grocer smells his perfume" means you should be in the company of people from whom you may learn useful things.

CUISINE

Algerian cuisine has a distinctive flavor, due to its diverse cultural heritage. Algerian Americans enjoy many tasty vegetable soups such as Chorba, a lamb, tomato, and coriander soup served with slices of lemon. A popular Algerian salad is made with sweet red peppers, tomatoes, sliced cucumber, onion, anchovy, boiled eggs, and basil or cilantro seasoned with olive oil and vinegar.
Other favorites include entree variations of couscous, made of Baobab leaves, millet flour and meat. One variety of Algerian couscous is made with onion, zucchini yellow squash, red potatoes, green pepper, garbanzo beans, vegetable stock, tomato paste, whole cloves, cayenne, and turmeric. Favorite meat dishes include Tagine, made with chicken or lamb and flavored with olives or onions, okra or prunes, and the lamb dish L'Ham El HLou which is made with cinnamon, prunes and raisins. Algerian deserts are light and delicate. In keeping with the foods abundant in North Africa, many dishes feature honey and dates, but others, like crepes, reflect the French influence that helped shape Algeria.

TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

Traditional Algerian costume, also worn with minor variations by Berbers, has been replaced for the most part by European dress, except in rural areas. Traditionally, a man wore a loose cotton shirt, usually covered by another reaching to the knees, and an outer garment of white cotton or wool draped so that the right arm remained free below the elbow. On the head was a red fez with a piece of cloth wound around it as a turban. Shepherds wore a muslin turban, loose baggy pants, and a leather girdle around a cloak. The turban was wound so that a loop of material hanging below the chin could be pulled up to cover the face. Women of nomadic tribes did not cover their faces and they wore a shirt and pants less bulky than men's trousers, under one or more belted dresses of printed cotton. Modest Islamic dress for a women was the hidjab, the head scarf worn with a loose gown that allowed nothing but the hands and face to be seen.
Berber men in Kabylia wore a burnous, a full-length cloak worn with a hood, woven out of very fine white or brown wool. The fota, a piece of cloth usually red, yellow and black, was worn at the hips by Kabyle women. Kabyle women wore brightly colored loose dresses with a woolen belt and head scarves. Taureg men, Algerians living in the south, wore a distinctive blue litham, a veil wound around the head to form a hood that covered the mouth and nose, and made a turban behind the head.

DANCES AND SONGS

Chaabi is a very popular brand of traditional Algerian folk music, characteristic of the region of Algiers. Raï (pronounced ra'yy) is a music style mixing modern, western rhythms and synthesizers and electronic magnification technology with a traditional music line. It originated in northwestern Algeria in the 1970s and has become popular throughout the world, spread through locally produced cassettes. The most prominent performers live in France. Raï is an Arabic word meaning "opinion." Raï has provoked the Algerian government, which banned it from being played on the radio until 1985, and militant fundamentalists, who have been responsible for the death of raï singer Cheb Hasni. Another musician, Cheb Khaled, known as the king of raï, left Algeria and lives in Paris.

HOLIDAYS

Algerian Americans follow the American custom of observing New Year's Day in January. The most important national Algerian holiday celebrated is the anniversary of the revolution on November 1, 1954. Additional Algerian holidays still observed include Labour Day on May 1, Commemoration Day on June 19, and Algerian Independence Day on July 5. Algerians also observe Ramadan, the Islam month of fasting usually in January and Eid Al-Fitr, the Islamic feast that signifies the end of Ramadan, usually in February. Eid Al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, is celebrated on the last day of the haj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah required of all Muslims at least once in their lifetime in April. Algerians also celebrate Hijriyya, the calendar New Year, usually May and Mawlid An-Nabi (Prophet Mohammed's birthday) on July 29.

HEALTH ISSUES

Many Algerians suffer from tuberculosis, considered their most serious health problem. Second is trachoma, a fly-borne eye infection, which was directly or indirectly responsible for most cases of blindness. Waterborne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis among all age-groups have also been a problem. These diseases are related to nutritional deficiencies, crowded living conditions, a general shortage of water, and insufficient knowledge of personal sanitation and modern health practices. Only a small part of the Algerian population has been entirely free from trachoma. In contrast, there are no known medical conditions specific to or more frequent among Algerian Americans.

Language

Ethnic communities in Algeria were distinguished primarily by language, where 17 different languages were spoken. The original language of Algeria is Tamazight (Berber). Arabic was a result of the Islamic conquest. French was imposed by colonization, which in Algeria began earlier and ended later than in the other nations of the Maghreb, the term applied to the western part of Arab North Africa. Arabic encroached gradually, spreading through the areas most accessible to migrants and conquerors, but Berber remained the mother tongue in many rural areas. In the late 1990s, 14 percent of Algerians spoke Berber languages.
Arabic, the language of the majority and the official language of the country, is a Semitic tongue related to Hebrew, Aramaic, and Amharic. The dominant language throughout North Africa and the Middle East, Arabic was introduced in the seventh and eighth centuries AD to the coastal regions by the Arab conquerors. Written Arabic is psychologically and sociologically important as the vehicle of Islam and Arab culture and as the link with other Arab countries. Two forms are used, the classical Arabic of the Koran and Algerian dialectical Arabic. Classical Arabic is the essential base of written Arabic and formal speech throughout the Arab world. The religious, scientific, historical, and literary heritage of Arabic people is transmitted in classical Arabic. Arabic scholars or individuals with a good classical education from any country with Arab heritage can converse with one another.
As in other Semitic scripts, in classical Arabic only the consonants are written. Vowel signs and other diacritical marks to aid in pronunciation are used occasionally in printed texts. The script is cursive, often used as decoration. Berber and Arabic have mixed so that many words are swapped. In some Arabic-speaking areas, the words for various flora and fauna are still in Berber, and Berber place-names are numerous throughout the country, some of them borrowed. Examples of Berber place-names are Illizi, Skikda, Tamanrasset, Tipasa, and Tizi Ouzou.
Berber is primarily a spoken language. There is an ancient Berber script called tifinagh that survives among the Tuareg of the Algerian Sahara, where the characters are used more for special purposes than for communication. Several Berber dialect groups are recognized in modern Algeria, but only Kabyle and Chaouia are spoken by any considerable number. The Chaouia dialect, which is distinguishable from but related to Kabyle, bears the mark and influence of Arabic. Separate dialects, however, are spoken by the Tuareg and by the Mzab.

Family and Community Dynamics

Before the War of Independence, the basic Algerian family unit was the extended family, and it consisted of grandparents, their married sons and families, unmarried sons, daughters (if unmarried, divorced or widowed with their children), and occasionally other related adults. The patriarchal structure of the family meant the senior male member made all major decisions affecting family welfare, divided land and work assignments, and represented the family in dealings with outsiders. Within the home, each married couple usually had their own rooms opening onto the family courtyard, and they prepared meals separately. Women spent their lives under male authority, either their father or husband, and devoted themselves entirely to the activities of the home. Children were raised by all members of the group, who passed on to them the concept and value of family solidarity.
In Algeria, women average 3.4 children per family. Because a woman gained status in her husband's home when she produced sons, mothers loved and favored their boys, often nursing them longer than they nursed girls. The relation between a mother and her son remained warm and intimate, whereas the father was a more distant figure. Families expressed solidarity by adhering to a code of honor that obligated members to provide aid to relatives in need and, if moving to a city to find work, to seek out and stay with family members. Among Berber groups, the honor and wealth of the lineage were so important that blood revenge was justified in their defense.
In the early 1990s, Algeria continued to have one of the most conservative legal codes concerning marriage in the Middle East, strictly observing Islamic marriage requirements. The legal age for marriage is twenty-one for men, eighteen for women. Upon marriage the bride usually goes to the household, village, or neighborhood of the bridegroom's family, where she lives under the authority of her mother-in-law. Divorce and polygamy were permitted in the classical Muslim law of marriage. Today, divorce is more frequent than polygamy.
Algerian American families tend to be smaller and better educated. They prefer to live in separate quarters, have fewer children, and run their lives independently. Familial ties of loyalty and respect have loosened, and family relationships have been rearranged with respect to living space and decision making.
Marriage is traditionally a family rather than a personal affair and it is intended to strengthen existing families. An Islamic marriage is a civil contract rather than a sacrament, and consequently, representatives of the bride's interests negotiate a marriage agreement with representatives of the bridegroom. Although the future spouses must, by law, consent to the match, they usually take no part in the arrangements. The contract establishes the terms of the union and outlines appropriate recourse if they are broken.

EDUCATION

For Algerian Americans, education in the United States is an eye-opening experience because subject matter, especially history, is not taught from a pro-Islam perspective. In U.S. schools, religion is separated from course instruction by law, whereas Algerian schools are exactly opposite. When Algeria became independent in 1962, the government inherited an education system focused on European content and conducted in a foreign language by foreign teachers. By the 1990s, teachers were more than 90 percent Algerian at all levels. Algerians redesigned the system to make it more suited to the needs of a developing nation. In the mid-1970s, the primary and middle education levels were reorganized into a nine-year system of compulsory basic education. The reforms of the mid-1970s included abolishing all private education. Since then, on the secondary level, pupils followed one of three tracks—general, technical, or vocational—and then sat for the baccalaureate examination before proceeding to one of the universities, state technical institutes, or vocational training centers, or directly to employment. There are ten universities in Algeria, accommodating over 160,000 students. Aside from the University of Algiers, there are universities and technical colleges in Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Batna, Tizi Ouzou and Tlemcen.
Reorganization was completed in 1989, although in practice the basic system remained divided between the elementary level, with 5.8 million students in grades one to nine, and the high school level, with 839,000 students. Although education has been compulsory for all children aged between 6 and 15 years of age since 1976, by 1989 nearly 40 percent of the entire population over 15 years of age still had no formal education. Despite government support for the technical training programs meant to produce middle- and higher-level technicians for the industrial sector, a critical shortage remained of workers in fields requiring technical skills.
Algerian society in the early 1990s did not encourage women to assume roles outside the home, and female enrollments remained slightly lower than might have been expected from the percentage of girls in the age-group. Many Algerian students also study abroad. Most go to France or other West European countries, various countries of Eastern Europe, and the United States.

THE ROLE OF WOMEN

In Algeria women are traditionally regarded as weaker than men in mind, body, and spirit. The honor of the family depends largely on the conduct of its women. Consequently, women are expected to be decorous, modest, and discreet. The slightest implication of impropriety, especially if publicly acknowledged, can damage the family's honor. Female virginity before marriage and fidelity afterward are considered essential to the maintenance of family honor. If they discover a transgression, men are traditionally bound to punish the offending woman. Girls are brought up to believe that they are inferior to men and must cater to them and boys are taught to believe that they are entitled to that care.
In the traditional system, there was considerable variation in the treatment of women. In Arab tribes, women could inherit property, but in Berber tribes they could not. In Berber society, Kabyle women seem to have been the most restricted. A husband could not only divorce his wife by repudiation, but he could also forbid her remarriage. In contrast, Chaouia women could choose their own husbands.
The Algerian women's movement has made few gains since independence, and women in Algeria have fewer rights compared with women in neighboring countries of Tunisia and Morocco. Once the War of Independence was over, women who played a significant part in the war were expected to return to the home and their traditional roles by both the government and larger society. Despite this emphasis on women's customary roles, the government created the National Union of Algerian Women (Union Nationale des Femmes Algériennes—UNFA) in 1962, as part of its program to mobilize various sectors of society in support of the socialism. About 6,000 women participated in the first march to celebrate International Women's Day. But the union failed to gain the support of feminists, and it did not attract membership among rural workers who were probably the most vulnerable to patriarchal traditions.
Another major gain was the Khemisti Law. Drafted by Fatima Khemisti, wife of a former foreign minister, the resolution raised the minimum age of marriage. Whereas girls were still expected to marry earlier than boys, the minimum age was raised to 16 years for girls and 18 years for boys. This change greatly facilitated women's pursuit of further education, although it fell short of the 19 year minimum specified in the original proposal. In 1964 the creation of Al Qiyam (values), a mass organization that promoted traditional Islamic values, diminished women's rights. The resurgence of the Islamic tradition was a backlash against the former French efforts to "liberate" Algerian women by pushing for better education and eliminating the veil.
Women's access to higher education has improved, even though rights to employment, political power, and autonomy are limited. Typically, women return to the home after schooling. Overall enrollment at all levels of schooling, from primary education through university or technical training, has risen sharply, and women represent more than 40 percent of students.
The National People's Assembly (APN) provided one of the few public forums available to women. But, in 1965 Boumediene suspended the APN. No female members were elected to the APN under Ben Bella, but women were allowed to propose resolutions before the assembly. In the 1950s and 1960s, no women sat on any of the key decisionmaking bodies, but nine women were elected to the APN when it was reinstated in 1976. However, women at local and regional levels did participate. By the late 1980s, the number of women in provincial and local assemblies had risen to almost 300.
The 1976 National Charter recognized women's right to education and referred to their role in the social, cultural, and economic facets of Algerian life. But in the early 1990s, the number of women employed outside the home remained well below that of Tunisia and Morocco. In 1981 a new family code backed by conservative Islamists curtailed provisions for divorce initiated by women and limited the restrictions on polygyny, but increased the minimum marriage age for both women and men to 18 and 21 years, respectively.
New women's groups emerged in the early 1980s, including the Committee for the Legal Equality of Men and Women and the Algerian Association for the Emancipation of Women. In 1984 the first woman cabinet minister was appointed. Since then, the government has promised the creation of several hundred thousand new jobs for women, although a difficult economic crisis made achievement of this goal unlikely. In the mid-1950s, about 7,000 women were registered as wage earners. By 1977, a total of 138,234 women, or 6 percent of the active work force, were engaged in full-time employment. Corresponding figures for the mid-1980s were about 250,000, or 7 percent of the labor force. Many women were employed in the state sector as teachers, nurses, physicians, and technicians. Although by 1989 the number of women in the work force had increased to 316,626, women still constituted only a little over 7 percent of the total work force. When the APN was dissolved in January 1992, few female deputies sat in it, and no women, in any capacity, were affiliated with the body that ruled Algeria in 1993. The resurgence of traditional Islamic groups threatened to further restrict the women's movement.
Feminist leader Khalida Messaoudi has written of the terrible reality of life in Algeria. Women have been betrayed and stripped of their rights as people by the government under the Family Code and then enslaved, terrorized, and murdered by the enemies of that same government. The extent of fundamentalist control over the roles of women is seen in the nation's response to world-class track champion Hassiba Boulmerka. After she won the 1,500-meter championship in 1991, fundamentalists in Algeria issued a kofr , a public disavowal because she bared her legs in the race. When she won Olympic gold in Barcelona, the majority of Algerians congratulated her, but she remains a target of terrorism by fundamentalists. Hassiba Boulmerka makes public appearances to encourage young Algerian women to follow her example.

WEDDINGS

Only after a couple is engaged may they visit each other's homes and date. The wedding party and consummation occur later. The guests at the traditional wedding party expect to remain until the bride and groom retire to a room nearby and consummate the marriage. Then the bride's undergarments or bedclothes stained with hymenal blood are publicly displayed. Many couples opt to undertake only the legal engagement phase of the wedding ceremony, and forego the traditional family celebration.

FUNERALS

Muslim life is noted for the great respect shown to the dead. Burial takes place as quickly as possible, often within hours of death. The deceased is washed, wrapped in a shroud, and carried to a cemetery. A coffin may or may not be used. The body is placed in the grave with the face oriented toward Mecca. Either at the deathbed or at the grave, the shahada, the witness to God's oneness, is whispered in the ear of the deceased. A memorial service is held 40 days after the death, and friends and family gather to mourn. Cemeteries often include other buildings such as hostels, libraries, hospitals and kitchens for feeding the poor. Muslims hold festivals, gather for meetings, and even picnic in the great cemeteries of the cities.

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS

Berbers represent one-fifth of the Algerian population and have worked to maintain a strong ethnic consciousness and preserve their cultural identity. The encroaching Islamic movement has resulted in conflicts. But generally Algerian Americans, even those of Berber descent, have no bitter rivalries with other ethnic groups.

Religion

Islam is the state religion, and 99 percent of Algerians are Sunni Muslim, the broader, more tolerant form of Islam. Generally, Algerian Americans are less strict Muslims. Some do not belong to any Islamic Center or mosque. A study of Muslim communities in the West showed the gradual loss of specifically Islamic values with each succeeding generation. Because there are around one million Muslims living in the United States, there are mosques in many communities. Immigrants can join the community of Arabs by attending Friday prayers. The rise of the Muslim ethnic identity in the 1960s in the United States provided an identity with the American public. But, there is a continuing bias against some Arabs in the United States, often directed at particular countries such as Iran, Iraq, and Libya.
A key belief of Muslims is the concept of balance and moderation, signified by the religious concept of sirat al-muataquin , or keeping to the straight path of the Koran. Islam forbids eating pork, drinking alcohol, gambling, or lending money with excessive interest. Hisba, to promote what is right and prevent what is wrong, is the primary duty of every Muslim. A person converts to Islam at a local mosque by making a declaration of faith, followed by efforts to learn about and cultivate other aspects of Muslim life given by the Koran, the written message from God. This call to Islam, called dawah , comes through evangelical, enthusiastic converts who challenge others to accept Muslim beliefs.

Employment and Economic Traditions

Of the 197 Algerian immigrants in 1984, 116 were professionals and 81 had no occupation. Of this same group, 133 were spouses of Algerian Americans. Many Algerian Americans are employed as physicians, academics, and engineers. Overall, they have more education than the average Algerian.
In the Algerian labor force of 7.8 million, percentages by occupation are: government 29.5 percent, agriculture 22 percent, construction and public works 16.2 percent, industry 13.6 percent, commerce and services 13.5 percent, transportation and communication 5.2 percent. The unemployment rate in 1997 was 28 percent. Algeria's rapidly growing labor force of about 5.5 million unskilled agricultural laborers and semiskilled workers in the early 1990s accurately reflected the high rate of population growth. More than 50 percent of the labor force was between 15 and 34 years old. Almost 40 percent of the labor force either had no formal education or had not finished primary school and 20 percent of the labor force had completed secondary school or beyond. Women officially constituted only about seven percent of the labor force, but that figure did not take into account women working in agriculture. Unskilled laborers constituted 39 percent of the total active work force, but nonprofessional skilled workers, such as carpenters, electricians, and plumbers, were in short supply because most tended to migrate. Algerian workers lacked the right to form multiple autonomous labor unions until the Law on Trade Union Activity was passed by the National Assembly in June of 1990.
Algerian American workers receive higher salaries and have more opportunities for advancement. In the United States, especially for women, the marketplace is more receptive to entrepreneurs. Back home in Algeria the entrepreneurial sector of society began to emerge as late as 1993. For most of Algeria's political history, the socialist orientation of the state precluded the development of a class of small business owners and resulted in strong public anti-capitalist sentiment. Economic liberalization under Benjedid transformed many state-owned enterprises into private entities and fostered the growth of an active and cohesive group of professional associations of small business owners, or patronat. The patronat has strongly supported government reforms, and has persisted in its lobbying efforts. The patronat consists of well over 10,000 members and is growing. Some of its member associations include the Algerian Confederation of Employers, the General Confederation of Algerian Economic Operators, and the General Union of Algerian Merchants and Artisans.

Politics and Government

A foreign policy lobbying organization of the Arab-American community, called the National Association of Arab-Americans, was founded in 1972 to the formulate and implement a nonpartisan U.S. policy agenda in the Middle East and Arab nations. The formation of the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee (ADC) in 1980 gave Algerian Americans an opportunity for political activity at a national level. The ADC is a non-sectarian, nonpartisan civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage. The ADC, which is the largest Arab-American grassroots organization in the United States, was founded by former Senator James Abourezk and has chapters nationwide. The ADC is at the forefront combating defamation and negative stereotyping of Arab Americans in the media and wherever else it is practiced. In doing so, it acts as an organized framework through which Arab Americans can channel their efforts toward unified, collective and effective advocacy. It also promotes a more balanced U.S. Middle East policy and serves as a reliable source for the news media and educators. By promoting cultural events and participating in community activities, the ADC has made great strides in correcting anti-Arab stereotypes and humanizing the image of the Arab people. In all of these efforts, the ADC coordinates closely with other civil rights and human rights organizations on issues of common concern.

RELATIONS WITH ALGERIA

The United States and Algeria have endured a rocky relationship, starting at the beginning of U.S. history. European maritime powers paid the tribute demanded by the rulers of the privateering states of North Africa (Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco) to prevent attacks on their shipping by corsairs. No longer covered by British tribute payments after the American Revolution, U.S. merchant ships were seized and sailors enslaved. In 1794 the U.S. Congress appropriated funds for the construction of warships to deal with the privateering threat, but three years later it concluded a treaty with the ruler of Algiers, guaranteeing payment of tribute amounting to $10 million over a 12 year period. Payments in ransom and tribute to the privateering states amounted to 20 percent of U.S. government annual revenues in 1800. In March of 1815, the U.S. Congress authorized naval action against the Barbary States and the then-independent Muslim states of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Commodore Stephen Decatur threatened Algiers with his guns and concluded a favorable treaty that the ruler repudiated shortly after.
The United States and Algeria continued to have competing foreign policy objectives. Algeria's commitment to strict socialism and the Islamists' commitment to a global revolution against Western capitalism and imperialism antagonized relations with the United States. The United States maintained good relations with France instead of Algeria following the War of Independence. Algeria broke diplomatic relations with the United States in 1967, following the June 1967 war with Israel, and U.S. relations remained hostile throughout the 1970s. A number of incidents aggravated the tenuous relationship between the two countries. These included the American intervention in Vietnam and other developing countries, Algerian sponsorship of guerrilla and radical revolutionary groups, American sympathies for Morocco in the Western Sahara, and continued support for Israel by the United States. Algeria's policy of allowing aid and landing clearance at Algerian airports for hijackers angered the United States.
In the 1980s, increased U.S. demands for energy and a growing Algerian need for capital and technical assistance resulted in increased interaction with the United States. In 1980 the United States imported more than $2.8 billion worth of oil from Algeria and was Algeria's largest export market. Algeria's role as intermediary in the release of the 52 U.S. hostages from Iran in January 1981 and its retreat from a militant role in the developing world also encouraged better relations with the United States. In 1990 Algeria received $25.8 million in financial assistance and bought $1.0 billion in imports from the United States, indicating that the United States had become an important international partner. On January 13, 1992, following the military coup that upset Algeria's burgeoning democratic system, the United States issued a formal but low-key statement condemning the military takeover. The next day Department of State spokesmen retracted the statement, calling for a peaceful resolution, but offering no condemnation of the coup. Since then, the United States has accepted a military dictatorship in Algeria. The military government has opened the country to foreign trade.

Individual and Group Contributions

Thelma Schoonmaker (1940– ) is a filmmaker, born in Algiers, who edited Taxi Driver (1976) and The Age of Innocence (1993).

Media

PRINT

The Amazigh Voice.
A newsletter published quarterly since 1992, it informs members and other interested persons about Amazigh (Berber) language and culture and acts as a medium for the exchange of ideas and information. It is distributed worldwide and is also available on the world wide web.
Address: The Newsletter of the Amazigh Cultural Association in America, P. O. Box 1763, Bloomington, Illinois 61702.

The News Circle/Arab-American Magazine.
The oldest independent Arab-American magazine in the United States. Founded in Los Angeles in 1972.
Address: P.O. Box 3684, Glendale, California 91221-0684.
Fax: (818) 246-1936.

TELEVISION

ARABESCO-TV.
Created by News Circle Publishing, Arabesco is a TV program aimed at disseminating Arab culture and tradition to America. It was founded in Los Angeles in 1995. It is a series of 29-minute episodes narrated in English and viewed mainly on Cable TV.
Address: P.O. Box 3684, Glendale, California 91221-0684.
Fax: (818) 246-1936.

Organizations and Associations

Algerian-American Association of New England (AAANE).
This is a relief organization that facilitates the adaptation of Algerian-Americans to the American community, while maintaining and fostering their unique heritage. It hosts an Annual Algerian-American Business Conference. It utilizes educational programs and other appropriate means to foster greater awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the Algerian cultural and ethnic heritage.
Address: P.O. Box 380165, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02238-0165.
Telephone: 617-284-9349.
E-mail: aaane@hotmail.com.

Algerian American Association of Northern California.
A non-profit organization established in 1992 to develop and strengthen ties between Algerian-Americans and their friends in Northern California in particular, and the nation in general. It serves to create and nurture a positive sense of cultural identity among Algerian-Americans and to preserve Algerian culture.
Address: P.O. Box 2213, Cupertino, California 95015.

Algerian American National Association.
This was the first cultural non-profit corporation with the goals of preserving the Algerian heritage. It serves as a platform of support for the new American citizens and promotes relations between the two countries with educational and cultural programs. It was established in 1987 as a non-sectarian association open to everyone.
Address: P. O. Box 19, Gracie Station, New York, New York 10028.
Telephone: (212) 309-3316.
Fax: (212) 348-8195.

Algerian Embassy.
Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, Diplomatic representation in the United States
Address: 2118 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008.
Telephone: (202) 265-2800.

Algerian Mission to the United Nations.
Address: 750 Third Ave., 14th Floor, New York, New York 10012.
Telephone: (212) 986-0595.

The Amazigh Cultural Association in America (ACAA), Inc.
This is a non-profit organization registered in the state of New Jersey. It is organized and operated exclusively for cultural, educational, and scientific purposes to contribute to saving, promoting, and enriching the Amazigh (Berber) language and culture.
Address: 442 Route 206 North, Suite 163, Bedminster, New Jersey 07921.
Telephone: (215) 592-7492.

American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee.
This is a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage.
Address: 4201 Connecticut Ave, N.W, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20008.
Telephone: (202) 244-2990.

National Association of Arab-Americans (NAAA).
This is a premier foreign policy lobbying organization of the Arab-American community, which was founded in 1972. NAAA is dedicated to the formulation and implementation of an evenhanded and nonpartisan U.S. policy agenda in the Middle East.
Address: 1212 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 230, Washington, DC 20005.
Telephone: (202) 842-1840.

World Algerian Action Coalition, Inc.
This organization is dedicated to presenting a balanced and politically non-biased portrayal of the political, social, and economic conditions in Algeria.
Address: P.O. Box 34093, Washington, DC 20043.
Online: http://www.waac.org .

Museums and Research Centers

The Historical Text Archive, Mississippi State University.
This archive holds historical documents and maps.
Address: Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi 39762.
Telephone: (662) 325-3060.

Middle East & Islamic Studies Collection, Cornell University Library.
This collection contains political documents, studies, maps, and other printed artifacts on Algerian culture and history.
Contact: Ali Houissa, Middle East & Islamic Studies Bibliographer .
Address: Collection Development Department, 504 Olin Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
Telephone: (607) 255-5752.
Online: http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast .

Sources for Additional Study

Entelis, John P., and Phillip C. Naylor. State And Society in Algeria. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1992.
Metz, Helen Chapin. Algeria: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1984.
Messaoudi, Khalida. Translated by Anne C. Vila. Unbowed: An Algerian Woman Confronts Islamic Fundamentalism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.

Albanian americans

2011-11-21T04:53:00.000-08:00

Albania is a mountainous country, 28,748 square miles in size, slightly larger than the state of Maryland. It is located in southeastern Europe and borders Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia on the north and east, Greece in the south and southeast, and the Adriatic Sea on the west. The name Albania was given by the Romans in ancient times (after a port called Albanopolis); but the Albanians themselves call their country Shiqiptare ("Sons of the Eagle"). The majority of the country's population of 3,360,000 consists of Albanians (more than 95 percent) in addition to assorted minorities: Greeks, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Macedonians, Serbs, Jews, and Vlachs. Followers of organized religions include Muslims (70%), Eastern Orthodox (20%), and Roman Catholics (10%). More than two million Albanians live in neighboring Balkan countries (e.g., Kosovo Region in Yugoslavia, Macedonia, and Turkey) as well as in other countries. The country's capital is Tirana; the Albanian flag is red with a black double-edged eagle, the symbol of freedom. The national language is Albanian.

HISTORY

Albanians descend from the ancient Illyrians. Conquered by the Romans in the third century A.D., they were later incorporated into the Byzantine Empire (395 A.D.) and were subjected to foreign invasions by Ghots, Huns, Avars, Serbs, Croats, and Bulgarians. In 1468 Albania became part of the Ottoman Empire despite strong resistance by Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu (George Castrioti Skanderbeg, 1403–1468), who is the most outstanding hero of Albania's fight against foreign subjugation. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Albania's fight for independence intensified under the leadership of Naim Frasheri (1846–1900), Sami Frasheri (1850–1904), and Andon Zaki Cajupi (1866–1930). During World War I, Albania became a protectorate of the Great Powers after a short period of independence in 1912. It once again gained full independence in 1920, first as a republic and since 1928 as a monarchy under King Ahmet Zogu (1895–1961). In 1939, Albania was invaded and occupied by Italy; it regained independence after World War II, but under a Communist regime (led by Enver Hoxha, 1908–1985), which outlawed religion and suppressed the people. After the collapse of communism in 1991, Albania became a free and democratic country with a multi-party parliamentary system under President Sali Berisha.
In 1997, investment pyramid schemes damaged the savings of more than 30 percent of the population. Armed rebellion against the government followed. After United Nations military intervention, order was restored, new elections were held, and a new Socialist alliance government came to power, led by president Rexhep Mejdani. In 1998 and 1999, especially during NATO's involvement in the Kosovo region of Yugoslavia, more than 300,000 Kosovars (ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo) gained asylum in Albania.

