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Bosnian Americans

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Bosnian American
Bosanski Amerikanci
Regions with significant populations
Northeast, Midwest and South (Especially Virginia).
Languages
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and American English
Religion
Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Church, Judaism, Agnosticism and Atheism
Related ethnic groups
European American

Bosnian Americans are Americans whose ancestry can be traced to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The vast majority of Bosnian Americans emigrated to the United States during and after the Bosnian war which lasted from 1992-1995. Nevertheless, a large number of Bosnians emigrated to the United States as early as the 19th century.

History

The Bosnian Community in the USA has a long and distinguished history dating back more than one hundred years. One of the first Bosnian arrivals to any country in the New World was to the United States, and is estimated to have been around the 1860s. According to Embassy estimates there are some 98,766 people of Bosnian origin living in the United States. The traditional centers of residence and culture for people from Bosnia and Herzegovina are situated on the East Coast (Atlanta, Jacksonville, New York and Nashville), in Mid-West (St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit) and on the West Coast.

The United States has numerous Bosnian cultural, sport and religious associations. Bosnian language newspapers and other periodicals are published in many states; the largest in the United States is the St. Louis based Bosnian-American Newspaper Sabah.

Settlements and Communities

The first Bosnians settled in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, joining other immigrants seeking better opportunities and better lives. As the former Yugoslavia continued to find its identity as a nation over the last century, the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina sought stability and new beginnings in the city of Chicago many intending to return to their homeland. Today as many as 70,000 Bosnians and their descendants live in the Chicago area, representing different faiths, backgrounds, and motivations for making America their new home.

The largest Bosnian American communities in the US are found in St. Louis (Bevo Mill's "Little Bosnia"); followed by Chicago, Illinois; Jacksonville, Florida; Grand Rapids, Michigan; New York City; Los Angeles along with the rest of Southern California (Pasadena) and the Metropolitan areas of Texas. Historically, Bosnians formed substantial populations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Virginia, Connecticut, Louisiana and Michigan.

Bosnians were early leaders in the establishment of Chicago's Muslim community. In 1906, they established Džemijetul Hajrije (The Benevolent Society) of Illinois to preserve the community's religious and national traditions as well as to provide mutual assistance for funerals and illness. The organization established chapters in Gary, Indiana, in 1913 and Butte, Montana, in 1916 and is the oldest existing Muslim organization in the United States. The suburban city of Northbrook, Illinois is thought to have the largest Bosnian community in the USA and they scatter across Chicagoland. Bosnian communities can be found in Philadelphia and New Jersey with phenomenal high growth in Utah primarily in Salt Lake City with adjacent Provo and Ogden settled there since the end of the Bosnian War in the 1990s.

Other large communities are found in Atlanta; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; Fresno, California; Houston, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Minnesota; Kansas City; Las Vegas, Nevada; Little Rock, Arkansas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Oklahoma City; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; Riverside, California and San Bernardino, California; Sacramento, California; San Antonio, Texas; San Jose; Seattle; Tampa; Utica, New York; Washington, D.C. Northern Virginia; Hampton Roads; Brooklyn, New York; Astoria, Queens and Syracuse, New York.

Sizable numbers can be found in Kentucky, Maine, and West Virginia. A majority of Bosnians have settled in Memphis, Tennessee; Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; Manchester, New Hampshire; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Charleston, West Virginia; Portland, Maine; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Waterloo, Iowa and Des Moines, Iowa in the 1990s. Another Bosnian community is in Rhode Island.

In 2001 the Bosnian community established the first Bosnian-American television channel, Bostel. Among other cultural institutions that made cultural contributions to diverse American culture is an annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York now in its 11th year.

A Bosnian neighborhood is located in Hartford's South End, also known as the Bosnian Square.

Organizations

Famous Bosnian Americans

Art

Literature

Film

Music

Politics

Sports

Other

References

  1. ^ The 2000 USA census

See also

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