Russian Americans

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Russian Americans
Русские американцы
Total population
2,432,733 self-reported[1]
0.741% of the U.S. population (2019)
391,641 Russian-born
Alaskan Creoles
File:Russian USC2000 PHS.svg

Russian Americans (Russian: русские американцы,

Russian possessions in northwestern America. Russian Americans comprise the largest Eastern European and East Slavic population in the U.S., the second-largest Slavic population generally, the nineteenth-largest ancestry group overall, and the eleventh-largest from Europe.[3]

In the mid-19th century, waves of Russian immigrants fleeing religious persecution settled in the U.S., including

Spiritual Christians. From 1880 to 1917, within the wave of European immigration to the U.S. that occurred during that period, a large number of Russians immigrated primarily for economic opportunities. These groups mainly settled in coastal cities, including Brooklyn (New York City) on the East Coast, and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, and various cities in Alaska, on the West Coast, as well as in Great Lakes cities, such as Chicago and Cleveland. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, many White émigrés also arrived, especially in New York, Philadelphia, and New England. Emigration from Russia subsequently became very restricted during the Soviet era (1917–1991). However, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War
, immigration to the United States increased considerably.

In several major U.S. cities, many Jewish Americans who trace their heritage back to Russia and other Americans of East Slavic origin, such as Belarusian Americans and Rusyn Americans, sometimes identify as Russian Americans. Additionally, certain non-Slavic groups from the post-Soviet space, such as Armenian Americans, Georgian Americans, and Moldovan Americans, have a longstanding historical association with the Russian American community.

Demographics

is home to the largest Russian American population.

According to the Institute of Modern Russia in 2011, the Russian American population is estimated to be 3.13 million.[4] The American Community Survey of the U.S. census shows the total number of people in the U.S. age 5 and over speaking Russian at home to be slightly over 900,000, as of 2020.

Many Russian Americans do not speak Russian,[5] having been born in the United States and brought up in English-speaking homes. In 2007, however, Russian was the primary spoken language of 851,174 Americans at home, according to the U.S. census.[4] According to the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, 750,000 Russian Americans were ethnic Russians in 1990.[6]

The

April Fool's satire titled, "Putin Moves Against Fair Lawn".[8]

Sometimes Carpatho-Rusyns and Ukrainians who emigrated from Carpathian Ruthenia in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century identify as Russian Americans. More recent émigrés would often refer to this group as the starozhili 'old residents'. This group became the pillar of the Russian Orthodox Church in America[citation needed]. Today, most of this group has become assimilated into the local society, with ethnic traditions continuing to survive primarily around the church.

Russian-born population

Russian-born population in the U.S. since 2010:[9][2]

Year Number
2010 383,166
2011 Increase399,216
2012 Decrease399,128
2013 Decrease390,934
2014 Increase390,977
2015 Decrease386,529
2016 Increase397,236
2017 Increase403,670
2018 Decrease391,094
2019 Increase391,641

Social status

The

median household income in 2017 for Americans of Russian descent is estimated by the U.S. census as $80,554 [10]

Socioeconomic indicators Slavic peoples: 2017[10]
Ethnicity Household Income College degrees (%)
Russian
$80,554 60.4
Polish $73,452 42.5
Czech
$71,663 45.4
Serbian $79,135 46.0
Slovak
$73,093 44.8
Ukrainian
$75,674 52.2
White non-Hispanic $65,845 35.8
Total U.S. Population $60,336 32.0

History

Colonial era

Russian America (1733–1867)

.

The territory that today is the U.S. state of Alaska was settled by Russians and controlled by the

Mexican California
.

Russian America was not a profitable colony because of high transportation costs and the declining animal population. After it was

purchased by the United States in 1867, most Russian settlers went back to Russia, but some resettled in southern Alaska and California. Included in these were the first miners and merchants of the California gold rush.[citation needed] All descendants of Russian settlers from Russian Empire, including mixed-race with partial Alaskan Native blood, totally assimilated to the American society. Most Russians in Alaska today are descendants of Russian settlers who came just before, during, and/or after Soviet era; two thirds of the population of town of Alaska named Nikolaevsk
are descendants of recent Russian settlers who came in the 1960s.

Immigration to the U.S.

First wave (1870–1915)

St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland, est. in 1896.