THE FIRST ALBANIANS IN AMERICA

Few Albanians came to the United States before the twentieth century. The first Albanian, whose name is lost, is reported to have come to the United States in 1876, but soon relocated to Argentina. Kole Kristofor (Nicholas Christopher), from the town of Katundi, was the first recorded Albanian to arrive in the United States, probably between 1884 and 1886. He returned to Albania and came back to the United States in 1892. In The Albanians in America, Constantine Demo records the names of 16 other Albanians who either came with Kole or arrived soon after. They came from Katundi, located in southern Albania.

SIGNIFICANT IMMIGRATION WAVES

Albanians are the most recent group of Europeans to immigrate to the United States and their numbers have remained small. Prior to World War I, Albanians migrated to America because of poor economic conditions, political concerns, or to escape military conscription in the Turkish army. Many Albanians (between 20,000 and 30,000) who fled Albania for political reasons returned to Albania between 1919 and 1925. Many of these same Albanians re-migrated to the United States, intending to remain permanently in America. Another wave immigrated after Albania came under Communist control in 1944. After the fall of communism, Albanians began entering the United States in increasing numbers between 1990 and 1991. There are no accurate immigration statistics on the most recent immigration.
According to U.S. immigration statistics, between the years 1931 and 1975, the total number of Albanians entering the United States was 2,438. After 1982, the official number of Albanians entering the United States is as follows: 1983 (22); 1984(32); 1985 (45); 1986 (n/a); 1987 (62); 1988 (82) 1989 (69); 1990 (n/a); 1991 (141). These immigration figures do not reflect accurately the number of Albanians living in the United States. The 1990 population census reports the number of people claiming at least one ancestor as Albanian at 47,710, although the total population in the United States may range from 75,000 to 150,000 or more. In 1999 the United States granted legal alien status to about 20,000 Kosovar refugees. They joined their families, friends, or charitable sponsors in America, but some only until the conflict in Kosovo subsided.

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Early Albanian immigrants settled around Boston and then moved to other parts of Massachusetts where unskilled factory labor was plentiful. Prior to 1920, most of the Albanians who migrated to the United States were Orthodox Tosks from the city of Korce in southern Albania. Most were young males who either migrated for economic gain or were seeking political asylum and did not intend to remain permanently in the United States. They lived in community barracks or konaks, where they could live cheaply and send money home. The konak gradually gave way to more permanent family dwellings as more women and children joined Albanian men in the United States. Early Massachusetts settlements were established in Worcester, Natick, Southbridge, Cambridge, and Lowell. The 1990 census reveals that the largest number of Albanians live in New York City with a high concentration in the Bronx, followed by Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Settlements of Albanians can be found in Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Detroit, New Orleans, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C.

Acculturation and Assimilation

Current studies that fully record the experiences and the contributions of Albanian Americans in the United States do not exist. Albanian neighborhoods have tended to resist assimilation in the United States. The communities in New York and Massachusetts have tended to be restricted and interaction with other groups has been infrequent. Other groups of Albanians in the Midwest may have assimilated more quickly. In 1935, a newspaper reported that the Albanians were "not a clannish people . . . [they] associate freely with other nationalities, do business with them, partake of their common culture, and participate in a typically middle class way to the general life of the city" (Arch Farmer, "All the World Sends Sons to Become Americans," Chicago Sunday Tribune, July 28, 1935). Albanians have often been confused with other ethnic groups, such as Greeks or Armenians. They have succeeded in preserving a sense of communal identity, customs, and traditions in the numerous clubs, associations and coffee-houses ( vatra ) that have been organized wherever Albanians live.
Most of the early Albanians who immigrated to the United States were illiterate. According to Denna Page in The Albanian-American Odyssey , it was estimated that of the 5,000 Albanians in America in 1906, only 20 of them could read or write their own language. Due to the strong efforts of community leaders to make books, pamphlets, and other educational materials (especially the newspaper, Kombi ) available in the konaks, the rate of illiteracy declined significantly. By 1919, 15,000 of 40,000 Albanians could read and write their own language. Albanians remained suspicious of American ways of life and were often reluctant to send their children to American schools. Gradually, they accepted the fact that an education provided the foundation for a better way of life in America.

CUISINE

Albanian dishes have been heavily influenced by Turkey, Greece, Armenia, and Syria. Recipes have often been adapted and altered to suit American tastes. Albanians enjoy a variety of appetizers, soups, casseroles, pilaf, pies, stews, and desserts. Salads ( sallate ) are made with cabbage, lettuce, onions, peppers, olives, and feta cheese. Sallate me patate is a potato salad. Soups are made with a variety of ingredients such as beans, chicken, lentils, and fish. Pace, a soup made with lamb's tripe, is served at Easter. Albanian pies, lakror-byrek, are prepared with a variety of gjelle ("filling"). Fillings may be lamb, beef, cabbage, leeks, onions, squash, or spinach, combined with milk, eggs, and olive oil. A lakror known as brushtul lakror is made with a cottage and feta cheese filling, butter and eggs. Domate me qepe is a lakror made with an onion and tomato filling. Stews are made with beef, rabbit, lamb, veal, and chicken, which are combined with cabbage, spinach, green beans, okra, or lentils. Favorites include mish me patate (lamb with potatoes), comblek (beef with onions) and comblek me lepur (rabbit stew). A popular dish with Albanian Italians living in Sicily is Olives and Beef Albanesi-Siciliano, which consists of brown, salted beef cubes in a sauce of tomatoes, parsley, garlic, olives, and olive oil and served with taccozzelli (rectangles of pasta and goat cheese). Dollma is a term applied to a variety of stuffed dishes, which consist of cabbage, green peppers, or vine leaves, and may be filled with rice, bread, onions, and garlic. An Albanian American variation of the traditionally Greek lasagna-like dish, moussaka, is made with potatoes and hamburger instead of eggplant. Albanians enjoy a variety of candies, cookies, custards, sweet breads, and preserves. They include halva , a confection made with sugar, flour, butter, maple syrup, water, oil, and nuts; te matur, a pastry filled with butter and syrup; baklava, a filo pastry made with nuts, sugar, and cinnamon; kadaif, a pastry made with shredded dough, butter, and walnuts; and lokume, a Turkish paste. Popular cookies include kurabie, a butter cookie made without liquid; finique , a filled cookie with many variations; and kuluraqka-kulure, Albanian "tea cookies." Te dredhura, bukevale, and brustull are hot sweet breads. Family members will announce the birth of a child by making and distributing petulla, pieces of fried dough sprinkled with sugar or dipped in syrup. Albanians enjoy Turkish coffee or Albanian coffee ( kafe ), Albanian whiskey ( raki ) and wine. Kos, a fermented milk drink, is still popular.

TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

Albanian costumes have been influenced by Turkey, Greece, and Persian-Tartar designs. Albanian traditional costumes vary depending on the region. In countries where Albanians have established themselves, traditional costumes often distinguish the region in Albania from which the Albanian originally came. A man's costume from Malesia (Malcija Vogel area), for example, consists of close-fitting woolen trousers with black cord trim, an apron of wool with a leather belt buckled over it, and a silk jacket with long dull red sleeves with white stripes. A long sleeveless coat may be worn over the jacket along with an outer, short-sleeved jacket ( dzurdin ). The head and neck may be covered with a white cloth. A style of male dress most often seen in the United States is the fustanella, a full, white pleated skirt; a black and gold jacket; a red flat fez with a large tassel ( puskel ); and shoes with black pompoms.
Women's clothing tends to be more colorful than the men's clothing. Northern Albanian costumes tend to be more ornamental and include a distinctive metal belt. Basic types of costume include a wide skirt ( xhublete ), long shirt or blouse ( krahol ), and a short woolen jacket ( xhoke ). The traditional costume of Moslem women may include a tightly pleated skirt ( kanac ) or large woollen trousers ( brekeshe ). Aprons are a pervasive feature in every type of women's costume and great variety is seen in their shape and embroidery. Many Albanian Americans often wear traditional costumes during Independence Day celebrations and other special occasions and social events.

HOLIDAYS

Since Albanian Americans are members of either Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Islamic faiths, many religious festivals and holy days are observed. November 28 is celebrated as Albanian Independence Day, the day that Albanians declared their independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912. Many Albanian Albanians also recognize the Kosova declaration of independence from Serbia on July 2, 1990.

DANCES AND SONGS

Although the Albanian musical tradition has been influenced by neighboring countries such as Greece, much of the musical folklore remains distinct. Albania has had a rich tradition of musical and theatrical activities. In 1915, Albanian Americans organized the Boston Mandolin Club and the Albanian String Orchestra. They also had amateur groups perform plays by Albanian authors. Because the heroic sense of life has always been part of Albanian life, ballads are often recited and sung in an epic-recitative form that celebrates not only fantastic heroes of the past but also more recent heroes and their deeds in modern history. Songs may be accompanied by traditional instruments such as the two stringed cifteli , a lute instrument, and a lahuta , a one-stringed violin.

Language

Albanian is probably part of the Illyrian branch of eastern Indo-European languages. It is a descendant of Dacian, one of the ancient languages that were among the Thraco-Phrygian group once spoken in Anatolia and the Balkan Peninsula. Its closest modern relative is Armenian. Today, Albanian is spoken in two major dialects (with many subdialects) in Albania and in neighboring Kosova— Tosk (about two-thirds of the population) and Gheg (the remaining one-third). A third dialect ( Arberesh ) is spoken in Greece and southern Italy. Throughout the centuries, Albania has endured numerous invasions and occupations of foreign armies, all of whom have left their influence on the language. Despite outside influence, a distinct Albanian language has survived. Albanians call their language " shqip. "
Until the early twentieth century, Albanians used the Greek, Latin, and Turko-Arabic alphabets and mixtures of these alphabets. In 1908, Albania adopted a standard Latin alphabet of 26 letters, which was made official in 1924. During the 1920s and 1930s, the government tried to establish a mixed Tosk and Gheg dialect from the Elbascan region as the official language. In 1952, a standardized Albanian language was adopted, which is a mixture of Gheg and Tosk but with a prevailing Tosk element. In addition to the letters of the Latin alphabet, the Albanian language adds: "dh," "gf," "ll," "nj," "rr," "sh," "th," "xh," and "zh." Albanian is taught at such universities as the University of California-San Diego, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Cleveland State University. Libraries with Albanian language collections include the Library of Congress, Chicago Public Library, Boston Public Library, New York Public Library (Donnel Library Center), and Queens Borough Public Library.

GREETINGS AND OTHER POPULAR EXPRESSIONS

Some common expressions in the Albanian language include: Po ("Yes"); Jo ("No"); Te falemnderit/Ju falemnderit ("Thank you"); Po, ju lutem ("Yes, please"); Miredita ("Hello" or "Good day"); Miremengjes ("Good Morning"); Si jeni? ("How are you?"); Gezohem t'ju njoh ("Pleased to meet you" or "morning"); Mirembrema ("Good evening"); Naten e mire ("Good night"); Mirupafshim ("Goodbye"); Me fal/Me falni ("Excuse me"); Ne rregull ("All right" or "Okay"); S'ka perse ("Don't mention it"); Gjuha vete ku dhemb dhemballa ("The tongue follows the toothache"); Shqiptare ("Albanians").

Family and Community Dynamics

THE CODE OF LEKE DUKAGJINI

The Kanun ( Kanuni I Leke Dukagjinit ) is an ancient set of civil, criminal, and family laws that still exerts influence on the lives of many Albanian Americans. The Kanun is traditionally ascribed to Leke Dukagjini (1460–1481), a compatriot and contemporary of Skanderberg. It sets forth rights and obligations regarding the church, family, and marriage. The code is based on the concepts of honor ( bessa ) and blood; the individual is obligated to guard the honor of family, clan, and tribe. The rights and obligations surrounding the concept of honor have often led to the blood feud ( gjak ), which frequently lasts for generations. At the time of King Zog in the 1920s, the blood feud accounted for one out four male deaths in Albania. This code was translated into English and published in a bilingual text in 1989 in the United States. American attorneys brought the code to the attention of Albanian lawyers to help Albania codify their new legislation after the collapse of communism. According to a newspaper article, the code is "the central part of their legal and cultural identity" ( New York Times, November 11, 1994, p. B-20).
The Kanun defines the family as a "group of human beings who live under the same roof, whose aim is to increase their number by means of marriage for their establishment and the evolution of their state and for the development of their reason and intellect." The traditional Albanian household is a patriarchy in which the head of the household is the eldest male. The principal roles of the wife are to keep house and raise the children. The children have a duty to honor their parents and respect their wishes.

THE ROLE OF WOMEN

Although the Kanun considers a woman a superfluity in the household, many Albanian American women in the United States would strongly disagree. Historically, Albanian American women have borne the responsibility of preserving the memories, customs, and traditions of the Albanian homeland. A woman's first obligation is to marry and raise a family. Girls have not been allowed as much freedom as boys and were not encouraged "to go out." Instead, girls have been kept at home and taught domestic skills. Girls were sent through high school but not encouraged to pursue higher education

This photograph was taken shortly after this young Albanian woman entered the United States.

and a career. After graduation and before marriage, women have often helped with the family business. Albanian women have usually married at an early age. During the 1920s and 1930s, Albanian men outnumbered Albanian women in the United States by about three to one. Many Albanian men considered their stay in America temporary and therefore left their wives in Albania with the intent of making enough money to return home. During this period, when Albanian women were in short supply, Albanian men in the United States began to "order" wives from Albania. The man usually supplied the dowry, which compensated the girl's parents for her fare to the United States.
Today many Albanian American women feel caught between two worlds. They often feel obligated to conform to the standards and mores of their community but, at the same time, are pressured to "Americanize." Although many Albanian American women have pursued higher education and careers outside the home, many in the community still view these pursuits as inappropriate.
Albanian American women have only recently begun to organize. The Motrat Qirijazi (Sisters Qirjazi), the first Albanian-American women's organization, was founded on March 27, 1993. The principal founder and current president is Shqipe Baba. This organization serves all Albanian women in the United States, assisting and supporting them in the pursuit of unity, education, and advancement.

WEDDINGS

Traditionally, Albanian weddings are arranged by parents or by an intermediary or matchmaker. The festivities may begin a week before the wedding ( jav' e nuses —"marriage week"). Usually, an engagement ceremony is held between the two families and the bride is given a gold coin as a token of the engagement. A celebration is held at the home of the bride's parents and the future bride is given gifts and sweets. Refreshments are usually served. A second celebration is given by the family of the groom and the bride's family attends. At these celebrations, small favors of candy-coated almonds ( kufeta ) are exchanged. In Albania, a dowry is usually given but this custom is not followed in the United States.
A week before the ceremony, wedding preparations began. During this week, relatives and friends visit the homes of the couple and food preparation begins. A chickpea bread ( buke me qiqra ) is usually prepared. Gifts to the groom and the bride's trousseau and wedding clothes are displayed. A party is given in which family and friends attend. Members of the groom's family come to the house of the bride and invite her to the festivities. They carry wine, flowers, and a plate of rice, almond candy, and coins with a cake on top. The groom also invites the kumbare (godfather) and vellam (best man). The bride gives similar gifts. The party is a time of great rejoicing with food, drink, dancing, and singing. Around midnight, the bride and groom, with family and friends, go in opposite directions to three different bodies of water to fill two containers. Coins are thrown into the air at each stop for anyone to pick up.
On the day of the wedding, the bride is dressed, given a sip of wine by her parents along with their good wishes. Other family members give her money. The vellam brings in the bride's shoes, filled with rice and almond candy, wrapped in a silk handkerchief. Accompanied by singing women, the vellam puts the shoes on the bride and gives money to the person who assisted the bride in dressing. The vellam is encouraged to give everybody money. He throws coins into the air three times and everyone tries to get one coin. The groom's family accompanies the bride to the ceremony. The ceremony is followed by a reception. On the following day, the bride may be visited by her family, who bring sweets ( me peme ). One week after the ceremony, the couple is visited by friends and relatives. This is called "first visit" ( te pare ). After a few weeks, the bride's dowry may be displayed (in Albania) and the bride, in turn, distributes gifts to the groom's family. The couple is sent off with good wishes: " te trashegojen e te plaken; jete te gjate me dashuri " or "a long, happy, healthy life together" ("Albanian Customs," Albanian Cookbook [Worcester, Massachusetts: Women's Guild, St. Mary's Albanian Orthodox Church] 1977).

BIRTH AND BIRTHDAYS

Traditionally, the one who tells friends and relatives that a child has been born receives a siharik ( tip). Within three days after the birth, the family makes petulla (fried dough or fritters) and distributes them to friends and family. A hot sweet bread ( buevale ) may also be prepared for guests who visit the mother and child. A celebration is usually held on the third day where friends and relatives bring petulla and other gifts. In the Orthodox Church, this celebration may be delayed until the child is baptized. Traditionally, for Albanians of the Orthodox faith, the kumbare and ndrikull (godparents) choose the name of the child to be baptized. Many superstitions surround the birth of an Albanian child. Among older Albanian Americans may of these superstitions may still exist. Infants are especially vulnerable to the "evil eye" and many Albanian mothers will place a kuleta (amulet) on a new-born child. For Christians, the kuleta may be a small cross, and among Muslims, it may be a small triangular silver form ( hajmali ). Garlic may also ward off evil. A person who touches an Albanian child or offers a compliment is required to say " Mashalla " (as God wishes) to ward off the misfortune of the evil eye.
Among Orthodox Christians, birthdays are not traditionally observed. Instead, the family observes a "name's day" for the saint after whom the person is named. Family and friends may gather together and wish the person a "happy nameday" and "good health and long life." The family may serve guests fruit preserves ( liko ), pastries ( te embla ), Albanian whiskey ( raki ), and coffee ( kafe ). Guests would be formally served in the reception room ( ode ) or the living room ( vater ). The guests are treated with great courtesy and all formalities are observed.

Religion

Albanians in the United States are primarily Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, or Muslims. Currently, the Albanian Orthodox Church in the United States is divided into two ecclesiastical jurisdictions. The Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America (OCA) is an autocephalous church established in 1908 by Fan S. Noli, a major religious and political figure in the Albanian community. With a membership of around 45,000, it currently has 16 parishes nationwide. The current Primate is Metropolitan Theodosius. The headquarters of the Archdiocese, St. George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral,

This ethnic Albanian refugee carefully shakes the dust off a prayer rug as he collects them while others continue to pray near the end of a Muslim prayer service at a refugee village at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

is located in South Boston. One of the oldest chapters of the St. George Cathedral was organized in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1911. This chapter became the Church of Saint Mary's Assumption in 1915. The Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese of America, established in 1950 by Bishop Mark Lipa, is under the jurisdiction of the ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. This Archdiocese currently administers two churches, Saint Nicholas in Chicago and Holy Trinity in South Boston. Albanian Roman Catholics began coming to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. At present, three Albanian Catholic churches exist in the United States: Church of Our Lady of Shkodra, located in the Bronx, New York City, founded in 1969 and has a membership of 1,350; St. Paul Catholic Church, located in Warren, Michigan; and Our Lady of the Albanians, located in Beverly Hills, Michigan.
Albanian Muslims came to the United States around 1913. Currently, there are between 25,000 and 30,000 Albanian Muslims in the United States, primarily of the Sunni division within Islam. The Presidency of Albanian Muslim Community Centers in the United States and Canada was founded in 1992 by Imam Vehbi Ismail (1919– ) in an attempt to provide unity for Muslims of Albanian heritage. The Presidency comprises 13 community centers or mosques located in Connecticut, Philadelphia, Toronto, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Michigan. Albanian Americans of all faiths are welcome at these centers (for more information on Albanian Muslims, contact Imam Vehbi Ismail, Albanian Islamic Center, 20426 Country Club Road, Harper Woods, Michigan 48236).
A small sect of Muslims of the Bektaski Order, the First Albanian Teke Bektashiane in America, is located in Taylor, Michigan. The Order was founded in 1954. They have a small library and publish The Voice of Bektashism.

Employment and Economic Traditions

The Albanians who came to the United States prior to 1920 were from rural backgrounds and worked as farmers, while others from the urban areas worked as small shopkeepers and tradesmen. The large population of Albanians who settled in Massachusetts found work with the American Optical Company of Southbridge and the textile mills of New Bedford. Others worked as cooks, waiters, and bellhops. Albanians soon began opening their own businesses. The most successful Albanian businesses were fruit stores and restaurants. "By 1925...most Albanians of Greater Boston could claim ownership of over three hundred grocery and fruit stores" (Dennis Lazar, Ethnic Community as it Applies to a Less Visible National Group: The Albanian Community of Boston, Massachusetts [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, doctoral dissertation, 1982], p. 6). Today Albanians are employed in a variety of professional and enterprises. The Ghegs and Kosovars have been especially successful in the Bronx area of New York City, selling and managing real estate.

Politics and Government

Albanian Americans have always felt a strong attachment to Albania and have supported events that occur in the homeland. Both the Orthodox church and the Albanian press have played important roles in the awakening of Albanian nationalism in the United States. The early political efforts of Albanian Americans centered upon furthering the cause of Albania's independence from the Ottoman Empire by instilling a sense of pride in Albanian heritage. Early names in the nationalist movement were Petro Nini Luarasi, who founded the first Albanian national organization in America, the Mali i Memedheut ("Longing for the Homeland"), and Sotir Petsi, who founded Kombi, the first known Albanian weekly newspaper. Kombi actively supported an independent Albania, run by Albanians, within the Turkish empire. The circulation of this early newspaper was instrumental in reducing the rate of illiteracy among Albanians in the United States. Fan S. Noli was one of the most influential figures in the Albanian Nationalist movement in the United States. On January 6, 1907, he founded Besa-Besen ("Loyalty"), the first Albanian Nationalist organization in the United States. The founding of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America in 1908 was also a significant event in the life of Albanian Americans. To further Albania's freedom, Fan Noli began publication of Dielli ("The Sun") in 1909. A successor to Kombi, Dielli supported liberation for Albania. Faik Konitza became the first editor of Dielli. To further strengthen the cause, a merger of many existing Albanian organizations occurred in April 1912, becoming the Pan-Albanian Federation of America ( Vatra ). Vatra became the principal organization to instill Albanians with a sense of national purpose.
Since the end of World War II, Albanian Americans have shown an increasing interest in American politics, as the process relates to Albanian issues. The Albanian Congressional Caucus has recently been formed with the support of congressional members Eliot Engle (NY-D), Susan Molinare (NY), and others. Its purpose is to promote Albanian causes with a focus on the plight of Albanians in Kosova. With the defeat of communism in Albania, many new immigrants have arrived in the United States. Several new immigrant aid societies, such as the New England Albanian Relief Organization, Frosinia Organization, and the Albanian Humanitarian Aid Inc., have been organized to assist newly arrived Albanian immigrants. Such organizations have also worked to assist Albanians in Albania.

Individual and Group Contributions

ACADEMIA

Arshi Pipa (1920– ), born in Scutari, Albania, taught humanities, philosophy, and Italian at various colleges and universities in Albania and in the United States. Nicholas Pano (1934– ) is a professor of history and has served as the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Western Illinois University; he has made contributions to scholarly journals on the subject of Albania and is the author of The People's Republic of Albania (1968). Peter R. Prifti (1924– ), author and translator, has made significant contributions to Albanian studies and has published widely on a variety of Albanian topics; he is the author of Socialist Albania Since 1944 (1978). Stavro Skendi (1906–1989), born in Korce, Albania, was Emeritus Professor of Balkan Languages and Culture at Columbia University from 1972 until his death.

BUSINESS

Anthony Athanas (1912– ) is a community leader and has been a restaurateur in Boston for over 50 years.

COMMUNITY LEADERS

Constantine A. Chekrezi, an early supporter of the nationalist movement in Albania, briefly served as editor of Dielli in 1914 and published Illyria from March to November 1916; he is the author of Albania Past and Present (1919), which is considered to be the first work in English on Albania written by an Albanian, A History of Europe—Ancient, Medieval and Modern (1921), an early history of Europe written in Albanian, and an English-Albanian Dictionary (1923). Christo Dako, an educator and a key figure in the early nationalist movement, is the author of Albania, the Master Key to the Near East (1919). Faik Konitza (1876–1942), was one of the more influential leaders of the Albanian community in America in the early twentieth century; he published the magazine Albania from 1897–1909 and was the editor of Dielli from 1909–1910, and 1921–1926; he also co-founded the Pan-American Federation of America in 1912, serving as its president from 1921–1926; he served as Minister Plenipotentiary of Albania from 1926–1939. Fan Stylian Noli (1865–1964) was one of the most well-known and distinguished historical personalities in the Albanian community; a major figure in the Albanian nationalist movement, Noli founded the Albanian Orthodox Church In America in 1908. Eftalia Tsina (1870–1953), the mother of physician Dimitra Elia, was an early promoter of Albanian social and cultural issues; in the 1920s, she founded Bashkimi, the first Albanian women's organization in Boston.

ENTERTAINMENT

John Belushi (1949–1982), actor and comedian, is best known for his work on the original television series Saturday Night Live (1975–1979); his movies include: Goin' South (1978), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), Old Boyfriends (1979), The Blues Brothers (1980), Continental Divide (1981), and Neighbors (1981). His brother, James (Jim) Belushi (1954– ) is an actor and comedian who has been in films since 1978; his best-known films include: The Principal (1987), Red Heat (1988), K-9 (1989), Mr. Destiny (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), Curly Sue (1991), and Diary of a Hitman (1992). Stan Dragoti (1932– ) is a prominent director and producer who is best known for his work in movies and television; his best-known work as a movie director includes: Dirty Little Billy (1973), Love at First Bite (1979), Mr. Mom (1983), The Man with One Red Shoe (1985), She's Out of Control (1989), and Necessary Roughness (1991).

JOURNALISM

Gjon Mili (1904–1984), a photographer for Life magazine and other magazines from 1939, is best known for his innovative and visionary work with color and high speed photography. His vivid images are well known to readers of Life; collections of his work are housed in the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Time-Life Library (New York), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge), and the Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris). Donald Lambro (1940– ) is a writer, political analyst, and investigative reporter whose writings include The Federal Rathole (1975), Conscience of a Young Conservative (1976), Fat City: How Washington Wastes Your Taxes (1980), Washington—City of Scandals: Investigating Congress and Other Big Spenders (1984) and Land of Opportunity: The Entrepreneurial Spirit in America (1986).

MEDICINE

Andrew and Dimitra Tsina Elia were early pioneers in the Albanian community in the field of medicine. Andrew Elia (1906–1991) graduated from Boston University Medical School in 1935 and was a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist in the Boston area. Dimitra Elia (1906–1965) was one of the first Albanian American women to practice general medicine in the United States.

MUSIC

Thomas Nassi (1892– ), musician and composer, graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1918; he trained choirs for the Cathedral of St. George in Boston and for churches in Natick, Worcester, and Southbridge, Massachusetts, between 1916–1918. He also arranged Byzantine liturgical responses in Albanian for mixed choirs.

POLITICS

Steven Peters (1907–1990) served as a research analyst in the U.S. State Department in 1945 and the Foreign Service in 1958; he is the author of The Anatomy of Communist Takeovers and the government publications, Area Handbook for the Soviet Union and Area Handbook for Albania. Rifat Tirana (c. 1907–1952), an economist, was a member of the staff of the League of Nations in the 1930s; at the time of his death, he was serving as deputy chief of the U.S. Security Agency Mission to Spain; he authored The Spoil of Europe (1941). Bardhyl Rifat Tirana (1937– ) served as co-chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee (1976–1977) and director of the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (1977–1979).

SPORTS

Lee Constantine Elia (1937– ), baseball player, coach, and manager, managed the Chicago Cubs (1982–1983) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1987–1988).

WRITING

Shqipe Malushi, poet, essayist, media information specialist and an active community leader, has published fiction, nonfiction, translations, essays, and newspapers articles; her works of poetry, written in Albanian and in English, include: Memories of '72 (1972, in Kosova), Exile (1981), Solitude (1985), Crossing the Bridges (1990), and For You (1993); she has published Beyond the Walls of the Forgotten Land (1992), a collection of short stories, and Transformation (1988), a book of essays. She has also written and collaborated on several plays and screenplays. Loretta Chase (1949– ), born in Worcester, Massachusetts, is a popular writer of romance novels for Regency and Avon Presses; her novels include: Isabella (1987), Viscount Vagabond (1988), and Knaves Wager (1990). Nexmie Zaimi is the author of Daughter of the Eagle: The Autobiography of an Albanian Girl (1937), which describes her immigrant experience, customs, and practices.

Media

PRINT

Albanian Times.
Reports on happenings in the Albanian community in the United States and headlines from Albania.
Contact: Ilir Ikonomi, Editor.
Address: AlbAmerica Trade & Consulting International, 8578 Gwynedd Way, Springfield, VA 22153.

Dielli.
Albanian and English weekly, one of the oldest Albanian newspapers, published by the Pan Albanian Federation of America, Vatra . It publishes articles on social, cultural, and political events of interest to Albanians.
Contact: Agim Karagjozi, Editor.
Address: 167 East 82nd Street, New York, New York 10028.
Telephone: (516) 354-6598.

Drita e Vertete (True Light).
Monthly bilingual of the Albanian Orthodox Diocese in America.
Contact: Rev. Bishop Mar Lippa.
Address: 523 East Broadway, South Boston, Massachusetts 02127-4415.
Telephone: (617) 268-7808.

Illyria.
Albanian and English bi-weekly published by the Illyrian Publishing Company featuring international news with a focus on news from the Balkans. Emphasis is currently on political events of interest to Albanian Americans; however, the paper is beginning to focus on local community events as well.
Contact: Ekrem Bardha, Publisher.
Address: 2321 Hughes Avenue, Bronx, New York 10458-8120.
Telephone: (718) 220-2000.
Fax: (718) 220-9618.

