American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Folklife Project (AFC 1993/001)

afc 1993001 13 006

Lebanese and Greek - Final Reports

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER

PROJECT ON ETHNIC HERITAGE AND LANGUAGE SCHOOLS IN AMERICA

Greek School

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral

Birmingham, Alabama

Lebanese Arabic School

St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church

Birmingham, Alabama

FINAL REPORT

Nancy Faires Conklin/Brenda McCallum

The University of Alabama

23 July 1982

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Methodology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3

Parish Histories

History of Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral. . •11

History of St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church 22

Language School Histories

History of Holy Trinity, Holy Cross, and Holy Trinity-Holy

Cross Greek Schools 28

History of St. Elias Arabic School 37

Ethnic Maintenance

Institutionalized Education

The Greeks 45

The Lebanese 57

Other Forms of Education 68

The Southern Experience 77

Recommendations 84

Appendices

Appendix A: Bibliographies

A-i: General Bibliography

A-2: Greek Bibliography

A-3: Lebanese Bibliography

A-4: Birmingham/Southeast Region Bibliography

Appendix B: Informants

B-i: Informant Lists

B-2: Key Contributor Forms

Appendix C: Interviews

C-i: Tape Inventory

C-2: Tape Logs

C-3: Fieldnotes

Appendix D: Photography

D-l: Photo/Slide Inventory

D-2: Logs of Contact Sheets D-3: Slides

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Appendix E: Materials Distributed by Fieldworkers

E-l: Description of the Project and Interviews, Letter to Priests

E-2: Interview Follow-up Letter

E-3: Questionnaire on Ethnic Maintenance

E-4: Project Description to Appear in the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross

75th Anniversary Yearbook

Appendix F: Supplementary Materials

F-l: Greek Materials

F-2: Lebanese Materials

Conk lin/McCallum--3

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METHODOLOGY

This report incorporates our findings about two ethnic communities in Bir-

mingham, Alabama. The Deep South region is generally thought of as primarily

rural and almost exclusively populated by Anglo-Americans and Afro-Americans.

In fact, there are a number of highly urbanized areas; Birmingham is the "Pitts-

burgh of the South", a center for mining, steelmaking, and metal refining. And,

throughout the small town as well as urban South, sizable and culturally-reten-

tive white ethnic communities can be found. In the cases of the two groups we

studied--Greeks and Lebanese--the Birmingham communities are the largest in the

state, but their relatives, potential marriage partners, and ethnic social net-

works are located in smaller towns and other cities across Alabama, Florida,

Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. This report will address the two communi-

ties primarily as autonomous social structures. We will, however, attempt to

characterize our observations about the similiarities in the ethnic experience

in the Deep South and the parallel responses that this social milieu has evoked

in terms of ethnic maintenance strategies.

The Greek community studied here is the congregation of Holy Trinity-Holy

Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Birmingham. Although some Greeks

attend the local Eastern Rite Catholic churches and other Orthodox churches,

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross is the obvious cultural and reliqious center for the

area's Greeks and Greek Americans.

The fieldworkers selected St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church as the site

for the study of ethnic heritage and language education in the Lebanese com-

munity. St. Elias is one of two Eastern Rite Catholic churches in the city to

which Lebanese belong. The other is St. George Melkite Greek Catholic Chur Th.

Both were founded by immigrant Lebanese. The congrecation at St. George w

Conklin/ cCal1um--4

not included in this study due in part to time restrictions, but also to the

highly mixed ethnic composition of its membership--Lebanese, Greek, Palestin-

ian, and Syrian, led currently by an ethnically Greek priest. While Lebanese

from both churches are active in local Lebanese cultural life, efforts toward

institutionalization of ethnic education have been centered at predominantly-

_-

Initial contacts in the Lreek cominuna ty were securec from Fr. fmanuei

Vasilakis, priest at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, and at St. Elias through t:

parish priest, Fr. Richard Saad. Each offered his own observations on t

ethnic education efforts in his parish, and further offered us free use

the church library and further contacts among parishioners who have been

directly involved in or are supportive of language and ethnic education.

Vasilakis arranged many of the interviews for us personally; Fr. Saad gave

a list of contacts and made known his approval of our work. (See Appendix B-

1 for lists of informants.)

The fieldworkers also met with Karen Roleri, interviewer for the Greek and

Lebanese communities on the NEH-funded "BirmingFind" local history project.

Although Ms. Rolen had not explored education in her study of the city's Greeks

and Lebanese, she did provide a supplementary list of older ethnic-community

activists and some insights into the composition of the communities. (The

"BirmingFind" reports are attached in Appendix F.)

All interviews more extensive than casual, drop-in conversation were tape-

recorded and have been indexed and their more important or pertinent sections

transcribed. (See Appendix C.) The fieldworkers also took auxiliary notes

during the interviews, especially when visual materials were presented by the

informants. Field notes from unrecorded interviews are attached in Appendix

41

Fr. Emanuel Vasilakis, Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, Dean and parish priest,

appointed two years ago. He is a native of Ambridge, Pennsylvania's Greek community and is a fluent Greek/English bilingual. He and his

family came to Birmingham from a parish in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

Although he attended Greek School as a child, he has permitted his son to drop out of language classes.

Sharon Worrell, a non-Greek convert from Roman Catholicism, attracted by

the ritualism of Orthodoxy. She has not attended Greek classe been encouraged to do so. sh

Married to a man 20 years her sen-ior, sllf,� Callie to Birmingham 3 years

ago with her husband and 14- and 12-year-old daughters. She and her children attend Greek School classes and she and her husband are mem-bers of the Parish Council.

5I f 1Uuw

Josie Graphos, a nor.-Greek who converted from Methodism to Greek Ortho-

doxy 11 years after her marriage to a member of a large local Greek

family. She is an advocate of splitting the parish into two church.-

es, one to serve "imports" and one for Americanized Greeks.

Georgia Kampaki4s, a second-generation Greek American raised in Charleston,

South Carolina, where she attended Greek School daily as a child.

She moved to Birmingham 24 years ago. She has two Greek-born adopted

children, and is presently Philoptochos president.

Janice Mastoras, a non-Greek married to a Birmingham second-generation

Greek American. She is converted to Orthodoxy, but apparently has

ties to St. George Melkite as well. Her two daughters attended

Greek School in the mid-60s/early-70s. She works on the Greek

Bazaar and other women's activities.

Maude Morgan, a second-generation Greek American from Fairfield, Alabama,

wife of an immigrant from Hydra who was a restauranteur and whole-

sale produce salesman. She attended Greek School at Holy Trinity

throughout her youth; her sons, now adults, also attended. Active

in Philoptochos, Sunday school teaching, choir, and women's activi-

Tasia Fifles, born in Birmingham to Chris and Christine Grammas (see

below). A second-generation American, she grew up in a Greek-speak-

ing home and attended Greek school in the 1940s. However she has

not sent her own children, much to their and her regret.

Themis Kanellopoulos, a young Greek engineer who migrated to the United

States in 1975. In 1979 he came to Birmingham and teaches Saturday

Greek School classes. He himself was raised trilingually in Greek,

English, and French; his classes stress conversation, Greek history,

and classical literature. Married to Sherre Kannellopoulos (see

Sheree Kannellopoulos, born in Jersey City and raised in Florida. She

is ethnically Greek, but was not in a Greek or Orthodox community

as a child. Her family retained Greek foodways and selected customs,

but no Greek language. She married Themis Kanellopoulos in 1980 and

moved to Birmingham as a marketing representative for data process-

ing products and attends the Saturday Greek School classes.

C. W. Jovaras, a second-generation Greek American from Richmond, Virginia,

whose mothers's family came from Tarpon Springs, Florida's..Greek com-

munity. Only Greek was spoken in his home; he had difficulties in

primary school because of his poor English skills. He attended Uni-

versity of Alabama/Birmingham to earn an engineering degree, but

minored in Classical Greek. Married to Nichi Jovaras (see below);

their two daughters have attended Greek School.

