Serbian Americans
 .jpg)       Notable Serbian Americans: George Voinovich · Milla Jovovich · Al Yankovic Lance Sijan · Nikola Tesla · Milorad Čavić · Karl Malden · Peter Bogdanovich | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, California, Indiana | |
| Languages | |
| American English, Serbian | |
| Religion | |
| Serbian Orthodox, other Christian, others | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other South Slavs |
| Part of a series on |
| Serbs |
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Serbian Americans are citizens of the United States who are of Serbian ancestry.
Demographics
Numbers
According to U.S. Census Bureau in 2005, 169,479 Americans declared as 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.[2] Other substantial Serbian-American communities are Buffalo, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles as well Southern California (i.e., Orange County, San Diego and the Coachella Valley) by recent Serbian and Bosnian immigration, and Phoenix, Arizona, since the 1980s, and Greensboro, North Carolina, since the 1990s.
A much higher estimation is placed due to descendants of ethnic Serbs declared as "Yugoslavs", "Vlachs", or "Bosnians". There are some 359,254 American-Yugoslavs[3] (15.1% Entered before 1990, 59.7% Entered 1990 to 1999)
History
Cleveland
Serbs came in 2 periods, early 20th century and World War II-1980s. Lazar Krivokapic, a Serb from Montenegro who settled in Cleveland in 1893, is considered the city's first Serb [4]
California
In the second half of 19th century, most Serbs in California lived in mine regions, but later settled bigger communities.
The Serbs of 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[5].
Chicago
Chicago is regarded the Serbian stronghold of America.
In 1872, Ivan Vucetich arrives in Chicago. The first organization "Obilich" is formed in 1878. In 1893 the first Serbian parade is seen in Chicago on Michigan avenue. Mihajlo Pupin, a Serbian inventor, lives in Chicago.[6]
In 1930 there were 40.000 - 60.000 Serbs (Yugoslavs) in Chicago.[7]
Notables
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into List of Serbian Americans. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2009. |
Military
Jake Allex (Aleksa Mandušić, 1887–1959) was a US Army Sergeant who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in the U.S. Army during World War I.
Mitchell Paige (Pejić, 1918–2003) was a US Marine Corps Colonel. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor from World War II for his actions at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
Lance Sijan (Šijan, 1942–1968) was a US Air Force Captain. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, in 1976, for his selflessness and courage in the face of lethal danger.
Mele "Mel" Vojvodich (1929–2003) was a major general in the United States Air Force. He received the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross and the Intelligence Star for Valor presented by the CIA.
Art, Music & Film
"Weird Al" Yankovic born October 23, 1959 is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, music producer, actor, comedian, and satirist.
Sasha Alexander is an actress born in 1973 as Suzana S. Drobnjaković. She is best known for her popular role as Caitlin "Kate" Todd in the CBS television drama NCIS, Melissa in Mission: Impossible III, and Catherine in He's Just Not That Into You (film).
Predrag Bjelac (1962) is an actor, the best known for his roles of Igor Karkaroff in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Lord Donnon in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Peter Bogdanovich (born in 1939 as Petar Bogdanović) is a film director. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors. His most critically acclaimed film is The Last Picture Show (1971) for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.
Lolita Davidovich, (1961) actress.
Brad Dexter (1917–2002) was an actor, best known for his role as Harry Luck in The Magnificent Seven.
Predrag Gosta (1972) conductor and harpsichordist.
Milena Govich (born in 1975) is an actress, best known for her roles in Conviction and Law & Order
Milla Jovovich (born in 1975 as Milica Nataša Jovović) is an actress and a musician, best known for her roles in science fiction and action themed films.
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich, Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Ђорђе Секуловић, March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an Academy Award winning actor. He was a president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
John Miljan (born in 1892 as Jovan Miljanovic) is an American-born actor whose career spanned from the 1920s until 1960, when he died at the age of 68.
Catherine Oxenberg (1961) actress, best known for her performance as Amanda Carrington on the 1980s American prime time soap opera Dynasty. Through her mother, she is a descendant of the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty.
Milena Pavlovic-Barili (1909–1945) is a painter and poet.
Nikola Resanovic (1955) is a composer and professor of music. He is the winner of the 2003 Cleveland Arts Prize in Music.
Charles Simic (born in 1936 as Dušan Simić) is a poet and co-Poetry Editor of the Paris Review. He was appointed the fifteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2007.
Dejan Stojanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Стојановић, March 11, 1959) is a poet, writer, essayist, philosopher, businessman, and former journalist.
Steve Tesich (1942–1996) was an Oscar-winning screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.
Slavko Vorkapić (1894–1976) was a film director and editor, former Dean of USC Film School, painter, and a prominent figure of modern cinematography and film art.
