Czech Americans (Czech: Čechoameričané), known in the 19th and early 20th century as Bohemian Americans, are citizens of the United States whose ancestry is wholly or partly originate from the Czech lands, a term which refers to the majority of the traditional lands of the Bohemian Crown, namely Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. These lands over time have been governed by a variety of states, including the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Austrian Empire, Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic also known by its short-form name, Czechia. Germans from the Czech lands who emigrated to the United States are usually identified as German Americans, or, more specifically, as Americans of German Bohemian descent.[6] According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are 1,262,527 Americans of full or partial Czech descent, in addition to 441,403 persons who list their ancestry as Czechoslovak. Historical information about Czechs in America is available thanks to people such as Mila Rechcigl.
Augustine Herman (1621–1686) was the first documented Czech settler. He was a surveyor and skilled draftsman, successful planter and developer of new lands, a shrewd and enterprising merchant, a bold politician and effective diplomat, fluent in several languages. After coming to New Amsterdam (present New York), he became one of the most influential people in the Dutch Province which led to his appointment to the Council of Nine to advise the New Amsterdam Governor Peter Stuyvesant. One of his greatest achievements was his celebrated map of Maryland and Virginia commissioned by Lord Baltimore on which he began working in earnest after removing to the English Province of Maryland. Lord Baltimore was so pleased with the map that he rewarded Herman with a large estate, named by Herman "Bohemia Manor", and the hereditary title Lord.
There was another Bohemian living in New Amsterdam at that time, Frederick Philipse (1626–1720), who became equally famous. He was a successful merchant who, eventually, became the wealthiest person in the entire Dutch Province. Philipse was originally from Bohemia, from an aristocratic Protestant family who had to leave their native land to save their lives, after the Thirty Years' War.
The first significant wave of Czech colonists was of the Moravian Brethren who began arriving on the American shores in the first half of the 18th century. Moravian Brethren were the followers of the teachings of the Czech religious reformer and martyr Jan Hus (1370–1415), Petr Chelčický and Bishop John Amos Comenius (1592–1670). They were true heirs of the ancient "Unitas fratrum bohemicorum" - Unity of the Brethren, who found a temporary refuge in Herrnhut (Czech: Ochranov) in Lusatia under the patronage of Count Nikolaus Zinzendorf (1700–1760). Because of the worsening political and religious situation in Saxony, the Moravian Brethren, as they began calling themselves, decided to emigrate to North America.
This group started coming in 1735, when they first settled in Savannah, Georgia, and then in Pennsylvania, from which they spread to other states after the American Revolution, especially Ohio. The Moravians established a number of settlements, such as Bethlehem and Lititz in Pennsylvania and Salem in North Carolina. Moravians made great contributions to the growth and development of the United States. Cultural contributions of Moravian Brethren from the Czech lands were distinctly notable in the realm of music. The trumpets and horns used by the Moravians in Georgia are the first evidence of Moravian instrumental music in America.
In 1776, at the time of the Declaration of Independence, more than two thousand Moravian Brethren lived in the colonies. President Thomas Jefferson designated special lands to the missionaries to civilize the Indians and promote Christianity. The free uncultivated land in America encouraged immigration throughout the nineteenth century; most of the immigrants were farmers and settled in the Midwestern states.[7] The first major immigration of Czechs occurred in 1848 when the Czech "Forty Eighters" fled to the United States to escape the political persecution by the Austrian Habsburgs.[8] During the American Civil War, Czechs served in both the Confederate and Union army, but as with most immigrant groups, the majority fought for the Union.
Immigration resumed and reached a peak in 1907, when 13,554 Czechs entered the eastern ports. Unlike previous immigration, new immigrants were predominantly Catholic. Although some of the anticlericalism of the Czechs in Europe came to the United States, Czech Americans are, on the whole, much more likely to be practicing Catholics than Czechs in Europe.
