Albanians in America

Albanians first came in large numbers to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. At present there are an estimated 70,000 Albanian Americans, including the original immigrants and their descendants.

Origins

The Albanian homeland is located in a rugged, mountainous region of the Balkan Peninsula. Almost 2.5 million Albanians (95 percent of the country's population) live in Albania; another 1.5 million live in the adjacent Yugoslav territories of Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia; in addition, there are more than 300,000 in Greece, southern Italy, and Sicily, and almost as many in Turkey and other Balkan countries.

The Albanians are made up of two distinct groups, the Gegs and the Tosks, who are roughly divided by the Shkumbin River which cuts across the center of Albania. The Gegs, who account for approximately half of the population, lived largely in isolation until recently. The mountainous terrain in which they lived made it possible for them to maintain their traditional way of life until World War II. The Tosks, who live in less rugged southern Albania, have been subjected to a greater degree of foreign control and influence than the Gegs. Since 1945, however, both groups have experienced vast changes in their lives as a result of the nation's new social order. One of the most important changes has been a growing interaction between southern and northern Albanians which has served to lessen the differences between them.

This change is reflected in the language. Albanian is an Indo-European language, although it shows no close affinity to any other language in that group. Most speakers of the two main dialects, Geg and Tosk, are able to understand one another. Each of the dialects has served at different times as the basis for the standard written language. At present, a uniform literary language featuring elements of both is in use, though the Tosk dialect has more weight than the Geg.

In 1967, 73 percent of the population of Albania was Muslim, 17 percent Eastern Orthodox, and 10 percent Roman Catholic. Almost all the Albanians in Yugoslavia (Gegs) are Muslim and, like the Gegs in Albania, largely of the orthodox Sunni sect. In the past their almost fanatical regard for Islam dominated their way of life. A small minority of Gegs in Albania (10 percent) is Roman Catholic. Among the Tosks religious feeling is less pronounced. About 70 percent are Muslim, equally divided between the Sunni and more liberal Bektashi sects; the remainder are Orthodox Christians. In 1967 the government of Albania outlawed religion; making that country officially the only atheist state in the world.

The Albanians are descendants of the Illyrians, who inhabited the Balkan Peninsula as early as the second millennium B.C. During the past two thousand years Albania was controlled by a succession of Roman, Bulgar, Serb, Venetian, Byzantine, and Ottoman Turkish rulers. From time to time native feudal lords arose, the most famous being the national hero, Scanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti [George Castriota]; 1405-1468), who in the mid-15th century successfully resisted Ottoman Turkish rule. In the centuries that followed many Albanians entered the bureaucracy and military in the Ottoman Empire, and some rose to the highest positions in that state. During the final decades of the 19th century a nationalist movement developed (prompted to a considerable extent by Albanians living abroad), and after several revolts against the Ottoman Turks, Albanian independence was declared in 1912. The following year the western European powers recognized the new nation within borders almost the same as those of present-day Albania. The country was occupied by foreign armies during World War I and it was annexed by Italy in 1939. Local guerrillas, led by the Communist Enver Hoxha, established a socialist republic in 1946. The rigidly orthodox Marxist Albanian regime allied itself successively with Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. Since 1978, however, it has stood aloof from all its former Communist allies.

Arrival, Settlement, and Economic Life

The first Albanian on record to settle in the United States was Kole Kristofor (Nicholas Christopher), who landed in Boston in the 1880s and is still remembered by Albanian Americans as the pioneer of their ethnic group. It was not until the first decade of the 20th century, however, that Albanians began to arrive in substantial numbers. Almost all of them were Orthodox Christian Tosks from the south—young bachelors or married men seeking means to support the families they had left behind. They did not intend to settle permanently, and after World War I an estimated 10,000 returned to Albania. A new group of Albanian Tosks arrived after World War I; most of these immigrants intended to stay and either brought their families or married after settling in the New World. A rather different group of Albanians came after World War II. Most were political exiles from Communist-ruled Albania and Yugoslavia, of whom a substantial number were Gegs, either Muslims or members of the Roman Catholic minority in Albania.

