North American Armenians

By Alex Cohen

Armani, Armeni, Arme, Hay

The history of Armenians began in "The Armenian Highlands" in the eastern plateau of Anatolia or the eastern half of present day Turkey. This is the mountainous region bounded by the Kura River on the northeast, the Caspian Sea on the east, the Pontic Chain on the northwest, the Euphrates on the west, and the mountains of Kurdistan on the south (Phillips). Well-developed agricultural societies have lived in this area since between 6000 and 5000BC and the Highlands have been home to human cultures for as long as 100,000 years. During the last 2,000 years, Armenia has been conquered and ruled by the Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Tartars, Mongols, and various Turkish groups. From the beginning of the 14th Century to the 20th Century, Armenia was ruled by the Ottoman Turks, then, following World War I, much of Armenia was absorbed into the newly formed Soviet Union. Only with the collapse of the Soviet Union, has Armenia once again become an independent state (Chichekian).

While Armenians are known to have lived in Virginia as early as 1618, large numbers did not immigrate to North America until the late 19th Century when persecution by the Turkish government drove many Armenians out of Asia Minor and into a diaspora.

As of the mid-1980s, there were an estimated six million Armenians worldwide. In the United States there were an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people of Armenian descent. Of these, approximately 45 percent lived in the Northeast, 15 percent in the Midwest, and the remaining 25 percent in California. Recently, Armenian communities have been established in Florida, Texas, and elsewhere. The great majority of Armenian-Americans trace their ancestry to Western Armenia or what is now Eastern Turkey (Bakalian).

The largest Armenian-American communities are to be found in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Fresno, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. In 1980, an estimated 52,400 Armenians lived in Los Angeles, the largest Armenian community in the U.S. About three-quarters of them were foreign-born -- a much higher proportion than the estimate for the Armenian-American population as a whole (about 40 percent foreign-born). Los Angeles has become a Mecca for traditional Armenian culture because of its high concentration of Armenian schools, churches, clubs, and other institutions (Bakalian).

The Armenian-American community in New York and New Jersey is relatively large, probably about 100,000. They have lived in the area since the late nineteenth century. At present, large groups of Armenian-Americans live in Bergen County, New Jersey. In New York, they live in Westchester, Long Island, and New York City's borough of Queens (Bakalian). Within the Greater Boston area, the largest concentration of Armenian-Americans is in Watertown; approximately 4,000 live there (Phillips).

According to the 1986 Canadian Census, 12,510 Armenians were living in Québec, 98 percent of whom were in Montreal. Problems associated with census definitions of ethnic origin and "mother tongue" could mean that the number of Armenians was, in fact, considerably more. Overwhelmingly, the Armenian population in Canada was composed of immigrants who were born abroad, primarily in Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria (Chichekian).

The Armenian language is a branch of the Indo-European linguistic group and is related to the Sumerian languages. Its alphabet was invented in the 5th century AD (Chichekian). After the first generation, few Armenian-Americans retain fluency in Armenian despite an attempt to teach it to successive generations (Bakalian).

During the 19th century, Armenians constituted the largest non-Muslim minority in Turkey. They were concentrated in the cities of Western Turkey: approximately 200,000 lived in Constantinople alone. They were financiers, professionals, businessmen, government officials, skilled craftsmen, and laborers, and dominated the areas of banking, commerce and crafts. The Armenian peasantry, however, was extremely poor, as were the small tradesmen of the provincial towns (Mirak).

The Armenian revolutionary movement began in the 1880s and attempted to establish an independent Armenian state in eastern Turkey. These attempts eventually shattered the Armenians' old relationship with the Turkish government which reacted brutally. Between 1894 and 1896, approximately 100,000 Armenians were massacred (Mirak); others put the death toll much higher, between 250,000 and 300,000 (Phillips). As a result of these atrocities, over 70,000 Armenians immigrated to North America between 1895 and the beginning of World War I (Tashjian). Most of the pre- World War I Armenian immigrants to the United States settled in the industrial areas of the Northeast or in Fresno, California (Phillips).