The first massive wave of immigration from all areas of Europe to the United States took place in the late 19th century. Although some immigration took place earlier – the most notable example being

Ivan Turchaninov, who immigrated in 1856 and became a United States Army brigadier general during the Civil War– millions traveled to the new world in the last decade of the 19th century, some for political reasons, some for economic reasons, and some for a combination of both. Between 1820 and 1870 only 7,550 Russians immigrated to the United States, but starting with 1881, immigration rate exceeded 10,000 a year: 593,700 in 1891–1900, 1.6 million in 1901–1910, 868,000 in 1911–1914, and 43,000 in 1915–1917.[11]

The most prominent Russian groups that immigrated in this period were groups from Imperial Russia seeking freedom from religious persecution. These included

Russian Mennonites and Hutterites, who left the Russian Empire and settled mainly in Kansas (Mennonites), the Dakota Territory, and Montana (Hutterites). Finally in 1908–1910, the Old Believers, persecuted as schismatics, arrived and settled in small groups in California, Oregon (particularly the Willamette Valley region),[13] Pennsylvania, and New York.[11] Immigrants of this wave include Irving Berlin, legend of American songwriting and André Tchelistcheff
, influential Californian winemaker.

Russian immigrant home, New York City, 1910s.

anti-Semitic sentiment. Jews were accused of disloyalty and expelled from areas in and near war zones. Furthermore, much of the fighting between Russia, and Austria and Germany took place in Western Russia in the Jewish Pale of Settlement. World War I uprooted half a million Russian Jews.[14] Because of the upheavals of World War I, immigration dwindled between 1914 and 1917. But after the war, hundreds of thousands of Jews began leaving Europe and Russia again for the U.S., modern-day Israel and other countries where they hoped to start a new life.[15]

Second wave (1916–1922)

A large wave of Russians immigrated in the short time period of 1917–1922, in the wake of October Revolution and Russian Civil War. This group is known collectively as the White émigrés. The U.S. was the third largest destination for those immigrants, after France and Serbia.[citation needed] This wave is often referred to as the first wave, when discussing Soviet era immigration. The head of the Russian Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, was one of those immigrants.

Russian-speaking bankers in Chicago, 1910s.

Since the immigrants were of the higher classes of the

Jasha Heifetz, and the actor Yul Brynner
also left Russia in this period.

As with first and second wave, if the White émigré left Russia to any country, they were still considered first or second wave, even if they ended up moving to another country, including the U.S. at a later time. There was no 'strict' year boundaries, but a guideline to have a better understanding of the time period. Thus, 1917-1922 is a guideline. There are Russians who are considered second wave even if they arrived after 1922 up to 1948.

Soviet era (1922–1991)

Colonel Boris Pash (born Pashkovsky) commanded the Alsos Mission during World War II

During the

Alexander Orlov who escaped the purge in 1938[20] or Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Joseph Stalin, who left in 1967. Some were diplomats and military personnel who defected to sell their knowledge, such as the pilots Viktor Belenko in 1976 and Aleksandr Zuyev
in 1989.

Following the international condemnation of the Soviet reaction to

Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974. The amendment stipulated that the United States would review the record of human rights before permitting any special trade agreements with countries with non-market economies.[22] As a result, the U.S.S.R. was pressured into allowing those citizens that wanted to flee the U.S.S.R. for the United States to do so, with a cap on the number of citizens allowed to leave per year.[23] The Jackson-Vanik amendment made it possible for the religious minorities of the U.S.S.R. such as Roman-Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Jews to immigrate to the United States.[18] It effectively kept immigration from the U.S.S.R. to the United States open and as a result, from 1980 to 2008 some 1 million peoples immigrated from the former Soviet Union to the United States.[18]

The 1970s witnessed 51,000 Soviet Jews emigrate to the United States, a majority after the Trade Agreement of 1974 was passed.[22] The majority of the Soviet Jews that emigrated to the United States went to Cleveland.[22] Here, chain migration began to unfold as more Soviet Jews emigrated after the 1970s, concentrating in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland.[22] The majority of Soviet Jews that had arrived were educated and held college degrees.[22] These new immigrants would go onto work in important industrial businesses in the city such as BP America and General Electric Co. Other Russian and later post-Soviet immigrants found work in the Cleveland Orchestra or the Cleveland Institute of Music as professional musicians and singers.[22][24]

The slow

Brezhnev stagnation of the 1970s and Mikhail Gorbachev's following political reforms since the mid-1980s prompted an increase of economic immigration to the United States, where artists and athletes defected or legally emigrated to the U.S. to further their careers: ballet stars Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1974 and Alexander Godunov in 1979, composer Maxim Shostakovich in 1981, hockey star Alexander Mogilny in 1989 and the entire Russian Five later, gymnast Vladimir Artemov in 1990, glam metal band Gorky Park
in 1987, and many others.