Jovaras, who immigrated to Hopewell, Virginia at age 11. She is a

computer technician and wife of C. W. Jovaras (see above). She

taught Greek classes in her home and has expanded this effort to

teach weekday evening classes at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, where she

stresses the Greek alphabet, and practical reading, writing, and

speaking skills.

Conklin/Mc Callum--7

Alexandra Bonduris, born in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 1913, has

lived in the Birmingham area all her life. She attended Holy Trin-

ity Greek School under various teachers. She is a retired sales clerk and wife of the founder of a famous Greek restaurant in Bes-

semer, Alabama, the Bright Star. She is active in women's church work, Philoptochos, and the Knit-Chat-Chew group, elder women who socialize over sewing, mostly in English, but some in Greek. A fluent Greek speaker. Sister of Christine Grarninas (see below); mem-ber of a founding Greek family, the Derzis.

Christine Grammas, sister of Alexandra Bonduris, the eldest of the Derzis daughters. Born in 1909, two years after her parents immigrated.

Her father operated a fruit stand opposite the rail station and helped found Holy Trinity. Attended Greek School 1916-22 under the

respected teacher Fr. Nicholas Lambrinides. Active in church activ-

ities with her sister. Wife of an immigrant Greek and mother of Tasia Fifles (see above).

Further information on the informants can be found in Appendix B.

Interviews with the Lebanese informants were arranged by us and took

place in their homes, with the exception of James Mezrano, who was interview

at his place of business, an interior decorating shop in Mountain Br(

bama. The following sketches briefly describe the informants; more

tion is given in Appendix B.

Fr. Richard Saad, pastor of St. Elias since 1972; this is his first par-

ish. He is Lebanese-American, son of an immigrant father and a sec-

ond-generation American mother. He grew up in the large Detroit Lebanese community, but does not speak Arabic fluently. He does, however, understand a considerable amount, and speaks well enough to communicate at--in his words--a "superficial" level with Arabic-speaking parishioners. He is the first American-born or American-

trained priest at St. Elias. He does not favor opening a parochial all-day school at St. Elias.

Josephine Wehby Sharbel, daughter of the founder and first teacher of the

St. Elias Arabic School. She is 78, the daughter of immigrants, and has spent most of her life in Birmingham. Her father was a peddlar;

her mother ran a fine lace and linens shop. Widow of a member of a leading Birmingham Lebanese family, her children all live in Bir-mingham and attend St. Elias. She is a fluent speaker of Arabic.

Elizabeth Boohaker, former secretary at St. Elias under Fr. Abi-Chedid and member of one of the founding families of the Birmingham com-

munity. She was born in Birmingham in 1913, but lived two years (1925-27) in Lebanon, when her father attempted to return permanently to farming in his native village. Her father died en route to

Lebanon in 1937 and she took her mother to his grave after World War

II. She has made several visits to Lebanon. She is unmarried and

Conklin/McCallum--)

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nities in the United States and Canada. We especially researched the history

of immigrant communities in the Southeast region. These materials are listed

in the bibliographies, Appendix A.

The "Key Contributor Forms" provided by the project were mailed as a fol-

low-up to the interview, accompanied by :a thank-you letter and a "Questionnaire

on Ethnic Maintenance" devised by the fieldworkers. The questionnaire was

designed to reflect the information we received in our early interviews and

survey the informants ' ability to isolate and report components of languag

and culture which their communities might choose to retain, and to ascerta.

the differing values they might place on these various factors in a series of

different cultural settings. A sample of the questionnaire is included in

Appendix C.

In the course of our work with these Greeks and Lebanese we observed that

they do not clearly differentiate formal from informal education. Rather, edu-

cation in the home is seen as requiring education in the church as a necessary

supplement, especially for the Americanized and non-Greek- or non-Arabic-speak-

ing, but highly ethnically conscious, parents. Parents, elders, the parish

priest, Sunday school teachers, and Greek/Arabic school teachers are all

jointly responsible for cultural education of the younger Greek and Lebanese

Americans. Further, they do not draw a distinction between language mainte-

nance, religious maintenance, and cultural maintenance. Most do not wish to

rank one above the others. Our interviewees' responses to questions about

education might be answered with the need for Greek or Arabic classes, for

catechism training (especially by the Maronites), or ethnic dance, food, or

song celebrations.

Thus this report encompasses not only formal but informal education, and

the teaching of not just language, but religious tradition and cultural hen -

Conklin/McCallum--10

tage. It attempts to characterize the continuum of cultural retention activi-

ties carried out in the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross and St. Elias schools, in the

Greek and Lebanese homes, and in the various activities of church and commu-

nity social organizations.

Our findings are organized under three main headings. "Historical Back-

ground" outlines, first, the histories of the parishes and, second, the his-

tories of the language schools, describing the format, content, and pedagogy

they have evolved since their founding. The four sections under "Ethnic

Maintenance" evaluate these communities' ethnic maintenance struggles and docu-

ment and analyze our informants' attitudes concerning language and heritage

education. This section is based directly on our interviews and cites exten-

sively from the tape transcripts and our fieldnotes. The final "Recommenda-

tions" essay critiques the project and our own work and poses further questions

for research on these and other ethnic educational institutions and ethnic com-

munities.

This research was carried out by both fieldworkers in complete collabora-

tion. Likewise this report is jointly authored. However, Conklin, a socio-

linguist, has been primarily responsible for the literature review and analysis

of the community reponses concerning language maintenance and McCallum, a folk-

lorist, for the literature and responses concerning cultural maintenance.

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History of Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral

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Local legend has it that three seafaring brothers were the first Greek

immigrants to Alabama: the first to Mobile in 1873, the second to Montgomery

in 1878, and the third--George Cassimus--to Birmingham in 1884. Cassimus is

described as a British merchant seaman who, with his two brothers, had hired

out on a Confederate gunrunner and came from the Gulf port of Mobile to Bir-

mingham, first working for the fire department, and later opening up a lunch

stand (Petrou 1979: 21. Despite the controversial legends surrounding the ori-

gins of Alabama's first Greek settlers, most immigrants who left the patrida

entered the U.S. through Castle Garden on Ellis Island (the Kastengardi that

is often the setting for immigration narratives), and settled in the U.S. under

less dramatic circumstances (Christu 1977: 1-2).

Greek migration to the U.S. has always followed political developments

in the Mediterranean area, particularly during 1880 tc 1920, the era of (Ireat-

est migration: the continued tensions between Greece and Turkov, the Dalkan

wars (1912-1913), and the flight of Greeks from army conscription or persecu-

tion in Asia Minor (Thernstrom 1980: 431; Sa.loutos 1964: 20). Turbulent inter-

nai politics and unstable leadership--political schisms developed between ro,-.,-

alists and republicans--also contributed to the exodus at this time. Most 0

the early Greek immigrants to America, however, left their homeland as a

result of the poverty resulting from the severe depression of its agricultural

economy, especially on the Peloponnesian peninsula from 1882-86 when the Euro-

pean market for raisins and currants, Greece's principal exports, collapsed

(Patterson 1976: 7). The majority of the earliest immigrants to the U.S.,

-and even up until after World War II, were unskilled single males, the first

wave often planning to return with their savings from America to their Pelo-

ponnesian villages to establish a farm or business,or tDsupport their kin, or

to dower their daughter or sister, both strong Greek traditions. Many of the

Greek immigrants to Birmingham, however, as well as those who settled else-

where in the U.S. after 1900, were already married, or later returned to Greece

to find a bride, intending from the outset to establish permanent residency in

America (Petrou 1979: 4; Patterson 1976: 8).