World War I stopped all Armenian immigration to North America. It also disrupted European efforts to supervise reform in the Armenian provinces of Turkey. In 1915, an estimated one to one and a half million Armenians were killed by the Turkish government. This came to be known as the Armenian genocide, and was the direct cause of the Armenian diaspora (Chichekian).

Armenian immigration to North America resumed after World War I. Between 1920 and 1924, an estimated 20,000 Armenians settled in the United States. Many of them were survivors of the genocide of 1915. (Bakalian). In 1924, the United States initiated a quota system for immigration that severely restricted Armenian immigration for the next 40 years. In 1965, however, these restrictions were eased and Armenian immigration to the United States increased again. The numbers grew sharply in response to the civil war in Lebanon (1975) and the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1978). During this period, it is possible that between 60,000 to 160,000 Armenians entered the US from Lebanon alone, although exact numbers are impossible to determine because Armenian immigrants had papers, visas, or passports that were issued to them by, for example, Lebanon or Iran (Bakalian).

Most of the Armenians who immigrated into Canada during the 1890's came from the United States. It was only after 1900 that any appreciable number of Armenians immigrants from elsewhere entered Canada. The Armenians who settled in Québec in the early 20th Century were unusual in that most of them were Catholics and did not speak Armenian. The first Armenian colony in Canada was in the Toronto-Hamilton area. Between 1900 and 1930 approximately 3100 Armenians immigrated to Canada, but only 70 entered between 1931 and 1949. In 1949, Canadian immigration regulations were relaxed and approximately 6250 Armenians between 1950 and 1966. A large majority of these immigrants settled in Québec (Chichekian).

Two distinct waves of Armenian immigration have been identified. Prior to World War II, the immigrants were from Asia Minor, had direct or indirect experience with the genocide and the persecutions, and had lived in the Armenian homeland. The post- World War II immigrants were usually younger, had no memory of the genocide, and came from the diaspora. Later immigrants also had more experience with modern, urban life, had higher levels of education, were likely to have greater resources at their disposal, had greater self-confidence about ethnic identity, and had the advantage of an already well-established Armenian community (Bakalian).

Armenian-Americans see themselves as descendants of an ancient culture, but who are now faced with an extinction of their culture due to a lack of an autonomous homeland, population dispersion, and their small size (6 million worldwide). Even their physical survival in the Armenian homeland has, at times, been threatened by massacres, earthquakes, and political turmoil. Armenian communities in Lebanon and Iraq have been destroyed or displaced, and many Armenians in the former Soviet Union have been killed or expelled from their homes (Bakalian).

The first wave of Armenian immigrants to the United States found employment in the factories and mills of the industrial Northeast, Chicago and Detroit. Many soon managed to establish small businesses of their own. "A strong cultural emphasis on education and self-employment among the early immigrants propelled them out of working class jobs (Phillips, p. 108)." Eventually, many established small businesses in the trade of oriental rugs, laundry and dry cleaning, tailoring, photoengraving, and, more, recently, jewelry (Bakalian).

Many of the early Armenian immigrants to the United States also settled in Fresno, California and became involved in agriculture. Eventually Armenians-Americans established themselves in the raising and marketing of figs, raisins, and melons in California (Phillips).

In Canada, Armenians are overrepresented in the professions of law, medicine, dentistry, and pharmaceutics, as well as in the trades of carpentry, auto-work, and jewellery (Chichekian).

The pre-genocide, native Armenian family was patriarchal, patrilineal, patrilocal, and patrinomial. Power and authority was held primarily by the male elders of the family. The family functioned as a unit of agricultural production and the clan functioned to regulate family and community life. Female purity and family honor were of central importance. Marriages were arranged, women were betrothed when young, and age differences at marriage between men and women were wide (Bakalian).

The families of early Armenian immigrants reflected many of these same values and the Armenian family was the fundamental social unit of their communities. However, Armenians did not emigrate in family units -- men came first and their families followed.

At present, the Armenian-American family is shifting to one in which males and females share status and authority equally. The Armenian patriarch, who once held absolute power, has disappeared. Relations between the genders, including courting and marriage practices, are now similar to those championed by traditional Americans values. Rates of intermarriage are increasing and non-Armenian spouses are being welcomed in the community (Bakalian).

