Ethnic Pride, American Patriotism: Slovaks And Other New Immigrants In The Interwar Era

296 Pages·2004·0.935 MB·English

by  June Granatir Alexander

Ethnic Pride, American Patriotism
Slovaks and Other New Immigrants
in the Interwar Era

Ethnic Pride,
American
Patriotism
Slovaks and Other
New Immigrants
in the Interwar Era
JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
Temple University Press
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2004 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2004
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alexander, June Granatir, 1948–
Ethnic pride, American patriotism : Slovaks and other new immigrants
in the interwar era / June Granatir Alexander.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59213-251-0 (cl.) — ISBN 1-59213-252-9 (pbk.)
1. Slovak Americans—Politics and government. 2. Slovak Americans—
Ethnic identity. 3. East European Americans—Politics and government.
4. East European Americans—Ethnic identity. 5. United States—Emigration
and immigration—History—20th century. I. Title.
E184.S64A415 2004
973'.049187–dc22 2003064568
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
For John
with love and gratitude

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Getting a Perspective on
“New Immigrant” America 1
I. THE TRANSATLANTIC YEARS:
WORLD WAR I TO 1924
1 Hyphenates and Patriots: An Ethnic Perspective
on the Great War 15
2 Unfinished Business: The Homeland,
National Identity, and Americanization 44
3 Memories, Principles, and Reality:
The Postwar Era to 1924 70
II. TURNING INWARD:
1924 THROUGH WORLD WAR II
4 Manifesting Pride, Power, and Patriotism:
Nationality Days in Local Communities 93
5 Maintaining an Ethnic Image: Fashioning
Nationality Days for Local Youths 114
6 Language and Leisure: Getting the Younger
Generation’s Perspective 132
7 Beyond the Generations: Ethnic Activism and
Class Interest in the 1930s 160
8 The Triumph of Principles: National Unity and
Ethnic Activism in World War II 192
viii CONTENTS
Conclusion: Persistent Issues and New Perspectives 220
Abbreviations 227
Bibliographical Note 229
Notes 233
Index 273
Preface and Acknowledgments
HISTORYTAKESODDTWISTSand turns and so, too, does the writ-
ing of history. This project started more than a decade ago as a com-
parative investigation of ethnic groups during the Great Depression, an
era that, fifteen years ago, studies of immigration and ethnicity had
generally neglected. Initial attempts to conceptualize the resultant
research compelled me to admit that, rather than exploring the past, I
had been dictating to it. The questions I was asking reflected the then
current state of scholarly studies and, instead of letting history speak to
me, I was superimposing contemporary fascinations as well as my own
interests on immigrants and their children who lived through the inter-
war era. As a result, I shifted my approach to focus on group-generated
activities and broadened the chronological time frame. The growing
scholarship on U.S. and ethnic history has helped sharpen my inquiry,
but the burgeoning research on “whiteness” was the only scholarship
that unavoidably forced its way into my reevaluation.
My reassessment also stemmed in part from a growing—if reluctant—
willingness to admit that my own life experience was not only a valid
influence on my interpretation of the past, it offered insight. Raised in
a family with parents of ethnically different backgrounds (one of east-
ern European ancestry; the other of mixed northern European heritage),
inculcating an ethnic identity was not part of my or my siblings’ up-
bringing. Yet looking back on those years, it is patently obvious that
ethnicity was evident everywhere. It was there in the various holiday
traditions upheld by nuclear and extended families. It was apparent in
life-cycle events when weddings, funerals, and religious rituals invari-
ably included people who spoke English laden with heavy accents and
who reminisced about the land where they had been born and what life
“in America” had been like.
On a community-wide scale, ethnicity was visible in the nationality
schools, which in the 1950s still existed in this industrial region stretching
along the banks of the Ohio River. Many, albeit not all, second-generation
parents enrolled their offspring in these nationality institutions, where
admission was based on ethnic background. These were adults who, if