The Slovaks in America
Helen Fedor,
Reference Librarian
European Division
1695
Isaac Ferdinand Sarosi (also spelled Sarissky, Scharossy, Saarossy, Sarossy, Saroschi, and Sarossi) was the first known immigrant from what is now Slovakia; it is not clear what his mother tongue was. Sarosi arrived in the Pennsylvania religious colony of Germantown (originally Germanopolis), founded by Mennonite preacher Francis Daniel Pastorius, to serve as a teacher and a preacher. Sarosi returned to Europe after two years.
1754
Andrej Jelik fled Slovakia to escape military conscription. After much travel
in Europe, he eventually reached American shores, via the West Indies, on
a Dutch trading ship.
1775
After being proclaimed emperor in Madagascar, and bearing letters of recommendation
from Benjamin Franklin and funds from a descendant of Ferdinand Magellan,
(Matus) Moric Benovsky came to America and fought with American troops in
the War for Independence. He joined a cavalry corps led by General Pulaski
and fought in the siege of Savannah. He died in Madagascar in 1786, but his
wife, Zuzana Honschova, spent the years from 1784 until her death in 1815
in the United States.
A portrait of Benovsky, from the title page of a 1790 English translation
of his memoirs
1780
Major Jan Polerecky, who trained at the French Royal Military Academy of
St. Cyr, came to America from France to fight with George Washington's army
in the War for Independence. He was in the company of the 300 "Blue Hussars" to
whom the British formally surrendered their weapons after the defeat of Cornwallis
at Yorktown. When the war was over, Polerecky settled in Dresden, Maine,
where he served in a number of public positions.
1861
President Abraham Lincoln approved a request to organize a military company named the "Lincoln Riflemen of Sclavonic [Slavic] Origin." This first volunteer unit from Chicago, which included many Slovaks, fought in the Civil War and was eventually incorporated into the 24th regiment of the Illinois infantry.
1868
(Frantisek) Samuel Figuli received his first papers for naturalization.
Figuli fought in the Civil War, owned a plantation in Virginia, and later
joined an exploratory expedition to the North Pole.
1873
A cholera epidemic and subsequent widespread crop failures set in motion
large-scale emigration from the eastern regions of Slovakia. This wave of
emigration was also fueled by hardships connected to the coming of industrialization,
the scarcity of available land, and a campaign of forced magyarization. The
immigrants were predominantly men coming to find work.
1877
Daniel Sustek, a world traveler, purchased some eighty acres of land in
Iowa, where he hoped to develop a Slovak colony.
Cesta ces Turecko a Egypt do Svatej Zeme (The road through Turkey and
Egypt to the Holy Land), an 1874 travel booklet written by Daniel Sustek.
The booklet was published by Matica slovenska, the Slovak national cultural
institution, in what was then Hungary.
1879
Slovaks in Passaic, New Jersey, welcomed the first group of women who came
to their community from Slovakia. When Hungarian authorities legislated that
all men under the age of 50 must remain in the country to fulfill military
service, the number of women emigrating increased markedly.
St. Mary's Assumption Roman Catholic Slovak Church in Passaic, c.1920.
The parish was founded in 1891, but ground for this building was not broken
until 1904.
1883
The first Slovak beneficial society was formed in New York when a group
of Slovaks, mostly from the eastern counties of Slovakia, met in a private
home and organized the First Hungarian-Slovak Sick Benefit Society. The society's
by-laws contained the provision that the eastern Slovak dialect be used as
long as there were seven members in the society. Beneficial societies were
formed as insurance societies and unions, but they also played cultural,
social, and political roles.
1886
The first printed Slovak newspaper, the Amerikanszko-szlovenszke noviny (Amerikansko-slovenske
noviny), was published by Jan Slovensky. Circulation reached 30,000
at the end of the century under editor Peter V. Rovnianek. This was a larger
circulation than that of any other Slovak paper of the time, even in Slovakia.
1887
The First Coopers' Beneficial Society was founded in Bayonne, New Jersey.
It was the first Slovak society to uphold the interests of workers and even
negotiated with factory owners.
A map of Bayonne, NJ, from All About Bayonne City, N.J., 1895.
Americky tlumac  (American interpreter), the first Slovak-English
dictionary serving the needs of the immigrants, was published by Jan Slovensky,
in an eastern dialect. It readily became very popular because it aided the
immigrants with their English language problems. Several other such works
were published in subsequent years.
A page from Prakticny slovensko-anglicky tlumac. The Practical Slovak
American (sic) Interpreter, compiled by Paul Kadak in 1905, showing useful
phrases concerning work. 
1889
Anton S. Ambrose (Ambrosi), a journalist who never completed his high school
studies, founded the newspaper Slovak v Amerike, the oldest Slovak
newspaper still in print in the United States.