The development of various institutions has been crucial to the Armenian diaspora, a means by which to maintain an Armenian identity. For example, even in the period prior to 1940, when the Armenian community in Montreal was small, considerable efforts were made to establish institutions that would preserve Armenian culture and identity, e.g., Armenian Union of Montreal, Armenian Women's Benevolent Association of Montreal, Armenian church activities (Chichekian).

Increased immigration beginning in the 1950s brought with it an increase in the number of institutions. In Montreal alone Armenian religious, educational, and cultural institutions proliferated. The educational institutions constitute a major force (the other being the family) that shapes Armenian identity in the diaspora. In Québec, the Armenian community (as of the mid-1980s) had a daycare center, three elementary schools, two high schools, and two Saturday schools. In addition, Armenian university students had several associations (Chichekian).

Social life for Armenian immigrants in the United States has been organized around churches. Churches have also served as the focal points for Armenian political parties that, too, served as a central feature of Armenian-American culture. The religious and political institutions have served to provide links between the Armenian-American community and the Armenian diaspora (Bakalian).

The Armenian-American community is not monolithic. It is divided according to country of origin, generation, socioeconomic status, political ideologies, religious affiliations, marriage, and generation. Tensions exist between American-born and foreign- born Armenians (Bakalian).

The origins of Armenian-American politics are found in the late 19th Century schism between the Tashnag and anti-Tashnag factions. In essence, the primary difference between these two factions were their conflicting class interests. The Tashnag faction, whose ideology was strongly nationalist and socialist, appealed to the peasants, artisans, and segments of the intelligentsia. The anti-Tashnag faction represented the conservative and anti-revolutionary interests of the Armenian bourgeoisie (Bakalian).

The two factions had very different reactions to the absorption of the Republic of Armenia into the Soviet Union in 1920. The national Tashnags denounced it, while the conservative anti- Tashnags saw the Soviet Union as something of a protector against Turkey. The schism between the factions has continued in the communities of the diaspora. In Armenian-American communities this meant the establishment of duplicate social and religious institutions; each one associated with either the Tashnag or anti-Tashnag faction. However, the end of the Cold War and the establishment of the Republic of Armenia have blurred the factional differences (Bakalian). Increasingly, Armenian- Americans view the old political schisms as irrelevant to their lives. Later generations of are becoming less involved and interested in Armenian issues and interests (Bakalian).

Armenian Christianity was a central feature of Armenian culture in Turkey. Christianity was adopted as state religion of Armenia in 301 AD (Chichekian), and the Armenian Christian Church was the first national Christian Church in the world (Tashjian). At present, there are 115 Armenian churches in the United States, but later generations of Armenian-Americans do not attend church as often as earlier, foreign-born Armenian immigrants (Bakalian). It is likely that attendance at Armenian churches is not primarily for religious purposes, but that Armenian churches now function primarily to create a sense of community among Armenian- Americans (Bakalian).

This culture summary was prepared by Alex Cohen.

• AMIRAS -- bankers and moneylenders (in historical Turkey) -- category 453

• Armenian Assembly of America -- categories 575, 664

• Armenian Colonial Association (ACA) -- categories 167, 747

• Armenian cultural associations -- category 814

• Armenian Library and Museum of America -- categories 217, 814

• Armenian National Council -- category 665

• Armenian National Committee -- category 665

• Canadian Armenian Congress -- category 575

• compatriotic societies -- categories 575, 747

• cultural pluralism (multiculturalism) -- the preservation of the communal life and the culture of immigrant groups within the context of Canadian citizenship and their political and economic integration into Canadian society -- categories 177, 178,182, 563

• HUNCHAGS -- an Armenian political party -- category 665

• KERTASDAN -- the clan -- category 614

• Kharpert Union Educational Association -- categories 575, 747

• National Association of Armenian Studies and Research -- category 814

• ODAR spouses -- non-Armenian husbands and wives -- categories 563, 582

• raisins, processing of -- category 258

• RAMGAVAR -- an Armenian political party -- category 665

• rug cleaning -- categories 352, 286

• TASHNAG -- an Armenian political party -- category 665

• VARTABEDS -- celibate clergy -- category 793

• Zoryan Institute for Contemporary American Research and Documentation -- category 575