Liria Albania.
Albanian and English monthly published by the Free Albania Organization. Features local and national news on Albanian community life and events and news from Albania.
Contact: Shkelqim Begari, Editor.
Address: PO Box 15507, Boston, Massachusetts 02215-0009.
Telephone: (617) 269-5192.
Fax: (617) 269-5192.

RADIO

WCUW-FM.
"Albanian Hour" is the oldest continuous Albanian radio program in the country; it airs on Saturday from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. It broadcasts local community news and events and international news from Albania. Lately, it focuses on concerns of new immigrants from Albania.
Contact: Demetre Steffon.
Address: 910 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01602.
Telephone: (508) 753-1012.

WKDM-AM.
"LDK Radio Program" ("Democratic League of Kosova") airs on Friday, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. It presents local news, community events, and international news.
Contact: Rooster Mebray, Producer.
Address: 449 Broadway, Second Floor, New York, New York 10013.
Telephone: (212) 966-1059; or (718) 933-6202.

WKDM-AM.
"Voice of Malesia" airs on Monday from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. It features community events, music, interviews, and news from Albania.

Harry Bajraktari poses in his Bronx, New York, office. He was the publisher of Illyria, an Albanian/ English newpaper

Contact: Gjeto Sinishtaj.
Address: 449 Broadway, Second Floor, New York, New York 10013.
Telephone: (212) 966-1059; or (718) 898-0107.

WMEX-AM.
"Albanian Hour of Boston," formerly, "Voice of Albania," airs every Sunday evening from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. It features local community news and events, music, and interviews as well as news from Albania.
Contact: David Kosta.
Address: P.O. Box 170, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02238.
Telephone: (617) 666-4803.

WNWK-FM.
"Festival of the Albanian Music" airs on Sundays, 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. and features music from Albania.
Contact: Louis Shkreli.
Address: 449 Broadway, New York, New York 10013.
Telephone: (212) 966-1059; or (718) 733-6900.

Organizations and Associations

At present, Albania is undergoing rapid changes and Albanian Americans are responding. Since the fall of the Communist government in Albania (1990–1992), several new relief organizations such as the Frosinia Organization (New York City), New England Albanian Relief Organization (Worcester, Massachusetts), and Albanian Humanitarian Aid Inc. (New York City) have been formed within the Albanian community to assist newly arrived immigrants. Second, many long standing Albanian organizations and associations in the United States are redefining their function in view of the new political order that now exists in Albania.
Albanian American Civic League.
Founded in 1986, the organization is dedicated to informing the American public about the political and social problems in Albania.
Contact: Joseph DioGuardi.
Address: 743 Astor Ave., Bronx, New York 10457.
Telephone: (718) 547-8909.

Albanian American National Organization (AANO).
Founded in 1938 as the Albanian Youth Organization, it is a non-denominational cultural organization open to all Albanians and Americans of Albanian descent.
Contact: Andrew Tanacea.
Address: 22 Dayton Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 10609.
Telephone: (508) 754-9440.

Albanian American Society Foundation.
Charitable organization aimint to assist Kosovo Albanian refugees in the United States and abroad.
Address: 2322 Arthur Ave., Ste. 4, Bronx, New York 10458.
Telephone: (718) 563-1971.
Fax: (718) 364-4362.

Albanian Catholic Institute (ACI).
Gathers and disseminates information on the state of religion in Albania; conducts research on Albania's religious and cultural history; maintains collection of materials pertaining to Albanian history.
Contact: Raymond Frost, Exec. Dir.
Address: University of San Francisco, Xavier Hall, San Francisco, California 94117-1080.
Telephone: (415) 422-6966.
Fax: (415) 387-1867.

Albanian National Council.
Founded in 1988, the organization provides assistance to all people of Albanian descent regardless of religion.
Contact: Gjok Martini.
Address: 11661 Hamtramck, Michigan 48212.
Telephone: (313) 365-1133.

Pan-Albanian Organization, " Vatra ."
Founded in 1912, Vatra is a national organization open to all Albanians 18 years of age and older. The organization is well known to all Albanians and has played an active political and cultural role in the community. It has sponsored many charitable, cultural, and social events and publishes books on Albanian culture. The organization has provided scholarships for students of Albanian descent. Vatra has recently relocated from South Boston to New York. It continues to publish the newspaper Dielli.
Contact: Agim Karagjozni.
Address: 167 East 82nd Street, New York, New York.
Telephone: (516) 354-6598.

Museums and Research Centers

Fan S. Noli Library.
The library and archives contain the papers of Fan S. Noli.
Address: Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America, St. George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral, 529 East Broadway, South Boston, Massachusetts 02127.
Telephone: (617) 268-1275.

Sources for Additional Study

Demo, Constantine. The Albanians in America: The First Arrivals. Boston: Society of Fatbardhesia of Katundi, 1960.
Noli, Fan S. Fiftieth Anniversary Book of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America, 1908–1958. Boston: Pan-Albanian Federation of America, 1960.
Page, Denna L. The Albanian-American Odyssey: A Pilot Study of the Albanian Community of Boston, Massachusetts. New York: AMS Press, 1987.
Roucek, Joseph. "Albanian Americans." In One America, edited by Francis Brown and Joseph S. Roucek. New York: Prentice Hall, 1952; pp. 232-239.

African americans

2011-11-21T04:47:00.000-08:00

The continent of Africa, the second largest on the globe, is bisected by the equator and bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Indian Ocean. Roughly the shape of an inverted triangle—with a large bulge on its northwestern end and a small horn on its eastern tip—it contains 52 countries and six islands that, together, make up about 11.5 million square miles, or 20 percent of the world's land mass.
Africa is essentially a huge plateau divided naturally into two sections. Northern Africa, a culturally and historically Mediterranean region, includes the Sahara desert—the world's largest expanse of desert, coming close to the size of the United States. Sub-Saharan, or Black Africa, also contains some desert land, but is mainly tropical, with rain forests clustered around the equator; vast savanna grasslands covering more than 30 percent of continent and surrounding the rain forests on the north, east, and south; some mountainous regions; and rivers and lakes that formed from the natural uplifting of the plateau's surface.
Africa is known for the diversity of its people and languages. Its total population is approximately 600 million, making it the third most populous continent on earth. Countless ethnic groups inhabit the land: it is estimated that there are nearly 300 different ethnic groups in the West African nation of Nigeria alone. Still, the peoples of Africa are generally united by a respect for tradition and a devotion to their community.
Most of the flags of African nations contain one or more of three significant colors: red, for the blood of African people; black, for the face of African people; and green, for hope and the history of the fatherland.

HISTORY

Some historians consider ancient Africa the cradle of human civilization. In Before the Mayflower, Lerone Bennett, Jr., contended that "the African ancestors of American Blacks were among the major benefactors of the human race. Such evidence as survives clearly shows that Africans were on the scene and acting when the human drama opened."
Over the course of a dozen centuries, beginning around 300 A.D., a series of three major political states arose in Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. These agricultural and mining empires began as small kingdoms but eventually established great wealth and control throughout Western Africa.
African societies were marked by varying degrees of political, economic, and social advancement. "Wherever we observe the peoples of Africa," wrote John Hope Franklin in From Slavery to Freedom, "we find some sort of political organization, even among the so-called stateless. They were not all highly organized kingdoms—to be sure, some were simple, isolated family states—but they all ... [established] governments to solve the problems that every community encounters." Social stratification existed, with political power residing in a chief of state or a royal family, depending on the size of the state. People of lower social standing were respected as valued members of the community.
Agriculture has always been the basis of African economics. Some rural African peoples worked primarily as sheep, cattle, and poultry raisers, and African artisans maintained a steady trade in clothing, baskets, pottery, and metalware, but farming was a way of life for most Africans. Land in such societies belonged to the entire community, not to individuals, and small communities interacted with each other on a regular basis. "Africa was ... never a series of isolated self-sufficient communities," explained Franklin. Rather, tribes specialized in various economic endeavors, then traveled and traded their goods and crops with other tribes.
Slave trade in Africa dates back to the mid-fifteenth century. Ancient Africans were themselves slaveholders who regarded prisoners of war as sellable property, or chattel, of the head of a family. According to Franklin, though, these slaves "often became trusted associates of their owners and enjoyed virtual freedom." Moreover, in Africa the children of slaves could never be sold and were often freed by their owners.
Throughout the mid–1400s, West Africans commonly sold their slaves to Arab traders in the Mediterranean. The fledgling system of slave trade increased significantly when the Portuguese and Spanish—who had established sugar-producing colonies in Latin America and the West Indies, respectively—settled in the area in the sixteenth century. The Dutch arrived in Africa in the early 1600s, and a large influx of other European traders followed in ensuing decades with the growth of New World colonialism.

MODERN ERA

Much of Africa's land is unsuitable for agricultural use and, therefore, is largely uninhabited. Over the centuries, severe drought and periods of war and famine have left many African nations in a state of agricultural decline and impoverishment. Still, most nations in Africa tend to increase their rate of population faster than the countries on any other continent.
Agriculture, encompassing both the production of crops and the raising of livestock, remains the primary occupation in Africa. The more verdant areas of the continent are home to farming communities; male members of these communities clear the farmland and often do the planting, while women usually nurture, weed, and harvest the crops.
Africa is very rich in oil, minerals, and plant and animal resources. It is a major producer of cotton, cashews, yams, cocoa beans, peanuts, bananas, and coffee. A large quantity of the world's zinc, coal, manganese, chromite, phosphate, and uranium is also produced on the continent. In addition, Africa's natural mineral wealth yields 90 percent of the world's diamonds and 65 percent of the world's gold.
Much of Africa had become the domain of European colonial powers by the nineteenth century. But a growing nationalistic movement in the mid-twentieth century fueled a modern African revolution, resulting in the establishment of independent nations throughout the continent. Even South Africa, a country long gripped by the injustice of apartheid's white supremacist policies, held its first free and fair multiracial elections in the spring of 1994.
In 1999, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a group organized to investigate the crimes committed by the South African government under apartheid, announced that it had not been completely forthcoming in its account of the government's actions. Nevertheless, the commission issued strong reproaches of the government. "In the application of the policy of apartheid, the state in the period 1960–1990 sought to protect the power and privilege of a racial minority. Racism therefore constituted the motivating core of the South African political order, an attitude largely endored by the investment and other policies of South Africa's major trading partners in this period." P.W. Botha, former president of South Africa, was named as a major facilitator of apartheid, and Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, was chastised for establishing the Mandela United Football Club, a group that retaliated against apartheid with its own violence, torture, and murder.
South Africa is not the only African country to experience internal violence. In 1999, the United Nations disbanded and then re-deployed a peace-keeping force in Angola, a nation that has been suffering through a long civil war. In 1974, after 13 years of opposition from indigenous Angolans, Portugal withdrew as a colonial ruler of Angola and a struggle for power ensued. Although Angola is rich with fertile farming land and oil reserves, it has failed to tap into these resources because of its ongoing internal war.
The United Nations continued to seek justice in Rwanda in the wake of the genocide that occurred there in 1994. In 1999, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda charged former Women's Development and Family Welfare Minister Pauline Nyiramasuhuko with rape. She was not personally charged with rape; rather, Nyiramasuhuko was prosecuted, according to Kingsley Moghalu of the United Nations, "under the concept of command responsibility" for failing to prevent her subordinates from raping women during the 1994 uprising.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) continued to spread death in African countries in the 1990s. In Kenya in August of 1999, President Daniel Arap Moi announced that AIDS was killing approximately 420 Kenyans each day.

THE FIRST AFRICANS IN AMERICA

Most Africans transported to the New World as slaves came from sub-Saharan Africa's northwestern and middle-western coastal regions. This area, located on the continent's Atlantic side, now consists of more than a dozen modern nations, including Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Upper Volta, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Gambia, and Senegal.
Africans are believed to have traveled to the New World with European explorers—especially the Spanish and the Portuguese—at the turn of the fifteenth century. They served as crew members, servants, and slaves. (Many historians agree that Pedro Alonzo Niño, who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his expedition to the New World, was black; in addition, it has been established that in the early 1500s, blacks journeyed to the Pacific with Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa and into Mexico with Cortéz.) The early African slave population worked on European coffee, cocoa, tobacco, and sugar plantations in the West Indies, as well as on the farms and in the mines that operated in Europe's South American colonies.
Later, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch, the French, and the English became dominant forces in New World slave trade, and by the early eighteenth century, colonization efforts were focusing on the North American mainland. In August of 1619, the first ship carrying Africans sailed into the harbor at Jamestown, Virginia, and so began the history of African Americans.
During the early years of America's history, society was divided by class rather than skin color. In fact, the first Africans in North America were not slaves, but indentured servants. At the dawn of colonial time, black and white laborers worked together, side by side, for a set amount of time before earning their freedom. According to Lerone Bennett, "The available evidence suggests that most of the first generation of African Americans worked out their terms of servitude and were freed." Using the bustling colony of Virginia as an example of prevailing colonial attitudes, Bennett explained that the coastal settlement, in its first several decades of existence, "was defined by what can only be called equality of oppression.... The colony's power structure made little or no distinction between black and white servants, who were assigned the same tasks and were held in equal contempt."
But North American landowners began to face a labor crisis in the 1640s. Indians had proven unsatisfactory laborers in earlier colonization efforts, and the indentured servitude system failed to meet increasing colonial labor needs. As Franklin reflected in From Slavery to Freedom, "Although Africans were in Europe in considerable numbers in the seventeenth century and had been in the New World at least since 1501, ... the colonists and their Old World sponsors were extremely slow in recognizing them as the best possible labor force for the tasks in the New World."
By the second half of the 1600s, however, white colonial landowners began to see slavery as a solution to their economic woes: the fateful system of forced black labor—achieved through a program of perpetual, involuntary servitude—was then set into motion in the colonies. Africans were strong, inexpensive, and available in seemingly unlimited supplies from their native continent. In addition, their black skin made them highly visible in the white world, thereby decreasing the likelihood of their escape from bondage. Black enslavement had become vital to the American agricultural economy, and racism and subjugation became the means to justify the system. The color line was drawn, and white servants were thereafter separated from their black comrades. Slave codes were soon enacted to control almost every aspect of the slaves' lives, leaving them virtually no rights or freedoms.

SIGNIFICANT IMMIGRATION WAVES AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Between 10 and 12 million Africans are believed to have been imported to the New World between 1650 and 1850. The process began slowly, with an estimated 300,000 slaves brought to the Americas prior to the seventeenth century, then reached its peak in the eighteenth century with the importation of more than six million Africans. These estimates do not include the number of African lives lost during the brutal journey to the New World.
Slave trade was a profitable endeavor: the more slaves transported to the New World on a single ship, the more money the traders made. Africans, chained together in pairs, were crammed by the hundreds onto the ships' decks; lying side by side in endless rows, they had no room to move or exercise and barely enough air to breathe. Their one-way trip, commonly referred to as the Middle Passage, ended in the Americas and the islands of the Caribbean. But sources indicate that somewhere between 12 and 40 percent of the slaves shipped from Africa never completed the Middle Passage: many died of disease, committed suicide by jumping overboard, or suffered permanent injury wrestling against the grip of their shackles.
By the mid-1700s, the majority of Africans in America lived in the Southern Atlantic colonies, where the plantation system made the greatest demands for black labor. Virginia took and maintained the lead in slave ownership, with, according to Franklin, more than 120,000 blacks in 1756— about half the colony's total population. Around the same time in South Carolina, blacks outnumbered whites. To the North, the New England colonies maintained a relatively small number of slaves.
The continued growth of the black population made whites more and more fearful of a black revolt. An all-white militia was formed, and stringent legislation was enacted throughout the colonies to limit the activities of blacks. It was within owners' rights to deal out harsh punishments to slaves—even for the most insignificant transgressions.
The fight against the British during the Revolutionary War underscores a curious irony in American history: the colonists sought religious, economic, and political freedom from England for themselves, while denying blacks in the New World even the most basic, human rights. The close of the American Revolution brought with it the manumission, or release, of several thousand slaves, especially in the North. But the Declaration of Independence failed to address the issue of slavery in any certain terms.
By 1790, the black population approached 760,000, and nearly eight percent of all blacks in America were free. Free blacks, however, were bound by many of the same regulations that applied to slaves. The ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788 guaranteed equality and "certain inalienable rights" to the white population, but not to African Americans. Census reports counted each slave as only three-fifths of a person when determining state congressional representation; so-called free blacks—often referred to as "quasi-free"—faced limited employment opportunities and restrictions on their freedom to travel, vote, and bear arms.
It was in the South, according to historians, that the most brutal, backbreaking conditions of slavery existed. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 greatly increased the profitability of cotton production, thereby heightening the demand for slaves to work on the plantations. The slave population in the South rose with the surge in cotton production and with the expansion of plantations along the western portion of the Southern frontier. But not all slaves worked on Southern plantations. By the second half of the nineteenth century, nearly half a million were working in cities as domestics, skilled artisans, and factory hands.
A growing abolitionist movement—among both blacks and whites—became a potent force in the 1830s. After a century of subjugation, many blacks in America who could not buy their freedom risked their lives in escape attempts. Antislavery revolts first broke out in the 1820s, and uprisings continued for the next four decades. Black anger, it seemed, could only be quelled by an end to the slave system.
Around the same time, a philosophy of reverse migration emerged as a solution to the black dilemma. The country's ever-increasing African American population was cause for alarm in some white circles. Washington D.C.'s American Colonization Society pushed for the return of blacks to their fatherland. By the early 1820s, the first wave of black Americans landed on Africa's western coastal settlement of Liberia; nearly 1,500 blacks were resettled throughout the 1830s. But the idea of repatriation was largely opposed, especially by manumitted blacks in the North: having been "freed," they were now subjected to racial hatred, legalized discrimination, and political and economic injustice in a white world. They sought equity at home, rather than resettlement in Africa, as the only acceptable end to more than two centuries of oppression.
The political and economic turbulence of the Civil War years intensified racial troubles. Emancipation was viewed throughout the war as a military necessity rather than a human rights issue. In December of 1865, eight months after the Civil War ended, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was adopted: slavery was abolished. But even in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the black population in the United States saw few changes in its social, political, and economic condition.
With no money, land, or livestock, freed slaves were hardly in a position to establish their own farming communities in the South. Thus began the largely exploitative system of tenant farming, which took the form of sharecropping. A popular post-slavery agricultural practice, sharecropping allowed tenants (most of whom were black), to work the farms of landlords (most of whom were white) and earn a percentage of the proceeds of each crop harvested. Unfortunately, the system provided virtually no economic benefits for the tenants; relegated to squalid settlements of rundown shacks, they labored as if they were still bound in slavery and, in most cases, barely broke even.
The price of cotton fell around 1920—a precursor to the Great Depression. Over the next few decades, the mass production and widespread use of the mechanical cotton picker signaled the beginning of the end of the sharecropping system. At the same time, the United States was fast becoming an industrial giant, and a huge labor force was needed in the North. This demand for unskilled labor, combined with the expectation of an end to the legal and economic oppression of the South, attracted blacks to northern U.S. cities in record numbers. On Chicago's South Side alone, the black population quintupled by 1930.
Migration to the North began around 1920 and reached its peak—with an influx of more than five million people—around World War II. Prior to the war, more than three-quarters of all blacks in the United States lived in the southern states. In all, between 1910 and 1970, about 6.5 million African Americans migrated to the northern United States. "The black migration was one of the largest and most rapid mass internal movements of people in history—perhaps the greatest not caused by the immediate threat of execution or starvation," wrote Nicholas Lemann in The Promised Land. "In sheer numbers it outranks the migration of any other ethnic group—Italians or Irish or Jews or Poles—to this country."
But manufacturing jobs in the northern United States decreased in the 1960s. As the need for unskilled industrial laborers fell, hundreds of thousands of African Americans took government service jobs—in social welfare programs, law enforcement, and transportation sectors—that were created during President Lyndon Baines Johnson's presidency. These new government jobs meant economic advancement for some blacks; by the end of the decade, a substantial portion of the black population had migrated out of the urban ghettos.
The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by the year 2050, minorities (including people of African, Asian, and Hispanic descent) will comprise a majority of the nation's population. In 1991 just over 12 percent of the U.S. population was black; as of 1994, about 32 million people of African heritage were citizens of the United States. Within six decades, blacks are expected to make up about 15 percent of the nation's population (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1993).

Acculturation and Assimilation

History casts a dark shadow on the entire issue of black assimilation in the United States. For hundreds of years, people of African descent were oppressed and exploited purely on the basis of the blackness of their skin. The era of "freedom" that began in the mid-1780s in post-Revolutionary America excluded blacks entirely; black Americans were considered less than human beings and faced discrimination in every aspect of their lives. Many historians argue that slavery's legacy of social inequality has persisted in American society—even 130 years after the post-Civil War emancipation of slaves in the United States.
Legally excluded from the white world, blacks were forced to establish their own social, political, and economic institutions. In the process of building a solid cultural base in the black community, they formed a whole new identity: that of the African American. African Americans recognized their African heritage, but now accepted America as home.
In addition, African Americans began to employ the European tactics of petitions, lawsuits, and organized protest to fight for their rights. This movement, which started early in the nineteenth century, involved the formation and utilization of mutual aid societies; independent black churches; lodges and fraternal organizations; and educational and cultural institutions designed to fight black oppression. As Lerone Bennett stated in Before the Mayflower: "By 1837 ... it was plain that Black people were in America to stay and that room had to be made for them."
Some observers note that the European immigrants who streamed into America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also faced difficulties during the assimilation process, but these difficulties were not insurmountable; their light skin enabled them to blend more quickly and easily with the nation's dominant racial fabric. Discrimination based on race appears to be far more deeply ingrained in American society.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND BELIEFS

In Superstition and the Superstitious, Eric Maple provided examples of common African folklore and beliefs. For example, when a pregnant woman walks under a ladder, she can expect to have a difficult birth. When someone sneezes, an African wishes that person "health, wealth, prosperity, and children." In Nigeria it is believed that sweeping a house during the night brings bad luck; conversely, all evil things should be expelled from the house by a thorough sweeping in the morning. If a male is hit with a broom he will be rendered impotent unless he retaliates with seven blows delivered with the same broom. In Africa, ghosts are greatly feared because, according to Maple, "all ghosts are evil." One Yoruba tribesman was quoted as saying: "If while walking alone in the afternoon or night your head feels either very light or heavy, this means that there is a ghost around. The only way to save yourself is to carry something that gives off a powerful odor."

PROVERBS

A wealth of proverbs from African culture have survived through the generations: If you want to know the end, look at the beginning; When one door closes, another one opens; If we stand tall it is because we stand on the backs of those who came before us; Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue; Where you sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth; You must live within your sacred truth; The one who asks questions doesn't lose his way; If you plant turnips you will not harvest grapes; God makes three requests of his children: Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have now; You must act as if it is impossible to fail.

MISCONCEPTIONS AND STEREOTYPES

African Americans have struggled against racial stereotypes for centuries. The white slaveholding class rationalized the institution of slavery as a necessary evil: aside from playing an integral part in the nation's agricultural economy, the system was viewed by some as the only way to control a wild, pagan race. In colonial America, black people were considered genetically inferior to whites; efforts to educate and Christianize them were therefore regarded as justifiable.
The black population has been misunderstood by white America for hundreds of years. The significance of Old World influences in modern African American life—and an appreciation of the complex structure of traditional African society— went largely unrecognized by the majority of the nation's nonblacks. Even in the latter half of the twentieth century, as more and more African nations embraced multiparty democracy and underwent massive urban and industrial growth, the distorted image of Africans as uncivilized continued to pervade the consciousness of an alarmingly high percentage of white Americans. As social commentator Ellis Cose explained: "Theories of blacks' innate intellectual inadequacy provided much of the rationale for slavery and for Jim Crow [legal discrimination based on race]. They also accomplished something equally pernicious, and continue to do so today: they caused many blacks (if only subconsciously) to doubt their own abilities—and to conform to the stereotype, thereby confirming it" (Ellis Cose, "Color-Coordinated Truths," Newsweek, October 24, 1994, p. 62).
For decades, these images were perpetuated by the American media. Prime-time television shows of the 1960s and 1970s often featured blacks in demeaning roles—those of servants, drug abusers, common criminals, and all-around threats to white society. During the controversial "blaxploitation" phase in American cinema—a period that saw the release of films like Shaft and Superfly— sex, drugs, and violence prevailed on the big screen. Though espoused by some segments of the black artistic community as a legitimate outlet for black radicalism, these films were seen by many critics as alienating devices that glorified urban violence and drove an even greater wedge between blacks and whites.
African American entertainment mogul Bill Cosby is credited with initiating a reversal in the tide of media stereotypes. His long-running situation comedy The Cosby Show— a groundbreaking program that made television history and dominated the ratings throughout the 1980s—helped to dispel the myths of racial inferiority. An intact family consisting of well-educated, professional parents and socially responsible children, the show's fictional Huxtable family served as a model for more enlightened, racially-balanced programming in the 1990s.
By 1999, however, Hollywood seemed to to be failing in its quest for more shows about blacks. The Fall 1999 television shows of the four major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX) featured only a smattering of black characters. Black leaders called on the networks to rectify the situation, and the networks immediately responded by crafting black characters.

CUISINE

Most African nations are essentially agricultural societies. For centuries, a majority of men have worked as farmers and cattle raisers, although some have made their living as fishers. Planting, sowing, and harvesting crops were women's duties in traditional West African society. The task of cooking also seems to have fallen to women in ancient Africa. They prepared meals like fufu—a traditional dish made of pounded yams and served with soups, stew, roasted meat and a variety of sauces— over huge open pits.
Many tribal nations made up the slave population in the American South. Africans seem to have exchanged their regional recipes freely, leading to the development of a multinational cooking style among blacks in America. In many areas along the Atlantic coast, Native Americans taught the black population to cook with native plants. These varied cooking techniques were later introduced to southern American society by Africans.
During the colonial period, heavy breakfast meals of hoecakes (small cornmeal cakes) and molasses were prepared to fuel the slaves for work from sunup to sundown. Spoonbread, crab cakes, corn pone (corn bread), corn pudding, greens, and succotash—cooked over an open pit or fireplace— became common items in a black cook's repertoire in the late 1700s and the 1800s.
African Americans served as cooks for both the northern and southern armies throughout the Civil War. Because of the scarcity of supplies, the cooks were forced to improvise and invent their own recipes. Some of the dishes that sprang from this period of culinary creativity include jambalaya (herbs and rice cooked with chicken, ham, sausage, shrimp, or oysters), bread pudding, dirty rice, gumbo, and red beans and rice—all of which remain favorites on the nation's regional cuisine circuit.
The late 1800s and early 1900s saw the establishment of many African American-owned eateries specializing in southern fried chicken, pork chops, fish, potato salad, turkey and dressing, and rice and gravy. In later years, this diet—which grew to include pigs' feet, chitlins (hog intestines), collard greens (a vegetable), and ham hocks—became known as "soul food."
Food plays a large role in African American traditions, customs, and beliefs. Nothing underscores this point more than the example of New Year's Day, a time of celebration that brings with it new hopes for the coming months. Some of the traditional foods enjoyed on this day are black-eyed peas, which represent good fortune; rice, a symbol of prosperity; greens, which stand for money; and fish, which represents the motivation and desire to increase wealth.

A REVIVAL OF OTHER TRADITIONS

Over the centuries, various aspects of African culture have blended into American society. The complex rhythms of African music, for instance, are evident in the sounds of American blues and jazz; a growth in the study of American folklore—and the development of American-style folktales—can be linked in part to Africa's long oral tradition. But a new interest in the Old World began to surface in the 1970s and continued through the nineties. In an effort to connect with their African heritage, some black Americans have adopted African names to replace the Anglo names of their ancestors' slaveowners. In addition, increasing numbers of African American men and women are donning the traditional garb of their African brothers and sisters—including African-inspired jewelry, headwear, and brightly colored, loose-fitting garments called dashikis— to show pride in their roots.

HOLIDAYS

In addition to Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, other dates throughout the calendar year hold a special significance for African Americans. For example, on June 19th of each year, many blacks celebrate a special day known as Juneteenth. Although the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared an end to slavery in the Confederacy, took effect on January 1, 1863, the news of slavery's end did not reach the black population in Texas until June 19, 1865. Union General Gordon Granger arrived outside Galveston, Texas, that day to announce the freedom of the state's 250,000 enslaved blacks. Former slaves in Texas and Louisiana held a major celebration that turned into an annual event and spread throughout the nation as free blacks migrated west and north.
From December 26th to January 1st, African Americans observe Kwanzaa (which means "first fruits" in Swahili), a nonreligious holiday that celebrates family, culture, and ancestral ties. This week-long commemoration was instituted in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga to promote unity and pride among people of African descent.
Kwanzaa comes directly from the tradition of the agricultural people of Africa, who gave thanks for a bountiful harvest at designated times during the year. In this highly symbolic celebration, mazeo (crops) represent the historical roots of the holiday and the rewards of collective labor; mekeka (a mat) stands for tradition and foundation; kinara (a candleholder) represents African forebears; muhindi (ears of corn) symbolize a family's children; zawadi (gifts) reflect the seeds sown by the children (like commitments made and kept, for example) and the fruits of the parents' labor; and the kikombe cha umoja functions as a unity cup. For each day during the week of Kwanzaa, a particular principle or nguzo saba ("n-goo-zoh sah-ba") is observed: (Day 1): Umoja ("oo-moe-ja")—unity in family, community, nation, and race; (Day 2): Kujichagulia ("coo-gee-cha-goolee-ah")—self-determination, independence, and creative thinking; (Day 3): Ujima ("oo-gee-mah")— collective work and responsibility to others; (Day 4): Ujamaa ("oo-jah-mah")—cooperative economics, as in the formation and support of black businesses and jobs; (Day 5): Nia ("nee-ah")—purpose, as in the building and development of black communities; (Day 6): Kuumba ("coo-oom-bah")—creativity and beautification of the environment; (Day 7): Imani ("ee-mah-nee")—faith in God, parents, leaders, and the righteousness and victory of the black struggle.
For African Americans, the entire month of February is set aside not as a holiday, but as a time of enlightenment for people of all races. Black History Month, first introduced in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson as Negro History Week, is observed each February as a celebration of black heritage. A key tool in the American educational system's growing multicultural movement, Black History Month was designed to foster a better understanding of the role black Americans have played in U.S. history.