It is not possible to know the precise number of Albanians who came to the United States, for the early immigrants did not often identify themselves as Albanians. In 1920 some 6,000 people reported Albanian as their mother tongue—the language spoken in their homes when they were growing up. In 1970 the figure was 17,382. Allowing for families that abandoned their native tongue, it is reasonable to estimate that approximately 70,000 Albanian immigrants and their descendants live in the United States today.

The earliest arrivals settled in Boston and spread from there into other parts of New England: Worcester, Natick, and Southbridge, Mass.; Manchester, N.H.; Biddeford-Saco, Me.; Bridgeport and Waterbury, Conn. Others went to live in New York City (in particular the Bronx), as well as Jamestown and Rochester, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago—and as far west as St. Louis. Later immigrants were drawn to the same cities, with the result that the geographic distribution of Albanian Americans today is essentially what it was at the turn of the century.

The early Albanian immigrants were mainly peasants. Most were illiterate, partly because education in the Albanian language was strictly forbidden by the Turkish government. Eventually many were taught— by their better-educated fellows and the immigrant press—to read and write English and Albanian. As peasant farmers they did not have the kind of experience needed for skilled work in industrial America, and they were forced to take jobs as unskilled laborers in textile and shoe factories, mills, foundries, and shipyards, or to perform menial tasks in restaurants and hotels. A few were peddlers.

The pioneers worked hard and led a spartan existence. They considered entertainment and sports frivolous and remained aloof from both the larger American society and other ethnic groups. To save money they crowded together in tenements, 10 or 15 to a single apartment in a living arrangement they called a konak. Existence in the konak was drab, especially for peasants accustomed to outdoor life. They kept house by taking turns at cleaning and cooking, washing their own clothes and mending their own shoes. They endured the impersonal urban life of America's sprawling industrial centers because they saw a way to make money and to escape the cycle of poverty into which they otherwise seemed permanently trapped.

The Albanian workers alleviated their miseries by organizing social institutions: in Boston—always the capital of Albanian Americans—were the Kafene Vatra (Hearth Coffeehouse) and the Hotel Skënderbeu, named after Scanderbeg. Societies were also formed to aid villages in the homeland by providing money to build schools and roads, or even a dowry for some destitute girl. Some of these societies still exist: in the Greater Boston area the Katundi Society and the Panarity Society, named after the villages where the members originated, continue to hold periodic meetings and an annual banquet.

The socioeconomic status of the Albanian group changed over time. Some of the immigrants set up small businesses, sent their children to school, and began to adopt American middle-class ways. The postwar immigrants included a number of intellectuals, former government officials, political leaders, and professionals, bringing greater diversity to the community. The overwhelming majority of Albanians today continue to live in the city and hold jobs in industry, business, government, and education; a few are wealthy. A substantial number own small businesses, most often restaurants, but also groceries, tailor and flower shops, and the like. Many of the most recent immigrants remain in menial jobs, however, as custodians, window washers, and general handymen, especially among the 12,000 Bronx Albanians who make up one of New York's newest ethnic communities.

Social and Family Life

Albanian-American social and family life is a fusion—sometimes a confusion—of two value systems: the old, tradition-bound, male-dominated Albanian one; and the new, flexible, future-oriented American one. In accordance with Albanian tradition, the husband is still the head of the family, even though he no longer wields the nearly absolute authority he once had. The wife's place used to be at home, for it was considered demeaning for her to work outside; but that is no longer the case, especially among the second and later generations.

Until the 1950s nothing pained Albanian parents more than the thought that their son or daughter might marry a non-Albanian, but when, despite their bitter protests, it happened, they usually resigned themselves to the change. Albanian parents also used to think that a high-school diploma was already more than was required for a girl's education: her moral purity and strength of character might be damaged by exposure to too much learning. This attitude also has changed in recent years, except in the communities of postwar immigrants where the stern moral code of the Albanian mountains is still alive; there, the efforts of church and social organizations are needed to keep girls in school past the age of 13.