Post-Soviet era (1991–present)

Russian speakers in the U.S.
Year
Speakers
1910a
57,926
1920a
392,049
1930a
315,721
1940a
356,940
1960a
276,834
1970a
149,277
1980[25]
173,226
1990[26]
241,798
2000[27]
706,242
2011[28]
905,843
^a Foreign-born population only[29]

With

political refugee status in the early 1990s. 50,716 citizens of ex-USSR were granted political refugee status by the United States in 1990, 38,661 in 1991, 61,298 in 1992, 48,627 in 1993, 43,470 in 1994, 35,716 in 1995[30] with the trend steadily dropping to as low as 1,394 refugees accepted in 2003.[31] For the first time in history, Russians became a notable part of illegal immigration to the United States
.

With the

fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent transition to free market economy came hyperinflation and a series of political and economic crises of the 1990s, culminating in the financial crash of 1998. By mid-1993 between 39% and 49% of Russians were living in poverty, a sharp increase compared to 1.5% of the late Soviet era.[32] This instability and bleak outcome prompted a large new wave of both political and economic emigration from Russia, and one of the major targets became the United States, which was experiencing an unprecedented stock market boom
in 1995–2001.

A notable part of the 1991—2001 immigration wave consisted of scientists and engineers who, faced with extremely poor job market at home

brain drain effect. According to the National Science Foundation, there were 20,000 Russian scientists working in the United States in 2003,[34] and the Russian software engineers were responsible for 30% of Microsoft products in 2002.[33] Skilled professionals often command a significantly higher wage in the U.S. than in Russia.[35] The number of Russian migrants with university educations is higher than that of U.S. natives and other foreign born groups.[36]

Protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine outside the Russian Consulate in New York City on February 24, 2022

51% of lawful Russian migrants obtain permanent residence from immediate family member of U.S. citizens, 20% obtain it from the Diversity Lottery, 18% obtain it through employment, 6% are family sponsored, and 5% are refugee and asylum seekers.[37]

The Soviet Union was a sports empire, and many prominent Russian sportspeople found great acclaim and rewards for their skills in the United States. Examples are

Alexandre Volchkov, and Andrei Kirilenko. Nastia Liukin
was born in Moscow, but came to America with her parents as a young child, and developed as a champion gymnast in the U.S.

On 27 September 2022, White House press secretary

Notable communities

2000 census
, red indicates higher concentrations

Communities with high percentages of people of Russian ancestry
The top U.S. communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Russian ancestry are:[40]

  1. Fox River, Alaska 80.9%[41]
  2. Aleneva, Alaska 72.5%[42]
  3. Nikolaevsk, Alaska 67.5%[43]
  4. Pikesville, Maryland 19.30%
  5. Roslyn Estates, New York 18.60%
  6. Hewlett Harbor, New York 18.40%
  7. East Hills, New York 18.00%
  8. Wishek, North Dakota 17.40%
  9. Eureka, South Dakota 17.30%
  10. Beachwood, Ohio 16.80%
  11. Penn Wynne, Pennsylvania 16.70%
  12. Kensington, New York and Mayfield, Pennsylvania 16.20%
  13. Napoleon, North Dakota 15.80%
Russian Old Believers Church in Gervais, Oregon

U.S. communities with the most residents born in Russia
Top U.S. communities with the most residents born in Russia are:[44]

  1. Millville, Delaware 8.5%
  2. South Windham, Maine 7.8%
  3. South Gull Lake, Michigan 7.6%
  4. Loveland Park, Ohio 6.8%
  5. Terramuggus, Connecticut 4.7%
  6. Harwich Port, Massachusetts 4.6%
  7. Brush Prairie, Washington 4.5%
  8. Feasterville, Pennsylvania 4.4%
  9. Colville, Washington 4.4%
  10. Mayfield, Ohio 4.0%
  11. Serenada, Texas 4.0%
  12. Orchards, Washington 3.6%
  13. Leavenworth, Washington 3.4%