HEALTH ISSUES

African Americans are at a high risk for serious health problems, including cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. Several studies show a direct connection between poor health and the problem of underemployment or unemployment among African Americans. One-third of the black population is financially strapped, with an income at or below the poverty level. Illnesses brought on by an improper diet or substandard living conditions are often compounded by a lack of quality medical care—largely a result of inadequate health insurance coverage.
Statistics indicate that African Americans are more likely to succumb to many life-threatening illnesses than white Americans. This grim reality is evident even from birth: black babies under one year of age die at twice the rate of white babies in the same age group. "When you collect all the information and search for answers, they usually relate to poverty," noted University of Iowa pediatrics professor Dr. Herman A. Hein in 1989 (Mark Nichols and Linda Graham Caleca, "Black Infant Mortality," Indianapolis Star, August 27, 1989, p. A-1). A lack of prenatal care among low-income mothers is believed to be the greatest single factor in the high mortality rate among African American infants.
A 1992 medical survey found that black Americans were more likely to die from cancer than white Americans: the age-adjusted cancer mortality rate was a full 27 percent higher for the nation's black population than the white population. African Americans also had a significantly lower five-year survival rate—only 38 percent compared to 53 percent for whites—even though the overall cancer incidence rates are actually lower for blacks than for whites. Black Americans who suffer from cancer seem to be receiving inferior medical treatment, and they are much more likely to have their cancer diagnosed only after the malignancy has metastasized, or spread to other parts of the body (Catherine C. Boring and others, "Cancer Statistics for African Americans," CA 42, 1992, pp. 7-17).
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, strikes a third more African Americans than whites. Although the Public Health Service reports that the hypertension is largely inherited, other factors such as poor diet and stress can play a key role in the development of the disorder. The effects of hypertension are especially devastating to the black population: blacks aged 24 to 44 are reportedly 18 times more likely than whites to suffer kidney failure as a complication of high blood pressure (Dixie Farley, "High Blood Pressure: Controlling the Silent Killer," FDA Consumer, December 1991, pp. 28-33). A reduction in dietary fat and salt are recommended for all hypertensive patients. African Americans are believed to be particularly sensitive to blood pressure problems brought on by a high-salt diet.
Sickle cell anemia is a serious and painful disorder that occurs almost exclusively in people of African descent. The disease is believed to have been brought to the United States as a result of African immigration, and by the last decade of the twentieth century it had found its way to all corners of the world. In some African nations, two to three percent of all babies die from the disease. In the United States, one in every 12 African Americans carries the trait; of these, about one in 600 develops the disease. Sickle cell anemia is generally considered to be the most common genetically determined blood disease to affect a single ethnic group (Katie Krauss, "The Pain of Sickle Cell Anemia," Yale-New Haven Magazine, summer 1989, pp. 2-6).
Normal red blood cells are round, but the blood cells of sickle cell victims are elongated and pointed (like a sickle). Cells of this shape can clog small blood vessels, thereby cutting off the supply of oxygen to surrounding tissues. The pain associated with sickle cell anemia is intense, and organ failure can result as the disease progresses. By the late 1980s, researchers had begun to make strides in the treatment and prevention of some of the life-threatening complications associated with sickle cell anemia, including damage to the heart, lungs, immune system, and nervous system.
Although the threats to the health of African Americans are numerous and varied, the number one killer of blacks in the United States is violent crime. In the early 1990s, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, began viewing violence as a disease. In an October 17, 1994 press conference, CDC director David Satcher noted that homicide is the leading cause of death among black Americans aged 15 to 34. The severity of the problem has led the CDC to take an active role in addressing violence as a public health issue.
In November of 1990, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that while life expectancy for whites increased in the 1980s, life expectancy actually fell among African Americans during the latter half of the decade. African American men have a life expectancy of only 65.6 years—more than seven years lower than that of the average white American male (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1993). Census projections suggest that between 1995 and 2010, life expectancy should increase to 67.3 years for black men and 75.1 years for white men.

Language

More than 1,000 different languages are spoken in Africa, and it is often difficult for even the most studied linguistic scholars to differentiate between separate African languages and the dialects of a single language. The multitudinous languages of Africa are grouped into several large families, including the Niger-Congo family (those spoken mainly in the southern portion of the continent) and the Afro-Asiatic family (spoken in northern Africa, the eastern horn of Africa, and Southwest Asia).
Africa has a very long and rich oral tradition; few languages of the Old World ever took a written form. Literature and history in ancient Africa, therefore, were passed from generation to generation orally. After the fourteenth century, the use of Arabic by educated Muslim blacks was rather extensive, and some oral literature was subsequently reduced to a more permanent written form. But, in spite of this Arab influence, the oral heritage of Africans remained strong, serving not only as an educational device, but as a guide for the administration of government and the conduct of religious ceremonies.
Beginning with the arrival of the first Africans in the New World, Anglo-American words were slowly infused into African languages. Successive generations of blacks born in America, as well as Africans transported to the colonies later in the slave trading era, began to use standard English as their principal language. Over the years, this standard English has been modified by African Americans to encompass their own culture, language, and experience.
The social change movements of the 1960s gave birth to a number of popular black expressions. Later, in the 1980s and 1990s, the music of hip-hop and rap artists became a culturally significant expression of the trials of black urban life. In her book Talkin & Testifyin, linguistic scholar Geneva Smitherman offers this explanation of the formation of a very distinctive black English: "In a nutshell: Black Dialect is an Africanized form of English reflecting Black America's linguistic-cultural African heritage and the conditions of servitude, oppression, and life in America. Black Language is Euro-American speech with Afro-American meaning, nuance, tone, and gesture. The Black Idiom is used by 80 to 90 percent of American Blacks, at least some of the time. It has allowed Blacks to create a culture of survival in an alien land, and as a by-product has served to enrich the language of all Americans."
As recounted in Before the Mayflower, scholar Lorenzo Turner found linguistic survivals of the

African Americans have very strong family foundations that often extend outside of the nuclear family.

African past in the syntax, word-formations, and intonations of African Americans. Among these words in general use, especially in the South, are "goober" (peanut), "gumbo" (okra), "ninny" (female breast), "tote" (to carry), and "yam" (sweet potato). Additionally, Turner discovered a number of African-inspired names among Americans on the South Side of Chicago, including: "Bobo," meaning one who cannot talk; "Geiji," the name of a language and tribe in Liberia; "Agona," after a country in Ghana; "Ola," a Yoruban word meaning that which saves; and "Zola," meaning to love.

Family and Community Dynamics

In From Slavery to Freedom, Franklin pointed out that "the family was the basis of social organization. . . [and] the foundation even of economic and political life" in early Africa, with descent being traced through the mother. Historians have noted that Africans placed a heavy emphasis on their obligations to their immediate and extended family members and their community as a whole. In addition, according to Franklin, Africans are said to have believed that "the spirits of their forefathers had unlimited power over their lives"; thus a sense of kinship was especially significant in the Old World.
Slavery exerted an undeniable strain on the traditional African family unit. The system tore at the very fiber of family life: in some cases, husbands and wives were sold to different owners, and children born into servitude could be separated— sold—from their mothers on a white man's whim. But, according to Nicholas Lemann in The Promised Land, "the mutation in the structure of the black family" that occurred during slavery did not necessarily destroy the black family. Rather, the enduring cycle of poverty among African Americans seems to have had the strongest negative impact on the stability of the family.
As of March of 1992, the U.S. Bureau of the Census estimated that 32.7 percent of African Americans lived below the poverty level (with family incomes of less than $14,000). It is this segment of the underclass that defines the term "families in crisis." They are besieged by poverty and further challenged by an array of cyclical social problems: high unemployment rates; the issue of teenage pregnancy; a preponderance of fatherless households; inadequate housing or homelessness; inferior health care against a backdrop of high health hazards; staggering school drop-out rates; and an alarming incarceration rate. (One out of four males between the ages of 18 to 24 was in prison in the early 1990s.) Experts predict that temporary assistance alone will not provide long-term solutions to these problems. Without resolutions, impoverished black families are in danger of falling further and further behind.
Another third of all African American families found themselves in tenuous financial positions in the mid-1990s, corresponding with the prevailing economic climate of the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These families faced increasing layoffs or job termination as the nation's once-prosperous industrial base deteriorated and the great business boom of the early 1980s faded. Still, they managed to hold their extended family units together and provide support systems for their children.
At the same time, more than 30 percent of African American families were headed by one or two full-time wage earners. This middle- and upper-middle-class segment of the nation's black population includes men and women who are second, third, or fourth generation college graduates—and who have managed to prosper within a system that, according to some observers, continues to breed legalized racism in both subtle and substantive ways. As models of community action and responsibility, these African American families have taken stock in an old African proverb: "It takes a whole tribe to raise one child."

EDUCATION

As early as the 1620s and 1630s, European missionaries in the United States began efforts to convert Africans to Christianity and provide them with a basic education. Other inroads in the black educational process were made by America's early white colonists. The Pennsylvania Quakers (members of a Christian sect known as the Society of Friends) were among the most vocal advocates of social reform and justice for blacks in the first century of the nation's history. Staunch opponents of the oppressive institution of slavery, the Quakers began organizing educational meetings for people of African heritage in the early 1700s; in 1774, they launched a school for blacks in Philadelphia. By the mid-1800s, the city had become a center for black learning, with public, industrial, charity, and private schools providing an education for more than 2,000 African American students.
After the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, groups known as Freedmen's organizations were formed to provide educational opportunities to former slaves. Under the Freedmen's Bureau Acts passed by Congress in the 1860s, more than 2,500 schools were established in the South.
Over the next decade or so, several colleges opened for black students. In the late 1870s, religious organizations and government-sponsored land-grant programs played an important role in the establishment and support of many early black institutions of higher learning. By 1900, more than 2,000 black Americans would graduate from college.
The end of the nineteenth century saw a surge in black leadership. One of the best-known and most powerful leaders in the black community at this time was educator and activist Booker T. Washington. A graduate of Virginia's Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Washington set up a similar school in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1881, with a $2,000 grant from the Alabama legislature. Committed to the ideal of economic self-help and independence, the Tuskegee Institute offered teachers' training—as well as industrial and agricultural education—to young black men and women.
Activist Mary McLeod Bethune, the most prominent black woman of her era, also had a profound impact on black education at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1904, with less than two dollars in savings and a handful of students, she founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute in Florida. Devoted mainly to the education of African American girls, the Daytona Institute also served as a cornerstone of strength for the entire black community. The school later merged with Cookman's Institute, a Florida-based men's college, to become Bethune-Cookman College.
Bethune's efforts, and the struggles of dozens of other black educational leaders, were made in the midst of irrefutable adversity. In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned the practice of racial segregation: the court's ruling in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson upheld the doctrine of "separate but equal" accommodations for blacks—and schools were among these accommodations. It took more than half a century for the Plessy decision to be overturned; in 1954, a major breakthrough in the fight for black rights came when the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka case: "To separate [black] children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.... Segregation with the sanction

In the 1930s, schools were segregated throughout the North and South. These boys went to school in Missouri.

of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system.... In the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" (from the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, May 17, 1954, 347 U.S. 483). Brown was clearly a landmark decision that set the tone for further social advancements among African Americans, but its passage failed to guarantee integration and equality in education. Even four decades after Brown, true desegregation in American public schools had not been achieved. The school populations in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles remain almost exclusively black, and high school drop-out rates in poor, urban, predominantly black districts are often among the highest in the nation—sometimes reaching more than 40 percent.
U.S. Census reports suggest that by the year 2000, the country will witness a change in the face of school segregation. Hispanics, unprotected by the Brown decision, will outnumber blacks in the United States; the Hispanic community, therefore, will need to battle side by side with African Americans for desegregation and equity in education. As Jean Heller put it in the St. Petersburg Times, "The Brown decision outlawed de jure segregation, the separation of races by law. There is no legal remedy for de facto segregation, separation that occurs naturally. It is not against any law for whites or blacks or Hispanics to choose to live apart, even if that choice creates segregated school systems" (Jean Heller, A Unfulfilled Mission," St. Petersburg Times (Florida), December 10, 1989, p. 1A).
Not all attempts at school desegregation have failed. Heller points out that the East Harlem school district, formerly one of the worst in New York City, designed such an impressive educational system for its black and Hispanic students that neighboring whites began transferring into the district. Educational experts have suggested that the key to successful, nationwide school integration is the establishment of high quality educational facilities in segregated urban areas. Superior school systems in segregated cities, they argue, would discourage urban flight—thereby increasing the racial and economic diversity of the population—and bring about a natural end to segregation.
In 1990 the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the gap between black and white high school graduation rates was closing. The department's census-based study showed an encouraging increase in the overall percentage of black high school graduates between 1978 and 1988. Only 68 percent of blacks and 83 percent of whites graduated from secondary school in 1978; ten years later, 75 percent of blacks and 82 percent of whites had graduated.
But studies show that fewer blacks than whites go on to college. Between 1960 and 1991, the percentage of black high school graduates who were enrolled in college or had completed at least one year of college rose from 32.5 to 46.1 percent, compared to a rise of 41 to 62.3 percent for white graduates (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1993). As the United States completes its move from a manufacturing society to an information-based, technological society, the need for highly educated, creative, computer-literate workers continues to grow.
In response to perceived inadequacies in black American education, a progressive philosophy known as Afrocentrism developed around 1980. An alternative to the nation's Eurocentric model of education, Afrocentrism places the black student at the center of history, thereby instilling a sense of dignity and pride in black heritage. Proponents of the movement—including its founder, activist and scholar Molefi Kete Asante—feel that the integration of the Afrocentric perspective into the American consciousness will benefit students of all colors in a racially diverse society. In addition, pro-Afro-centric educators believe that empowered black students will be better equipped to succeed in an increasingly complex world.

WEDDINGS

American tradition calls for the bride to have "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue" in her possession for luck on her wedding day. While modern African American couples marry in the western tradition, many are personalizing their weddings with an ancestral touch to add to the day's historical and cultural significance.
Among Africans, marriage represents a union of two families, not just the bride and groom. In keeping with West African custom, it is essential for parents and extended family members to welcome a man or woman's future partner and offer emotional support to the couple throughout their marriage. The bonding of the families begins when a man obtains formal permission to marry his prospective bride.
In the true oral tradition, Africans often deliver the news of their upcoming nuptials by word of mouth. Some African American couples have modified this tradition by having their invitations printed on a scroll, tied with raffia, and then hand-delivered by friends. The ancestral influence on modern ceremonies can also be seen in the accessories worn by the bride and groom. On African shores, the groom wears his bride's earring, and the bride dons an elaborate necklace reserved exclusively for her.
Because enslaved Africans in America were often barred from marrying in a legal ceremony, they created their own marriage rite. It is said that couples joined hands and jumped over a broom together into "the land of matrimony." Many twentieth-century black American couples reenact "jumping the broom" during their wedding ceremony or reception.

INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE

In the three decades between 1960 and 1990, interracial marriages more than quadrupled in the United States, but the number remains small. By 1992 less than one percent of all marriages united blacks with people of another racial heritage (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1993).
"America has often been referred to as a melting pot, a heterogeneous country made up of diverse ethnic, religious, and racial groups," noted Boston Globe contributor Desiree French. But, in spite of the nation's diversity, it has taken more than 350 years for many Americans to begin to come to terms with the idea of interracial marriage (Desiree French, "Interracial Marriage," Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), January 25, 1990, p.3E; originally printed in the Boston Globe ). As late as 1967, antimiscegenation laws (laws that prohibited the marriage of whites to members of another race) were still on the books in 17 states; that year, the U.S. Supreme Court finally declared such laws unconstitutional.
Surveys indicate that young Americans approaching adulthood at the dawn of the twenty-first century are much more open to the idea of interracial unions than earlier generations. A decline in social bias has led experts to predict an increase in cross-cultural marriages throughout the 1990s.
Still, according to the 1994 National Health and Social Life Survey, 97 percent of black women are likely to choose a partner of the same race (John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, Edward O. Laumann, and Gina Kolata, Sex in America: A Definitive Survey [Boston: Little Brown, 1994]). Newsweek magazine quoted one young black woman as saying that "relationships are complicated enough" without the extra stress of interracial tensions (Michael Marriott, "Not Frenzied, But Fulfilled," Newsweek, October 17, 1994, p. 71). Conflict in the United States over black-white relationships stems from the nation's brutal history of slavery, when white men held all the power in society. More than a century after the abolition of slavery, America's shameful legacy of racism remains. According to some observers, high rates of abortion, drug abuse, illness, and poverty among African Americans seemed to spark a movement of black solidarity in the early 1990s. Many black women—"the culture bearers"—oppose the idea of interracial marriage, opting instead for racial strength and unity through the stabilization of the black family (Ruth Holladay, "A Cruel History of Colors Interracial Relationships," Indianapolis Star, May 6, 1990, p. H-1).

Religion

In From Slavery to Freedom, John Hope Franklin described the religion of early Africans as "ancestor worship." Tribal religions varied widely but shared some common elements: they were steeped in ritual, magic, and devotion to the spirits of the dead, and they placed heavy emphasis on the need for a knowledge and appreciation of the past.
Christianity was first introduced in West Africa by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Franklin noted that resistance among the Africans to Christianization stemmed from their association of the religion with the institution of slave trade to the New World. "It was a strange religion, this Christianity," he wrote, "which taught equality and brotherhood and at the same time introduced on a large scale the practice of tearing people from their homes and transporting them to a distant land to become slaves."
In the New World, missionaries continued their efforts to convert Africans to Christianity. As far back as 1700, the Quakers sponsored monthly Friends meetings for blacks. But an undercurrent of anxiety among a majority of white settlers curbed the formation of free black churches in colonial America: many colonists felt that if blacks were allowed to congregate at separate churches, they would plot dangerous rebellions. By the mid-1700s, black membership in both the Baptist and Methodist churches had increased significantly; few blacks, however, became ordained members of the clergy in these predominantly white sects.
African Americans finally organized the first independent black congregation—the Silver Bluff Baptist Church—in South Carolina in the early 1770s. Other black congregations sprang up in the first few decades of the 1800s, largely as outgrowths of established white churches. In 1816 Richard Allen, a slave who bought his own freedom, formed the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in Philadelphia in response to an unbending policy of segregated seating in the city's white Methodist church.
An increase in slave uprisings led fearful whites to impose restrictions on the activities of black churches in the 1830s. In the post-Civil War years, however, black Baptist and Methodist ministers exerted a profound influence on their congregations, urging peaceful social and political involvement for the black population as Reconstruction-period policies unfolded.
But as segregation became a national reality in the 1880s and 1890s, some black churches and ministers began to advocate decidedly separatist solutions to the religious, educational, and economic discrimination that existed in the United States. AME bishop Henry McNeal Turner, a former Civil War chaplain, championed the idea of African migration for blacks with his "Back to Africa" movement in 1895—more than twenty years before the rise of black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. By the early 1900s, churches were functioning to unite blacks politically.
Organized religion has always been a strong institution among African Americans. More than 75 percent of black Americans belong to a church, and nearly half attend church services each week ("America's Blacks: A World Apart," Economist, March 30, 1991). Black congregations reflect the traditional strength of community ties in their continued devotion to social improvement—evident in the launching of youth programs, anti-drug crusades, and parochial schools, and in ongoing efforts to provide the needy with food, clothing, and shelter.
Today, the largest African American denomination in the country is the National Baptist Convention of the U.S.A., Inc. Many African Americans belong to the AME and CME (Christian Methodist Episcopal) churches, and the Church of God in Christ—a Pentecostal denomination that cuts across socioeconomic lines—also has a strong black following. The 1990s saw a steady increase in black membership in the Islamic religion and the Roman Catholic church as well. (A separate African American Catholic congregation, not sanctioned by the church in Rome, was founded in 1989 by George A. Stallings, Jr.) Less mainstream denominations include Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam, based on the black separatist doctrine of Elijah Muhammad. Though faulted by some critics for its seemingly divisive, controversial teachings, the Nation of Islam maintains a fairly sizeable following.
In 1995, black churches in the United States became the targets of arson. In what seemed to be a case of serial arsons, churches with black or mixed-race congregations were destroyed by fire. One church, the Macedonia Baptist Church in South Carolina sued four members of the Ku Klux Klan and the North and South Carolina klan organizations in civil court. In a stunning verdict, the jury ordered the Ku Klux Klan to pay $37.8 million in damages to the Macedonia Baptist Congregation.

Employment and Economic Traditions

When African Americans left the South in the early 1900s to move North, many migrants found jobs in manufacturing, especially in the automobile, tobacco, meat-packing, clothing, steel, and shipping industries; African Americans were hit especially hard by the decline of the nation's manufacturing economy later in the century. In the 1960s, U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson launched a "war on poverty." Some blacks were able to move out of the ghettos during these years, following the passage of the Civil Rights and Fair Housing Acts, the inauguration of affirmative action policies, and the increase of black workers in government jobs. But John Hope Franklin contended in From Slavery to Freedom that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, though "the most far-reaching and comprehensive law in support of racial equality ever enacted by Congress," actually reflected only "the illusion of equality."
Designed to protect blacks against discrimination in voting, in education, in the use of public facilities, and in the administration of federallyfunded programs, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the institution of affirmative action programs to redress past discrimination against African Americans. Affirmative action measures were initiated in the mid-1960s to improve educational and employment opportunities for minorities; over the years, women and the handicapped have also benefited from these programs. But opponents of affirmative action have argued that racial quotas breed racial resentment.
A strong feeling of "white backlash" accompanied the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; racial tensions sparked violence across the country as blacks tried to move beyond the limits of segregation—economically, politically, and socially—in the latter half of the twentieth century. Still, more than three decades after the act's passage, economic inequities persist in America.
The conservative policies of U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush dealt a serious blow to black advancement in the 1980s and early 1990s. The percentage of Americans living in poverty "rose in the 1980s, when the government [cut] back its efforts" to support social programs (Nicholas Lemann, "Up and Out," Washington Post National Weekly Edition, May 24-June 4, 1989, pp. 25-26). The budget cuts made by these Republican administrations drastically reduced black middle-class employment opportunities.
According to the U.S. Census, in 1991 the median family income for African Americans was $18,807, nearly $13,000 less than the median income for white families; 45.6 percent of black children lived below the poverty level, compared to 16.1 percent of white children; and black unemployment stood at 14.1 percent, more than twice the unemployment rate among whites.
But the outlook for African American advancement is encouraging. Experts predict that by the year 2000, blacks will account for nearly 12 percent of the American labor force. A strong black presence is evident in the fields of health care, business, and law, and a new spirit of entrepreneurship is burgeoning among young, upwardly-mobile African Americans. About 70 percent of blacks are making progress in nearly every aspect of American life: the black middle-class is increasing, white-collar employment is on the rise, and although the growth of black political and economic power is slow, it remains steady (Joseph F. Coates, Jennifer Jarratt, and John B. Mahaffie, "Future Work," Futurist, May/June 1991, pp. 9-19). The other 30 percent of the black population, however, is trapped by a cycle of poor education, multigenerational poverty, and underemployment. The civil rights struggles of the 1990s and beyond, then, must be primarily economic in nature.

Politics and Government

The abolitionist movement of the 1830s joined a multiracial coalition in the quest for black emancipation and equality. In addition to agitating for civil rights through traditional legal means, the abolitionists took a daring step by operating the legendary Underground Railroad system, a covert network of safe havens that assisted fugitive slaves in their flight to freedom in the North. "Perhaps nothing did more to intensify the strife between North and South, and to emphasize in a most dramatic way the determination of abolitionists to destroy slavery, than the Underground Railroad," Franklin wrote in From Slavery to Freedom. "It was this organized effort to undermine slavery ... that put such a strain on intersectional relations and sent antagonists and protagonists of slavery scurrying headlong into the 1850s determined to have their uncompromising way." Around 50,000 slaves are believed to have escaped to the northern United States and Canada through the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War.
The reality of the black plight was magnified in 1856 with the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Dred Scott vs. Sandford. A slave named Dred Scott had traveled with his master out of the slave state of Missouri during the 1830s and 1840s. He sued his owner for freedom, arguing that his journeys to free territories made him free. The Supreme Court disagreed and ruled that slaves could not file lawsuits because they lacked the status of a U.S. citizen; in addition, an owner was said to have the right to transport a slave anywhere in U.S. territory without changing the slave's status.
The Union victory in the Civil War and the abolition of slavery under President Abraham Lincoln consolidated black political support in the Republican party. This affiliation lasted throughout the end of the nineteenth century and into the early decades of the twentieth century—even after the Republicans began to loosen the reins on the Democratic South following the removal of the last federal troops from the area in 1876.
Earlier in the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, African Americans made significant legislative gains—or so it seemed. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution were intended to provide full citizenship— with all its rights and privileges—to all blacks. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted black American men the right to vote.
But the voting rights amendment failed in its attempts to guarantee blacks the freedom to choose at the ballot box. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses were established by some state and local governments to deny blacks their right to vote. (The poll tax would not be declared unconstitutional until 1964, with the passage of the Twenty-fourth Amendment.) These legalized forms of oppression presented seemingly insurmountable obstacles to black advancement in the United States.
Around the same time—the 1870s—other forms of white supremacist sentiment came to the fore. The so-called "Jim Crow" laws of segregation—allowing for legal, systematic discrimination on the basis of race—were accepted throughout the nation. Voting rights abuses persisted. And violence became a common tool of oppression: between 1889 and 1922, nearly 3,500 lynchings took place, mainly in the southern states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, but also in some northern cities.
By the turn of the twentieth century, Booker T. Washington had gained prominence as the chief spokesperson on the state of black America and the issue of racial reconciliation. Recognized throughout the United States as an outstanding black leader and mediator, he advocated accommodationism as the preferred method of attaining black rights. His leading opponent, black historian, militant, and author W. E. B. Du Bois, felt it was necessary to take more aggressive measures in the fight for equality. Du Bois spearheaded the Niagara Movement, a radical black intellectual forum, in 1905. Members of the group merged with white progressives in 1910 to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After Washington's death in 1915, the NAACP became a greater force in the struggle for racial reform.
The massive black migration to the North in the 1920s showed that racial tension was no longer just a rural, southern issue. Anti-black attitudes, combined with the desperate economic pressures of the Great Depression, exerted a profound effect on politics nationwide. Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt attracted black voters with his "New Deal" relief and recovery programs in the 1930s. For 70 years blacks had been faithful to the Republican Party—the party of Lincoln. But their belief in Roosevelt's "serious interest in the problem of the black man caused thousands of [African Americans] to change their party allegiance," noted John Hope Franklin in From Slavery to Freedom. Housing and employment opportunities started to open up, and blacks began to gain seats in various state legislatures in the 1930s and 1940s.
World War II ushered in an era of unswerving commitment to the fight for civil rights. According to Franklin, the continued "steady migration of [African Americans] to the North and West and their concentration in important industrial communities gave blacks a powerful new voice in political affairs. In cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland they frequently held the balance of power in close elections, and in certain pivotal states the [black vote] came to be regarded as crucial in national elections." Progress was being made on all fronts by national associations, political organizations, unions, the federal branch of the U.S. government, and the nation's court system.
President Harry S Truman, who assumed office on the death of Roosevelt in 1945, contributed to black advancement by desegregating the military, establishing fair employment practices in the federal service, and beginning the trend toward integration in public accommodations and housing. His civil rights proposals of the late 1940s came to fruition a decade later during President Eisenhower's administration. The Civil Rights Act of 1957, also known as the Voting Rights Act of 1957, was the first major piece of civil rights legislation passed by Congress in more than eight decades. It expanded the role of the federal government in civil rights matters and established the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to monitor the protection of black rights.
But the Commission soon determined that unfair voting practices persisted in the South; blacks were still being denied the right to vote in certain southern districts. Because of these abuses, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was followed three years later by a second act that offered extra protection to blacks at the polls. In 1965, yet another Voting Rights Act was passed to eliminate literacy tests and safeguard black rights during the voter registration process.
The postwar agitation for black rights had yielded slow but significant advances in school desegregation and suffrage—advances that met with bold opposition from some whites. By the mid- to late-1950s, as the black fight for progress gained ground, white resistance continued to mount. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., took the helm of the fledgling civil rights movement—a multiracial effort to eliminate segregation and achieve equality for blacks through nonviolent resistance. The movement began with the boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, and, by 1960, had broadened in scope, becoming a national crusade for black rights. Over the next decade, civil rights agitators—black and white—organized economic boycotts of racist businesses and attracted front-page news coverage with black voter registration drives and anti-segregationist demonstrations, marches, and sit-ins. Bolstered by the new era of independence

These African Americans picket and march in protest of lunch counter segregation during the 1960s.

that was simultaneously sweeping through sub-Saharan Africa, the movement for African American equality gained international attention. Around the same time, racial tensions—especially in the South—reached violent levels with the emergence of new white supremacist organizations and an increase in Ku Klux Klan activity. Raciallymotivated discrimination on all fronts—from housing to employment—rose as Southern resistance to the civil rights movement intensified. By the late 1950s, racist hatred had once again degenerated into brutality and bloodshed: blacks were being murdered for the cause, and their white killers were escaping punishment.
In the midst of America's growing racial tragedy, Democrat John F. Kennedy gained the black vote in the 1960 presidential elections. His domestic agenda centered on the expansion of federal action in civil rights cases—especially through the empowerment of the U.S. Department of Justice on voting rights issues and the establishment of the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. Civil rights organizations continued their peaceful assaults against barriers to integration, but black resistance to racial injustice was escalating. The protest movement heated up in 1961 when groups like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) organized "freedom rides" that defied segregationist policies on public transportation systems. "By 1963," wrote John Hope Franklin, "the Black Revolution was approaching full tide."
Major demonstrations were staged that April, most notably in Birmingham, Alabama, under the leadership of King. Cries for equality met with harsh police action against the black crowds. Two months later, Mississippi's NAACP leader, Medgar Evers, was assassinated. Soon demonstrations were springing up throughout the nation, and Kennedy was contemplating his next move in the fight for black rights.
On August 28, 1963, over 200,000 black and white demonstrators converged at the Lincoln Memorial to push for the passage of a new civil rights bill. This historic "March on Washington," highlighted by King's legendary "I Have a Dream" speech, brought the promise of stronger legislation from the president.
After Kennedy's assassination that November, President Johnson continued his predecessor's civil rights program. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 sparked violence throughout the country, including turmoil in cities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. The Ku Klux Klan stepped up its practice of black intimidation with venomous racial slurs, cross burnings, firebombings—even acts of murder.
The call for racial reform in the South became louder in early 1965. King, who had been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to race relations, commanded the spotlight for his key role in the 1965 Freedom March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. But African Americans were disheartened by the lack of real progress in securing black rights. Despite the legislative gains made over two decades, John Hope Franklin noted that "between 1949 and 1964 the relative participation of [blacks] in the total economic life of the nation declined significantly."
Black discontent over economic, employment, and housing discrimination reached frightening proportions in the summer of 1965, with rioting in the Watts section of Los Angeles. This event marked a major change in the temper of the civil rights movement. Nearly a decade of nonviolent resistance had failed to remedy the racial crisis in the United States; consequently, a more militant reformist element began to emerge. "Black Power" became the rallying cry of the middle and late 1960s, and more and more civil rights groups adopted all-black leadership. King's assassination in 1968 only compounded the nation's explosive racial situation. According to Franklin, King's murder symbolized for many blacks "the rejection by white America of their vigorous but peaceful pursuit of equality." The Black Revolution had finally crystallized, and with it came a grave sense of loss and despair in the black community. The new generation of black leaders seemed to champion independence and separatism for blacks rather than integration into white American society.
Fear of black advancement led many whites to shift their allegiance to the Republican party in the late 1960s. With the exception of President Jimmy Carter's term in office from 1977 to 1981, Republicans remained in the White House for the rest of the 1970s and 1980s. But a new era of black activism arose with the election of Democratic president Bill Clinton in 1992. After a dozen years of conservatism under Presidents Reagan and Bush, Clinton was seen as a champion of "the people"— all people. Demonstrating a commitment to policies that would cut across the lines of gender, race, and economics, he offered a vision of social reform, urban renewal, and domestic harmony for the United States. Once in office, Clinton appointed African Americans to key posts in his Cabinet, and the black population began wielding unprecedented influence in government. For example, the 102nd Congress included 25 African American representatives; the elections in 1993 brought black representation in the 103rd Congress up to 38.
Despite the advancements made by African Americans in politics and business, gang violence continued to plague African American communities in the 1990s. To encourage positive feelings, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and civil rights activist Phile Chionesu organized the Million Man March. On October 16, 1995, close to one million African American men converged on the nation's capital to hear speeches and connect with other socially conscious black men. The Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke at the event, as did poet Maya Angelou, Damu Smith of Greenpeace, Rosa Parks, the Reverend Joseph Lowery, and other luminaries.
In October 1997, African American women held their own massive march. The Million Woman March attracted hundreds of thousands of African American women to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they experienced a sense of community and cohesion. The attendees heard speeches and discussed issues such as the rising prison populations, the idea of independent schools for black children, the use of alternative medicines, and the progress of black women in politics and business.