Most of the early Greek immigrants to Birmingham came from the Pelopon-

nesian area and the islands of Corfu, Samos, and Rhodes, although some second-

wave immigrants, like C. W. Jovaras, Georgia Kampakis, and others in this study,

came into the city from smaller Greek American enclaves elsewhere in the South

(Petrou 1979: 4). Reports on the number of early Greek residents in the city

are conflicting, and official U.S. government immigration and census statistics

are deceptive. Growing from the 100 enumerated in the 1900 census, Greeks

numbered 900 Birmingham and 1200 Ensley residents by 1913 (Petrou 1979: 19).

Census data from 1920, however, reports only 485 Greeks in the city (Birming-

Find). The Greek immiurants, settled in metropolitan Bi.LminQham, as well as in

numerous of the satellite colTmiunities--Ens ev, Bessemer, Wvlam, and Pral:�t City

in particular--oriented toward Jefferson County's coal mines and iron and ste..

mills. In this early phase of the county's industrial development, labor

in short supply, and southern blacks as well as southern and eastern Europ(

immigrants were sought for the heavy, dirty, manual work. By as early as 1909

there were 500 Greeks in Ensley, many living in the Sherman Heights area, where

"9 out of 100 stores were Greek owned," and the majority of the Greek residents

were TCI (Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company) employees (Petrou 1979:

14). Except for this major concentration of Greeks in Ensley, there appears

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to have been little "ghetto" living, although Greek families generally lived

within the same neighborhoods. Within Birmingham proper, Greeks settled in the

Southside, especially on Cullom Street, and in Norwood.

Even before World War I, but especially after 1920, Greeks in Birmingham,

as elsewhere, began leaving their jobs as common laborers to go into retail

businesses, and a Greek American middle class emerged very early in the city's

history (Moskos 1980: 17). The majority of the Greeks, in the so-called "entre-

prenurial tradition," soon found work in wholesaling and retailing (Christu

1977: 10), and a 1908 survey of Greek American enterprises in Birmingham

included 125 food-related enterprises: sidewalk fruit stands, confectionaries,

groceries, drink bottling companies, coffee importers, restaurants and cafes,

wholesale produce companies, bakeries, and meat markets (Petrou 1979: 11-13).

Many of these enterprises were begun on a very small scale, with a small capi-

tal investment, and almost no overhead--as sidewalk food, stands ; by the

early 1900s, Greeks had such a monopoly as street vendors that a 1902 petition

to the city council unsuccessfully tried to revoke their retail licenses

(Petrou 1979: 9) . As a profitable sideline to their numerous restaurants,

Greeks in Birmingham apparently also comprised the majority of the city's

bootleggers during the Prohibition era, importing "Pensacola rye" from Florida

and selling it openly to a large and heterogeneous city-wide clientele (Christu

1977: 32-33). Other early non-food-related Greek-owned businesses included

hotels, barber shops, shoeshine shops, laundries, cleaning shops, and billiard

parlors.

The final wave of Greek immigrants into Birmingham followed the 1965

Immigration and Nationality Act, precipitated also by the increasing conflicts

between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus, and resulting in the exodus of 142,000

Greeks to the U.S. during the late 1960s and early 70s. These later immigrants

Conk 11 n/McCalluin-- 14

included both men and women who often had received professional and technical

training, and tended to come from Athens or central Greece, with no intention

of returning to their home Land (Moskos 1980: 9) . The Birmingham community,

however, also includes a sizeable number of recent immigrants who have been

educated only through grammar school, and have been described by one informant,

Josie Graphos, as "Greeks from the steel center side of town, [the] blue-collar

side, which is very ethnic . . . what I call the 'imports.'" (This and all

other citations from Graphos from tape log ES82-Mc/C-C7). Christine Grammas

describes the traditionalist attitude of some of the post-World War II immi-

grants:

Those people come to this country because it's a country of oppor-tunity as everybody knows, and

over here. Well, you can't do going to live an American, you your traditions are different, be Greek. That's impossible.

yet, they think they can bring Greece it. You live in this country, you

leave your Greek ways over there. but you cannot transform everybody to

Now that's my beef with these new-corners that come over (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C14).

This intra-community split has been characteristic of the Greek experience in

Birmingham since at least the 1920s, developing, in part, along class and

residency lines between Ensley (working class, recent immigrants) and Birming-

ham proper (middle class, second- or third-generation immigrants). (See also

"History of Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral," Appendix F-i.)

The seventh Greek Orthodox congregation in the U.S., Holy Trinity (Agia

Triada) Church was founded in 1902 with the organization of a lay committee

(Kinotitos), the Lord Byron Society (named in honor of the British poet who

improvement" (The United Greek Orthodox Community "Holy Trinity-Holy Cross"

1956: n.p.; Petrou 1979: 7). Reverend Kallinikos Kanellas, an ethnic Greek

from Constantinople, Turkey, was its first priest, and the first mass was S

Conklin/McCallum--15

S celebrated in 1907. After a three-year fund-raising drive, during which

time the small parish met in rented halls, the Society purchased a former

Methodist-Episcopal Church building on 19th Street and Avenue C, South (now

Third Avenue, South), and in 1909 the parish, with 100 members, was officially

named--"The Greek Orthodox Community of Holy Trinity, Birmingham, Alabama"--

and received a state charter. Shortly after the organization of the church,

daily afternoon Greek School classes were begun in the "little run-down build-

ing" next door that was also used as a general meeting place (Christu 1977: 12).

An early Greek American mutual aid society, the Young Greeks Progressive Soci-

ety, was also organized in 1909 or 1910 in Birmingham, and by 1911 its member-

ship included 150 young businessmen. Its activities ranged from helping new

immigrants acquire citizenship, to athletic training and contests, to English

language education (Burgess 1913: 174-179) . When Kanellas left in 1912, he

was replaced by Father Germanos Smirnakis, described as "a most learned man,

a good linguist, and the author of several books . . - [who also] lectured

every Sunday evening to his people on various subjects--religious, historical,

hygenic, etc." (Burgess 1913: 171-174). A succession of presumably Greek-

born priests appointed to the Holy Trinity parish by the Archdiocese followed

Smirnakis and are enumerated in Appendix F-i.

At the eve of the Depression, the Greek American community in Birmingham

numbered over 1500, "yet with this expansion came inter-community [sic] ten-

sion," between what seem to have been factionalized parishioners with differ-

ing values relating to ethnic heritage, language, and education (Petrou 1979:

29-30) .

Dissent within the community began developing in 1926, over the selection

process and hiring of an additional teacher to serve what some community mem-

bers thought was an overload of students for only one Greek School teacher.

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At the base of the argument was a long-standing controversy within the Greek

AmerIcan community between ecclesiastical and lay community authority in church

affairs. Nicholas Christu, then secretary of the Holy Trinity Church board,

who was active in the dissenting group, commented:

Because we want to get these two schools together, united, the only

way we can unite them is to fire both teachers and bring a new

teacher or let the parents to vote which teacher they want. [It is]

up to them and not the sinvoulion [elected church board] (Christu

This argument continued through 1932, and after unsuccessful efforts at recon-

ciliation, the Birmingham Greek community finally split over the school issue

in 1933, when approximately one-third of the Holy Trinity parishioners, incluc

ing most of the members of the local AHEPA chapter, "withdrew their membershil

and formed another parish, that of Holy Cross, [whose] aims and purposes bein�

of course the same, but in a manner more to their liking" (The United Greek

Orthodox Community "Holy Trinity-Holy Cross" 1956: n.p.).

At first, not formally recognized by the Archdiocese, this group was led

bv a maie tria tria [group of three], including Christu (Petrou 1979: 22;

1977: 15-37). The group advertised in the New York Greek newspaper

:._lantis for a priest, and hired Father Dionysios Dimitsanos from Corfu in

33. Services had previously been held in the Fraternal Hall, but within

,ree months the dissident parish had 150 members and had begun extensive

Aid-raising efforts to build its own church. This was accomplished in 1934,

th the aid of AHEPA and other community members, and the first Holy Cross

[Agia Starvoul church was built at North 25th Street between Seventh and

Eighth Avenues in Birmingham. From the outset, Greek School classes, taught

by one of the two teachers originally in contention at Holy Trinity, Mr.

