Serbian American

Serbian American

George Fisher Mihajlo Pupin Nikola Tesla A. Mandušić John Miljan Mitchell Paige Bill Vukovich Brad Dexter Lance Sijan Pete Maravich Karl Malden P. Bogdanovich G. Voinovich M. Mandarić Radulovački Jeff Samardzija M. Abramović Gregg Popovich Milla Jovovich Adrienne Janic Milena Govich Coco Austin Milorad Čavić Alex Smith Sacha Kljestan
Total population
Serbs 187,739 Americans 0.06% of the U.S. population (2010) 1,000,000+ (Other estimations)
Regions with significant populations
Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, California, Indiana
Languages
American English and Serbian
Religion
Mainly Serbian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
Serbian Canadians, Serbs

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Serbian Americans are citizens of the United States who are of Serbian ancestry. In the 2000 United States Census, 140,337 American citizens indicated Serbian as their first ancestry, while 170,312 persons declared to have Serbian ancestry. Those can include Serbian Americans living in the United States for one or several generations, dual Serbian American citizens, or any other Serbian Americans who consider themselves to be affiliated to both cultures or countries. Some Serbian Americans might be born in Serbia, the United States or other countries with an ethnic Serbian population.

Some Serbians living in the United States are naturalized American citizens, while others hold dual American-Serbian citizenship. Some have ancestors who immigrated to the United States several generations prior; some of these people refer to themselves as simply American, Serbian, Serbians living in the United States, or an American Serbian.

Demographics

Number of Serbian Americans

Year	Number
1980	100,941
1990	116,795
2000	140,337
2010	187,739

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2005, 169,479 Americans declared Serbian descent. The metropolitan area around Chicago, Illinois, is of particular note for its large Serbian community. This can be seen in a number of architecturally notable church complexes such as St. Simeon Mirotochivi in the East Side neighborhood and New Gračanica monastery in Third Lake. Other substantial Serbian-American communities are Atlanta, Georgia; Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; New York, New York; and Wheeling, West Virginia.

But more Serbians are thought to live in the Southern and Western U.S., primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Las Vegas area; Los Angeles as well across Southern California (i.e., Orange County, San Diego and the Coachella Valley) by recent Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian immigration; and Phoenix, Arizona, since the 1980s; and Dallas, Texas; Greensboro, North Carolina; Houston, Texas; and Orlando, Florida, since the 1990s.

There are some 359,254 American-Yugoslavs (15.1% entered before 1990, 59.7% entered from 1990 to 1999); it is assumed that a majority of these have Serbian origin.

History

In the 1880s Serbs settled in Montana. The town of Belgrade, Montana was founded in 1881 and was given this name as an expression of appreciation to Serbian investors who helped finance a portion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, on whose track the town is located. It is one of no less than eight American towns named "Belgrade" (see Belgrade (disambiguation)).

Serbs came in two periods to Cleveland, the early 20th century and from World War II to the 1980s. Lazar Krivokapic, a Serb from Montenegro who settled in Cleveland in 1893, is considered the city's first Serb. In the second half of 19th century, most Serbs in California lived in mining regions, but later settled in larger communities. Serbs in California formed social-cultural organizations, church-schooling communities and parishes. They were initially united with Russians, Greeks and Syriacs thus part of mixed Orthodox Christian parishes. Russian clergymen supported the idea of Serbian parishes since the ethnic groups had differing customs, (language, overall traditions, Krsna slava, etc.) The largest number of Californian Serbs today live in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Chicago is regarded the Serbian stronghold of America. In 1872, Ivan Vucetich arrived in Chicago. The first Serbian-American cultural association, "Obilich", was formed in 1878. In 1893, the first Serbian parade was held in Chicago on Michigan Avenue. Mihajlo Pupin, a Serbian inventor, lived in Chicago. In 1930 there were 40.000 - 60.000 Serbs (Yugoslavs) in Chicago. Chicago is also known as second city by the number of Serbs, right after Belgrade. According to unofficial data, the number of citizens of Serbian origin is between 350,000 and 500,000. One always notes why there is not a Serbian Village or Serbian Town within Chicago. Serbs, along with Croats and other South Slavs settled in the state of Pennsylvania in fairly large numbers in the late 19th century and in three phases throughout the 20th century. The first wave was halted by World War I, then came refugees fleeing World War II and Josip Broz Tito's regime of what was then Yugoslavia and the recent wave since 1980 by the breakup of Yugoslavia followed by the Bosnian Civil war of the 1990s. Large Serbian communities and ethnic neighborhoods can be found in Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Harrisburg and Erie, Pennsylvania.

Prominent Serbian Americans

Main article: List of Serbian Americans

Notable Serbian Americans among others include recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor such as Great War veterans Jake Allex, Louis Cukela, and James I. Mestrovitch. In 1905, Rade Grbitch, a Serb from South Chicago, was awarded the Medal of Honor by the United States Navy, for heroic action on the Pacific Coast (Interim Awards, 1901-1911). The most decorated Serbian veterans of World War II were Mitchell Paige and John W. Minick, both recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and George Musulin, an officer of the Office of Strategic Services and naval intelligence, better known for Operation Halyard. In Vietnam, the tragic name of Lance Sijan, another Congressional Medal of Honor recipient (posthumous) is always mentioned. Butch Verich, Mele "Mel" Vojvodich, a major-general with great reputation and many decorations, Milo Radulovich are just a few of a long list of military veterans. George Fisher was a 19th-century Serbian-American customs officers who played an important role in the history of Texas as he was an early leader of the Texas Revolution.

Rose Ann Vuich was the first female member of the California State Senate. Helen Delich Bentley is a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Maryland (1985–95). The port of Baltimore was named Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore after her in 2006. Many notable Serbian American come from the field of film and generally art, such as - Brad Dexter and Peter Bogdanovich. Steve Tesich was an Oscar-winning screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away. Predrag Bjelac is mostly known for his roles in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Catherine Oxenberg should also be mentioned among actors, she is a daughter of Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević, from Karađorđević Dynasty. Charles Simic and Dejan Stojanovic are the finest among poets. Walt Bogdanich (1950) is an investigative journalist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Specialized Reporting in 1985, the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2005 and the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2008. Bogdanich led the team that won the 2008 Gerald Loeb Award for their story "Toxic pipeline". Branko Mikasinovich is a scholar of literature as well as a noted Slavist and journalist. He has appeared as a panelist on Yugoslav press on ABC's "Press International" in Chicago and PBS's "International Dateline" in New Orleans. Alex N. Dragnich is the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award for distinguished service to Vanderbilt University, and he is author of numerous books on Serbian/Yugoslav history. Nikola Tesla and Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin are the world-known scientists. Another accomplished Serbian-American scientist, Miodrag Radulovački, was named the 2010 Inventor of the Year at the University of Illinois for producing a dozen potential therapies for sleep apnea. Pete Maravich (1947–1988) is listed among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Sacha Kljestan is American football player, Alisa Marić holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master.

External links

• USA SERBS/Serbian-American network
• Famous Serbian Americans
• Chicago Serbs