MILITARY

Brave African American men and women have advanced the cause of peace and defended the ideals of freedom since the 1700s. As far back as 1702, blacks were fighting against the French and the Indians in the New World. Virginia and South Carolina allowed African Americans to enlist in the militia, and, throughout the eighteenth century, some slaves were able to exchange their military service for freedom. African American soldiers served in the armed forces during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam conflict, the Persian Gulf War, and during peace-keeping ventures in Somalia and Haiti. For nearly two centuries, however, segregation existed in the U.S. military—a shameful testament to the nation's long history of racial discrimination.
On March 5, 1770, prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution, a crowd of angry colonists gathered in the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, to protest unjust British policies. This colonial rally— which would later be remembered as the Boston Massacre—turned bloody when British soldiers retaliated with gunfire. A black sailor named Crispus Attucks is said to have been the first American to die in the conflict. The death of Attucks, one of the earliest acts of military service by blacks in America, symbolizes the cruel irony of the revolutionary cause in America—one that denied equal rights to its African American population.
The American Revolution focused increased attention on the thorny issue of slavery. An underlying fear existed that enslaved blacks would revolt if granted the right to bear arms, so most colonists favored the idea of an all-white militia. Although some blacks fought at the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill in 1775, General George Washington issued a ban on the enlistment of slaves that summer; by November, he had extended the ban to all blacks, slave or free. However, the Continental Congress—apprehensive about the prospect of black enlistment in the British Army— partially reversed the policy in the next year. An estimated 5,000 blacks eventually fought in the colonial army.
Integration of the fledgling American Army ended in 1792, when Congress passed a law limiting military service to white men. More than half a century later, blacks were still unable to enlist in the U. S. military.
Many African Americans mistakenly perceived the Civil War, which began in April of 1861, as a war against slavery. But as Alton Hornsby, Jr., pointed out in Chronology of African-American History, "[President Abraham] Lincoln's war aims did not include interference with slavery where it already existed." Early in the struggle, the president felt that a stand "against slavery would drive additional Southern and Border states into the Confederacy," a risk he could not afford to take at a time when the Union seemed dangerously close to dissolving. By mid-1862, though, the need for additional Union Army soldiers became critical. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Lincoln in 1863, freed the slaves of the Confederacy. With their new "free" status, blacks were allowed to participate in the Civil War. By the winter of 1864-65, the Union Army boasted 168 volunteer regiments of black troops, comprising more than ten percent of its total strength; over 35,000 blacks died in combat.
Between 300,000 and 400,000 African Americans served in the U.S. armed forces during World War I, but only 10 percent were assigned to combat duty. Blacks were still hampered by segregationist policies that perpetuated an erroneous notion of inferiority among the troops; however, the stellar performance of many black soldiers during the era of the world wars helped to dispel these stereotypes. In 1940, for example, Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., became the first black American to achieve the rank of brigadier general. Over the next decade, his son, U.S. Air Force officer Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., distinguished himself as commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron, the 332nd Fighter Group, the 477th Bombardment Group, and the 332nd Fighter Wing.
Several hundred thousand blacks fought for the United States in World War II. Still, according to John Hope Franklin in From Slavery to Freedom, "too many clear signs indicated that the United States was committed to maintaining a white army and a black army, and ironically the combined forces of this army had to be used together somehow to carry on the fight against the powerful threat of fascism and racism in the world."
In an effort to promote equality and opportunity in the American military, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, banning segregation in the armed forces. Six years later, the U.S. Department of Defense adopted an official policy of full integration, abolishing all-black military units. The late 1950s and early 1960s saw a steady increase in the number of career officers in the U.S. military. By the mid-1990s, close to 40 percent of the American military was black. Some social commentators feel that this disproportionately high percentage of African Americans in the military—the entire black population in the United States being around 12 percent—calls attention to the obstacles young black people face in forging a path into mainstream American business.

Individual and Group Contributions

African Americans have made notable contributions to American popular culture, to government policy, and to the arts and sciences. The following is a mere sampling of African American achievement:

EDUCATION

Alain Locke (1886–1954) was a prolific author, historian, educator, and drama critic. A Harvard University graduate and Rhodes Scholar, he taught philosophy at Howard University for 36 years and is remembered as a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. For more than three decades, social scientist and Spingarn medalist Kenneth B. Clark (1914– ) taught psychology at New York's City College; his work on the psychology of segregation played an important part in the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education . In 1987 dynamic anthropologist and writer Johnnetta B. Cole (1936– ) became the first African American woman president of Spelman College, the nation's oldest and most esteemed institution of higher learning for black women. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (1950–), a respected literary scholar, critic, and the chairman of Harvard University's African American Studies Department, offers a fresh new perspective on the related roles of black tradition, stereotypes, and the plurality of the American nation in the field of education; he is best known for championing a multicultural approach to learning.

FILM, TELEVISION, THEATER, AND DANCE

Actor Charles Gilpin (1878–1930) is considered the dean of early African American theater. In 1921, the former vaudevillian was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Award for his theatrical accomplishment. Richard B. Harrison (1864–1935) was an esteemed actor who gained national prominence for his portrayal of "De Lawd" in Green Pastures. For three decades Harrison entertained black audiences with one-man performances of William Shakespeare's Macbeth and Julius Caesar, as well as readings of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Actor, writer, director, and civil rights activist Ossie Davis (1917– ) is committed to advancing black pride through his work. He has been a groundbreaking figure in American theater, film, and television for five decades.
Best known for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel (1895–1952) was awarded the 1940 Oscar for best supporting actress—the first Oscar ever won by an African American performer. Actress and writer Anna Deavere Smith (1950– ), a bold and intriguing new force in American theater, examines issues like racism and justice in original works such as Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992.
Dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham (1910?– ) has been called the mother of Afro-American dance. She is best known for blending elements of traditional Caribbean dance with modern African American rhythms and dance forms. Also a noted activist, Dunham went on a 47-day hunger strike in 1992 to protest U.S. policy on Haitian refugees.
Dancer and actor Gregory Hines has earned a place among the great African American entertainers. A tap dancer since childhood, Hines has acted in numerous plays and movies and has received many awards for his efforts. In 1999, Hines starred in his own television sitcom, "The Gregory Hines Show."
Black Entertainment Television (BET) is a cable television network devoted to entertainment by and for African Americans. In 1999, the programmer announced the creation of an internet site for the network. BET.com was launched to attract more African Americans to the world wide web. BET founder and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Johnson said, "BET.com is an effort to address how we can make African Americans a part of this economic engine the Internet has created."

GOVERNMENT

Alexander Lucius Twilight, the first African American elected to public office, was sent to the Vermont legislature in 1836 by the voters of Orleans County. Less than a decade later, William A. Leidesdorf, a black political official, was named sub-consul to the Mexican territory of Yerba Buena (San Francisco); he also served on the San Francisco town council and held the post of town treasurer. Attorney and educator Charles Hamilton Houston (1895–1950) was a brilliant leader in the legal battle to erode segregation in the United States; his student, Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993), successfully argued against the constitutionality of segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education (1954). A director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund for more than two decades, Marshall went on to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice in 1967. Career military officer Colin Powell (1937– ) made his mark on American history as the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position he held from 1989 to 1993. Some political observers have pegged him as a U.S. presidential candidate in the 1996 elections. An early follower of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson (1941– ) became a potent force in American politics in his own right. In 1984 and 1988 he campaigned for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidency. Founder of Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition, Jackson is committed to the economic, social, and political advancement of America's dispossessed and disfranchised peoples. Attorney and politician Carol Moseley-Braun (1947– ) won election to the U.S. Senate in 1992, making her the first black woman senator in the nation. Kweisi Mfume (born Frizzell Gray; 1948– ), a Democratic congressional representative from Maryland for half a dozen years, became the chairman of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus in 1993. In 1997 he became president of the NAACP.

JOURNALISM

Frederick Douglass (1818–1875), the famous fugitive slave and abolitionist, recognized the power of the press and used it to paint a graphic portrait of the horrors of slavery. He founded The North Star, a black newspaper, in 1847, to expose the reality of the black condition in nineteenth century America. John Henry Murphy (1840–1922), a former slave and founder of the Baltimore Afro-American, was inspired by a desire to represent black causes with honor and integrity. Activist and journalist T. Thomas Fortune (1856–1928), a staunch defender of black rights during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, used his editorial position at various urban newspapers in the North to crusade for an end to racial discrimination. Robert S. Abbott (1870–1940) was a key figure in the development of black journalism in the twentieth century. The first issue of his Chicago Defender went to press in 1905. Charlayne Hunter-Gault (1942– ) broke the color barrier at the University of Georgia, receiving her degree in journalism from the formerly segregated institution in 1963. A national correspondent for public television's MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, she has earned distinction for her socially-conscious brand of investigative reporting.

LITERATURE

Langston Hughes (1902–1967) was a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, a period of intense artistic and intellectual activity centered in New York City's black community during the early 1920s. The author of poetry, long and short fiction, plays, autobiographical works, and nonfiction pieces, Hughes infused his writings with the texture of urban African Americana. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alex Haley (1921–1992) traced his African heritage, his ancestors' agonizing journey to the New World, and the brutal system of slavery in the United States in his unforgettable 1976 bestseller Roots. Playwright Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965), author of the classic play A Raisin in the Sun, was the first black recipient of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Bob Kaufman (1925–1986) was the most prominent African American beatnik poet, and he is considered by many to be the finest. Maya Angelou (1928– ), renowned chronicler of the black American experience, earned national acclaim in 1970 with the publication of the first volume of her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; she presented her moving original verse, On the Pulse of Morning, at the inauguration of U.S. president Bill Clinton in January 1993. Cultural historian and novelist Toni Morrison (1931– ), author of such works as The Bluest Eye, Tar Baby, Beloved, and Jazz, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993. In the late 1980s, Terry McMillan (1951– ) emerged as a powerful new voice on the literary scene; her 1992 novel Waiting to Exhale was a runaway bestseller.

MUSIC

African Americans have made a profound impact on the nation's musical history. The blues and jazz genres, both rooted in black culture, exerted an unquestionable influence on the development of rock and soul music in the United States.
The blues, an improvisational African American musical form, originated around 1900 in the Mississippi Delta region. Some of its pioneering figures include legendary cornetist, bandleader, and composer W. C. Handy (1873–1958), often called the "Father of the Blues"; singing marvel Bessie Smith (1898–1937), remembered as the "Empress of the Blues"; and Muddy Waters (1915–1983), a practitioner of the urban blues strain that evolved in Chicago in the 1940s.
Jazz, a blend of European traditional music, blues, and Southern instrumental ragtime, developed in the South in the 1920s. Key figures in the evolution of jazz include New Orleans horn player and "swing" master Louis Armstrong ("Satchmo"; 1900–1971), who scored big with hits like "Hello, Dolly" and "What a Wonderful World"; Lionel Hampton (1909– ), the first jazz musician to popularize vibes; trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993) a chief architect of a more modern form of jazz called "bebop"; singer Ella Fitzgerald (1918– ), a master of improvisation who came to be known as "The First Lady of Song"; innovative and enigmatic trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis (1926–1991), who pioneered the genre's avantgarde period in the 1950s and electrified jazz with elements of funk and rock—beginning the "fusion" movement—in the late 1960s; and Melba Liston (1926– ), trombonist, arranger, and leader of an all-female jazz group in the 1950s and 1960s.
Vocalist, composer, and historian Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942– ), founder of the female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, is committed to maintaining Africa's diverse musical heritage.
In the field of classical music, Marian Anderson (1902–1993), one of the greatest contraltos of all time, found herself a victim of racial prejudice in her own country. A star in Europe for years before her American debut, she was actually barred from making an appearance at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution in April of 1939—an incident that prompted First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign from the organization. Shortly thereafter, on Easter Sunday, Anderson sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Composer and pianist Margaret Bonds (1913–1972) wrote works that explore the African American experience. Her best known compositions include Migration, a ballet; Spiritual Suite for Piano ; Mass in D Minor ; Three Dream Portraits ; and the songs "The Ballad of the Brown King" and "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."
African Americans continue to set trends and break barriers in the music business, especially in pop, rap, blues, and jazz music. A partial list of celebrated African American musicians would include: guitarist Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970), Otis Redding (1941–1967), singer Aretha Franklin (1942– ), Al Green (1946– ), Herbie Mann (1930– ), Miles Davis (1926–1991), saxophonist John Coltrane (1926–1967), founder of the group "Sly and the Family Stone" Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart; 1944– ), singersongwriter Phoebe Snow (1952– ), rap artist Snoop Doggy Dog (1972– ), rap artist and record company executive Sean "Puffy" Combs (1969– ), pop-star and cultural icon Michael Jackson (1958– ), singer Lauryn Hill (1975?– ), pianist-songwriter Ray Charles (1930– ), singer Little Richard (1932– ), singer Diana Ross (1944– ), legendary blues guitarist B.B. King (1925– ), rap artist Easy-E (Erykah Badu; 1963–1995), singer Billy Preston (1946– ), and singer Whitney Houston (1963– ).

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Granville T. Woods (1856–1910) was a trailblazer in the fields of electrical and mechanical engineering whose various inventions include a telephone transmitter, an egg incubator, and a railway telegraph. His contemporary, George Washington Carver (1861?–1943), was born into slavery but became a leader in agricultural chemistry and botany—and one of the most famous African Americans of his era. Inventor Garrett A. Morgan (1877–1963), a self-educated genius, developed the first gas mask and traffic signal. Ernest Everett Just (1883–1915), recipient of the first Spingarn medal ever given by the NAACP, made important contributions to the studies of marine biology and cell behavior. Another Spingarn medalist, Percy Lavon Julien (1889–1975), was a maverick in the field of organic chemistry. He created synthesized versions of cortisone (to relieve the pain and inflammation of arthritis) and physostigmine (to reduce the debilitating effects of glaucoma).
Surgeon and scientist Charles Richard Drew (1904–1950) refined techniques of preserving liquid blood plasma. Samuel L. Kountz (1930–1981), an international leader in transplant surgery, successfully transplanted a kidney from a mother to a daughter—the first operation of its kind between individuals who were not identical twins. He also pioneered anti-rejection therapy in transplant patients. Benjamin Carson (1951– ) is a pediatric neurosurgeon who gained international acclaim in 1987 by separating a pair of Siamese twins who were joined at their heads. Medical doctor and former astronaut Mae C. Jemison (1957– ) made history as the first black woman to serve as a mission specialist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She was a crew member on the 1992 flight of the space shuttle Endeavour.

SOCIAL ISSUES

Harriet Tubman (1820?–1913) was a runaway slave who became a leader in the abolitionist movement. A nurse and spy for the Union Army during the Civil War, she earned distinction as the chief "conductor" of the Underground Railroad, leading an estimated 300 slaves to freedom in the North. Attorney, writer, activist, educator, and foreign consul James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) was an early leader of the NAACP and a strong believer in the need for black unity as the legal fight for civil rights evolved. He composed the black anthem "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in 1900. Labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph (1889–1979) fought for greater economic opportunity in the black community. A presidential consultant in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s and a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, Randolph is probably best remembered for his role in establishing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first black union in the country, in 1925.
Ella Baker (1903–1986), renowned for her organizational and leadership skills, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party—groups that were at the forefront of civil rights activism in the United States. Mississippi native Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977) was an impassioned warrior in the fight for black voter rights, black economic advancement, and women's rights. Rosa Parks (1913– ) sparked the Montgomery bus boycott in December of 1955 when her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger landed her in jail. Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; 1925–1965) advocated a more radical pursuit of equal rights than Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968), the champion of nonviolent resistance to racism. A fiery speaker who urged blacks to seize self-determination "by any means necessary," Malcolm embraced the concept of global unity toward the end of his life and revised his black separatist ideas. In 1965 he was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam—an organization with which he had severed earlier ties. Attorney and activist Marian Wright Edelman (1939– ) founded the Children's Defense Fund in 1973. Randall Robinson (1942?– ), executive director of the human rights lobbying organization TransAfrica, Inc., has played a key role in influencing progressive U.S. foreign policy in South Africa, Somalia, and Haiti.

SPORTS

A Brooklyn Dodger from 1947 to 1956, Jackie Robinson (1919–1972) is credited with breaking the color barrier in professional baseball. In 1974 Frank Robinson (1935– ), a former National and American League MVP, became the first black manager of a major league baseball franchise. Phenomenal Cleveland Brown running back Jim Brown (1936– ), a superstar of the late 1950s and 1960s, helped change the face of professional football—a sport that for years had been dominated by whites. The on-court skills and charisma of two of the top NBA players of the 1980s and early 1990s, retired Los Angeles Laker Earvin "Magic" Johnson (1959– ) and Chicago Bull Michael Jordan (1963– ) left indelible marks on the game of basketball.
Track sensation Jesse Owens (1913–1980) blasted the notion of Aryan supremacy by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Wilma Rudolph (1940– ) overcame the crippling complications of polio and became the first American woman to win three Olympic gold medals in track and field. Always colorful and controversial, Olympic gold medalist and longtime heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay; 1942– ) was a boxing sensation throughout the 1970s and remains one of the most widely recognized figures in the sport's history. Althea Gibson (1927– ) and Arthur Ashe (1943–1993) both rocked the tennis world with their accomplishments: Gibson, the first black player ever to win at Wimbledon, was a pioneer in the white-dominated game at the dawn of the civil rights era. Ashe, a dedicated activist who fought against racial discrimination in all sports, was the first African American male to triumph at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian Open.

VISUAL ARTS

Sculptor Sargent Johnson (1888–1967), a three-time winner of the prestigious Harmon Foundation medal for outstanding black artist, was heavily influenced by the art forms of Africa. Romare Bearden (1914–1988) was a highly acclaimed painter, collagist, and photomontagist who depicted the black experience in his work. His images reflect black urban life, music, religion, and the power of the family. A series titled The Prevalence of Ritual is one of his best-known works. Jacob Lawrence (1917– ), a renowned painter, has depicted through his art both the history of racial injustice and the promise of racial harmony in America. His works include the Frederick Douglass series, the Harriet Tubman series, the Migration of the Negro series, and Builders.
Augusta Savage (1900–1962), a Harlem Renaissance sculptor, was the first black woman to win acceptance in the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. Lift Every Voice and Sing, Black Women, and Lenore are among her notable works. Multimedia artist and activist Faith Ringgold (1930– ) seeks to raise the consciousness of her audience by focusing on themes of racial and gender-based discrimination. Ringgold is known for weaving surrealist elements into her artworks; her storytelling quilt Tar Beach inspired a children's book of the same title.

Media

PRINT

African American Review.
Founded in 1967 as Negro American Literature Forum, this quarterly publication contains interviews and essays on black American art, literature, and culture.
Contact: Joe Weixlmann, Editor.
Address: Indiana State University, Department of English, Terre Haute, Indiana 47809-9989.
Telephone: (812) 237-2968.
Fax: (812) 237-3156.
Online: http://web.indstate.edu/artsci/AAR/ .

Africa Report.
Founded in 1937, this periodical covers current political and economic developments in Africa.
Address: African-American Institute, 833 United Nations Plaza, New York, New York 10017.
Telephone: (212) 949-5666.

Amsterdam News.
Now known as the New York Amsterdam News, this source was founded in 1909 and is devoted to black community-interest stories.
Address: Powell-Savory Corp., 2340 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, New York, New York 10027.
Telephone: (212) 932-7400.
Fax: (212) 222-3842.

Chicago Daily Defender.
Founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott as a black weekly newspaper, it is now a daily paper with a black perspective.
Address: 2400 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60616.
Telephone: (312) 225-2400.

Crisis.
The official publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, this monthly magazine, founded in 1910, features articles on civil rights issues.
Contact: Garland Thompson, Editor.
Address: 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21215.
Telephone: (212) 481-4100.
Online: http://www.naacp.org/crisis/ .

Ebony and Jet.
Both of these publications are part of the family of Johnson Publications, which was established in the 1940s by entrepreneur John H. Johnson. Ebony, a monthly magazine, and Jet, a newsweekly, cover African Americans in politics, business, and the arts.
Contact: Ebony— Lerone Bennett, Jr., Editor; Jet— Robert Johnson, Editor.
Address: Johnson Publishing Co., Inc., 820 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60605.
Telephone: (312) 322-9200.
Fax: (312) 322-9375.
Online: http://www.ebony.com/jpcindex.html .

Essence.
First published in 1970, this monthly magazine targets a black female audience.
Contact: Susan L. Taylor, Editor.
Address: Essence Communications, Inc., 1500 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10036.
Telephone: (212) 642-0600.
Fax: (212) 921-5173.

Freedomways.
Founded in 1961, this source offers a quarterly review of progress made in the ongoing movement for human freedom.
Contact: Esther Jackson and Jean Carey Bond, Editors.
Address: 799 Broadway, Suite 542, New York, New York 10003.
Telephone: (212) 477-3985.

RADIO

WESL-AM (1490).
Founded in 1934; gospel format.
Contact: Robert Riggins.
Address: 149 South 8th Sreet, East St. Louis, Illinois 62201.
Telephone: (618) 271-1490.
Fax: (618) 875-4315.

WRKS-FM (98.7).
Founded in 1941; an ABC-affiliate with an urban/ contemporary format.
Contact: Charles M. Warfield, Jr., Director of Operations.
Address: 395 Hudson Street, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10014.
Telephone: (212) 242-9870.
Fax: (212) 929-8559.

TELEVISION

Black Entertainment Television (BET).
The first cable network devoted exclusively to black programming, BET features news, public affairs and talk shows, television magazines, sports updates, concerts, videos, and syndicated series.
Contact: Robert Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Address: 1900 West Place N.E., Washington, D.C. 20018-1121.
Telephone: (202) 608-2000.
Online: http://www.msbet.com .

WGPR-TV, Channel 62, Detroit.
Groundbreaking black-owned television station that first went on the air September 29, 1975; began as an independent network; became a CBS-affiliate in 1994.
Contact: George Mathews, President and General Manager.
Address: 3146 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48207.
Telephone: (313) 259-8862.
Fax: (313) 259-6662.

Organizations and Associations

Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF).
Founded in 1978 to support and promote independently produced film and video work for African American artists.
Contact: Warrington Hudlin, President.
Addresses: 670 Broadway, Suite 304, New York, New York 10012.
Telephone: (212) 253-1690.

Black Resources, Inc.
A resource on race-related matters for corporations, government agencies, and institutions.
Address: 231 West 29th Street, Suite 1205, New York, New York 10001.
Telephone: (212) 967-4000.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF).
A nonprofit organization founded in 1940 to fight discrimination and civil rights violations through the nation's court system. (Independent of the NAACP since the mid-1950s.)
Contact: Elaine R. Jones, Director-Counsel.
Address: 99 Hudson Street, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10013.
Telephone: (212) 219-1900.
Fax: (212) 226-7592.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Founded in 1910, the NAACP is perhaps the best-known civil rights organization in the United States. Its goals are the elimination of racial prejudice and the achievement of equal rights for all people.
Address: Headquarters—4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21215.
Telephone: For general information, contact New York office—(212) 481-4100.
Online: http://www.naacp.org/ .

National Black United Fund.
Provides financial and technical support to projects that address the needs of black communities throughout the United States.
Contact: William T. Merritt, President.
Address: 40 Clinton Street, 5th Floor, Newark, New Jersey 07102.
Telephone: (973) 643-5122.
Fax: (973) 648-8350.
E-mail: nbuf@nbuf.org.
Online: http://www.nbuf.org .

The National Urban League.
Formed in 1911 in New York by the merger of three committees that sought to protect the rights of the city's black population. Best known for piloting the decades-long fight against racial discrimination in the United States, the National Urban League and its regional branches are also active in the struggle for political and economic advancement among African Americans and impoverished people of all colors.
Contact: Hugh Price, CEO & President.
Address: 120 Wall Street, New York, New York 10005.
Telephone: (212) 558-5300.
Fax: (212) 344-5332.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
An educational service agency founded in 1957 (with Martin Luther King, Jr., as its first president) to aid in the integration of African Americans in all aspects of life in the United States. Continues to foster a philosophy of nonviolent resistance.
Address: 334 Auburn Avenue, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30303.
Telephone: (404) 522-1420.
Fax: (404) 659-7390.

Museums and Research Centers

The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society.
Founded in 1977 to encourage scholarly research in Afro-American history and genealogy.
Contact: Edwin B. Washington, Jr., Special Information.
Address: P.O. Box 73086, T Street Station, Washington, D.C. 20056-3086.
Telephone: (202) 234-5350.
E-mail: washingtoneb@erols.com.
Online: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdaahgs/index.html .

The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH).
Originally named the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, this research center was founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1915. ASALH is committed to the collection, preservation, and promotion of black history.
Contact: Dr. Edward Beasley, President.
Address: 1401 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
Telephone: (202) 667-2822.
Fax: (202) 387-9802.
E-mail: asalb@earthlink.net.
Online: http://artnoir.com/asalb.html .

The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Founded in 1969 by Coretta Scott King to uphold the philosophy and work of her husband, the slain civil rights leader.
Contact: Dexter Scott King, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; or Coretta Scott King, President.
Address: 449 Auburn Avenue, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30312.
Telephone: (404) 524-1956.
Fax: (404) 526-8901.

The Museum of African American Culture.
Preserves and displays African American cultural artifacts.
Address: 1616 Blanding Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201.
Telephone: (803) 252-1450.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
An arm of the New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center was founded at the height of the Harlem Renaissance by historian Arthur A. Schomburg to preserve the historical past of people of African descent. It is widely regarded as the world's leading repository for materials and artifacts on black cultural life.
Contact: Howard Dodson, Jr., Director.
Address: 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, New York 10037-1801.
Telephone: (212) 491-2200.
Fax: (212) 491-6760.
Online: http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html .