Anagnostou, were held in the church buildinQ.

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This competition between the two parishes extended throughout the Birming-

ham Greek community, and in 1931, Holy Trinity ("the original church") bought

the properties next door and erected a new educational building. In 1935 the

dissident parish, Holy Cross, was officially recognized by the Archdiocese and

a canonical priest, Fater Milelis, was sent to replace Dimitsanos, who had

resigned because of a salary dispute (Christgu 1977: 30) . In 1938 Holy Cross

built a new church next door to its old one, again with AHEPA's aid, and began

using the former church as an educational building. In 1949, after some dis-

agreement about relocation to an area nearer the homes of one community group,

Holy Trinity built a new church (the present one) on its old site (dedicated

and consecrated in 1956), and in the same year Holy Cross built a new Youth

Center (dedicated in 1951), for educational and recreational purposes.

Reconciliation efforts began seriously in the 1947. Most of the Greek

Americans in Birmingham interviewed about the split agreed that it was unfor-

tunate, but rationalized the community factionalism by drawing on Greek pro-

verbial lore. Nicholas Christu:

I know division is no good and all that, but, on the other side, it

bring you progress, too. You have to fight for existence, you k:. (Christu 1977: - Yi'v t n -

• . Everybody wanted to be chiefs. Nobody wanted to be an Indian. That's the trouble. That's the trouble with Greeks (Tape log ES82-Mc/C-Cl4).

It was the social activities of the youth groups of both parishes that finally

reunited the Greek American community in Birmingham. The factionalism between

the two churches had divided the entire community for thirty years, during

which time the community's mutual aid and church-affiliated organizations,

including the church youth groups, had also split off into separate chapters.

In the 1950s, the t-,ATo church youth groups--Holy Trinity's Elliniki Ortho-

doxy Neolea (EON) and Holy Cross' Orthodoxy Elliniki Neolea (OEN)--began

opening their social and recreational functions to one another (Petrou 1979:

35). In 1950 the Greek Orthodox Youth of America (GOYA), a national orga-

nization aimed at the unification of independent GreekAmerican youth groups

across the country, was founded. The two local youth organizations, EON

and OEN, became separate chapters. When Birmingham was chosen, however,

in 1953 to host the third annual GOYA convention, members of both EON and

OEN joined in its planning, and the occasion resulted in the reunification

of Birmingham's two Greek Orthodox parishes. The chairman of the event

Nobody that came could forget the enthusiasm. I think one night

they raised forty-five thousand dollars, just off the floor from

the kids. There were old gold coins. People were crying. We realized all the great things that needed to be done for the com-

munity could not be done without the communities pulling togethe r"

(Petrou 1979: 36, from oral history interview with Jerry 0. Lorant).

Center--

and on the second vote both committees were unanimously in favor of union

Conklin/McCallum--19

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the reconciled 1500 member-parish "The United Greek Orthodox Community of

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross of Birmingham, Alabama," specified that a new priest

would be brought in to serve the community, and the usages of both parishes'

new buildings were clearly outlined. The Holy Trinity Educational Building

was to be used for joint Sunday School and Greek School classes; the Holy

Cross Youth Center was to be used for all parish social functions. This

mutual use of each parish's former property appears to have continued until

the 1970s, when the unified parish sold the property of the old Holy Cross

Church, after it had been damaged in a fire. To "satisfy the newer genera-

tion," Holy Trinity-Holy Cross replaced the old Educational Building with a

modern one, named "The Hellenic Orthodox Christian Center," which was dedi-

cated in 1973 (Petrou 1979: 43). (See Appendix F-1, "Holy Trinity-Holy Cross

Greek Orthodox Church Education Building Fund.") The fine, large building,

used today, contains Sunday school classrooms, the Greek language school

classrooms, a parish library, social halls, a gymnasium/auditorium, meeting

rooms, and offices.

Today Holy Trinity-Holy Cross is the third largest Greek Orthodox parish

in the South, ranking behind Atlanta and Houston, and is the largest congre-

gation and the only cathedral in the state of Alabama. Other smaller Greek

Orthodox parishes exist in Montgomery, Huntsville, and Mobile, and the

a "mission parish" as well, in Daphne, Alabama (Appendix C-3, Field Nc

Interview with Fr. Emanuel Z. Vasila.kis, 14 April 1982). Since the 19

reunification, the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross parish has had five priests,

including Fr. Vasilakis. (See also list of "United Communities" in Apper.

F-b .) A variety of church-affiliated groups continue to fill an important

aspect of the parish's religious, educational, and social missions--youth

groups like GOYA (Greek Orthodox Youth Association), a nationally-based

organization for ages 14 through high school, and the YAL (Young Adult

League), founded local̀ly in the 1970s for ages 18 to 35; women's social

and philanthropic organizations like the Knit-Chat-Chew club and the Philop-

tochos Society chapter; and Political lobbying groups like the nationally-

organized UHAC (United Hellenic American Congress). (See also "Community

organizations and Activities," below.)

At the present time, the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross roster lists 650 mem-

bers (approximately 575 families), the majority of whorn.--approximately 75%

according to Vasilakis--are "ethnic Greek," although the parish includes a

mix of Lebanese, Palestinian, Russian, Ukrainian,"American,"and other non-

Greek nationalities. While the problem of marriage outside the Greek Ortho-

dox faith or to a member of a non-Greek ethnic group is still an active

issue in the community, it is not as volatile as in times past. The issue

of the liturgical language, on the other hand, is a controversial one among

parishioners, with the community split between those wanting to further

increase the percentage of the liturgy that is in English (which has increased

from 50% Greek/50% English to 35% Greek/65% English since Vasilakis , arrival

eighteen months ago) and those wanting a return to services that are entirely

in Byzantine Greek. (For further discussion, see below, "Institutionalized

During our conversat -Lon Father Vasilakis analyzed the degrees of

-turation of his adult parishioners, which also correlate, on some levels,

Nationalistic,1.

desiring formalized Greek School classes for their children who are learning _ lish in the public sch o ols.

Conklin/McCallum--21

2. Native-born "whi eheads" (both traditionalists and assimila-

tionist second- and third-generation Greek Americans) with a "fantasy notion about the language and about Greece."

3. Assimilated, professional, upper-middle class third-generation

Greek-Americans, proud of their Hellenic descent, but support-

ting for the most part, the maintenance of only external cii1-tural traditions.

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Holy Trinity-Holy Cross parishioner C. W. Jovaras characterized what he

also perceives as three factions within the Birmingham Greek American com-

munity in this way:

You [have], you know, people living in different communities--

Ensley, Fairfield, Bessemer, Homewood, Vestavia, Hoover, Mountain

Brook--over the mountain, under the mountain [laughter], outside of Birmingham, and I think that makes a big difference also I can seriously say [we] have "die-hards," "middle-of-the-roaders,"

and "I don't care." You have a good fifty-fifty mix of "die-hards"

and "middle-of--the-roaders" in Birmingham (Tape log ES82-Mc/C-C12).

The attitudes of each of these three groups--members of whom are repre

in our group of informants--toward ethnic heritage, language maintenan

and cultural heritage will be discussed in following sections of this rei

The residence of the parishioners are dispersed. Groups two and three,

the most part, have moved, in Fr. Vasilakis' words, "over the mountain," out

of the earlier Greek neighborhoods in the city to the more affluent suburbs

that lie south of downtown Birmingham and east of the heavy-manufacturing

satellite towns like Ensley. These settlement patterns, and their change

over time, are a critical component in our study of the various Greek Schools

at the Holy Trinity, Holy Cross, and reunited Holy Trinity-Holy Cross par-

ishes in Birmingham.

