The history of Greeks in the US is very rich, because there many different people and situations. Every time we try to generalize the picture, we always left some groups of people out and vice versa, we stress more on some others. This is how stereotypes are born. When we speak of the first wave, we can certainly say that they were young men. In today’s standards we can say that they were boys under 20 years of age, many times they were underage, which was illegal but it had happened. In most cases they were illiterate – either they never went to school or if they did, it was for a little bit. Most of them come from farmer families in Peloponnese. They were very poor but at least they had some properties. The Greek emigrant is a person, who is at the lower end of the economic pyramid but not in its bottom. He owns a field or some type of property, which he raises a mortgage on, in order to buy a ticket for America. After 1915-1920 many young women start leaving for the US because they marry emigrants, who are already there. Very often men come back to their villages, in order to find a girl to marry and then take her back to America. What do they do there? They arrive at the New York port and after that they continue North towards to Mid West, where they work in mines and railway construction. They also settle down in the cities, the industrial zones, and start working whatever they can find but predominantly in the tailoring industry. Little by little they start opening their own restaurants, some of the first Greek communities are formed and this is how some employment opportunities come for members of the community – in the community stores, restaurants and banks.

Among the children of the first emigration wave, we can see a jump in education. They were born in America, studied there, graduated from universities and very soon they improved their social status. The second generation of the wave soon becomes doctors, lawyers, and teachers – all professions, which need very good education. The second emigrant wave of the 50’s and 60’s also mainly comes from farming families. Back then in Greece, there are two types of emigration – internal, which goes out to the big cities or more specifically, which forms the big cities and the other type is the external emigration, which heads abroad. Those are people, who have attended school, graduated and many of them had actually gone to high school. During that period, another type of emigration comes along – the educational. Those are people, who leave for the US, in order to study. Their number is constantly increasing throughout the years. They are over 18 years old and by leaving for America they form the groups of Greek scientists in the US universities. Some of them settle down there and other return back to Greece.

What is the role of the church in the Greek community’s life in America?

Actually the Greek communities form around the Orthodox religion and the church. Of course, we have communities of Greek Jews in the US but most of them are Christian Orthodox. The church plays a big role in their lives. The social life of emigrants is based around the activities of the church and the celebration of common holidays – they get together and create friendships.

Geographically speaking, where are the biggest Greek communities in America?

Mostly on the East coast – New York, Chicago but also in big cities like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Of course, there are Greek communities also in Washington and Canada.