Sources for Additional Study

African American Almanac. 8th edition . Edited by Jessie Carney Smith and Joseph M. Palmisano. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2000.
African American Sociology: A Social Study of the Pan African Diaspora. Edited by Alva Barnett and James L. Conyers. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1998.
Asante, Molefi Kete. The Afrocentric Idea. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.
Bennett, Lerone, Jr. Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America—The Classic Account of the Struggles and Triumphs of Black Americans, fifth revised edition. New York: Penguin, 1984.
A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States, two volumes, edited by Herbert Aptheker. New York: Citadel Press, 1969 (originally published in 1951).
Franklin, John Hope, with Alfred A. Moss, Jr. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans, sixth edition. New York: Knopf, 1988 (originally published in 1947).
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., and Cornel West. The Future of the Race. New York: Vintage Books, 1997.
Harris, Joseph E. Africans and Their History. New York: Penguin, 1987.
Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America. New York: Knopf, 1991.
Lynd, Staughton. Class Conflict, Slavery, and the U.S. Constitution. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980 (originally published in 1967).
Mannix, Daniel Pratt. Black Cargoes: A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1518-1865. NewYork: Viking, 1962.
Parham, Vanessa Roberts. The African-American Child's Heritage Cookbook. Sandcastle Publishing, 1993.
Segal, Ronald. The Black Diaspora: Five Centuries of the Black Experience Outside Africa. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995.
Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin & Testifyin: The Language of Black America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.
Von Eschen, Penny M. Race Against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937-1957. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.
Woodson, Carter G. The Negro in Our History. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1962 (originally published by Associated Publishers, 1922).

Afghan americans

2011-11-21T04:40:00.000-08:00

Modern-day Afghanistan, torn by both civil and foreign wars, repeats the cycle of oppression, invasion, and turmoil that has plagued it for centuries. As the twenty-first century was about to begin, Afghan people struggled in their own land and flooded the globe in increasing numbers to escape dangers from within their borders and from without.
The Middle Eastern nation is large, about the size of the state of Texas, and is populated by about 15 million people. The vast majority, 85 percent, live in nomadic or rural settings. The country's literacy rate is about ten percent. Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries, made worse by almost constant warfare in the late twentieth century. It has been estimated that one out of every four Afghans lives as a refugee.
The people who inhabit Afghanistan are diverse. Although about 60 percent of the people are descendants of the native Pushtun, or Pathan, tribes, the population reflects the history of the many invaders who stopped to conquer the country or cross it on their way to other battles. One almost homogeneous characteristic of the people, however, is their religion. Almost all Afghans are Muslims. The introduction of Islam to the country by invading Arabs in the eighth and ninth centuries was one of Afghanistan's most important events.
Even as Afghanistan struggles with modern dilemmas, however, it continues to exhibit intense tribal and extended-family loyalties among its people. This characteristic can be divisive as Afghan politics are traditionally dominated by tribal factions and nepotism is common. However, this characteristic can serve as a valuable support for Afghans in the United States and elsewhere whose lives have been devastated by war.

HISTORY

Some of the earliest stirrings of the nation-state that would become Afghanistan occurred in 1747, when lands controlled by the Pushtuns were united. The confederation of tribes named its leader, Ahmad Khan Saduzay, and established the first independent Pushtun-controlled region in central Asia. Today, Saduzay is considered by some the father of Afghanistan.
As a nation name, the word "Afghanistan" is relatively recent. In ancient times, the land was known as Ariana and Bactria and it was named Khorasan in the Middle Ages. In the nineteenth century, the land acted as a buffer between distrustful nations, the British in India and the Russians. It was not until the 1880s that the territory united and was named Afghanistan.
Like all nations, Afghanistan's geography has played a central role in its history. Relatively inaccessible, the mountainous country is landlocked, and is surrounded by countries whose interests, at times, have conflicted with those of Afghanistan. The country is surrounded by Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. The majority of the country is comprised of the forbidding mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush, where elevations rise as high as 24,000 feet (7,300 meters). Even the mountains provide a variety of challenges. In the southern part of the country, they are barren and rocky, whereas in the northeast part, they are snow-covered year-round. It is the snow that provides the bulk of the country's water supply. Even this supply, however, comes to only about 15 inches of rain per year (38 centimeters). Thus, irrigation is vital for agriculture.
The climate of Afghanistan is similarly difficult. Due to the mountains, the range between summer and winter temperatures is large, as is the range between temperatures in the day and night. Although almost all regions experience some freezing weather, temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit occur. The great winds of the western border area between Afghanistan and Iraq, however, provide some value. Using ancient technology unique to the region, windmills grind the wheat harvested in June through September, the windy period during which wind speeds can get as high as 100 mph.

MODERN ERA

Sitting astride the historic crossroads of centuries of invaders, Afghanistan was not able to gain its true independence until 1919, when it shook loose of foreign influence. The nation adopted a new constitution in 1964 that contemplated the creation of a parliamentary democracy. However, internal political strife led to coups in 1975 and 1978. The second coup, backed by the Soviet Union and seen as pro-Russian and anti-Islamic, led to widespread uprisings. As a result, more than 400,000 refugees fled to Pakistan, and 600,000 more went to Iran. At first the Soviet Union lent its aid to suppress the uprisings, but then the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979.
The Soviet invasion led to even greater numbers of refugees, about three million Afghans in Pakistan by 1981 and 250,000 in Iran. By 1991, the number of refugees had climbed to five million. The Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989. However, what it left behind was a nation in civil war. One of the most evident factions has been the Taliban, a group that has imposed strict adherence to Islamic law. Under the Taliban, even Kabul, the most westernized of Afghan cities, was the site of human rights violations in the name of religious fundamentalism.

THE FIRST AFGHANS IN AMERICA

Although early records are vague or nonexistent, the first Afghans to reach U.S. shores probably arrived in the 1920s or 1930s. It is known that a group of 200 Pushtuns came to the United States in 1920. Because of political boundaries in central Asia at that time, however, most of them were probably residents of British India (which today is in Pakistan). Some of them, however, were probably Afghan citizens.

SIGNIFICANT IMMIGRATION WAVES

Early Afghan immigrants to the United States were from the upper classes, highly educated, and had trained in a profession. Most of these immigrants in the 1930s and 1940s arrived alone or in family groups and some were married to Europeans.
From 1953 until the early 1970s, about 230 Afghans immigrated to the United States and became American citizens. That number, of course, does not reflect those who arrived in the United States to earn a university degree and who returned to Afghanistan, or who visited here for other reasons. Due to political uncertainty in Afghanistan, 110 more immigrants were naturalized in only 4 more years, from 1973 to 1977. According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, resident alien status was granted to several thousand Afghans.
Large numbers of Afghan refugees began arriving in the United States in 1980 in the wake of the Soviet invasion. Some were officially designated as refugees, while others were granted political asylum. Others arrived through a family reunification program or by illegal entry. About 2,000 to 4,000 Afghans arrived every year until 1989, when the Soviet Union withdrew its troops. Estimates of the number of Afghan refugees in the United States ranged from 45,000 to 75,000.
As noted, most Afghans entered the United States as refugees in the 1980s. Since 1989, however, most have arrived under the family reunification criteria. In that case, a visa is contingent on the willingness of family members or an organization to guarantee their support for a set period of time. This process inevitably leads to immigrant groups settling near each other. Although the first Afghan arrivals to the United States were well educated and professionals, more recent immigrants had fewer experiences with Americans, less education, and, because they were not here for schooling, had fewer opportunities to become adept at English.

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

During the 1920s and 1930s, the destinations of choice for highly educated Afghan immigrants were Washington, D.C., and major cities on the East or West Coast. That pattern of residing in large urban centers has remained consistent for Afghans, despite their reason for arrival or their socioeconomic group.
For example, when more than 40,000 Afghan refugees relocated to the Western Hemisphere in the 1980s, the largest groups settled in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Toronto, Canada. The Bay Area of San Francisco has become a haven for Afghan refugees, who find the climate amenable, the California communities open to diversity, and, until 1994, the welfare system generous. It is estimated that 55 to 67 percent of all Afghan refugees live there. In their communities, the Afghans have opened grocery stores and restaurants and television and radio programs are available in their language. In the late twentieth century, Afghans could be found in every state of the Union.

Acculturation and Assimilation

The vast majority of Afghan refugees in the United States in 1999 were anything but satisfied inheritors of the American dream. Instead, they arrived here not through choice, but because of necessity, as they fled warfare in Afghanistan. Many were trained as professionals in Afghanistan but found work impossible to obtain in the United States, due to difficulties with the English language, depleted savings, or lack of a social support. Their sense of being aliens in a sometimes unwelcoming land tainted all of their efforts. Allen K. Jones, asserts in An Afghanistan Picture Show, that "[p]erhaps the most widespread issue concerning Afghans resettling in the U.S. is the psychological malaise or depression many experience. . . . Though they are grateful for having been able to come to the U.S., Afghans still feel they are strangers in America."
The waves of immigrants from Afghanistan in the 1980s provide a snapshot of the strengths and challenges of the people. Whereas the early 1980s saw the arrival of educated and cosmopolitan Afghan immigrants, their more middle-class relatives arrived here by the late 1980s through family reunification. These newer arrivals were less educated, and some were illiterate in their own language as well as in English.
It is worth noting that, for many Afghan Americans, the United States was not their first country of refuge. Many escaped the violence of their own country by fleeing to Pakistan, for example. However, in Pakistan, women were confined to their homes, and when they went out, they had to do so completely veiled. In addition, health problems, as well as heat exhaustion, were common maladies. Similar problems confronted those who fled to Iran.
Afghan Americans may not define integration into U.S. society in the way that other immigrants might. For Afghan Americans, integration means earning enough to support their family, maintaining their cultural and traditional beliefs, and experiencing some stability and satisfaction, usually within their own community. As Juliene Lipson and Patricia Omidian noted in Refugees in America, for many Afghan Americans, at whatever social strata, integration does not mean assimilation. Although Afghans who have been in the United States for many years are more accustomed to U.S. culture, these researchers found little assimilation of Afghans into the American mainstream, no matter how long they were in the United States. Even among children and teens, where assimilation has been found to be the greatest, most young people try to maintain their Afghan identity, and to change only superficially.
Like many immigrants, Afghans tend to settle in areas where there are already a large number of their own ethnic group present. This has occasionally led to increased difficulty with neighboring communities of other ethnicities, especially in places like California, which has experienced anti-immigrant feelings. The neighborhoods in which they settle also tend to be less expensive and sometimes more dangerous than those to which they are accustomed. Thus, many of those at most risk, such as the very old and the very young, remain inside, contributing to feelings of isolation and hindering acculturation.
The strength of the Afghan people in America lies in their strong sense of family and tribal loyalty. Although strained by the dispersal of extended families and by financial stresses, the loyalty binds the Afghan Americans to their cultural traditions, which they have largely transported unchanged from their homeland. Thus, faced with a bad situation, many Afghans chose to enter the United States because of their strong family connections. Once here, they have faced many obstacles. By the end of the 1990s, however, there were optimistic signs that many were achieving some measure of success while also maintaining ties to their cultural traditions.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND BELIEFS

Central to the Afghan way of life is storytelling, and many stories are so well known that they can be recited by heart at family and community gatherings. As in all cultures, some of the most renowned stories are those for children. These stories, usually with a moral lesson, are often about foolish people getting what they deserve. Other sources of narrative enjoyment are tales about the Mullah, respected Islamic leaders or teachers. In these stories, the narrator casts the Mullah as a wise fool, the one who appears to be foolish but who, later on, is shown to be intelligent and full of sage advice.
Heroism plays an important role in Afghan stories and many such tales are taken from Shahnama, The Book of Kings. In a geographic region that has been battled over, conquered, divided, and reunited, it is not surprising that what defines a hero is subject to some debate. For example, one popular story is about a real man who overthrew the Pushtun government in 1929. That same man is anything but a hero in a traditional Pushtun tale, however, which shows him to be a fool.
Love stories are also important to Afghans. In one tale, Majnun and Leilah, though in love, are separated and unable to reunite when they get older. Disappointed, they each die of grief and sadness.
Many Afghans believe in spirits, known as jinns, that can change shape and become invisible. These spirits are usually considered evil. Protection from jinns comes from a special amulet worn around the neck. Jinns even find their way into storytelling.

PROVERBS

Many proverbs arise from Afghan culture. The first day you meet, you are friends; the next day you meet, you are brothers. There is a way from heart to heart. Do not stop a donkey that is not yours. That which thunders does not rain; He who can be killed by sugar should not be killed by poison. What you see in yourself is what you see in the world. What is a trumpeter's job? To blow. When man is perplexed, God is beneficent. Vinegar that is free is sweeter than honey. Where your heart goes, there your feet will go. No one says his own buttermilk is sour. Five fingers are brothers but not equals.

CUISINE

As in many countries of the region, bread is central to the Afghan diet. Along with rice and dairy products, a flatbread called naan is an important part of most meals. This and other breads may be leavened or unleavened, and the process of cooking it requires speed and dexterity. Although any hot fire-clayed surface will suffice, Afghan bread typically is cooked inside a round container made of pottery with an opening in the top. After burying the container's bottom in the earth, it is heated by coals placed in the bottom. After forming the dough, the baker slaps it onto the rounded interior of the container, where it adheres and immediately begins cooking. It cooks quickly, and is served immediately. This method is used in many Afghan and Middle Eastern restaurants in the United States today.
Another important element of the Afghan meal is rice, cooked with vegetables or meats. The rice dishes vary from house to house and from occasion to occasion. They range from simple meals to elegant fare cooked with sheep, raisins, almonds, and pistachios. Because it is a Muslim country, pork is forbidden.
The usual drink in Afghanistan is tea. Green tea in the northern regions, and black tea south of the Hindu Kush mountains. Alcohol, forbidden by Islam, is not drunk.

TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

An Afghan man traditionally wears a long-sleeved shirt, which reaches his knees. His trousers are baggy and have a drawstring at the waist. Vests and coats are sometimes worn. In rural areas, the coats are often brightly striped. As for headgear, turbans are worn by most men. Traditionally, the turban was white, but now a variety of colors are seen.
Women wear pleated trousers under a long dress. Their heads are usually covered by a shawl, especially with the rise of the Mujahideen, militant fundamentalists. Because of the Mujahideen, a traditional piece of clothing has made a comeback, with a vengeance. The chadri is an ankle- length cloth covering, from head to toe and with mesh for the eyes and nose, worn by women. The chadri was banned in 1959 as Afghanistan modernized, but it has been required by the Mujahideen in the cities, especially Kabul.

DANCES AND SONGS

Afghan adults enjoy both songs and dancing. They do not dance with partners, the method more typical in the West. Instead, they dance in circles in a group, or they dance alone. A favorite pastime among men is to relax in teahouses listening to music and talking.
Afghan music is more similar to Western music than it is to any other music in Asia. Traditional instruments include drums, a wind instrument, and a stringed gourd. While swinging swords or guns, men will dance a war dance.

HOLIDAYS

A countryside filled with farm animals dyed a variety of colors is a sign that the most important annual Afghan holiday, Nawruz, has arrived. Nawruz, the ancient Persian new year celebration, occurs at the beginning of spring and is celebrated on March 21. An important Nawruz ceremony is the raising of the flag at the tomb of Ali, Muhammed's son-in-law, in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Pilgrims travel to touch the staff that was raised, and, on the fortieth day after Nawruz, the staff is lowered. At that time, a short-lived species of tulip blooms. The holiday is brightened by the arrival of special foods such as samanak , made with wheat and sugar. Sugar is expensive in Afghanistan, and its use indicates a special occasion. Another special dish is haft miwa, a combination of nuts and fruits. A religious nation, Afghanistan celebrates most of its holidays by following the Islamic calendar. The holidays include Ramadan, the month of fasting from dawn until dusk, and Eid al-Adha, a sacrifice feast that lasts three days to celebrate the month-long pilgrimage to Mecca.

HEALTH ISSUES

Like all immigrants, Afghan Americans are affected by the conditions of the land they fled. Thus, it is worth noting what some researchers have found regarding the health of those Afghans at greatest risk, the children. One out of four Afghan children dies before the age of five, and more than one million of them are orphans. More than 500,000 are disabled. Because of land mines, more than 350,000 Afghan children are amputees. In 1996 the United Nations found that Kabul had more land mines than any other country in the world. Over one million Afghan children suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder.
Mental health issues related to the trauma of war are common among Afghan Americans, especially more recent arrivals. Dislocation, relocation, and the death of family members and friends all weigh heavily on an uprooted people. Posttraumatic stress disorder has been found in the Afghan American population. In addition, there is evidence of family stress based on changing gender roles in the face of American culture.
Many of the elderly Afghans, prepared to enter a period of heightened responsibility and respect, enter instead a period of isolation. Their extended families are dispersed and their immediate family members work long hours to make ends meet. Since they themselves do not speak English, they feel trapped in homes that they feel unable to leave. Even parents and youth suffer a sense of loss as they contend with social service agencies and schools that are unable to meet their needs. Women, often more willing than men to take jobs that are below their abilities or their former status, must deal with resentment in families as they become the primary breadwinners.
Among Afghan Americans who have been in the United States for a longer period of time there are fewer health and mental health problems and more satisfaction. Their increasing financial and career stability provides optimism for the newer group's eventual health and mental health.
One problem growing in severity among Afghan Americans is the use and abuse of alcohol. This issue is emerging in a population of people whose religion forbids the drinking of alcohol. This abuse stems from the traumas and stresses of upheaval and problems with money, jobs, and school. In such a traditionally abstinent group, abuse of alcohol leads to shame and loss of traditional culture.

Language

There are two related languages spoken throughout Afghanistan. One is Pashto, spoken also by those who live in certain provinces of Pakistan. Pashto speakers have traditionally been the ruling group in the country. The other spoken language is Dari, which is a variety of Persian. Dari is more often used in the cities and in business. Whereas Pashto speakers make up one ethnic group, those who speak Dari come from many ethnicities and regions. Both Pashto and Dari are official languages of Afghanistan, and both are used by most Afghans who have schooling. In schools, teachers use the language that is most common in the region and teach the other as a subject.
When written, the two languages are more similar than when they are spoken. In written language, both Pashto and Dari use adaptations of the Arabic alphabet. Four additional consonants are added to that alphabet in Dari for sounds unique to Afghanistan. In Pashto, those four consonants are added as well as eight additional letters. Other languages spoken in Afghanistan stem from the Turkish language family, which are spoken primarily in the north.
In the United States, many Afghan Americans have adopted English. However, certain groups of Immigrants struggle to acquire the language. For example, many of the poorer immigrants, who were illiterate in their home country, find it difficult to learn English. On the other hand, younger immigrants demonstrate their ease in learning new languages by becoming adept at English. This facility with language aids the youth in their academic and career prospects, but it is a double-edged sword. As the member of a family who is the most adept at English, a child may be called upon to interact with authority figures outside of the family, such as school principals and social service agencies. Although this dialogue may be vital to the family's well-being, it upsets the traditional Afghan family hierarchy, and sometimes contributes to Afghan parents' despair at the loss of traditional ways.
Another dilemma faced by Afghan Americans is the combination of English words and phrases when they speak Dari or Pashto to each other. This combination of two languages has made communication among Afghan youth easier, but it has also created a serious problem in communication between children and their parents whose English language skills are very limited. Researchers have found that Afghan Americans tended to use Dari and Pashto in conversations related to intimacy and family life. They used English in conversations related to status. Although such language combinations may aid communication when all speakers have similar skill levels in both languages, long-term mixture could lead to the loss of the Afghan language.

Family and Community Dynamics

To the Afghan people, the most important social unit is not the nation, but the family. An Afghan has obligations to both his or her immediate and extended families. The head of the family is unequivocally the father, regardless of social class or education. As economic pressures are brought to bear on Afghan Americans families, that dynamic has shifted in some cases, at times causing stress. The primary influence on Afghan American families are economic ones. Almost all immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s suffered a severe loss of status in their move to the United States, and have had to grow accustomed to their new situation.

EDUCATION

Education levels among Afghan Americans vary greatly. Many Afghan immigrants possess college degrees, often earned in the United States and some of them been able to achieve positions of prominence in American society. Other Afghan Americans have not been as fortunate. Many of them, whether college-educated or uneducated, entered the United States in desperate straits, in possession of little or no money, and immediately encountered a lowered horizon. For many of the immigrants, their difficulties were worsened by the educational system from which they emerged.
Literacy in Afghanistan is very low and the education system in that nation is rudimentary. The original schooling was available only in mosques, and even then it was provided to boys only. It was not until 1903 that the first truly modern school was created, in which both religious and secular subjects were taught. The first school for girls was not founded until 1923 in Kabul. The educational innovation that did emerge almost always did so in the most Western of cities, Kabul, where the University of Kabul opened its doors in 1946. Even there, however, there were separate faculties for men and women.
A terrible blow befell Afghan schooling when the Soviet Union invaded the country. Before the invasion, it was estimated that there were more than 3,400 schools and more than 83,000 teachers. By the late 1990s, only 350 schools existed with only 2,000 teachers. The method of teaching in those schools was rote memorization. In the late twentieth century, failure to pass to the next grade was common in Afghanistan.
Immigrants to the United States in the 1980s and 1990s confronted a daunting economic landscape. Research has provided examples of Afghans who formerly earned a university degree at an American school years ago, and then returned to Afghanistan. When they had to flee their country in the 1980s, however, they found themselves without work in the United States. This was often due to poor English skills or outdated training, especially in medicine and engineering. Also significant, however, was their need to find work immediately. Often their family required public assistance, and the social workers instructed them to choose from the first few jobs that were offered. The result has been doctors and other trained professionals working low-paying, menial jobs, despite their education and training.

"O ne of the first differences I noticed in America is the size of families. In Afghanistan, even the smallest family has five or six kids. And extended-family members are very close-knit; brothers-and sisters-in-law, aunts and uncles, and grandparents all live together or nearby."

M. Daud Nassery in 1988 in New Americans: An Oral History: Immigrants and Refugees in the U.S. Today, by Al Santoli (Viking Penguin, Inc., New York, 1988). Young Afghan Americans confront their own challenges in the American school system. Unlike other immigrants who may have moved to the United States for increased economic or educational opportunities, Afghans were fleeing war. Those of school age may have spent years in refugee camps, where those who ran the camps felt that schools were not necessary for "short-term" stays. In American schools, these children may be placed in classrooms with far younger children, which can be a humiliating experience. When placed in English as a Second Language classes, however, Afghan American children, like most young immigrants, learn more quickly than do adults.

BIRTH

As in many cultures, the birth of a child is cause for celebration in an Afghan household. The birth of a boy leads to an elaborate celebration. It is not until children are three days old that they are named and a name is chosen by an uncle on the father's side of the family. At the celebration, the Mullah, a respected Islamic leader, whispers into the newborn's ear " Allah-u-Akbar, " or "God is Great," and then whispers the child's new name. He tells the newborn about his or her ancestry and tells the child to be a good Muslim and to maintain the family honor.

THE ROLE OF WOMEN

Afghan and Afghan American women are strong, resourceful, and valuable members of their families. Although the father plays the dominant role in the community and extended family, the mother's role should not be overlooked. Researchers have generally found that young Afghan American women have adapted to living in the United States better than their male counterparts. Afghan women have taken on occupations that would have been below their former status in Afghanistan, such as housekeeping. Although Afghan women in the United States may have taken jobs when in Afghanistan they would not have, they are still expected to clean and cook at home. As in their home country, they also have had to bear the burden of caring for children. In the United States, the difficulty of this task is compounded by the stresses that their youths endure as they adjust to life in America.
Afghan American women strive to understand their changed role in the United States. Some research has shown that they often have adjusted well. However, elderly Afghan American women have not done as well. They often feel isolated and lonely, at a time of their lives when they could have expected to be secure in the center of a loving extended family.
Because marriage and childbearing is considered the primary role for women, single Afghan American women contend with unique stresses. Often Afghan American men perceive their female counterparts as too Westernized to be suitable mates. They may prefer to marry women who live in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

COURTSHIP AND WEDDINGS

In Afghanistan, parents usually arrange the marriages of their children, sometimes when the couple is still very young. Once parents decide on a match, negotiations occur regarding the amount and kinds of gifts to be exchanged between the families. The groom's family pays a "bride-price," and the bride's family pays a dowry. Once negotiations are complete, a "promising ceremony" occurs in which women from the groom's family are served sweets and tea. Later, the sweets tray is sent to the bride's family, filled with money, and the engagement is announced.
The wedding is a three-day affair and the groom's family is responsible for the costs. On the first day, the bride's family gets acquainted with the groom's family. On the second day, the groom leads a procession on horseback, followed by musicians and dancers. Finally, on the third day there is a feast, singing, and dancing at the groom's house. A procession brings the bride to the groom's house, with the bride riding in front of the groom on horseback. On the third night that the ceremony is held. Called the " nikah-namah, " it is the signing of the marriage contract in front of witnesses.

FUNERALS

As an Afghan lies dying, the family gathers around and reads from the Koran. After he or she dies, his or her body is bathed by relatives who are the same gender as the deceased. The body is shrouded in a white cloth, and the toes are tied together. The body is buried as soon as possible, but it is never buried at night. When buried, the body must be able to sit up on the Day of Judgment; thus, the grave must be six feet long and at least two feet deep. The feet always point toward Mecca.
Mourning for the dead lasts a year, during which time prayers are held for the deceased on every Thursday night. On the one-year anniversary, the women of the family are released from mourning and no longer need to wear white. In Afghanistan, a flower or plant is never removed from a graveyard. It is believed that this would bring death to the family or release a spirit imprisoned in the plant's roots.

Religion

Afghanistan is predominantly Muslim. Among Afghan Muslims, the vast majority follow the Sunni branch of Islam, which is also the most mainstream branch. About 10 to 20 percent are Shi'ah Muslims. In a largely inaccessible country like Afghanistan, the influence of Islam used to be peripheral, and a strict adherence to its tenets was not kept. This is no longer true in large cities such as Kabul, where the Mujahideen have imposed a fundamentalist view of religion.
In the United States, many conflicts with American society among and within Afghan Americans can be traced to Islamic traditions, history, and identity. Muslims avoid alcohol and all pork products. During Ramadan—the period of fasting—eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual activity are forbidden during the day. Also difficult for Afghan American youth is the fact that Islam discourages marriage outside the faith. There is, however, a disparity in the consequences of these types of marriages based on gender. A son who marries a non-Muslim is accepted, because it is assumed that his new wife will convert to Islam. However, when a daughter marries a non-Muslim, she is shunned. She is seen as a traitor to her family and her religion.

Employment and Economic Traditions

Afghan Americans have found occupations in a variety of careers. The growing number of Afghan and Middle Eastern restaurants in this country is a testimony to their hard work and excellent cuisine. For many Afghan Americans who are college-educated, their positions in government or American industry are prestigious ones. For many other immigrants, the route to economic stability was in self-sufficiency. Thus, many exert themselves in sales of ethnic items at flea market and garage sales. Immigrants to the San Francisco Bay area have found work in computer components companies. Others, especially first-generation immigrants, work as taxi cab drivers, babysitters, and convenience store owners and workers. Their children, earning a high school diploma and college degree, soon move into their own professional careers in ways identical to that of all other Americans.
Afghan American men especially have found it difficult to achieve positions befitting their experience, education, and economic needs. They have often found it necessary to apply for public assistance, contributing to their sense of the difficulty of life in the United States. Even in those families that have achieved some measure of success and financial stability, there has been a cost, both in time expended and in the loss of traditions. In families in which virtually every member of the family works, perhaps at more than one job, the wholeness of a family becomes fragile, and the cultural roles played by each family member begin to disintegrate. This economic necessity extends even to the children in Afghan American families, who often work rather than engage in extracurricular activities or other community or school programs. The need to constantly work to survive inevitably contributes to an immigrant community's sense of otherness, its isolation, and its lack of acculturation. Despite these obstacles, changes have come to the Afghan American community. These changes include increases in the rate of home ownership and increased numbers of youth going on to higher education and professional school.

Politics and Government

Political activities of Afghan Americans by the 1990s were directed primarily toward ending the Soviet occupation of their home country. As such, they worked with organizations such as Free Afghanistan, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to lobby governments and organizations to exert pressure on Russia. The pronounced ethnic divisions that characterize the people of Afghanistan also serve to polarize Afghan Americans. Although those divisions may decrease over time, they sometimes play a role in local politics, and have interfered with the establishment of community service programs. The relations that Afghan Americans have with their home country demonstrate they were an immigrant people eager to return home. Because of continued fighting even after the Russian withdrawal, and often because of the fundamentalist rule, especially in Afghan urban areas, many Afghan Americans recognize that a return home is receding into the distant future.