History of St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church

Conklin/McCall -_23

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to assimilate into the "universal" Latin Rite. The Latin bishops directly

thwarted Maronite efforts to create autonomous churches and schools and to

practice their rituals in the Antiochean style and the Aramaic/Syriac and

Arabic languages. It was not until the second Vatican Council in 1965 that

the integrity of the Eastern Rites became a policy of the Roman church.

Catholics are now instructed to follow the rite of their fathers where a

parish of that rite exists.

Thus the Lebanese Maronites found themselves in something of a double

bind. On the one hand they needed to respond affirmatively with a clear,

nationally-based sense of ethnicity, if they were to withstand assimilation

into the American mainstream. And on the other they had to convince the

American Catholic Church that their demands for separate institutions were

based not on national, but on doctrinal differences. In St. Elias today

the debate continues. The priest identifies himself not as a Lebanese, but

as a Maronite Catholic. However his parishioners see the Maronite Church

as the inst±ttiona1 core of their

important determinants of the pra

education in the parish.

The Lebanese community in Birmingham was established in the years fol-

lowing 1890, up until the immigration restrictions in 1924. Most migrated

first to the Northeast or Great Lakes area cities, and thence to Alabama.

The founding Lebanese families in Birmingham originated in the farming vii

lages in the area around Zahie, in central Lebanon. They came to Alabama

attracted by opportunities to enter into itinerant trade among rural resi-

dents and in the growing mining, steel, and iron workers' settlemcr .

They did not often choose farming, or even industrial wage labor,

ethnic community. These distinctions are

ctice of ethnic heritage and Arabic language

Cnk lin 5 din-.- .

they intended to return to the old country and because the tenant faflner

and sharecropping agricultural system prevalent in this region was anti-

thetical to their experience and ambitions as independent small farmers.

Rather, most became peddlars, travelling the back roads carrying notiQns,

dry goods, and hand-crafted items on their backs. The profit was high, the

investment low, only minimal English was necessary, and a route and a stock

could be obtained from more established Lebanese who owned shops and orga-

nized routes for newcomers. As they became permanent settlers, they often

moved from peddling into shopkeeping and wholesale grocery and produce

businesses.

Hi 1915 5 Lebanese families were settled in Birmingham (BirmingFind)

.r,c t:.en' iid stab llshed a Maronite Catholic Church with an Arabic after-

. :)UbliC school

lafter the

hurch in Wadi-el-Arayeche, the home village of many Birmingham families.

: into the 1960s St. Elias was one of only two Maronite churches in the

Southeast. The other, in Atlanta, was much smaller. According to Fr. Saad,

"Birmingham was the main community" in the region. In 1905 the Lebanese

also founded the Phoenician Club, a men's social and service organization.

It has evolved into today's Cedars Club, a recreational, social, and meeting

facility funded by memberships and open to any area residents of Lebanese

ancestry and their families.

St. Elias was established under the authority of the Antiochean Patri-

arch and he supplied the parish with a series of priests from Lebanon. How-

ever, once established, it became a responsibility of the Latin Rite Dio-

cese in all other matters and held financial obligations to the bishop and

Cnk in call

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to the Latin parochial schools. St. Elias experienced considerable attri-

tion in its membership over the first 30 years, although it does not appear

to have been as high as the estimated 50% reported for Maronite congrega-

tions nationally (Kayal 1974: 125). They remained in their original, tem-

porary, and inadequate quarters as the community settled away from the

church area into the southwest-side Glen Iris and Idlewild neighborhoods.

Finally, in 1939, the church was closed for lack of a priest; appeals to the

Patriarchate went unanswered for over six months. Then the community

directly contacted a priest who happened to be visiting his brother in

Detroit and obtained permission for Fr. Joseph Ferris Abi-Chedid to cc

to Birmingham, rather than returning to his monastery in Lebanon.

When Abi-Chedid arrived only 61 members reassembled as the St. Elias

parishioners. The only remaining functioning organization was the Ladies'

Altar Society, which raised $311 to add to the church treasury of $7.87, so

that Abi-Chedid could reopen the building and begin calling the Maronites

together again. Abi-Chedid quickly learned sufficient English to read the

Gospel and to communicate with the Birmingham business and professional com-

munity. He set about to obtain property in the Lebanese neighborhood and

managed to have almost a full city block of land donated to the parish. In

1949 the construction was begun on the present church building at 836 Eighth

Avenue South. At the time of his retirement and return to Lebanon in 1970,

the complex consisted of the church, a parish house, an auditorium/cafeteria,

and a four-classroom educational building. There were plans for an additional

four classrooms and a small convent. Each of the buildings was paid for in

cash money raised primarily through the Ladies' Altar Society weekly Lebanese

dinners, which became a veritable institution for many Birmingham customers.

After Abi-Chedid, the church had a series of short-term resident priests

and in 1972 the present priest, Fr. Richard Saad, was appointed to St. Elias.

re �q.

Saad is the first American-born priest at St. Elias, a member of one of the

first classes to graduate at the American Maronite Seminary in Washington,

D.C. Although of Lebanese descent, he is also the first priest not to speak

Arabic fluently. Saad has concentrated his efforts on consolidating the

membership, reaching out to Maronites who have turned to the Latin Rite, and

restoring the teaching and celebration of the Maronite Rite. With the help

of the Ladies' Altar Society, he has begun converting one classroom into a

library--one of only two or three such Maronite libraries in the United

States.

St. Elias now has 260 active families, totaling 800-1000 people, most

of whom are Lebanese and of Lebanese descent (Fr. Saad: "a few non-Lebanese,

mostly through marriage;" James Mezrano: "seven-eigths Lebanese" with other

Catholics who prefer the high-church, older ritual of the Maronite mass).

These numbers reflect post-1965 immigration, especially of educated, profes-

sional people displaced by recent conflicts in the Middle East. St. Elias

is now one of three Maronite churches in the Southeast (a third, after Bir-

mingham and Atlanta, has been established in Miami) and one of 50 churches

and five missions in the United States. In 1962 the Pope authorized an

Apostolic Exarch to the United States, with a mission to unify the American

Maronites. The Exarch at Detroit became Bishop of the Eparchy (Diocese) of

St. Maron of the USA in 1971 and the Maronites were removed from the author-

ity of the Latin hierarchy. The Eparchy is now administered from its seat

at Brooklyn, New York, and oversees not only the churches and missions but

the seminary in Washington and a convent in Youngstown, Ohio. Nationally,

Maronites number over 36,000 (1979 official Catholic Dixectory).

Fr. Saad has applied for an assistant priest at St. Elias in order to

1�1

1�1

1�1

Conk lin/McCa fl um- -27

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extend his outreach to Maronites in the Nashville, Tennessee, and Mobile,

Alabama, areas who now worship in Latin Rite churches. St. Elias maintains

friendly relations with St. George Melkite church, only three blocks away,

and their parishioners sponsor some joint activities. St. Elias is the

meeting place for the American-Lebanese Alliance, though it occasionally

meets at St. George in order to demonstrate its ethnic, non-denominational

basis. The two major religious festivals celebrated at St. Elias, as well

as other Maronite churches, are the Feast of St. Maron, February 9 (Latin

calendar February 14), and the Feast of St. Elias, July 20 (Latin calendar

July 25). The former is marked with a special mass and Arabic dance, music,

food, anri ntertainment; the latter with a relioious observance and a rhurnh

Conklin/McCallum--2 8

LANGUAGE SCHOOL HISTORIES

History of Holy Trinity, Holy Cross, and Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Schools

The first language classes in Birmingham's Greek Orthodox community were

offered shortly after the founding of Holy Trinity Church, and as early as c.

