Kashubian diaspora
The Kashubian diaspora resulted from the emigration of Kashubians mainly in two waves occurring in the second half of the 19th century. The majority of Kashubian emigrants settled in the United States; others emigrated to Canada and Brazil.[1] An online genealogical project, "The Great Kashubian Migration," is devoted to tracking their settlement patterns.[2] Their reasons for emigration varied. Until the Franco-Prussian War, Kashubians emigrated primarily for economic reasons. After the Franco-Prussian War and especially due to the Kulturkampf, Kashubian emigration accelerated as socio-political factors came into play. In his 1899 book, Statystyka ludnosci kaszubskiej (Statistics of the Kashubian Population), the Kashubophile linguist and sociologist Stefan Ramult estimated that 130,700 Kashubians were living in the Americas.[3]
Reasons for emigration
The primary reason for emigration was economic. Kashubian farmers were not targeted by Prussian laws immediately after 1850. As the eminent Kashubian scholar, Professor
In the wake of the Franco-Prussian War and the unification of Germany, Kashubs and Poles met with institutionalized hostility. The Kulturkampf brought further indignities. It became illegal to use the Polish (and by default, the Kashubian) languages in public, including (or especially) church. By this time, too, the first wave of Kashubian emigrants had formed viable communities in towns such as Wilno (Ontario), Winona (Minnesota), Cedar (Michigan) and Stevens Point and Pine Creek (Wisconsin). Letters and remittances flowed from the contented North American immigrants, encouraging more Kashubs to try their chances in the West. One particular selling point was the availability of homesteads. Many emigrated; more, in fact, than the Kashubian immigrant communities could effectively absorb. As the Kashubian community within Germany became more self-aware (thanks to figures such as Florian Ceynowa and Aleksander Majkowski) it became more resilient in contending with the Germans; another result of the Kulturkampf was that Kashubs were more likely to make common cause with Poles.[6] The primary sources of the twentieth-century Polish emigration boom were the Austrian and Russian zones of occupation.
First wave (1855–1870)
Beginning around 1855, the Kashubian diaspora predated by at least 10 years the onset of the
Second wave (1870–1900)
The pace of Kashubian emigration picked up as the
Location of Kashubs in the Americas, 1899
Ramult's chapter on Kashubians in the United States was contributed by Hieronim Derdowski, the Kashubian poet and editor of the Polish-American newspaper Wiarus, who broke down America's population of 90,700 Kashubians state by state:[13]
- New York: 7,000 Kashubs, in Buffalo
- Michigan: 5,000 Kashubs, in Detroit
- Minnesota: 6,000 Kashubs, in Winona and some small settlements
- Illinois: 30.000 Kashubs, in Chicago
- South Dakota: 500 Kashubs, in some small settlements
- Massachusetts: 200 Kashubs, in Webster
- Missouri: 1,000 Kashubs, in Saint Louis
- Wisconsin: 30,000 Kashubs, in Milwaukee (20,000) and Portage County (10,000)
- Other states: 10,000 Kashubs living in Pittsburgh, PA and Baltimore, MD
The Kashubian community of Canada is centered in Renfrew County, Ontario and often meets at the Wilno Heritage Society's park for an annual festival.[14] Brazil's Kashubian population, which Ramult estimated at 15,000, is mostly located in the state of Paraná.[2]
References
- ^ Hanna Popowska-Taborska, Kaszubszczyzna: zarys dziejów (Warszawa, 1980), p. 21.
- ^ a b "The Great Kashubian Migration".
- ^ Ramult, Stefan (1899). Statystyka ludnosci kaszubskiej. Krakow: Polska Akademia Umiejętności. p. 243.
- ^ Jozef Borszyskowski, The Kashubs, Pomerania and Gdańsk (English translation), p. 62.
- ^ Jan L. Perkowski, "The Kashubs: Origins and Emigration to the U.S.," Polish American Studies, 23.1 (1966), p. 5.
- ^ Cassubians
- )
- ^ "Introduction to Soroka's Work".
- ISBN 9780773547209.
- ^ "First Settlement in Winona: 1859". Bambenek.org. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
- ^ "Kashubian Capital of America". Bambenek.org. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
- ^ Sarah Biondich, "Squatting on Jones Island", ExpressMilwaukee.com, 24 June 2009]
- OCLC 39546805.
- ISBN 9780773547209.