RELATIONS WITH AFGHANISTAN

A factor that strongly influences Afghan Americans' sense of tradition and culture is the maintenance of their close ties to family still in Afghanistan. This connection with their former country provides its share of tribulations as well. Because bloodshed is expected to continue in Afghanistan, and because few Afghan Americans expect to return to their homeland in the near future, they continue to suffer the trauma of hearing news of pain and suffering among their family and friends overseas. These sufferings include not only the civil war itself but also the continued displacement that it causes. Because it may take from six months (in Germany) to two or three years (in Pakistan) to obtain a visa to travel to the United States, their less fortunate family members experience deprivation and dwindling resources. Such a situation leads Afghan Americans to feel their distinctness in American culture even more, and perhaps to hold the West responsible for not doing enough to alleviate suffering overseas. It is common for Afghan Americans to send money to help their displaced relatives, because few organizations help these new refugees.
Another aspect of the relationship with Afghanistan is travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to choose spouses for unmarried children and siblings in the United States. It is often felt among Afghan Americans that an American spouse is unacceptable and that Afghan American women have often become too "Americanized" to be appropriate mates. These journeys back to Asia preserve the Afghan culture in the United States and reinforce cultural identity. This pattern also shows an emotional distance from the culture in which Afghan Americans now live.
Immigrants who are refugees from war are at distinct disadvantages to immigrants who choose to come to the United States for other reasons. However, it was the war in Afghanistan that has unified some segments of the Afghan American population, as it seeks to provide supplies and aid to Afghan rebels and, after the Russian withdrawal, to those trying to rebuild their lives. Some Afghan Americans also have become politically adept at demanding that the U.S. government act more strongly to support their country.
Although heterogeneous, the Afghan American community came together in a successful effort to provide humanitarian supplies to more than 600,000 refugees who had fled Kabul. Headed by the Afghan Women's Association International, based in Hayward, California, the group solicited and collected blankets, clothing, and food totaling 100,000 pounds and shipped them to Jalalabad. This, coupled with strong ties to family members still in Afghanistan, leads to a cultural bond that makes the community stronger.

Individual and Group Contributions

Afghan Americans have proven themselves capable of many great things. However, aside from more traditional examples of success, such as academic achievement, an immigrant group's success may be measured in more mundane but often more culturally demonstrative ways. This success at assimilation was seen in Waheed Asim, a 19-year-old Afghan immigrant, who in 1990 was named Dominos Pizza's three-time national champion pizza maker. Asim worked at a store in Washington, DC and he held a world record for the fastest pizza assembly.
Another example of a young Afghan American who had made strides in a new country that her ancestors could never have imagined was 17-year-old Yasmine Begum Delawari. She is the daughter of Afghan immigrants and a Los Angeles high school student who was crowned the 1990 Rose Queen on October 24, 1989.

ACADEMIA

Mohammed Jamil Hanifi (1935– ) is a professor of anthropology at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, and has done much research on life in Afghanistan. He wrote Islam and the Transformation of Culture (Asia Publishing House, 1974) and Historical and Cultural Dictionary of Afghanistan (Scarecrow, 1976). Nake M. Kamrany (1934– ) has had a distinguished career as a university professor in economics, primarily at the University of Southern California. His published works include Peaceful Competition in Afghanistan: American and Soviet Models for Economic Aid (Communication Service Corporation, 1969), The New Economics of the Less Developed Countries (Westview Press, 1978), Economic Issues of the Eighties (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), and U.S. Options for Energy Independence (Lexington Books, 1982).

GOVERNMENT

Najib Ullah (1914– ) has led a remarkable career of public service and university teaching. He served in the League of Nations Department of Foreign Office in the 1930s. He also served as the Afghan ambassador to India (1949–1954), to England (1954–1957), and to the United States (1957–1958). He works at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, New Jersey, as a professor of history. His writings include Political History of Afghanistan (two volumes, 1942–1944), Negotiations With Pakistan (1948), and Islamic Literature (Washington Square, 1963).

Media

PRINT

Afghanistan Council Newsletter.
A quarterly newsletter, published by the Afghanistan Council of the Asia Society, that publishes excerpts from other worldwide media regarding Afghanistan and news of Afghan organizations in the United States. It also prints feature articles, book reviews, and news summaries from Afghanistan.
Contact: Afghanistan Council of the Asia Society.
Address: 725 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10021.

Afghanistan Mirror.
A national Islamic monthly publication.
Contact: Dr. Sayed Khalilullah Hashemyan.
Address: P.O. Box 408, Montclair, California 91763.
Telephone: (714) 626-8314.

Afghan News.
Address: 141-39-78 Road, #0342, Flushing, New York 11755.
Telephone: (718) 361-0342.

Afghanistan Voice.
Address: P.O. Box 104, Bloomingdale, New Jersey 07403.
Telephone: (973) 838-6072.

Ayendah E-Afghan.
Contact: Nisar Ahmad Zuri, Publisher and Editor.
Address: P.O. Box 8216, Rego Park, New York 11374.
Telephone: 718-699-1666.

Critique & Vision.
An Afghan journal of culture, politics, and history.
Contact: Dr. S. Wali Ahmadi, Editor.
Address: Asian & Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures, B-27 Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903.

Nama-e-Khurasan.
A monthly publication of the Afghan Refugees' Cultural Society.
Contact: Mohammad Qawey Koshan, Editor.
Address: P.O. Box 4611, Hayward, California 94540.
Telephone: (510) 783-9350.

Omaid Weekly.
Contact: Mohammad Qawey Koshan.
Address: P.O. Box 4611, Hayward, California 94540-4611.
Telephone: (510) 783-9350.

Voice of Peace.
Address: Afghanistan Peace Association, 5858 Mount Alifan Drive, Suite 109, San Diego, California 92111.
Telephone: (619) 560-8293.

RADIO

"Azadi Afghan Radio" (WUST-AM 1120).
Contact: Omar Samad.
Address: 2131 Crimmins Lane, Falls Church, Virginia 22043.
Telephone: (703) 532-0400.
Fax: (703) 532-5033.

"Da Zwanano Zagh" (AM 990).
Broadcast Sundays from 5 PM until 6 PM.
Address: P.O. Box 7630, Fremont, California 94537.
Telephone: (510) 505-8058.
E-mail: DZZ990AM@aol.com.

Organizations and Associations

Afghan Community in America.
This organization provides aid to persons who are in need due to the war in Afghanistan.
Contact: Habib Mayar, Chairman.
Address: 139-15 95th Avenue, Jamaica, New York 11346.
Telephone: (212) 658-3737.

Afghan Refugee Fund.
Founded in 1983, the group supplies medical, vocational, and educational relief to Afghanistan refugees.
Contact: Robert E. Ornstein, President.
Address: P.O. Box 176, Los Altos, California 94023.
Telephone: (415) 948-9436.

Afghan Relief Committee, Inc. (ARC).
The ARC provides assistance to Afghans located throughout the world.
Contact: Gordon A. Thomas, President.
Address: 40 exchange Place, Suite 1301, New York, New York 10005.
Telephone: (212) 344-6617.

Afghanistan Council of the Asia Society.
Founded in 1960, the Afghanistan Council seeks to introduce Afghan culture to the United States. Its coverage includes archeology, folklore, handicrafts, politics and history, and performing and visual arts. The Afghanistan Council also aids in producing and distributing educational materials.
Address: 725 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10021.

Afghanistan Studies Association (ASA).
Organization of scholars, students, and others who seek to extend and develop Afghan studies. The ASA helps in the exchange of information between scholars; identifies and attempts to find funding for research needs; acts as a liaison between universities, governments, and other agencies; and helps scholars from Afghanistan who are working in the United States.
Contact: Thomas E. Gouttierre, Director.
Address: c/o Center for Afghan Studies, University of Nebraska, Adm. 238, 60th and Dodge, Omaha, Nebraska 68182-0227.
Telephone: (402) 554-2376.
Fax: (402) 554-3681.
E-mail: world@unomaha.edu.
Online: http://www.unomaha.edu/~world/cas/cas.html .

Aid for Afghan Refugees.
Founded in 1980, this organization provides assistance to Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and helps in their relocation to Northern California.
Contact: Michael Griffin, President.
Address: 1052 Oak Street, San Francisco, California 94117.
Telephone: (415) 863-1450.

Help the Afghan Children, Inc. (HTAC).
This organization, founded in 1993, is dedicated to helping Afghan children who are refugees and victims of warfare. It has opened clinics that were created and operated by Afghans. HTAC also has implemented home-based education program for girls.
Address: 4105 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 204, Arlington, Virginia 22203.
Telephone: (703) 524-2525.

Society of Afghan Engineers.
Formed in 1993, this group seeks to foster international support and encourage financial and technical assistance for the reconstruction and prosperity of Afghanistan.
Address: 14011-F Saint Germain Court, Suite 233, Centreville, Virginia 20121.
Telephone: (703) 790-6699.

Museums and Research Centers

Afghanistan Research Materials Survey.
This research group aims to compile a comprehensive bibliography of all that has been written about Afghanistan, including many major unpublished writings. The group seeks to include works in European languages, Dari, Pashto, and Urdu. It also provides information about Afghan archives in Europe and the United States.
Contact: Professor Nake M. Kamrany.
Address: Department of Economics, University of Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, California 90007.
Telephone: (213) 454-1708.

Center for Afghan Studies.
This Center, housed in a university department, provides courses in all aspects of Afghan culture, in addition to language training in Dari.
Contact: Thomas E. Gouttierre, Director.
Address: University of Nebraska, P.O. Box 688, Omaha, Nebraska 68182.
Telephone: (402) 554-2376.
Fax: (402) 554-3681.
E-mail: world@unomaha.edu.
Online: http://www.unomaha.edu/~world/cas/cas.html .

Sources for Additional Study

Clifford, Mary Louise. The Land and People of Afghanistan. New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1989.
Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism. Edited by Susan Auerbach. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1994.
Foster, Laila Merrell. Afghanistan. New York: Grolier, 1996.
Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. Edited by William Maley. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Lipson, Juliene G., and Patricia A. Omidian. "Afghans." In Refugees in America in the 1990s: A Reference Handbook, edited by David W. Haines. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996.
——. "Health Issues of Afghan Refugees in California," Western Journal of Medicine, 157: 271-275.
Marsden, Peter. The Taliban: War, Religion and the New Order in Afghanistan. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Rubin, Barnett R. The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation & Collapse in the International System. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1995.
Vollmann, William T. An Afghanistan Picture Show. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992.

Acadians

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Acadians are the descendants of a group of French-speaking settlers who migrated from coastal France in the late sixteenth century to establish a French colony called Acadia in the maritime provinces of Canada and part of what is now the state of Maine. Forced out by the British in the mid-sixteenth century, a few settlers remained in Maine, but most resettled in southern Louisiana and are popularly known as Cajuns.

HISTORY

Before 1713, Acadia was a French colony pioneered mostly by settlers from the coastal provinces of Brittany, Normandy, Picardy, and Poitou—a region that suffered great hardships in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In 1628, famine and plague followed the end of a series of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. When social tensions in coastal France ripened, more than 10,000 people left for the colony founded by Samuel Champlain in 1604 known as "La Cadie" or Acadia. The area, which included what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and part of Maine, was one of the first European colonies in North America. The Company of New France recruited colonists from coastal France as indentured servants. Fishermen, farmers, and trappers served for five years to repay the company with their labor for the transportation and materials it had provided. In the New World, colonists forged alliances with local Indians, who generally preferred the settlers from France over those from Britain because, unlike the British who took all the land they could, the coastal French in Acadia did not invade Indian hunting grounds inland.
The early French settlers called themselves "Acadiens" or "Cadiens" (which eventually became Anglicized as "Cajuns") and were among the first Old World settlers to identify themselves as North Americans. The New World offered them relative freedom and independence from the French upper class. When French owners of Acadian lands tried to collect seignorial rents from settlers who were farming, many Acadians simply moved away from the colonial centers. When France tried legally to control their profit from their trade in furs or grain, Acadians traded illegally; they even traded with New England while France and England waged war against each other.
As French colonial power waned, Great Britain captured Acadia in 1647; the French got it back in 1670 only to lose it again to the British in the 1690s. Acadians adapted to political changes as their region repeatedly changed hands. Before the British took the Nova Scotia region, they waged the Hundred Year War against French colonial forces in a struggle over the region's territory. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which failed to define realistic boundaries for the French and English territories after Queen Anne's War, converted most of the peninsula into a British colony. Despite British attempts to impose its language and culture, Acadian culture persisted. Large families increased their numbers and new settlers spoke French. The British tried to settle Scottish and other Protestant colonists in Acadia to change the region's French-Catholic culture to a British-Protestant one. The French-speaking Acadians, however, held onto their own culture.
In 1745 the British threatened to expel the Acadians unless they pledged allegiance to the King of England. Unwilling to subject themselves to any king (especially the King of England who opposed the French and Catholics), Acadians refused, claiming that they were not allied with France. They also did not want to join the British in fights against the Indians, who were their allies and relatives. To dominate the region militarily, culturally, and agriculturally without interference, the British expelled the Acadians, dispersing them to colonies such as Georgia and South Carolina. This eventually led the British to deport Acadians in what became known as Le Grand Dèrangement, or the Expulsion of 1755.
The roundup and mass deportation of Acadians, which presaged British domination of much of North America, involved much cruelty, as indicated by letters from British governor, Major Charles Lawrence. In an attempt to eliminate the Acadians from Acadia, the British packed them by the hundreds into the cargo holds of ships, where many died from the cold and smallpox. At the time, Acadians numbered about 15,000, however, the Expulsion killed almost half the population. Of the survivors and those who escaped expulsion, some found their way back to the region, and many drifted through England, France, the Caribbean, and other colonies. Small pockets of descendants of Acadians can still be found in France. In 1763 there were more than 6,000 Acadians in New England. Of the thousands sent to Massachusetts, 700 reached Connecticut and then escaped to Montreal. Many reached the Carolinas; some in Georgia were sold as slaves; many eventually were taken to the West Indies as indentured servants. Most, however, made their way down the Mississippi River to Louisiana. At New Orleans and other southern Louisiana ports, about 2,400 Acadians arrived between 1763 and 1776 from the American colonies, the West Indies, St. Pierre and Miquelon islands, and Acadia/Nova Scotia.
To this day, many Acadians have strong sentiments about the expulsion 225 years ago. In 1997, Warren A. Perrin, an attorney from Lafayette, Louisiana, filed a lawsuit against the British Crown for the expulsion in 1775. Perrin is not seeking monetary compensation. Instead, he wants the British government to formally apologize for the suffering it caused Acadians and build a memorial to honor them. The British Foreign Office is fighting the lawsuit, arguing it cannot be held responsible for something that happened more than two centuries ago.
According to Cajun Country, after Spain gained control of Louisiana in the mid-1760s, Acadian exiles "who had been repatriated to France volunteered to the king of Spain to help settle his newly acquired colony." The Spanish government accepted their offer and paid for the transport of 1,600 settlers. When they arrived in Louisiana in 1785, colonial forts continued Spain's services to Acadian pioneers (which officially began with a proclamation by Governor Galvez in February of 1778). Forts employed and otherwise sponsored the settlers in starting their new lives by providing tools, seed corn, livestock, guns, medical services, and a church.
A second group of Acadians came 20 years later. Louisiana attracted Acadians who wanted to rejoin their kin and Acadian culture. After decades of exile, immigrants came from many different regions. The making of "Acadiana" in southern Louisiana occurred amid a broader context of French-speaking immigration to the region, including the arrival of European and American whites, African and Caribbean slaves, and free Blacks. Like others, such as Mexicans who lived in annexed territory of the United States, Cajuns and other Louisianans became citizens when the United States acquired Louisiana from Napoleon through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

The diaspora of Acadians in the United States interweaves with the diaspora of French Canadians. In 1990, one-third as many Americans (668,000) reported to the U.S. Census Bureau as "Acadian/Cajun" as did Americans reporting "French Canadian" (2,167,000). Louisiana became the new Acadian homeland and "creolized," or formed a cultural and ethnic hybrid, as cultures mixed. French settlers in Louisiana adapted to the subtropics. Local Indians taught them, as did the slaves brought from Africa by settlers to work their plantations. When French settlers raised a generation of sons and daughters who grew up knowing the ways of the region—unlike the immigrants— Louisianans called these native-born, locally adapted people "Creoles." Louisianans similarly categorized slaves—those born locally were also "Creoles." By the time the Acadians arrived, Creoles had established themselves economically and socially.
French Creoles dominated Louisiana, even after Spain officially took over the colony in the mid-eighteenth century and some Spanish settled there. Louisiana also absorbed immigrants from Germany, England, and New England, in addition to those from Acadia. Spanish administrators welcomed the Acadians to Louisiana. Their large families increased the colony's population and they could serve the capital, New Orleans, as a supplier of produce. The Spanish expected the Acadians, who were generally poor, small-scale farmers who tended to keep to themselves, not to resist their administration.
At first, Spanish administrators regulated Acadians toward the fringes of Louisiana's non-Indian settlement. As Louisiana grew, some Cajuns were pushed and some voluntarily moved with the frontier. Beginning in 1764, Cajun settlements spread above New Orleans in undeveloped regions along the Mississippi River. This area later became known as the Acadian coast. Cajun settlements spread upriver, then down the Bayou Lafourche, then along other rivers and bayous. People settled along the waterways in lines, as they had done in Acadia/Nova Scotia. Their houses sat on narrow plots of land that extended from the riverbank into the swamps. The settlers boated from house to house, and later built a road parallel to the bayou, extending the levees as long as 150 miles. The settlement also spread to the prairies, swamps, and the Gulf Coast. There is still a small colony of Acadians in the St. John Valley of northeastern Maine, however.

INTERNAL MIGRATION

Soon after the Louisiana Purchase, the Creoles pushed many Acadians westward, off the prime farmland of the Mississippi levees, mainly by buying their lands. Besides wanting the land, many Creole sugar-planters wanted the Cajuns to leave the vicinity so that the slaves on their plantations would not see Cajun examples of freedom and self-support.
After the Cajuns had reconsolidated their society, a second exodus, on a much smaller scale, spread the Cajuns culturally and geographically. For example, a few Acadians joined wealthy Creoles as owners of plantations, rejecting their Cajun identity for one with higher social standing. Although some Cajuns stayed on the rivers and bayous or in the swamps, many others headed west to the prairies where they settled not in lines but in small, dispersed coves. As early as 1780, Cajuns headed westward into frontier lands and befriended Indians whom others feared. By the end of the nineteenth century, Cajuns had established settlements in the Louisiana-Texas border region. Texans refer to the triangle of the Acadian colonies of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange as Cajun Lapland because that is where Louisiana "laps over" into Texas.
Heading westward, Cajuns first reached the eastern, then the western prairie. In the first region, densely settled by Cajuns, farmers grew corn and cotton. On the western prairie, farmers grew rice and ranchers raised cattle. This second region was thinly settled until the late 1800s when the railroad companies lured Midwesterners to the Louisiana prairies to grow rice. The arrival of Midwesterners again displaced many Cajuns; however, some remained on the prairies in clusters of small farms. A third region of Cajun settlement, to the south of the prairies and their waterways, were the coastal wetlands—one of the most distinctive regions in North America and one central to the Cajun image. The culture and seafood cuisine of these Cajuns has represented Cajuns to the world.

CAMPS

Life for Cajuns in swamps, which periodically flood, demanded adaptations such as building houses on stilts. When floods wrecked their houses, Cajuns

Reenactment of an early Acadian dining-room scene at the Babineau House in Caraquet, New Brunswick, Canada.

rebuilt them. In the late 1800s, Cajun swamp dwellers began to build and live on houseboats. Currently, mobile homes with additions and large porches stand on stilts ten feet above the swamps. Cajuns and other Louisianans also established and maintained camps for temporary housing in marshes, swamps, and woods. For the Acadians, many of whom were hunters and trappers, this was a strong tradition. At first, a camp was only a temporary dwelling in order to make money. Eventually, Cajuns did not need to live in camps, because they could commute daily from home by car or powerboat. By that time, however, Cajuns enjoyed and appreciated their camps. As settlements grew, so did the desire to get away to hunt and fish; today, many Cajun families maintain a camp for recreation purposes.

Acculturation and Assimilation

Cajuns have always been considered a marginal group, a minority culture. Language, culture, and kinship patterns have kept them separate, and they have maintained their sense of group identity despite difficulties. Cajun settlement patterns have isolated them and Cajun French has tended to keep its speakers out of the English-speaking mainstream.
Acadians brought a solidarity with them to Louisiana. As one of the first groups to cross the Atlantic and adopt a new identity, they felt connected to each other by their common experience. Differences in backgrounds separated the Acadians from those who were more established Americans. Creole Louisianans, with years of established communities in Louisiana, often looked down on Acadians as peasants. Some Cajuns left their rural Cajun communities and found acceptance, either as Cajuns or by passing as some other ethnicity. Some Cajuns became gentleman planters, repudiated their origins, and joined the upper-class (white) Creoles. Others learned the ways of local Indians, as Creoles before them had done, and as the Cajuns themselves had done earlier in Acadia/Nova Scotia.
Because Cajuns usually married among themselves, as a group they do not have many surnames; however, the original population of Acadian exiles in Louisiana grew, especially by incorporating other people into their group. Colonists of Spanish, German, and Italian origins, as well as Americans of English-Scotch-Irish stock, became thoroughly acculturated and today claim Acadian descent. Black Creoles and white Cajuns mingled their bloodlines and cultures; more recently, Louisiana Cajuns include Yugoslavs and Filipinos.
Economics helped Cajuns stay somewhat separate. The majority of Cajuns farmed, hunted, and/or fished; their livelihoods hardly required them to assimilate. Moreover, until the beginning of the twentieth century, U.S. corporate culture had relatively little impact on southern Louisiana. The majority of Cajuns did not begin to Americanize until the turn of the twentieth century, when several factors combined to quicken the pace. These factors included the nationalistic fervor of the early 1900s, followed by World War I. Perhaps the most substantial change for Cajuns occurred when big business came to extract and sell southern Louisiana's oil. The discovery of oil in 1901 in Jennings, Louisiana, brought in outsiders and created salaried jobs. Although the oil industry is the region's main employer, it is also a source of economic and ecological concern because it represents the region's main polluter, threatening fragile ecosystems and finite resources.
Although the speaking of Cajun French has been crucial to the survival of Cajun traditions, it has also represented resistance to assimilation. Whereas Cajuns in the oilfields spoke French to each other at work (and still do), Cajuns in public schools were forced to abandon French because the compulsory Education Act of 1922 banned the speaking of any other language but English at school or on school grounds. While some teachers labeled Cajun French as a low-class and ignorant mode of speech, other Louisianans ridiculed the Cajuns as uneducable. As late as 1939, reports called the Cajuns "North America's last unassimilated [white] minority;" Cajuns referred to themselves, even as late as World War II, as " le français, " and all English-speaking outsiders as " les Americains. "
The 1930s and 1940s witnessed the education and acculturation of Cajuns into the American mainstream. Other factors affecting the assimilation of the Cajuns were the improvement of transportation, the leveling effects of the Great Depression, and the development of radio and motion pictures, which introduced young Cajuns to other cultures. Yet Cajun culture survived and resurged. After World War II, Cajun culture boomed as soldiers returned home and danced to Cajun bands, thereby renewing Cajun identity. Cajuns rallied around their traditional music in the 1950s, and in the 1960s this music gained attention and acceptance from the American mainstream. On the whole, though, the 1950s and 1960s were times of further mainstreaming for the Cajuns. As network television and other mass media came to dominate American culture, the nation's regional, ethnic cultures began to weaken. Since the 1970s, Cajuns have exhibited renewed pride in their heritage and consider themselves a national resource. By the 1980s, ethnicities first marginalized by the American mainstream became valuable as regional flavors; however, while Cajuns may be proud of the place that versions of their music and food occupy in the mainstream, they—especially the swamp Cajuns—are also proud of their physical and social marginality.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND BELIEFS

Cajun society closely knits family members and neighbors who tend to depend on each other socially and economically, and this cooperation helps to maintain their culture. According to Cajun Country, "The survival—indeed the domination— of Acadian culture was a direct result of the strength of traditional social institutions and agricultural practices that promoted economic self-sufficiency and group solidarity." Cajuns developed customs to bring themselves together. For example, before roads, people visited by boat; before electrical amplification and telephones, people sang loudly in large halls, and passed news by shouting from house to house. And when Cajuns follow their customs, their culture focuses inwardly on the group and maintains itself.
Cajuns maintain distinctive values that predate the industrial age. Foremost among these, perhaps, is a traditional rejection of protocols of social hierarchy. When speaking Cajun French, for instance, Cajuns use the French familiar form of address, tu, rather than vous (except in jest) and do not address anyone as monsieur. Their joie de vivre is legendary (manifested in spicy food and lively dancing), as is their combativeness. Cajun traditions help make Cajuns formidable, mobile adversaries when fighting, trapping, hunting, or fishing. Cajun boaters invented a flatboat called the bateau, to pass through shallow swamps. They also built European-style luggers and skiffs, and the pirogue, based on Indian dugout canoes. Cajuns often race pirogues; or, two competitors stand at opposite ends on one and try to make each other fall in the water first. Fishers hold their own competitions, sometimes called "fishing rodeos."

A main ingredient in Louisiana Acadian seafood cooking is crawfish.

Cajuns value horses, too. American cowboy culture itself evolved partly out of one of its earliest ranching frontiers on Louisiana's Cajun prairies. Cajun ranchers developed a tradition called the barrel or buddy pickup, which evolved into a rodeo event. Today, Cajuns enjoy horse racing, trail-riding clubs, and Mardi Gras processions, called courses, on horseback.
Cajuns also enjoy telling stories and jokes during their abundant socializing. White Cajuns have many folktales in common with black Creoles—for example, stories about buried treasure abound in Louisiana. One reason for this proliferation was Louisiana's early and close ties to the Caribbean where piracy was rampant. Also, many people actually did bury treasure in Louisiana to keep it from banks or—during the Civil War—from invading Yankees. Typically, the stories describe buried treasure guarded by ghosts. Cajuns relish telling stories about moonshiners, smugglers, and contraband runners who successfully fool and evade federal agents.
Many Cajun beliefs fall into the mainstream's category of superstition, such as spells ( gris-gris, to both Cajuns and Creoles) and faith healing. In legends, Madame Grandsdoigts uses her long fingers to pull the toes of naughty children at night, and the werewolf, known as loup garou, prowls. Omens appear in the form of blackbirds, cows, and the moon. For example, according to Cajun Country: "When the tips of a crescent moon point upward, [the weather] is supposed to be dry for a week. A halo of light around a full moon supposedly means clear weather for as many days as there are stars visible inside the ring."

CUISINE

Cajun cuisine, perhaps best known for its hot, redpepper seasoning, is a blend of styles. Acadians brought with them provincial cooking styles from France. Availability of ingredients determined much of Cajun cuisine. Frontier Cajuns borrowed or invented recipes for cooking turtle, alligator, raccoon, possum, and armadillo, which some people still eat. Louisianans' basic ingredients of bean and rice dishes—milled rice, dried beans, and cured ham or smoked sausage—were easy to store over relatively long periods. Beans and rice, like gumbo and crawfish, have become fashionable cuisine in recent times. They are still often served with cornbread, thus duplicating typical nineteenth-century poor Southern fare. Cajun cooking is influenced by the cuisine of the French, Acadian, Spanish, German, Anglo-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Native American cultures.
Gumbo, a main Cajun dish, is a prime metaphor for creolization because it draws from several cultures. Its main ingredient, okra, also gave the dish its name; the vegetable, called " guingombo, " was first imported from western Africa. Cayenne, a spicy seasoning used in subtropical cuisines, represents Spanish and Afro-Caribbean influences. Today Louisianans who eat gumbo with rice, usually call gumbo made with okra gumbo fèvi, to distinguish it from gumbo filè, which draws on French culinary tradition for its base, a roux. Just before serving, gumbo filè (also called filè gumbo ) is thickened by the addition of powdered sassafras leaves, one of the Native American contributions to Louisiana cooking.
Cajuns thriftily made use of a variety of animals in their cuisine. Gratons , also known as cracklings, were made of pig skin. Internal organs were used in the sausages and boudin . White boudin is a spicy rice and pork sausage; red boudin, which is made from the same rice dressing but is flavored and colored with blood, can still be found in neighborhood boucheries. Edible pig guts not made into boudin were cooked in a sauce piquante de dèbris or entrail stew. The intestines were cleaned and used for sausage casings. Meat was carefully removed from the head and congealed for a spicy fromage de tête de cochon (hogshead cheese). Brains were cooked in a pungent brown sauce. Other Cajun specialties include tasso, a spicy Cajun version of jerky, smoked beef and pork sausages (such as andouille made from the large intestines), chourice (made from the small intestines), and chaudin (stuffed stomach).
Perhaps the most representative food of Cajun culture is crawfish, or mudbug. Its popularity is a relatively recent tradition. It was not until the

This Acadian couple is enjoying dancing together at the annual Acadian festival.

mid-1950s, when commercial processing began to make crawfish readily available, that they gained popularity. They have retained a certain exotic aura, however, and locals like to play upon the revulsion of outsiders faced for the first time with the prospect of eating these delicious but unusual creatures by goading outsiders to suck the "head" (technically, the thorax). Like lobster, crawfish has become a valuable delicacy. The crawfish industry, a major economic force in southern Louisiana, exports internationally. However, nearly 85 percent of the annual crawfish harvest is consumed locally. Other versions of Cajun foods, such as pan-blackened fish and meats, have become ubiquitous. Chef Paul Prudhomme helped bring Cajun cuisine to national prominence. Cooking is considered a performance, and invited guests often gather around the kitchen stove or around the barbecue pit (more recently, the butane grill) to observe the cooking and comment on it. Guests also help, tell jokes and stories, and sing songs at events such as outdoor crawfish, crab, and shrimp boils in the spring and summer, and indoor gumbos in winter.