1907 daily afternoon Greek School classes, taught by Mrs. Stamatina, were

held in a "shack" behind the church. She was followed by Andrea Kopoulos [or

Mr. Andriakopoulos], who lived above the Greek School. He was also a cantor

at Holy Trinity, and early parish records indicate that his salary was higher

than that of the priest (Petrou 1979: 25). Its Hellenistic focus was clear

in the stated purpose of the first school: so "Americanized children [would

be] secure in Greek thought, legend, and tradition." (See photos E582-BMc-

197780-1, frames 4 to 6, for copystanded pages from Holy Trinity-Holy Cross,

Hellenic Orthodox Christian Center, Dedication Book, Birmingham, Alabama,

1972-73.) The value of both Greek language maintenance and English language

acquisition were recognized as well by the fledgling Greek Orthodox parish

in Birmingham and its initial mutual aid organizations were instrumental

in organizing and fundraising for language education. In 1910 the Young

Greeks Progressive Society was conductinq English jan0ua0e olasses fror the

150 young businessmen who consti.tu-sod its memoersis - . A orou of reek women

attended weekly sessions at a school on Highland Avenue (Petrou 1979: 23).

In 1911 a local chapter of the Pan Hellenic Union was organized in Birmingha

with its objective being "to plan and fund the Greek school" (Petrou 1979:

27)

The earliest Greek School classes were held for three hours daily,

Monday through Saturday, from June to September, in one room which accomodated S

Conklin/McCallum--29

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all elementary grades, with the teacher's time being divided among various

grade levels. As many as 90 students at one time--desks arranged according

to age and ability--studied Greek grammar, history, geography, literature,

mythology, folk songs, drama, and dialogue. Exercise drills occurred on

Saturdays, when religion was also taught and athletics practiced. The only

available curricular materials were those imported from Greece by the teacher;

the teacher often had the only official books and students were required to

copy lessons from the blackboard into their tetradia [notebooks] (oral history

interview with Eula Triantos, in Petrou 1979: 24). Rote learning, memoriza-

tion, and recitation were the standard learning methods. Strict disciplinary

measures were the rule. Christine Graminas, who attended Greek School classes

from 1917 to 1922, describes the curricular materials and pedagogical methods

used by Father Nicholas Lambrinides, the revered multilingual teacher who had

been trained in Constantinople before coming to America and who is widely

remembered, even though he only spent six years in Birmingham:

We had only one book: the reader. All the rest of the subjects he

would write on the board. Like for history, for instance, and we would copy it, start on scrap paper. He demanded that we would put

it in a composition book in calligraphy--and I mean without smudges, without misspellings . . . and that way we had the pretty handwrit-ing and that way we would memorize what we wrote and we'd remember

our history and religion topics and geography. He stressed geogra-phy. Oh yeah He would have the islands made in poetic form and we would point them out as we recited them. We would point them out and if we made one little mistake we'd get a whack on the hand.

He was very strict but we learned. He made us learn. I knew the

Greek geography as if I did, better than I knew the U.S. map. And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the Greek School . . . (tape log E582-Mc/C-

C9). (See photo ES82-BMc-197780-1, frame 9.)

Maude Morgan, another second-generation Birmingham Greek, recalls her early

experiences in the "Hellenic" classes from c.1922 to 1928:

It was just a little, a house actually, to start with, that they had bought and converted into the Greek School. And my mother hap-pened to be on the Board of Education for the Greek School, so I

Conk lin/McCallum--30

had to be, get to be at school on time . . . Actually the curricu-lum was reading, grammar, writing, of course, and not penmanship writing, but what they used to call orthographia, which was the cor-

rect spelling . . . And correct grammar. It started from the six-year old and went on up to 17 at least. . . You know I don't know

how long I went to Greek School. It seemed like it was forever. And our written examination we had, would write for weeks ahead of

time and then all our papei would be hung like on a line, you know, so that our parents could view them . . . We had a lot of reading, we read from our lesson, we were assigned lessons . . . that had to

be written and then, too, like I said before, orthographia, which we were assigned a verse or whatever, then we had to write this in

class the following day and it had to be correct or else we were punished . . . If you were very unruly, or did something very bad we were sent out to cut the switches off the tree and we were switched on our hands, for doing something really bad, you know. It all depended on the teacher, what he thought was so terrible (tape

log ES82-Mc/C-C8). (See photo ES82-BMc-197780-1, frame 13.)

Both Grammas and Morgan also recall that under Fr. Lambrinides and

subsequent teachers, dramatic technique and the production of Greek patriotic

plays, accompanied by Greek songs, was an important focus of the school year,

and were often highlighted at the annual graduation exercises, held at the

Fraternal Hall, or at Birmingham's old Bijou Theatre. Christine Grammas:

And of course near the end of the semester he would assign us with a poem or dialogue and we'd perform on stage like actresses. Really. If we wouldn't act . . . he wanted us to learn expression. And he

said, "You get out there and you're supposed to cry when you say these words." I couldn't cry. He whacked me on my legs with a ruler and I cried and he said, "Now say it." I said it. We loved him, we really loved him, but we were scared to death of him, too (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C9).

After Fr. Lambrinides left Birmingham, he was followed by a succession

of Greek-born school teachers, including Skarandavos, Valangous, Nenga,

Georgopoulos, Anastasiou, and Fr. Lolokas. Many teachers during this period

also travelled on certain weeknights to the steel mill towns of Ensley and

Fairfield to hold Greek School classes for the parishioners in those communi-

ties (Petrou 1979: 25).

In 1926 controversy began to develop in the Birmingham Greek Orthodox

community over the hiring of teachers for the Creek School, its site, and

Conk lin/Mc Callum- -3 1

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policy-making decisions. The argument culminated in the 1933 split of the

community, and the formation of the separate Holy Cross parish. This resulted

in the establishment of a second Greek School in Birmingham, supported by the

fund-raising efforts of the AHEPA chapter number three, and by a Holy Cross

ladies' group, Pistis-Elpis-Agapis [Faith-Hope-Love]. Holy Cross offered its

own "parochial afternoon school of Greek," taught first by Mr. Anagnostu, and

then beginning c.1942 by the church's rector, Rev. D. N. Sakellarides, and

after 1949 by Christine Sepsas (born c.1913), first cousin to our informants

Christine Grainmas and Alexandra Bonduris (Holy Cross Hellenic Orthodox Com-

munity, Dedication Program, Youth Center Building, Birmingham, Alabama, 1951:

n.p.). Mrs. Sepsas' mother had also been a Greek School teacher, and it

seems that she first took pupils into her home, before affiliating with the

new Holy Cross parish. Alexandra Bonduris describes Christine Sepsas as a

"self-taught natural-born teacher," who was prevented from attending college

because Greek custom and family finances would only allow her brother to

receive a higher education. No longer a Greek School teacher, Mrs. Sepsas

apparently has returned to offering classes in her home, teaching English to

new immigrants to Birmingham. (See tape log ES82-Mc/C-C14.)

One teacher, from the Holy Trinity parish, is also widely remembered

today in the Birmingham Greek community. Irene Kampakis, mother-in-law of

our informant Georgia Kampakis, was graduated from a teachers' school in

Athens, and is described by her former students as being "very learned." With

Mrs. Lorant, she was one of the two teachers of Tasia Fifles (born 1932),

third-generation Greek American and daughter of Christine Grainmas, who

attended Greek School at Holy Trinity in the late 1930s and early 40s:

The class was divided; each row was a different grade. And, you know, that's surprising, because every Greek child was going to

Conk lin,'Mc Cal l um- -32

Greek School. It wasn't just a handful. Every Greek child in my generation, every Greek child was going to Greek School, every day,

right after school. We'd get on the bus, get the tickets from the

Birmingham Electric Company, because that's what used to be the streetcar . . . we had to run and get the bus at six 'cause they wouldn't take your ticket after six o'clock on. It was packed. The street cars were packed. We had to stand up and everything, you

know. . . I wouldn't take a thing for those years. In fact, we sit around the table and talk about Greek Sdhool. . . My kids have heard these stories 150 times. (See tape log ES82-Mc/C-C9.)