Albanians maintain close contact with their relatives and continue to observe many traditional greetings and rituals when they visit and entertain one another. They enjoy cooking Albanian dishes and are especially proud of their vegetable pies. At communal celebrations of national and religious holidays they still sing Albanian songs and dance Albanian dances, sometimes in native costume. Picnics draw them from widely scattered towns—sometimes hundreds of miles from the picnic site—and attract entire families, from elderly grandmothers to infants. For a time Albanians in Manchester, N.H., owned their own picnic ground, where they gathered to eat olives and feta cheese, chicken and roast lamb, spinach-, leek-, or squash-filled pies (lakror), and pastries called kurabie, brushtull, and baklava. They still sometimes celebrate name days instead of birthdays; they observe Albanian Independence Day; the Orthodox Christians among them honor Easter above all other religious holidays; the Muslims observe Bairam and other holidays.

Albanians are for the most part law-abiding citizens. The exceptions have been mostly among the postwar Gegs, who brought traditional blood feuds with them to the United States—to the Bronx especially, but also to Detroit and to Los Angeles, where a community of several hundred Albanians came into existence in the 1970s. In the Bronx, many Albanians moved m alongside the Italians south of Fordham Road (presumably because they learned to speak Italian in refugee camps in Italy before coming to America; they also share their Roman Catholic faith). Incidents of retribution have become rare, however, as the newcomers learn to bring their ideas of personal honor, justice, and ethnic pride into better harmony with American law and to settle differences through mediators rather than with weapons.

Religion

Albanian-American life still centers upon religious institutions: for Albanians as for other eastern Europeans, religion and ethnic identity have traditionally been inextricably intertwined. Most of the first immigrants were Orthodox Christians from the Korçë region in southeastern Albania, the principal center of Tosk culture. This Orthodox community was under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, who from his seat in the Turkish capital of Istanbul tried to maintain strict control over the faithful in Albania as well as those who left the country. In the United States, however, where the constraints of Turkish rule were nonexistent, the Albanians rebelled. In the early 1900s when a Greek Orthodox priest in Hudson, Mass., refused to officiate at a funeral for a young Albanian on the grounds that he has been a nationalist and was therefore excommunicated, the Albanians of Massachusetts called a meeting and decided to obtain their own priest. They invited Fan S. Noli (1882-1965), who was subsequently ordained by the Russian Orthodox archbishop of New York on March 8, 1908. This date marks the beginning of the Albanian Orthodox Church of America, the first of its kind anywhere in the world. Initially under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, in 1919 it was reorganized as an independent diocese.

The success of the Albanian Orthodox Church was due largely to Fan Noli, a Harvard-educated writer, composer, and politician who had come to the United States in 1906 with the express intention of organizing immigrants to work for the Albanian national cause. Noli introduced Albanian into the liturgy, and after returning from Europe in 1932 he served as Metropolitan of the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America until his death in 1965. Today the archdiocese, with its mother church in Boston, has 13 parishes and is part of the Orthodox Church in America. (See Eastern Orthodox.)

The Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America, headed since 1949 by Bishop Mark Lipa, is a splinter organization with only two parishes, one in Boston, the other in Chicago. The diocese was formed during the cold war, when Bishop Lipa and his followers accused Bishop Noli of being a Communist sympathizer and therefore unfit to preside over the Albanian Church. Noli's supporters in turn charged Lipa with being an agent of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate in Istanbul, sent to the United States to further Greek nationalist aims. The conflict raged for several years, but Bishop Lipa was unable to undermine the church of Bishop Noli, whose past achievements were still respected by the majority of the Orthodox community.

The Albanian Muslims founded their first society in 1915 in Biddeford, Me. In 1949 Imam Vehbi Ismail organized the Albanian-American Muslim Society in Detroit. Since then other Muslim religious centers have been established in Waterbury, Chicago, and Brooklyn, N.Y. The New York center (f. 1972) is known as the Albanian-American Islamic Center for the states of New York and New Jersey, and is the most active of the four. The Bektashi Muslim sect, which is mystic in character and inclines toward pantheism, has its own tekke (monastery) in Detroit (f. 1954) under the leadership of Baba Rexhep (1901-). The Bektashis have played a significant role in Albanian national life, and since 1925 the world headquarters of the sect has been in Albania. At their Detroit monastery the Bektashis have recreated something of their Old World agrarian monastic life by growing vegetables and raising poultry.