MUSIC

The history of Cajun music goes back to Acadia/ Nova Scotia, and to France. Acadian exiles, who had no instruments such as those in Santo Domingo, danced to reels á bouche, wordless dance music made by only their voices at stopping places on their way to Louisiana. After they arrived in Louisiana, Anglo-American immigrants to Louisiana contributed new fiddle tunes and dances, such as reels, jigs, and hoedowns. Singers also translated English songs into French and made them their own. Accordi to Cajun Country, "Native Americans contributed a wailing, terraced singing style in which vocal lines descend progressively in steps." Moreover, Cajun music owes much to the music of black Creoles, who contributed to Cajun music as they developed their own similiar music, which became zydeco. Since the nineteenth century, Cajuns and black Creoles have performed together.
Not only the songs, but also the instruments constitute an intercultural gumbo. Traditional Cajun and Creole instruments are French fiddles, German accordians, Spanish guitars, and an assortment of percussion instruments (triangles, washboards, and spoons), which share European and Afro-Caribbean origins. German-American Jewish merchants imported diatonic accordians (shortly after they were invented in Austria early in the nineteenth century), which soon took over the lead instrumental role from the violin. Cajuns improvised and improved the instruments first by bending rake tines, replacing rasps and notched gourds used in Afro-Caribbean music with washboards, and eventually producing their own masterful accordians.
During the rise of the record industry, to sell record players in southern Louisiana, companies released records of Cajun music. Its high-pitched and emotionally charged style of singing, which evolved so that the noise of frontier dance halls could be pierced, filled the airwaves. Cajun music influenced country music; moreover, for a period, Harry Choates's string band defined Western swing music. Beginning in 1948, Iry Lejeune recorded country music and renditions of Amèe Ardoin's Creole blues, which Ardoin recorded in the late 1920s. Lejeune prompted "a new wave of old music" and a postwar revival of Cajun culture. Southern Louisiana's music influenced Hank Williams— whose own music, in turn, has been extremely influential. "Jambalaya" was one of his most successful recordings and was based on a lively but unassuming Cajun two-step called "Grand Texas" or "L'Anse Couche-Couche." In the 1950s, "swamp pop" developed as essentially Cajun rhythm and blues or rock and roll. In the 1960s, national organizations began to try to preserve traditional Cajun music.

HOLIDAYS

Mardi Gras, which occurs on the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is the carnival that precedes Lent's denial. French for "Fat Tuesday," Mardi Gras (pre-Christian Europe's New Year's Eve) is based on medieval European adaptations of even older rituals, particularly those including reversals of the social order, in which the lower classes parody the elite. Men dress as women, women as men; the poor dress as rich, the rich as poor; the old as young, the young as old; black as white, white as black.
While most Americans know Mardi Gras as the city of New Orleans celebrates it, rural Cajun Mardi Gras stems from a medieval European procession in which revelers traveled through the countryside performing in exchange for gifts. Those in a Cajun procession, called a course (which traditionally did not openly include women), masquerade across lines of gender, age, race, and class. They also play at crossing the line of life and death with a ritual skit, "The Dead Man Revived," in which the companions of a fallen actor revive him by dripping wine or beer into his mouth. Participants in a Cajun Mardi Gras course cross from house to house, storming into the yard in a mock-pillage of the inhabitant's food. Like a trick-or-treat gang, they travel from house to house and customarily get a series of chickens, from which their cooks will make a communal gumbo that night. The celebration continues as a rite of passage in many communities.
Carnival, as celebrated by Afro-Caribbeans (and as a ritual of ethnic impersonation whereby Euro-and Afro-Caribbean Americans in New Orleans chant, sing, dance, name themselves, and dress as Indians), also influences Mardi Gras as celebrated in southern Louisiana. On one hand, the mainstream Mardi Gras celebration retains some Cajun folkloric elements, but the influence of New Orleans invariably supplants the country customs. Conversely, Mardi Gras of white, rural Cajuns differs in its geographic origins from Mardi Gras of Creole New Orleans; some organizers of Cajun Mardi Gras attempt to maintain its cultural specificity.
Cajun Mardi Gras participants traditionally wear masks, the anonymity of which enables the wearers to cross social boundaries; at one time, masks also provided an opportunity for retaliation without punishment. Course riders, who may be accompanied by musicians riding in their own vehicle, might surround a person's front yard, dismount and begin a ritualistic song and dance. The silent penitence of Lent, however, follows the boisterous transgression of Mardi Gras. A masked ball, as described in Cajun Country, "marks the final hours of revelry before the beginning of Lent the next day. All festivities stop abruptly at midnight, and many of Tuesday's rowdiest riders can be found on their knees receiving the penitential ashes on their fore-heads on Wednesday."
Good Friday, which signals the approaching end of Lent, is celebrated with a traditional procession called "Way of the Cross" between the towns of Catahoula and St. Martinville. The stations of the cross, which usually hang on the walls of a church, are mounted on large oak trees between the two towns.
On Christmas Eve, bonfires dot the levees along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. This celebration, according to Cajun Country, has European roots: "The huge bonfires ... are descendants of the bonfires lit by ancient European civilizations, particularly along the Rhine and Seine rivers, to encourage and reinforce the sun at the winter solstice, its 'weakest' moment." Other holidays are uniquely Cajun and reflect the Catholic church's involvement in harvests. Priests bless the fields of sugar cane and the fleets of decorated shrimp boats by reciting prayers and sprinkling holy water upon them.

HEALTH ISSUES

Professional doctors were rare in rural Louisiana and only the most serious of conditions were treated by them. Although the expense of professional medical care was prohibitive even when it was available, rural Cajuns preferred to use folk cures and administered them themselves, or relied on someone adept at such cures. These healers, who did not make their living from curing other Cajuns, were called traiteurs, or treaters, and were found in every community. They also believed that folk practitioners, unlike their professional counterparts, dealt with the spiritual and emotional—not just the physiological— needs of the individual. Each traiteur typically specializes in only a few types of treatment and has his or her own cures, which may involve the laying-on of hands or making the sign of the cross and reciting of prayers drawn from passages of the Bible. Of their practices—some of which have been legitimated today as holistic medicine—some are pre-Christian, some Christian, and some modern. Residual pre-Christian traditions include roles of the full moon in healing, and left-handedness of the treaters themselves. Christian components of Cajun healing draw on faith by making use of Catholic prayers, candles, prayer beads, and crosses. Cajuns' herbal medicine derives from post-medieval French homeopathic medicine. A more recent category of Cajun cures consists of patent medicines and certain other commercial products.
Some Cajun cures were learned from Indians, such as the application of a poultice of chewing tobacco on bee stings, snakebites, boils, and headaches. Other cures came from French doctors or folk cures, such as treating stomach pains by putting a warm plate on the stomach, treating ring-worm with vinegar, and treating headaches with a treater's prayers. Some Cajun cures are unique to Louisiana: for example, holding an infection over a burning cane reed, or putting a necklace of garlic on a baby with worms.
Cajuns have a higher-than-average incidence of cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, albinism, and other inherited, recessive disorders, perhaps due to intermarriage with relatives who have recessive genes in common. Other problems, generally attributed to a high-fat diet and inadequate medical care, include diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity, stroke, and heart disease.

Language

Cajun French, for the most part, is a spoken, unwritten language filled with colloquialisms and slang. Although the French spoken by Cajuns in different parts of Louisiana varies little, it differs from the standard French of Paris as well as the French of Quebec; it also differs from the French of both white and black Creoles.
Cajun French-speakers hold their lips more loosely than do the Parisians. They tend to shorten phrases, words, and names, and to simplify some verb conjugations. Nicknames are ubiquitous, such as " 'tit joe" or " 'tit black," where " 'tit " is slang for " petite " or "little." Cajun French simplifies the tenses of verbs by making them more regular. It forms the present participle of verbs—e.g., "is singing"— in a way that would translate directly as "is after to sing." So, "Marie is singing," in Cajun French is " Marie est apres chanter. " Another distinguishing feature of Cajun French is that it retains nautical usages, which reflects the history of Acadians as boaters. For example, the word for tying a shoelace is amerrer (to moor [a boat]), and the phrase for making a U-turn in a car is virer de bord (to come about [with a sailboat]).
Generally, Cajun French shows the influence of its specific history in Louisiana and Acadia/Nova Scotia, as well as its roots in coastal France. Since Brittany, in northern coastal France, is heavily Celtic, Cajun French bears "grammatical and other linguistic evidences of Celtic influence." Some scattered Indian words survive in Cajun French, such as "bayou," which came from the Muskhogean Indian word, " bay-uk, " through Cajun French, and into English.
Louisiana, which had already made school attendance compulsory, implemented a law in the 1920s that constitutionally forbade the speaking of French in public schools and on school grounds. The state expected Cajuns to come to school and to leave their language at home. This attempt to assimilate the Cajuns met with some success; young Cajuns appeared to be losing their language. In an attempt to redress this situation, the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) recently reintroduced French into many Louisianan schools. However, the French is the standard French of Parisians, not that of Cajuns. Although French is generally not spoken by the younger generation in Maine, New England schools are beginning to emphasize it and efforts to repeal the law that made English the sole language in Maine schools have been successful. In addition, secondary schools have begun to offer classes in Acadian and French history.
In 1976, Revon Reed wrote in a mix of Cajun and standard French for his book about Cajun Louisiana, Lâche pas la patate, which translates as, "Don't drop the potato" (a Cajun idiom for "Don't neglect to pass on the tradition"). Anthologies of stories and series of other writings have been published in the wake of Reed's book. However, Cajun French was essentially a spoken language until the publication of Randall Whatley's Cajun French textbook ( Conversational Cajun French I [Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978]).
In the oilfields, on fishing boats, and other places where Cajuns work together, though, they have continued to speak Cajun French. Storytellers, joke tellers, and singers use Cajun French for its expressiveness, and for its value as in-group communication. Cajun politicians and businessmen find it useful to identify themselves as fellow insiders to Cajun constituents and patrons by speaking their language.

Family and Community Dynamics

Cajuns learned to rely on their families and communities when they had little else. Traditionally they have lived close to their families and villages. Daily visits were usual, as were frequent parties and dances, including the traditional Cajun house-party called the fais-dodo, which is Cajun baby talk for "go to sleep," as in "put all the small kids in a back bedroom to sleep" during the party. Traditionally, almost everyone who would come to a party would be a neighbor from the same community or a family member. Cajuns of all ages and abilities participated in music-making and dancing since almost everyone was a dancer or a player.
In the 1970s, 76 percent of the surnames accounted for 86 percent of all Cajuns; each of those surnames reflected an extended family which functioned historically as a Cajun subcommunity. In addition to socializing together, a community gathered to do a job for someone in need, such as building a house or harvesting a field. Members of Cajun communities traditionally took turns butchering animals and distributing shares of the meat. Although boucheries were essentially social events, they were a useful way to get fresh meat to participating families. Today, boucheries are unnecessary because of modern refrigeration methods and the advent of supermarkets, but a few families still hold boucheries for the fun of it, and a few local festivals feature boucheries as a folk craft. This cooperation, called coups de main (literally, "strokes of the hand"), was especially crucial in the era before worker's compensation, welfare, social security, and the like. Today such cooperation is still important, notably for the way it binds together members of a community.
A challenge to a group's cohesiveness, however, was infighting. Fighting could divide a community, yet, on the other hand, as a spectator sport, it brought communities together for an activity. The bataille au mouchoir, as described in Cajun Country, was a ritualized fight "in which the challenger offered his opponent a corner of his handkerchief and the two went at each other with fists or knives, each holding a corner, until one gave up." Organized bare-knuckle fights persisted at least until the late 1960s. More recently, many Cajuns have joined boxing teams. Neighboring communities maintain rivalries in which violence has historically been common. A practice called casser le bal ("breaking up the dance") or prendre la place ("taking over the place") involved gangs starting fights with others or among themselves with the purpose of ending a dance. Threats of violence and other difficulties of travel hardly kept Cajuns at home, though. According to Cajun Country, "As late as 1932, Saturday night dances were attended by families within a radius of fifty miles, despite the fact that less than a third of the families owned automobiles at that time."
Traditionally, Cajun family relations are important to all family members. Cajun fathers, uncles, and grandfathers join mothers, aunts, and grandmothers in raising children; and children participate in family matters. Godfathering and godmothering are still very important in Cajun country. Even non-French-speaking youth usually refer to their godparents as parrain and marraine, and consider them family. Nevertheless, traditionally it has been the mother who has transmitted values and culture to the children. Cajuns have often devalued formal education, viewing it as a function of the Catholic church—not the state. Families needed children's labor; and, until the oil boom, few jobs awaited educated Cajuns. During the 1920s many Cajuns attended school not only because law required it and jobs awaited them, but also because an agricultural slump meant that farming was less successful then.

COURTSHIP

Although today Cajuns tend to date like other Americans, historically, pre-modern traditions were the rule. Females usually married before the age of 20 or risked being considered "an old maid." A young girl required a chaperon—usually a parent or an older brother or uncle, to protect her honor and prevent premarital pregnancy, which could result in banishment until her marriage. If a courtship seemed to be indefinitely prolonged, the suitor might receive an envelope from his intended containing a coat, which signified that the engagement was over. Proposals were formally made on Thursday evenings to the parents, rather than to the fiancee herself. Couples who wanted to marry did not make the final decision; rather, this often required the approval of the entire extended family.
Because Cajuns traditionally marry within their own community where a high proportion of residents are related to one another, marriages between cousins are not unusual. Pairs of siblings frequently married pairs of siblings from another family. Although forbidden by law, first-cousin marriages have occurred as well. Financial concerns influenced such a choice because intermarriage kept property within family groupings. One result of such marriages is that a single town might be dominated by a handful of surnames.

WEDDINGS

Cajun marriage customs are frequently similar to those of other Europeans. Customarily, older unmarried siblings may be required to dance barefoot, often in a tub, at the reception or wedding dance. This may be to remind them of the poverty awaiting them in old age if they do not begin families of their own. Guests contribute to the new household by pinning money to the bride's veil in exchange for a dance with her or a kiss. Before the wedding dance is over, the bride will often be wearing a headdress of money. Today, wedding guests have extended this practice to the groom as well, covering his suit jacket with bills.
One rural custom involved holding the wedding reception in a commercial dance hall and giving the entrance fees to the newlyweds. Another Cajun wedding custom, "flocking the bride," involved the community's women bringing a young chick from each of their flocks so that the new bride could start her own brood. These gifts helped a bride establish a small measure of independence, in that wives could could sell their surplus eggs for extra money over which their husbands had no control.

Religion

Roman Catholicism is a major element of Cajun culture and history. Some pre-Christian traditions seem to influence or reside in Cajun Catholicism. Historians partly account for Cajun Catholicism's variation from Rome's edicts by noting that historically Acadians often lacked contact with orthodox clergymen.
Baptism of Cajun children occurs in infancy. Cajun homes often feature altars, or shrines with lawn statues, such as those of Our Lady of the Assumption—whom Pope Pius XI in 1938 declared the patroness of Acadians worldwide—in homemade grottoes made of pieces of bathtubs or oil drums. Some Cajun communal customs also revolve around Catholicism. For decades, it was customary for men to race their horses around the church during the sermon. Wakes call for mourners to keep company with each other around the deceased so that the body is never left alone. Restaurants and school cafeterias cater to Cajuns by providing alternatives to meat for south Louisiana's predominantly Catholic students during Ash Wednesday and Lenten Fridays. Some uniquely Cajun beliefs surround their Catholicism. For example, legends say that "the Virgin will slap children who whistle at the dinner table;" another taboo forbids any digging on Good Friday, which is, on the other hand, believed to be the best day to plant parsley.

Employment and Economic Traditions

Coastal Louisiana is home to one of America's most extensive wetlands in which trapping and hunting have been important occupations. In the 1910s extensive alligator hunting allowed huge increases in rat musquè (muskrat) populations. Muskrat over-grazing promoted marsh erosion. At first the muskrats were trapped mainly to reduce their numbers, but cheap Louisiana muskrat pelts hastened New York's capture of America's fur industry from St. Louis, and spurred the rage for muskrat and raccoon coats that typified the 1920s. Cajuns helped Louisiana achieve its long-standing reputation as America's primary fur producer. Since the 1960s, Cajuns in the fur business have raised mostly nutria.
The original Acadians and Cajuns were farmers, herders, and ranchers, but they also worked as carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, fishermen, shipbuilders, trappers, and sealers. They learned trapping, trading, and other skills for survival from regional Indians. Industrialization has not ended such traditions. Workers in oil fields and on oil rigs have schedules whereby they work for one or two weeks and are then off work for the same amount of time, which allows them time to pursue traditional occupations like trapping and fishing.
Because present-day laws ban commercial hunting, this activity has remained a recreation, but an intensely popular one. Louisiana is located at the southern end of one of the world's major flyways, providing an abundance of migratory birds like dove, woodcock, and a wide variety of ducks and geese. A wide range of folk practice is associated with hunting—how to build blinds, how to call game, how to handle, call and drive packs of hunting dogs, and how to make decoys. Cajun custom holds that if you hunt or fish a certain area, you have the clear-cut folk right to defend it from trespassers. Shooting a trespasser is "trapper's justice." Certain animals are always illegal to hunt, and some others are illegal to hunt during their off-season. Cajuns sometimes circumvent restrictions on hunting illegal game, which is a practice called "outlawing."
According to some claims, the modern American cattle industry began on the Cajun prairie almost a full century before Anglo-Americans even began to move to Texas. Learning from the Spanish and the Indians, Cajuns and black Creoles were among the first cowboys in America, and they took part in some of this country's earliest cattle drives. Cattle rearing remains part of prairie Cajun life today, but the spread of agriculture, especially rice, has reduced both its economic importance and much of its flamboyant ways. In the nonagricultural coastal marshes, however, much of the old-style of cattle rearing remains.
Cajuns catch a large proportion of American seafood. In addition to catching their own food, many Cajuns are employees of shrimp companies, which own both boats and factories, with their own brand name. Some fisherman and froggers catch large catfish, turtles, and bullfrogs by hand, thus preserving an ancient art. And families frequently go crawfishing together in the spring.
The gathering and curing of Spanish moss, which was widely employed for stuffing of mattresses and automobile seats until after World War II, was an industry found only in the area. Cajun fishermen invented or modified numerous devices: nets and seines, crab traps, shrimp boxes, bait boxes, trotlines, and frog grabs. Moss picking, once an important part-time occupation for many wetlands Cajuns, faded with the loss of the natural resource and changes in technology. Dried moss was replaced by synthetic materials used in stuffing car seats and furniture. Now there is a mild resurgence in the tradition as moss is making a comeback from the virus which once threatened it and as catfish and crawfish farmers have found that it makes a perfect breeding nest.
Cajuns learned to be economically self-reliant, if not completely self-sufficient. They learned many of southern Louisiana's ways from local Indians, who taught them about native edible foods and the cultivation of a variety of melons, gourds, and root crops. The French and black Creoles taught the Cajuns how to grow cotton, sugarcane, and okra; they learned rice and soybean production from Anglo-Americans. As a result, Cajuns were able to establish small farms and produce an array of various vegetables and livestock. Such crops also provided the cash they needed to buy such items as coffee, flour, salt, and tobacco, in addition to cloth and farming tools. A result of such Cajun agricultural success is that today Cajuns and Creoles alike still earn their livelihood by farming.
Cajuns traded with whomever they wanted to trade, regardless of legal restrictions. Soon after their arrival in Louisiana, they were directed by the administration to sell their excess crops to the government. Many Cajuns became bootleggers. One of their proudest historical roles was assisting the pirate-smuggler Jean Lafitte in an early and successful smuggling operation.
In the twentieth century, the Cajuns' trading system has declined as many Cajuns work for wages in the oil industry. In the view of some Cajuns, moreover, outside oilmen from Texas—or "Takesus"—have been depriving them of control over their own region's resource, by taking it literally out from under them and reaping the profits. Some Cajun traders have capitalized on economic change by selling what resources they can control to outside markets: for example, fur trappers have done so, as have fishermen, and farmers such as those who sell their rice to the Budweiser brewery in Houston.

Politics and Government

Cajuns, many of whom are conservative Democrats today, have been involved at all levels of Louisiana politics. Louisiana's first elected governor, as well as the state's first Cajun governor, was Alexander Mouton, who took office in 1843. Yet perhaps the most well known of Louisiana's politicians is Cajun governor Edwin Edwards (1927-), who served for four terms in that office—the first French-speaking Catholic to do so in almost half a century. In recent decades, more Cajuns have entered electoral politics to regain some control from powerful oil companies.

MILITARY

Historically, Cajuns have been drafted and named for symbolic roles in pivotal fights over North America. In the mid-1700s in Acadia/Nova Scotia, when the French colonial army drafted Acadians, they weakened the Acadians' identity to the British as "French Neutrals," and prompted the British to try to expel all Acadians from the region. In 1778, when France joined the American Revolutionary War against the British, the Marquis de Lafayette declared that the plight of the Acadians helped bring the French into the fight. The following year, 600 Cajun volunteers joined Galvez and fought the British. In 1815, Cajuns joined Andrew Jackson in preventing the British from retaking the United States. Cajuns were also active in the American Civil War; General Alfred Mouton (1829–1864), the son of Alexander Mouton, commanded the Eighteenth Louisiana Regiment in the Battle of Pittsburgh Landing (1862), the Battle of Shiloh (1863), and the Battle of Mansfield (1864), where he was killed by a sniper's bullet.

Individual and Group Contributions

ACADEMIA

Thomas J. Arceneaux, who was Dean Emeritus of the College of Agriculture at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, conducted extensive research in weed control, training numerous Cajun rice and cattle farmers in the process. A descendent of Louis Arceneaux, who was the model for the hero in Longfellow's Evangeline, Arceneaux also designed the Louisiana Cajun flag. Tulane University of Louisiana professor Alcè Fortier was Louisiana's first folklore scholar and one of the founders of the American Folklore Society (AFS). Author of Lâche pas la patate (1976), a book describing Cajun Louisiana life, Revon Reed has also launched a small Cajun newspaper called Mamou Prairie.

ART

Lulu Olivier's traveling "Acadian Exhibit" of Cajun weaving led to the founding of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), and generally fostered Cajun cultural pride.

CULINARY ARTS

Chef Paul Prudhomme's name graces a line of Cajun-style supermarket food, "Chef Paul's."

MUSIC

Dewey Balfa (1927– ), Gladius Thibodeaux, and Louis Vinesse Lejeune performed at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival and inspired a renewed pride in Cajun music. Dennis McGee performed and recorded regularly with black Creole accordionist and singer Amèdè Ardoin in the 1920s and 1930s; together they improvised much of what was to become the core repertoire of Cajun music.

SPORTS

Cajun jockeys Kent Desormeaux and Eddie Delahoussaye became famous, as did Ron Guidry, the fastballer who led the New York Yankees to win the 1978 World Series, and that year won the Cy Young Award for his pitching. Guidry's nicknames were "Louisiana Lightnin "' and "The Ragin' Cajun."

Media

PRINT

Acadiana Catholic.
Formerly The Morning Star, it was founded in 1954 and is primarily a religious monthly.
Contact: Barbara Gutierrez, Editor.
Address: 1408 Carmel Avenue, Lafayette, Louisiana 70501-5215.
Telephone: (318) 261-5511.
Fax: (318) 261-5603.

Acadian Genealogy Exchange.
Devoted to Acadians, French Canadian families sent into exile in 1755. Carries family genealogies, historical notes, cemetery lists, census records, and church and civil registers. Recurring features include inquiries and answers, book reviews, and news of research.
Contact: Janet B. Jehn.
Address: 863 Wayman Branch Road, Covington, Kentucky 41015.
Telephone: (606) 356-9825.
Email: info@acadiangenexch.com.

Acadiana Profile.
Published by the Acadian News Agency since 1969, this is a magazine for bilingual Louisiana.
Contact: Trent Angers, Editor.
Address: Acadian House Publishing, Inc., Box 52247, Oil Center Station, Lafayette, Louisiana 70505.
Telephone: (800) 200-7919.

Cajun Country Guide.
Covers Cajun and Zydeco dance halls, Creole and Caju restaurants, swamp tours, and other sites in the southern Louisiana region.
Contact: Macon Fry or Julie Posner, Editors.
Address: Pelican Publishing Co., 1101 Monroe Street, P.O. Box 3110, Gretna, Louisiana 70054.
Telephone: (504) 368-1175; or, (800) 843-1724.
Fax: (504) 368-1195.

Mamou Acadian Press.
Founded in 1955, publishes weekly.
Contact: Bernice Ardion, Editor.
Address: P.O. Box 360, Mamou, Louisiana 70554.
Telephone: (318) 363-3939.
Fax: (318) 363-2841.

Rayne Acadian Tribune.
A newspaper with a Democratic orientation; founded in 1894.
Contact: Steven Bandy, Editor.
Address: 108 North Adams Avenue, P.O. Box 260, Rayne, Louisiana 70578.
Telephone: (318) 334-3186.
Fax: (318) 334-2069.

The Times of Acadiana.
Weekly newspaper covering politics, lifestyle, entertainment, and general news with a circulation of 32,000; founded in 1980.
Contact: James Edmonds, Editor.
Address: 201 Jefferson Street, P.O. Box 3528, Lafayette, Louisiana 70502.
Telephone: (318) 237-3560.
Fax: (318) 233-7484.

RADIO

KAPB-FM (97.7).
This station, which has a country format, plays "Cajun and Zydeco Music" from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays.
Contact: Johnny Bordelon, Station Manager.
Address: 100 Chester, Box 7, Marksville, Louisiana 71351.
Telephone: (318) 253-5272.

KDLP-AM (1170).
Country, ethnic, and French-language format.
Contact: Paul J. Cook.
Address: P.O. Box 847, Morgan City, Louisiana 70381.
Telephone: (504) 395-2853.

KJEF-AM (1290), FM (92.9).
Country, ethnic, and French-language format.
Contact: Bill Bailey, General Manager.
Address: 122 North Market Street, Jennings, Louisiana 70545.
Telephone: (318) 824-2934.
Fax: (318) 824-1384.

KQKI-FM (95.3).
Country, ethnic, and French-language format.
Contact: Paul J. Cook.
Address: P.O. Box 847, Morgan City, Louisiana 70380.
Telephone: (504) 395-2853.
Fax: (504) 395-5094.

KROF-AM (960).
Ethnic format.
Contact: Garland Bernard, General Manager.
Address: Highway 167 North, Box 610, Abbeville, Louisiana 70511-0610.
Telephone: (318) 893-2531.
Fax: (318) 893-2569.

KRVS-FM (88.7).
National Public Radio; features bilingual newscasts, Cajun and Zydeco music, and Acadian cultural programs.
Contact: Dave Spizale, General Manager.
Address: P.O. Box 42171, Lafayette, Louisiana 70504.
Telephone: (318) 482-6991.
E-mail: krvs@usl.edu.

KVOL-AM (1330), FM (105.9).
Blues, ethnic format.
Contact: Roger Cavaness, General Manager.
Address: 202 Galbert Road, Lafayette, Louisiana 70506.
Telephone: (318) 233-1330.
Fax: (318) 237-7733.

KVPI-AM 1050.
Country, ethnic, and French-language format.
Contact: Jim Soileau, General Manager.
Address: 809 West LaSalle Street, P.O. Drawer J, Ville Platte, Louisiana 70586.
Telephone: (318) 363-2124.
Fax: (318) 363-3574.

Organizations and Associations

Acadian Cultural Society.
Dedicated to helping Acadian Americans better understand their history, culture, and heritage. Founded in 1985; publishes quarterly magazine Le Reveil Acadien.
Contact: P. A. Cyr, President.
Address: P.O. Box 2304, Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420-8804.
Telephone: (978) 342-7173.

Association Nouvelle-Angleterre/Acadie.
Those interested in maintaining links among individuals of Acadian descent and their relatives in New England. Conducts seminars and workshops on Acadian history, culture, and traditions.
Contact: Richard L. Fortin.
Address: P.O. Box 556, Manchester, New Hampshire 03105.
Telephone: (603) 641-3450
E-mail: rfortinnh@aol.com

The Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore.
Located at the University of Southwestern Louisiana ( Universitè des Acadiens ), the center organizes festivals, special performances, and television and radio programs; it offers classes and workshops through the French and Francophone Studies Program; it also sponsors musicians as adjunct professors at the university.

The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL).
A proponent of the standard French language, this council arranges visits, exchanges, scholarships, and conferences; it also publishes a free bilingual newsletter.
Address: Louisiane Française, Boite Postale 3936, Lafayette, Louisiana 70502.

The International Relations Association of Acadiana (TIRAA).
This private-sector economic development group funds various French Renaissance activities in Cajun country.

The Madawaska Historical Society.
Promotes local historical projects and celebrates events important in the history of Acadians in Maine.

Museums and Research Centers

Visitors can see preservations and reconstructions of many nineteenth-century buildings at the Acadian Village and Vermilionville in Lafayette; the Louisiana State University, Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge, and at the Village Historique Acadien at Caraquet.
Researchers can find sources at Nichols State University Library in Thibodaux; at the Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore of the University of Southwestern Louisiana; and at the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
Acadian Archives.
Offers on-site reference assistance to its Acadian archives, and to regional history, folklore and Acadian life.
Contact: Lisa Ornstein, Director.
Address: Univerity of Maine at Fort Kent, 25 Pleasant Street, Fort Kent, Maine 04743.
Telephone: (207) 834-7535.
Fax: (207) 834-7518.
E-mail: acadian@maine.maine.edu.

Sources for Additional Study

Ancelet, Barry, Jay D. Edwards, and Glen Pitre (with additional material by Carl Brasseaux, Fred B. Kniffen, Maida Bergeron, Janet Shoemaker, and Mathe Allain). Cajun Country. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1991.
Brasseaux, Carl. Founding of New Acadia, 1765-1803; In Search of Evangeline: Birth and Evolution of the Myth. Thibodaux, Louisiana: Blue Heron Press, 1988.
The First Franco-Americans: New England Life Histories From the Federal Writers Project, 1938-1939, edited by C. Stewart Doty. Orono: University of Maine at Orono Press, 1985.