It seems that there were no formal Greek School classes in Birmingham

during the war years, and by 1953 the two Birmingham Greek Orthodox parishes

had reunited. By the late 50s and into the early 60s, third-generation Greek

American parents like Tasia Fifles were reluctant to make the same kind of com-

mitment to Greek language education for their children that their parents had

"laude Morgan (born 1917) and Tasia Fifles

ew session at the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross

ithedral illustrates the prevailing post-war attitudes and generational dif-

ferences and similarities toward their children's ethnic language education

(although they speak in the present tense, they are referring to the post-

World War II years):

Morgan: Well, why do you, not send your children to Greek School?

Or have they ever gone?

Fifles: They didn't want to go.

Morgan: Have your children ever gone to Greek School?

Fifles: Never gone to Greek School. I'll tell you why not. I would

have to do all the transporting. They had so many other things to and I would have to take them. And I guess it was just, their interest wasn't that big for me to sacri-fice that time at that time. Now, oh yeah, now they want it . . . Now they're learning it. Now they want to know Greek. But I couldn't tell them that, you know, ten years

ago

Morgan: They blame the parents for not making them.

Fifles: And then they would have blamed you for making them

I used to blame by mother -

go.

When h e t o colle ge , never when he came home, on his first trip back home . . . he

turns around to me and he says, "I'll never forgive you for

not making me go to Greek School

Fifles: I feel I've failed my kids. 'Cause when they were little,

if I had spoke Greek, spoken Greek to them, as they grew up,

they would know something. And I didn't. And I thought,

just bringing them down here (from the suburbs) for one hour

a day, for once a week, what are they going to learn in that

short little time? . . . But, I thought, well gosh. They

don't even know how to count to ten. They're going to have

to learn all that and one hour a week is nothing (tape log

By the mid-60s and through the early 1970s, Greek School classes at the

united Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Church had decreased to once-a-week evening

classes, with a very high attrition rate by the end of the school year. Two

of our informants (Georgia Kampakis and Janice Mastoras) had school-aged chil-

dren during this period, but in each case their children only attended Greek

School for a few months, and the experience was "not very beneficial" for

them. The decline of the Greek School during this period is attributed 1),,,,

the mothers variously to the church's downtown location and the parishioners'

dispersement out into the suburbs, to competition over their children's free

time between parish-related schools and clubs and parochial/public school

extra-curricular activities, to their children's increasing interaction an(2

identification with their peers in "American" school, and, perhaps most irr,

tantly, to decreasing parental authority and increasing maternal leniency, for

which these mothers assume a great deal of responsibility, even guilt.

IIAlthough it was not directly discussed

Nichi Jovaras called her a "strict, discipline [sic], classic Greek School

teacher," in the old country fashion. She was followed in the early to mid

1970s by Dr. Michaels, an immigrant from Cyprus and speaker of the Cypriot

dialect, unpopular here. Nichi Jovaras, who immigrated to the U.S. in the

1950s, describes his pedagogical methods and how she herself took over some

of his students, c.1978 or 1979, and became a Greek School teacher at Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross:

- r'eally Sto ugh •chil d r e n .childn the ren,' you : :thought •He ii .

would r T_ik in Greec e in ' and ..:. u!chool in ' ' wanted . . : . Gr e ek s cho ol. children. then o n e .. t h e y a ske d m e if I w a nte d t o be cause I had child I .1 I ll tell you II

II 1 IL I . L 11 st a rted,

littl ewas these three - . they were I I II

• S to Gr e ek S . Micha els. We ll,

day, he I I _ _ _ IIn Greek [he said], Look at all these II

-' : : . ' : S wa nt S • S ba ck. j S D o n na .? . - yo un gest . _

r] says, "If they're not to o, then I'm

- said ,: y o u'r e g oing . going ' • i_I ::going : :. ch - little girls "Well, can we '! ' come •._____And

- - _ _ - - g o o d, b e c a us e - wa s one time Donna

rea ed : _::.i and • 'ur of them t h i ngs , together,i: I I • : b! eautiful - - . ch i ldren' s i• :: outsid e

' : , -

For the past four years, Nichi jovaras has taught Greek language classes

at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross on one or two weekday evenings; this past semester

she taught a two-hour Tuesday evening class to a mixed group of students, but

tneir attendance was irregular and attrition rates were high. During this

time, and apparently up through this year Theodor (Ted) Lafakis, also a native

Greek speaker, taught some afternoon and evening Greek School classes, with

many of the same problems (Papazoglou 1982: 29). In Jovaras' past semester's

class of older students, where everyone knew t.lie --reek alphai)et, slie used a

text tnat her father used when he tauqht her h�.rotlacr ,.-reek. Entitled Methods

Conklin/McCallum--35

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of English, by Kartina, published in New York in 1952, it is printed in

Greek, English "phonetics," and English translation, focusing on exercises

for social and business conversation and story and letter writing. Her stu-

dents included fourth-generation Greek American children, as well as spouses

converted to Greek Orthodoxy through intermarriage, and she described their

mixed attitudes toward language acquisition:

Now I do have students in that class that would rather not use the English phonetics, but read it in Greek, and they do, but I did

find out one thing--the non-Greeks that within a marriage, that that within the Greek faith [through intermarriage] they're more

receptive to learn than the ones that actually are Greek because they apply themselves because that's what they're there for. They have an aim within themselves to do something so they are the ones

that are really my best students. They are learning, because that's what they are applying themselves to do . . . No, we don't have his-

tory, all we're doing is strictly conversation, but, like I said,

they do know the alphabet. They do know how to read in Greek, if they do want to read it in Greek, but most of them will read in English . . . (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C9)

Themis Kannellopoulos, born in 1949 into a trilingual (Greek, French,

English) home and educated as an engineer, came to Birmingham in 1979, and

during his first year in the Greek Orthodox parish, team-taught Greek School

with Mrs. Jovaras on weekday evenings. In 1979 or 1980 they split the classes

in half, and Themis now teaches a Saturday morning Greek School class at Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross for adults only. This past semester he had six students

in this class: his wife Sheree, a third-generation Greek American who came

to Birmingham from Florida in 1980 when they were married; a student who has

not been attending regularly because she has a new baby; an "American" won

who married a first-generation Greek; and Terri Grainmas, an ethnic Irish

recent convert from Roman Catholicism married to a second-generation Birming-

ham Greek American 20 years her senior. Their two daughters have also been

attending Saturday Greek language classes with her. Terri Grarnmas describes

her daughters' ethnic identification, and their attitudes toward Greek School:

. . [They] are very close to their background, The Greek is def-

inateiy prevalent. My children are so Greek-oriented that when

they filled out applications for school [a special public school gifted child program]--they're 12 and 14--and they asked for nation-

ality, they put down Greek . . . And I was in a state of shock. It

didn't occur to me that they would ever consider anything but Ameri-can, but, you know, the Greek is really ingrained in them . . .

[But] one of them is rebelling against it (Greek School class]

the younger one. Where the older one comes and enjoys it--she has

more of a knack for languages than the otner one (tape log ES82-

Kaliellopoulos describes the books he uses in the Saturday class:

. . . I went through a lot of books from there (Greece] and found ones that in my opinion are good books so I . . . take the history of the 1821 Iliad and 'iw ! lip 1 know,_ 1

. - - . - us - I know what , - - .. is I read

• chapter and rewriteI . un derstood by the pec-

ple writing ' - g u e ss,Eng li s h , Ii_i 1and I - would have to • - - it .T_ other

language.__And II I i syntax is very I Il

important. It's very simple. There were very few rules . - . What 91 I I

numb e r : - . :. was : .. try : _ T. teach _ : , •

and I 111 '1 wor I f: after:T : _ : .. .. . :: . : eno ug h p re sumably. _ little essays

Kanellopoulos' classes are scheduled to resume, aftcr a hiatus for his

students' and his own vacations, and are expected to continue in the fall,

with many of the same students, some beginning their third and fourth years

of attendance in his class. Jovaras also plans to teach again in the fall.

According to the commitment of the teachers and the attitude of the prie .

toward Greek School classes at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, there seems no rea.

to believe that the level of language education activity will diminish in the

foreseeable future.