Journalism
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 (1938) is a scholar of Yugoslav and Serbian 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. He also appears on "Voice of America" and a Serbian Service television program, "Open Studio".
Srđa Trifković (1954) is a writer and was (1998–2008) foreign-affairs editor for the paleoconservative magazine Chronicles. He is also Director of the Center for International Affairs at the Rockford Institute.
Politics
Melissa Bean is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2004, representing Illinois's 8th congressional district. She was born in 1962 as Melissa Luburić.
Helen Delich Bentley (1923) 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.
Rod Blagojevich (born as Milorad R. Blagojevich in 1956) is a politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was also elected to represent parts of Chicago in the U.S. Congress as State Representative from 1997 to 2003.
George Voinovich (1936) is the senior United States Senator from the state of Ohio, and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as the 65th Governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998, and as the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989.
Rose Ann Vuich (1927–2001) served as a member of the California State Senate from 1977 until 1993. She was the first female member of the California State Senate.
Science
Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin (1858–1935) is a physicist and physical chemist. He worked as a professor and researcher in the United States. Pupin Physics Laboratories of the Columbia University are named in his honor.
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He did the majority of his research in the United States.
Sports
Norm Bulaich (born in 1946 as Norman Bulajić) is a former running back in the National Football League.
Milorad Čavić (1984) is a swimmer, an Olympic medal winner for Serbia.
Walt Dropo (1923) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman.
George Glamack (1919–1987) was a basketball player.
Milan Mandarić is a businessman and an owner of Leicester City F.Portsmouth F.C. and the former owner of Portsmouth F.C., Standard Liège, OGC Nice and the San Jose Earthquakes.
Pete Maravich (1947–1988) was an NBA player. He was listed among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.
Petar Press Maravich(1915–1987), a first-generation American of Serbian descent, was a popular college and professional basketball coach.
Alisa Marić (1970) is a chess player. She holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master.
Johnny Miljus (1895–1976) was a baseball player who pitched in Major League Baseball between 1915 and 1929.
Erik Bakich is a college baseball coach.
Gregg Popovich (1949) is a NBA coach.
Predrag "Preki" Radosavljević (1963) is a soccer player and coach.
Dan Radakovich is the Athletics Director at Georgia Tech.
Jeff Samardzija (1985) is a baseball pitcher.
Pete Vuckovich (1952) is a retired starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.
Milan Vukcevich (1937–2003) was a chess International Master, Grandmaster chess problem composer, and writer.
Bill Vukovich (1918–1955) was an automobile racing driver. Vukovich was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991, in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1992 and in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1990.
Pete Romcevich (1907–1952) was an Serbian-American racecar driver born in Silopaj, Serbia who took part in the 1947 Indy 500
Trifun Zivanovic (1975) is a figure skater competing internationally for Serbia.
Vlade Divac, NBA player.
Predrag Stojakovic, NBA player.
Marko Jaric, NBA player.
Fiction
Niko Bellic is the main protagonist and playable character in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. He is a 30 year old former soldier who moved to Liberty City to escape his troubled past and pursue the "American Dream."
Others
Boyan Jovanovic (1951) is a professor of economics at New York University.
Petar V. Kokotovic (1936) is a professor in the Department of Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara. He has made contributions in the areas of adaptive control, singular perturbation techniques, and nonlinear control. He is the recipient of the Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award.
Carl Kosta Savich is a historian, academic and writer. He researches the Holocaust. He is best known for revealing and stopping a plan of the Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari to honor Finnish SS troops.
Paul Stojanovich (1956–2003) was a television producer whose notable creations include American Detective (1991–1993) and World's Wildest Police Videos (1998–2001).
Stephen Yokich (1935–2002) was an American labor union activist who served as President of the United Auto Workers from 1994 to 2002.
See also
References
- ^ "Selected Population Profile: Serbian". US Census Bureau. 2007. Retrieved 2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Picture and location of St. Simeon Mirotochivi church
- ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201:585;ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201PR:585;ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201T:585;ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201TPR:585&-qr_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=true&-charIterations=424&-geo_id=01000US&-geo_id=NBSP&-format=&-_lang=en
- ^ http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=S9
- ^ http://www.etno-institut.co.rs/Monografije/Monografije_pdf/54_summ.pdf
- ^ http://www.cikaskisrbi.com/en/chicago_serbs_timeline.pdf
- ^ http://www.jstor.org/pss/2767923
External links
- Famous Serbian Americans
- Chicago Serbs-Cikaski Srbi
- Serbs or Serbian Americans in Arizona
- Web community for Serbian Americans of Los Angeles
- Tesliana—Serbian Community Portal