Albanian Catholics are the most recent arrivals and consequently the last to establish organized religious life. There are Albanian Catholic parishes in the Bronx and Detroit. The Bronx parish, Our Lady of Good Counsel (f. 1962), is led by Monsignor Zef Oroshi (1916-); since 1969 it has operated an Albanian Catholic Center to serve approximately 3,500 first-generation Albanian Catholics throughout Greater New York.

Political Life

Albanian Americans have not played an active role in American political life; for them politics most often means concern with the fate of the homeland. The Albanian struggle for independence during the first decade of the 20th century coincided with the initial large-scale immigration of Albanians to the United States. In an environment free from Turkish political or Greek religious pressure, Albanian leaders, notably Fan Noli, Faik Konitza (1876-1942), Christo Dako, and Constantine Chekrezi (1892-1959), were able to aid the cause of Albanian independence. In April 1912 they formed the Pan-Albanian Federation of America, popularly known as Vatra (The Hearth). Based in Boston, Vatra at the height of its power had 72 branches throughout the United States. Its publications infused immigrants with a sense of the Albanian national purpose, while its leaders brought the Albanian issue to the attention of the western powers. This resulted in the recognition of an independent Albania (albeit without Kosovo and other Albanian ethnic lands) by the London Conference in 1913. When Albanian independence was threatened by foreign occupation during World War I, Vatra raised $150,000 in 1917, began to publish an English-language monthly, Adriatic Review (Boston, 1918-1919), and through the mediation of Fan Noli won a pledge from President Woodrow Wilson to defend Albanian interests at the Versailles Peace Conference. Even after the country's independence was assured, Albanian Americans continued to play a role in homeland politics. Bishop Noli returned to Albania after World War I where he became Primate of the newly formed Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the leader of western-oriented liberal politicians intent upon modernizing the country. Noli was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1922; then he led a successful revolt in June 1924 and became prime minister. After six months he was forced into exile, eventually returning to the United States in 1932. Noli was succeeded by a conservative landowner, Ahmed Zog (1895-1961), who later declared himself king. Another Albanian-American activist, Faik Konitza, served the new monarchy as its minister plenipotentiary in Washington, D.C.

A serious split developed between the Noli and Konitza forces within Vatra in the mid-1920s, when Konitza switched his political allegiance from Vatra's anti-Zog platform to open support of Zog. As a result, the society was weakened and a vacuum developed in Albanian-American political life.

But the Italian occupation of Albania during World War II prompted renewed political activity. Constantine Chekrezi, a founding member of Vatra, set up a rival organization, Shqipëria e Lirë (Free Albanian Organization), in South Boston in 1941. It brought together nationalists, antimonarchists, anti-Fascists, radicals, and disillusioned Vatra members, and soon had branches in a number of American cities.

After World War II both Vatra and the Free Albania Organization tried to adopt a realistic platform; in essence, this meant the adoption of a sympathetic attitude toward the Communist-ruled homeland. Because of this, the new anti-Communist political exiles were excluded from the ranks of these organizations. Only after 1957 did Vatra begin to modify its position toward Communist Albania and accept the new immigrants as members, becoming somewhat revitalized as a result. Since 1960 Vatra has organized several seminars on Albanian studies; and through its student fund it has awarded scholarships to several dozen college students of Albanian descent.