The first Slovak school in America was established by St. Stephen's Parish (dedicated in 1883, one of the first Slovak churches in the United States) in Streator, Illinois.
Lesson 16 from Prva citanka pre slovenske skoly v Amerike (First
reader for Slovak schools in America), compiled by Reverend Stefan Furdek.
1890
The First Catholic Slovak Union of America, "Jednota," was founded in Cleveland,
under a constitution drafted by the Reverend Stefan Furdek.
The National Slovak Society (Narodny slovensky spolok) was founded in Pittsburgh
by Peter V. Rovnianek. The society was the first supraregional, nondenominational
association of Slovaks in the United States, and is still active today.
Membership recruiting brochure of the Narodny slovensky spolok (National
Slovak Society).
1891
About 18,000 Slovaks were among the miners who went on strike in the Connellsville,
Pennsylvania, region, protesting exploitation and a cut in wages.
Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania 1897. Drawn by T. M. Fowler.
1894
The Slovak Colonization Society organized about 300 Slovaks to leave the
labor-troubled region of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and establish a Slovak
colony in Arkansas, named Slovaktown. The society was organized by Peter
V. Rovnianek and his associates.
1896
The Slovak Gymnastic Union "Sokol" was founded in Chicago, modeled after
the Czech "Sokol" gymnastic movement begun in Europe in the 19th century.
Reverend Jozef Murgas, born in Tajov, Slovakia, came to America. He was
active in founding several Slovak groups and was a pioneer of radiotelegraphy
as well as a scholar, artist, scientist, and writer. He held twelve U.S.
patents and was a signatory of the 1918 Pittsburgh Agreement.
1899-1915
During this period, close to half a million Slovaks emigrated to the United
States.
The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor (July, 1905). This was the immigrants'
first view of America. It was a welcome sight for those who had undergone
a long, and often uncomfortable, journey across the ocean.
Courtesy: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
The Registry Room at Ellis Island, New York (c. 1915). An immigrant's
first stop after leaving his or her ship was the Registry Room. Here, the
immigrant was inspected for medical, mental, and legal problems. This inspection
determined whether an immigrant would be detained or would receive permission
to land.
Courtesy: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
1901
Peter V. Rovnianek launched Slovensky dennik, the first Slovak daily
newspaper outside Slovakia and Hungary.
Photo of Peter V. Rovnianek from his autobiography Zapisky za ziva pochoveneho.
1905
52,368 Slovak immigrants arrived in the United States, making this the peak
year of Slovak immigration.
Newly arrived Slovak mother, from New Homes for Old, by Sophonisba Breckinridge, 1921.
1907
The Slovak League of America was formed to help prepare Slovak immigrants
for American citizenship and to promote the welfare of Slovaks in the United
States.
1910
For the upcoming census, Slovak and other ethnic leaders in the United States
sucessfully petitioned federal authorities to classify a person by his or
her language rather than country of origin. On the president's orders, new
forms replaced the old ones, and Slovaks were no longer classified as "Austrians" or "Hungarians" in
the 1910 U.S. Census.
"Accepted Names of Languages," from Thirteenth Census of the United
States. Country of Birth and Mother Tongue. Instructions to Clerks....
1914
Stefan Banic, a Slovak inventor, constructed and tested a prototype of a
parachute in Washington, D.C., by jumping from a 41-floor building and subsequently
from an airplane. His patented parachute became standard equipment for U.S.
pilots during World War I. Banic worked in the United States from 1907 to
1920, with two interruptions.
1915
The leaders of the Czech National Alliance and the Slovak League of America
signed the Cleveland Agreement, in which they pledged to cooperate for the
common goal of independent statehood for the Czechs and Slovaks. The agreement's
five articles laid out the basics of a future joint state for the two nationalities.
Michal Bosak, once acclaimed as "the richest Slovak in America," founded the Bosak State Bank in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Bosak came to the U.S. in 1886 at age 16 and initially worked as a miner, going on to become a businessman whose ventures included the Bosak Manufacturing Company (a wine and liquor distribution business), the Bosak State Bank, a travel agency, and several financial institutions in northeastern Pennsylvania. Bosak was also a leader in the Slovak-American community, becoming a signatory to the Pittsburgh Agreement and the publisher of the weekly newspaper Slovenska obrana. All of Bosak's business and banking ventures ended during the Great Depression.
The Bosak State Bank, from Scranton: Official Publication Scranton [sic] Chamber of Commerce, vol.3,
no.3, November 1927, Scranton.
Advertisement for Bosak's Horke Vino, a wine-based elixir produced and
distributed by the Bosak Manufacturing Company, from Obrana: Narodny kalendar, Obrana
Publishing Company, Scranton, 1922.
1918
The Pittsburgh Agreement was concluded by representatives of Czechs and
Slovaks at a meeting of the American branch of the Narodni rada ceskoslovenska
(Czechoslovak National Council) in Pittsburgh. The agreement endorsed a program
for the struggle for a common state of Czecho-Slovakia and agreed that the
new state would be a democratic republic in which Slovakia would have its
own administration, legislature, and courts.