Apart from such settlements as

.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ "Table B04006 - PEOPLE REPORTING ANCESTRY - 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Table B05006 - PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES - 2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  3. ^ "Largest Ethnic Groups and Nationalities in US". World Atlas. July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Rediscovering Russian America". Institute of Modern Russia. 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  5. ^ "Growing Up Russian". Aleksandr Strezev, Principia. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  6. ^ "Immigration: Russia. Curriculum for Grade 6–12 Teachers". Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
  7. ^ "Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Leading Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) of Residence and Region and Country of Birth: Fiscal Year 2013". U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  8. ^ Matt Rooney (April 1, 2014). "Putin Moves Against Fair Lawn". Save Jersey. Retrieved March 19, 2016. In a move certain to carry dire geopolitical consequences for the world, the Russian Federation has moved troops into the 32,000-person borough of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, only days after annexing Crimea and strengthening its troop positions along the Ukrainian border.
  9. ^ "American FactFinder - Results". Archived from the original on February 14, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS). "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d Nitoburg, E. (1999). Русские религиозные сектанты и староверы в США. Новая И Новейшая История (in Russian) (3): 34–51. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  12. ^ Chapter 1 – The Migration in Dukh-i-zhizniki In America by Andrei Conovaloff, 2018 (in-progress)
  13. ^ a b "Russians and East Europeans in America". Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  14. ^ Gitelman, Zvi. A Century of Ambivalence, The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present. 2nd Ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988. Print.
  15. ^ Barnarvi, Eli ed. A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People. New York: Schocken Books, 1992. Print.
  16. ^ a b Moh, Caroline. "The Jackson-Vanik Amendment and U.S.-Russian Relations". wilsoncenter.org.
  17. ^ "Russians and East Europeans in America". sites.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  18. ^ a b c d e f "Soviet Exiles | Polish/Russian | Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  19. ^ "Soviet Exiles | Polish/Russian | Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  20. . Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  21. ^ History of Dissident Movement in the USSR by Lyudmila Alexeyeva. Vilnius, 1992 (in Russian)
  22. ^ a b c d e f Shaland, Irene. "Soviet and Post-Soviet Immigration". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  23. ^ "Cypress & Spruce". Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  24. ^ "Russians". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  25. ^ "Appendix Table 2. Languages Spoken at Home: 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  26. ^ "Detailed Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for Persons 5 Years and Over --50 Languages with Greatest Number of Speakers: United States 1990". United States Census Bureau. 1990. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  27. United States Bureau of the Census. Archived from the original
    on February 12, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  28. United States Bureau of the Census
    . Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  29. ^ "Mother Tongue of the Foreign-Born Population: 1910 to 1940, 1960, and 1970". United States Census Bureau. March 9, 1999. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  30. ^ "Fiscal Year 1999 Statistical Yearbook" (PDF). Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
  31. ^ "Refugees and Asylees: 2005" (PDF). Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
  32. ^ Branko Milanovic, Income, Inequality, and Poverty During the Transformation from Planned to Market Economy (Washington DC: The World Bank, 1998), pp.186–90.
  33. ^ a b "Russian brain drain tops half a million". BBC. June 20, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  34. ^ "Утечка мозгов" – болезнь не только российская. Экология И Жизнь (in Russian). 2003. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
  35. ^ "Russian brain drain tops half a million". June 20, 2002. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  36. ^ Bureau, US Census. "Census 2000 Foreign-Born Profiles". www.census.gov. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  37. ^ "Table 10. Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status By Broad Class Of Admission And Region And Country Of Birth: Fiscal Year 2016". Department of Homeland Security. May 16, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  38. ^ "The White House told Russians to flee here instead of fighting Ukraine. Then the U.S. tried to deport them". Los Angeles Times. August 17, 2023.
  39. ^ "Biden administration quietly resumes deportations to Russia". The Guardian. March 18, 2023.
  40. ^ "Ancestry Map of Russian Communities". Epodunk.com. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
  41. ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml# [1] American fact finder, Fox River, Alaska, Census 2000-Selected Social Characteristics (Household and Family Type, Disability, Citizenship, Ancestry, Language, ...)
  42. ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml# [2] American fact finder, Aleneva, Alaska, Census 2000-Selected Social Characteristics (Household and Family Type, Disability, Citizenship, Ancestry, Language, ...)
  43. ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml# [3] American fact finder, Nikolaevsk, Alaska, Census 2000-Selected Social Characteristics (Household and Family Type, Disability, Citizenship, Ancestry, Language, ...)
  44. ^ "Top 101 cities with the most residents born in Russia (population 500+)". City-Data. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  45. ^ Greenstone, Scott (June 16, 2016). "Oregon's Soviet Diaspora: 25 Years Later, The Refugee Community Wants To Be Known". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved December 23, 2020.

Further reading

  • Eubank, Nancy. The Russians in America (Lerner Publications, 1979).
  • Hardwick, Susan Wiley. Russian Refuge: Religion, Migration, and Settlement on the North American Pacific Rim (U of Chicago Press, 1993).
  • Jacobs, Dan N., and Ellen Frankel Paul, eds. Studies of the Third Wave: Recent Migration of Soviet Jews to the United States (Westview Press, 1981).
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert. "Russian Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2014), pp. 31–45. online
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert. The Russian Americans (Chelsea House, 1989).

External links