Despite Vatra's change of policy, most postwar Albanian immigrants have remained loyal to the over one dozen Albanian political parties that have been recreated or established in the West. Among the most influential are the Agrarian-Democratic party, heir to Balli Kombëtar (National Front), which has a republican and middle-class platform; the Organizata Kombëtare Lëvizja e Legalitetit (National Organization of the Legality Movement), a conservative party that champions the politics of the late King Zog; the Blloku Kombëtar Indipendent (National Independent Bloc), a Catholic party that has attracted people disenchanted with the policies of the World War "historical parties"—the National Front and the Legality party; and the Bashkimi Demokrat Shqiptar (Albanian Democratic Union), an anti-Communist nationalist umbrella group that strives to unite the existing parties, intellectuals, and other elements. The large number or inhabitants from Albanian-inhabited regions of Yugoslavia also have their own Lidhja Kosovare (Union of Kosovars), a militant organization with strong support in Michigan, Illinois, and New York advocating the creation of a "democratic ethnic Albania" that would include the Kosovo and other Albanian-populated areas in present-day Yugoslavia. A number of these organizations and groups hold periodic meetings and publish newspapers or journals, but none appears to have a perceptible influence on American politics.

In reaction to chronic factionalism and general ineffectiveness, in 1946 a group of young Albanian Americans established in New York the Albanian-American National Organization (AANO) to help its members adjust to the realities of American life. AANO has met with a modicum of success; like Vatra, it awards annual scholarships to students of Albanian descent.

Cultural Life

From the earliest days of the Albanian-American community, the press has played an important informative and educational role. Coming from a Turkish-ruled province where the teaching of Albanian was forbidden, many immigrants learned to read their native language only in the United states. The first Albanian newspaper was Kombi (The Nation; Boston, 1906-1909). This was succeeded by Dielli The Sun (Boston, f.1909), which was founded by the Besa-Besën (The Pledge) society and in 1912 became the official Vatra organ. The most influential Albanian newspaper in the United States, Dielli was edited from 1944 to 1963 by G.M. Panarity (1892-1976). Dielli also published school textbooks that were used in the Albanian homeland as well as in the United States.

There were several short-lived political and educational reviews, such as the monthly Albanian Era (Denver, Colo., 1915-1916), the semimonthly Illyria (Boston, 1916), and the monthly Yll i Mëngjesit The Morning Star (Boston, 1917-1919); the liberal newspaper Republika (Boston, 1930-1932), the biweekly Lajmëtari Shqipëtar (The Albanian Messenger; Worcester, Mass., 1934-1937), and the leftwing radical newspaper, Demokratia (Democracy; Boston, 1938). The Shërbestari (The Serviceman; New York, 1950-1961) of the Agrarian Democratic Youth and Shqiptari i Lirë (The Free Albanian; New York, f.1957) of the Free Albanian Committee have appeared since World War II.

More successful is Liria Liberty (South Boston, f. 1941),the weekly organ of the Free Albania Organization, begun by that group's founder, Constantine Chekrezi, and edited for another three decades by Dhimitri R. Nikolla. In more recent years each of the Albanian religious communities has had its own periodical: the Muslim Jeta Musilmane Shqiptare (Albanian Muslim Life, 1953-1961) and Përpjekja e Jonë (Our Effort; New York, f.1974); the Bektashi Muslim Zëri i Bektashizmës (The Voice of Bektashism; Taylor, Mich., f. 1954); the Orthodox Drita e Vërtetë (The True Light; Jamaica Plain, Mass., f. 1958); and the Catholic Jeta Katholike Shqiptare (Catholic Albanian Life; Bronx, N.Y., f. 1966). The total annual circulation of all Albanian and Albanian-English periodicals is approximately 10,000.

Albanian language and culture have been transmitted through schools as well as the press. Christo Dako started to teach Albanian in Natick, Mass., in 1908. Since then numerous attempts, usually by churches, have been made to teach the language to young Albanian Americans. The results have not been encouraging, for very few third- or fourth-generation Albanians understand—much less speak—the language. Nevertheless, efforts persist. During the 1960s Vatra sponsored the publication of an Albanian-language textbook by Fehime Pipa, and the Albanian-American Islamic Center in New York established an Albanian language program in Manhattan. Classes in Albanian are also offered m Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Worcester. Radio broadcasts in Albanian have also been popular and have contributed to language maintenance in the United States. The oldest such program is Zëri i Shqipërisë (The Voice of Albania) which began in Boston in 1938; Albanian radio programs are also broadcast from New York, Detroit, and Worcester.