By 1910, the Czech population was 349,000, and by 1940 it was 1,764,000. The U.S. Bureau of the Census reported that nearly 800,000 Czechs were residing in the U.S. in 1970. Since that figure did not include Czechs who had been living in the U.S. for several generations, it is reasonable to assume that the actual number was higher. Additionally, Czech immigrants in America often had different claims of origin in records. Before 1918, many Czechs would be listed as from Bohemia or Moravia or vaguely Austria or Silesia.[9] Some were also counted as from Germany if they were German-speakers or rarely Polish if the recorder could not distinguish the language.[10][11]Slovaks were often listed as from Hungary.[12] After the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Czechs and Slovaks were also listed under the new blanket category.[13]
The Czech American community gained a high public profile in 1911, with the kidnapping and murder in Chicago of the five-year old Elsie Paroubek. The Czech American community mobilized massively to help in the searches for the girl and support her family, and it gained much sympathy from the general American public.
While most Czech-Americans are white, some are people of color or are Latino/Hispanic. A small group of Black Czech-Americans of Ethiopian descent lives in Baltimore.[14] In Texas, many Tejanos have Czech ancestry. Czech immigrants to Texas had a deep influence on Tejano culture, particularly Tejano music.[15]
Czechs in New York
For the majority of 19th and 20th centuries the Upper East Side of Manhattan was a middle-class neighborhood inhabited by Czech, Slovak, Irish, Polish, German and Hungarian immigrants. Czechs began to migrate in larger numbers in the second half of the 19th century, many of them being political refugees who emigrated after the wave of revolutions that swept through Europe in the year 1848.
Initially, they flocked to the Lower East Side, however due to the expansion of the German community, the Bohemians later started relocating together with the Hungarians to Yorkville.
By the end of the 19th century, a large number of Czechs and Slovaks had already settled on the Upper East Side, most of them between 65th and 73th Streets – the area known as Little Bohemia. In 1900 the New York Times stated that there were about 75 000 Bohemians residing in New York, with about 55 000 of them living on the east side of Manhattan. The East 72nd Street was even nicknamed the “Bohemian Broadway”[16] because of all the Czechs who lived there. This area contained a lot of Czech shops, pubs, clubs and theatres.
A 1924 article named “New York City and the Czechs” argued that “No part of the city could as much resemble Prague as Fiftieth Street and thereabouts up to Seventieth Street”. The article goes on to describe that there are tunnels, and even streets, which one can reach only through stone stairs two stories high, and also speaks of cobblestone pavements and vaulted alleys.
Although most of the neighborhood's traces have since disappeared, many Czech institutions can still be found in the area, including a school established in 1867, a Czech Gymnastic Association and community center named Sokol[17] and also two churches.[18]
Hallettsville 4th weekend in March and last Saturday of September
Shiner Several lesser Czech and Kolache festivals are held in Shiner varying in size, occasion and date, where Shiner's largest contribution to Kolache festivities conjoins with the Hallettsville Kolache Festival and the annual Bocktober festival.
Yoakum 2nd week of June as part of the annual Tom-Tom Festival
Crosby Annual Czech Fest is held the first Saturday in October. Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Crosby is the festivals organizer and was the original site of the festival. However, as the festival and Crosby have grown it has been held at the Crosby Fair and Rodeo grounds since about 1990.
Libuse Annual celebration held by the Louisiana Czech Heritage Association. Includes attractions such as Czech cuisine, Czech dancers, and a showing of the history of the Czech community in Libuse, Louisiana.
Hampl, Patricia. A Romantic Education. Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
Labendz, Jacob Ari (2021). ""In unserem Kreise": Czech-Jewish Activism and Diaspora in the USA, 1933–1994". American Jewish History. 105 (3): 371–401. doi:10.1353/ajh.2021.0035. ISSN1086-3141. S2CID245162560.
Laska, Vera. The Czechs in America, 1633-1977 (Oceana Publications, 1978).
Molinari, Christine. "Czech Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 619-632. online
Rechcigl, Miloslav, Jr. Czechs and Slovaks in America. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs and New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
Rechcigl, Miloslav, Jr. Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech American Biography. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse, 2016. 3 vols.