1923
Reverend Jaroslav Pelikan was born in Akron, Ohio. He was a Lutheran theologian
and one of the leading church historians of the 20th century.
1933
Michael Novak, a prolific Roman Catholic theologian and political writer,
was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In his works, he became a spokesman
not only for Slovaks, but for all ethnic groups in the United States as well,
in such works as Concepts of Ethnicity and Unmeltable Ethnics:
Politics and Culture in American Life.
1935
Alois Havrilla, born in Presov in 1891 and arriving in the U.S. as a small child speaking no English, won the prestigious Medal for Good Diction given annually by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Havrilla had also sung professionally; acted in Broadway musicals; narrated films for major studios; worked at a number of New York-area radio stations as a news commentator, announcer, narrator, and host of musical programs; and did voice-over work for the Paul Whiteman and Jack Benny radio programs.
Recording, ca. 1921, of Alois Havrilla singing "Tancuj, tancuj," a well-known Slovak folk song. Courtesy: American Memory, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1941
Out of This Furnace, the story of three generations of Slovaks working
in steel mills, was published by Thomas Bell (Belejcak), an American-born
writer who depicted the lives of Slovak immigrants in many of his works.
The Edgar Thomson Works, in Braddock, Pennsylvania (c. 1905). Many Slovak
immigrant men worked at manual labor jobs, such as those in steel mills,
coal mines, and foundries. Women most often either worked as domestic help
or took in boarders at home.
Courtesy: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
The 48-inch universal plate mill at the Homestead Steel Works, in Homestead,
Pennsylvania, (c. 1908).
Courtesy: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
1944
The U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Durik, a warship named in honor of Joseph
Edward Durik, a Slovak serviceman from Southwest, Pennsylvania, who had died
as a result of an accidental torpedo firing on the USS Meredith.
1945
Slovakia, which had been set up as an independent state by Nazi Germany,
was reincorporated into Czechoslovakia. This led to an exodus of some 5,000
officials of the wartime Slovak Republic.
1948
The take-over of Czechoslovakia by the communists spurred another wave of
emigration. Many of these emigres were members of the intelligentsia and
post-war political figures.
1953
Jan Slezak, who had immigrated to the United States in 1914, was appointed
Assistant Secretary of Defense. Slezak was trained as an engineer and spent
much of his career in manufacturing, including the manufacture of armaments.
His was the highest political position achieved by a Slovak outside of Slovakia.
1957
Historian Viktor Mamatey published The United States and East Central
Europe, for which he won the George Louis Beer Prize. Mamatey's father
was Albert Mamatey, a signer of the Pittsburgh Agreement.
1958
Two hundred intellectuals of Czech and Slovak origin founded the Czechoslovak
Society of Arts and Sciences in America.
1961
The Chicago Blackhawks professional hockey team won the Stanley Cup with
the help of star center Stan Mikita, born in Sokolce, Slovakia, in 1940.
During his career, Mikita won the Art Ross Trophy, the Hart Memorial Trophy
(twice), the Lady Byng Trophy, and the Lester Patrick Trophy.
1966
A Slovak room was established at the Immigration Archives of the University
of Minnesota.
1968
Another wave of Slovak immigration was fueled by the Soviet Union's invasion
of Czechoslovakia, the Soviet response to the cultural and political liberalization
of the Prague Spring. Many members of this wave belonged to the intelligentsia.
Unlike earlier immigrants, they generally did not seek out Slovak immigrant
groups.
1969
Joseph M. Gaydos, born in Braddock, Pennsylvania, was elected to the U.S.
House of Representatives, where he served for 24 years. He was the first
Slovak-American to serve in the U. S. Congress.
Congressman Joseph M. Gaydos, as he appeared in the Congressional
Pictorial Directory, January 1969.
1970
The Slovak World Congress was founded in New York. It became the leading
organization of Slovaks living abroad, and represented associations, institutions,
and individuals.
1972
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan was commander of the Apollo 17 lunar mission
and the eleventh man to walk on the moon. Cernan was born in Chicago, in
1934, to a Czech mother and a Slovak father. After the end of the manned
lunar missions, he acted as senior U.S. negotiator in discussions with the
Soviet Union on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
1976
D. (Daniel) Carleton Gajdusek, born in 1923, in Yonkers, of a Slovak father
and a Hungarian mother, won the Noble Prize for Physiology or Medicine together
with Baruch S. Blumberg. The prize recognized his work on the causal agents
of various degenerative neurological disorders.
1991
A total of 1.8 million people identified themselves as being of Slovak ancestry
in the 1990 U.S. Census. After Slovakia, this is the world's second largest
concentration of people who are Slovak or of Slovak descent.
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