Although there are no centers for Albanian studies at a university level, the language has been taught at several universities. Courses were given during the 1950s and 1960s at Indiana University, Columbia University, and the University of California at Berkeley. In the late 1970s only the University of Chicago taught Albanian. The U.S. Army Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., maintains the most active language program. Nelo Drizari (1902-1978), author of Albanian-English dictionaries, grammars, and other teaching aids, served as its chairman for many years.

Albanians were far more active culturally in the early days than at present. Theater groups were particularly popular, and in the Boston area amateur performances of plays by Albanian authors like Sami Frashëri, Foqion Postoli, Kristo Floqi, and Mihal Grameno were quite common. Albanian-American musical life was dominated by Thomas Nassi (1892-1964). In 1915 he organized the Boston Albanian Mandolin Club and the Albanian String Orchestra, and the following year he formed the Vatra band which after World War I toured Albania and stayed on to become the Royal Band at King Zog's court. In later years Nassi returned to Massachusetts to conduct the Cape Cod Philharmonic Society.

Albanian-American newspapers were often filled with literary works by immigrant authors. The first significant Albanian-American writer was the master of Tosk prose, Faik Konitza, who also founded the magazine Albania (Brussels and London, 1897-1909), which stimulated nationalist fervor and served as a repository of Albanian folklore, history, and literature. Albanian-American poetry was enriched by Fan Noli and, more recently, by Arshi Pipa, each of whom has published several volumes.

Albanian Americans have long recognized the need to prepare scholarly works which would preserve the culture of the homeland as well as present it to the larger American public. The leading scholar was Bishop Fan Noli, who, in addition to his poetry, musicology, religious studies, and translations into Albanian of Shakespeare and other literary classics, wrote a biography (1950) of the national hero Scanderbeg.

The Albanians have a reputation as a brave, loyal, hospitable, proud, and fiercely independent people— and also as a martial, headstrong, and feuding people. Albanian Americans share the cultural heritage of their rugged ancestors. They preserve the tradition of hospitality; they are proud or their customs, manners, and morals, in spite of some questioning of their value by their children and grandchildren. And they have a certain relish for controversy and factionalism within their community, as if those were necessary ingredients for a meaningful, zestful, and productive communal life.

Decades of life in the United States have had an impact on them, as a group and as individuals. The community has been changing steadily. The clannish, feuding consciousness is weakening, perhaps even dying out. The martial tradition, no longer needed to defend the group or personal and family honor, has given way to more practical interests and goals, such as advancement in business and the professions, respect for books and learning, and personal expression in sports. Like other Americans, most Albanians pursue material success: making money, accumulating property and possessions, and seeking social recognition. In short, they share the American dream.

Bibliography

The basic work on Albanians in the United States is The Albanian Struggle in the Old World and New (Boston,1939), prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of Massachusetts. A personalized account of the pioneer immigrants is found in a booklet by Constantine A. Demo, The Albanians in America: The First Arrivals (Boston, 1960). For the history of Albanian Orthodoxy, see Fan S. Noli, Fiftieth Anniversary Book of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America, 1908-1958 (Boston, 1960). The activity of the Vatra organization and its newspaper Dielli is treated in several essays in Seminari Ndërkombëtar i Federatës Panshqiptare "Vatra," ed. H.H. Oruci (Rome, 1971).

For an introduction to Albania itself, see Stavro Skendi, ed., Albania (New York, 1956), and Stavro Skendi, The Albanian National Awakening, 1878-1912 (Princeton, N.J., 1967). See also A. Logoreci, The Albanians: Europe's Forgotten Survivors (London, 1977), and R. Marmullaku, Albania and the Albanians (London, 1975). More recent developments are treated in Peter R. Prifti, Socialist Albania Since 1944 (Cambridge, Mass.,1978), and Nicholas C. Pano, The People's Republic of Albania (Baltimore, 1968).

The richest repository of archival materials on Albanian Americans is the Fan S. Noli Library at St. George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral in South Boston. Besides the papers of this prominent leader, the library contains several Albanian-American newspapers and other related publications.