Conklin/McCallum--37

S History of St. Elias Arabic School

S

The first Arabic language classes were organized at St. Elias in 1915,

just five years after the founding of the parish. During the early years

they were conducted by Khattar Wehby, one of the few well-educated immigrants.

(See photo of 1915-16 class E582-BMc-196408-2, frame 2, and ES82-BMc-195995-

3, frame 1; portrait of Khattar and Sultana Mickwee Wehby, frame 00; and a

late 1910s class ES82-BMc-195995-3, frames 4 and 5.) These classes at first

took place in a section of the old church and later at a location he obtained

for the purpose. Wehby taught as a volunteer, on top of his business activi-

ties. He gave daily after-school classes, lasting several hours. Both stu-

dents and the teacher were bilingual in Arabic and English and classes were

conducted in both languages. Their purpose was to make the children literate

in Arabic and familiar with Arabic/Lebanese literature and to supplement the

cultural education they were receiving in the local Latin parochial schools.

These classes were not successful for very long. Josephine Wehby Sharbel

describes her father's efforts (this and all other citations from Sharbel from

tape log ES82-Mc/C-C3):

He didn't receive cooperation. And you know he didn't want any-

thing from them. He'd say, "Give me your children. I don't want anything. Just let me teach them" . . . Well, it just wasn't sup-

ported. I mean, in that they didn't cooperate with Papa. Maybe the parents, you know, kind of just drifted away. And then my

father just got disgusted and he just quit.

Wehby pursued his work, starting classes each fall through the 1910s and

into the 1920s, but the consistent attrition discouraged him.

Textbooks in the Wehby schoolroom were grammars, dictionaries, histories,

and poetry and essay volumes that he had brought with him from Lebanon.

Conklin/McCajlum- -38

Although he himself was trained in Classical Arabic, it was the vernacular

which was taught and spoken. "We learned the alphabet, we learned to read,

to spell. We learned poetry and songs" [Sharbel]. Except for the songs, the

efforts were directed toward refining the children's language skills. Jose-

phine Sharbel recalls that the instruction was:

More or less, I would say. conversational.. And the spelling, and things like that. But barely writing. Cause I don't think we ever got to the point where we were doing too much writing. Spe-cially not the print. I think we were printing more or less.

Elizabeth Boohaker and her brothers also attended the Wehby classes for

Arabic-speaking children. She reports similar results (this and all other

citations from Elizabeth Boohaker from tape log ES82-Mc/C-C4):

And the reason and we sang in ing, you know, Now, script, I

we learned, we took part in the choir at the church Arabic. And we took the books and would start read-out of the books, the Arabic language. Ah, print. can't read, but I can read print.

The next serious efforts at language education did not take place until

Fr. Joseph Abi-Chedid became priest of St. Elias in 1940. (See photos ES82-

BMc-196408-1, frame 5, and slide ES82-BMc-3, number 17.) He came to Birming-

ham intending to open a full-day Maronite parochial school. Elizabeth

Boohaker recalls his arrival:

The people were hungry for a new church. In fact he didn't want

to build a new church first; he wanted to open a school first.

He says--which is true--"without the school you have no parish " The children are going to disperse, they're going to go to other

places, they're going to learn other cultures, and you -lust won't have, won't have your parish.

But the school building was not immediately forthcomino, so Abi-Chedid

introduced Arabic classes for the young people during after-school hours n'

on Saturdays. James Mezrano was one of his pupils (citations from Mezran

from tape log E382-Mc/C'-(:j6) :

0

1�1

1�1

He tried to teach us Arabic, but his bedside manners were very

rough and the children were very scared of him. We'd just shake.

He was just very stern and strict and, I don't know, we just couldn't learn from him.

These now were not Arabic-speaking children or Arabic/English bilinguals, but

second- and third-generation Birmingham Lebanese, who had, at best, passive

knowledge of the language. Mezrano characterizes his own skills as typical:

he can understand a considerable amount, but he cannot respond; nor can he

read or write Arabic.

Even though they [his generation's parents] knew Arabic, and we

were spoken by them in Arabic, and I understood it, we were never taught to speak it fluently.

Abi-Chedid emphasized conversation, pronunciation drill (physically trying

to force laryngeals out of his pupils), the alphabet. The classes would

begin again and again and fail because the children dropped out after a month

or so. "I guess that's why I know the alphabet so well;" says Mezrano, "we

went through it so many times." Although these experiences were not promis-

ing, Abi-Chedid did not waver from his determination to have a school at St.

Elias that would replace the Latin parochial educations lie was attempting to

supplement.

At his membership's wish, Abi-Chedid built -first the new church and then

the rectory, and finally in 1958 the prospective school's auditorium/cafeteria

and in 1960 the first four of the planned eight classrooms. The completed

complex would be in the shape of a cross. The school was to have eight gr_,(�,

and teach all subjects required by the state. And, in addition, the Lebane.

heritage and the Maronite Rite. working with the Ladies' Altar Society and

the Knightsof St. Maron, a special parish organization established for the

purpose, Abi-Chedid raised the monies necessary for the first half of the

school building which now stands and further established a trust fund desig-

Conklin/McCallum---40

nated specifically for the school. The school fund totalled $250,000 when

he retired from the parish in 1969. The school fund was kept separate from

all other church accounts, so that it could be hidden from the Latin bishop,

who regarded a school at St. Elias as unnecessary competition with the exist-

ing parochial schools and who generally resented the Maronites "outshining"

[Mezrano' s term] him. Abi-Chedid had tied up the money in such a fashion

that he felt it was safe from the Latin bishop, then their overseer, but one

of his successor priests brought the existence of the fund to the attention

of the newly-appointed Maronite bishop. A struggle ensued which made the

question of Maronite education the most divisive issue in St. Elias' history.

Elizabeth Boohaker was church secretary under Abi-Chedid:

This money in the trust fund was placed by an organization in the church that was working toward building a school. It was a St. Maron organization. And they put the money in the trust fund so

the [Latin] bishop wouldn't get his hands on it and draw every-thing out of it . . . When the school came up [i.e., was built and ready to occupy], you see, we got a new pastor after he [Abi-Chedid]

left. The new pastor got wind of this . . . and let the bishop know it. Well, by that time we had our own [Maronite] bishop. And he says, "that's church money, and it should not be a trust"

The bishop sued the parishioners for it. And they went to

court and the court decreed--I don't know how they got up with this kind of decree--that the parish would get $5000 a year out

of each trust--there were two trusts--to operate the parish And the bishop got--you know how much he taxes us a year? $12,000

a year.

In effect, the school money was split between the bishop and the local parish,

but the parish's portion was to be drawn into the general fund and away from

the school project. The fund is now virtually depleted. And, as our infn

mants

treasu

Thus the parish owns a

And the land adjacent designated for the compietion of the school stands

Nlff Wi 1Iuw

vacant. In such a situation, it is unlikely that the school issue would

easily disappear from memory. And indeed, the parishioners today and the

current priest both report that over ten years later it is the key to the

factionalization within the congregation. The complex relationship between

advocacy of the school and the old country/American split is explored in the

section on "Institutionalized Education" below.

Advocates of the school foresee a full curriculum of public/parochial

school subjects and supplementary subjects, including Lebanese history and

culture, the Maronite Rite, and the Arabic language. Mezrano believes that

Arabic should be begun "at an early age--two or three; I think it would be

great for the younger, because it's easier for them to speak at that time."

Elizabeth Boohaker describes it this way:

Well, they would teach them who they are, you know. And where they

came from. Teach them the history of Lebanon, from the time of the

Phoenicians to the time of our present day. Situation'. Teach them

their religion, which is the oldest rite in the church. Teach them

- ij' t is necessary :c:olle ge, ' ., they . 'et this basic edu-cation :-

gonnaI have nuns who would te ach I_m in English. Exce pt - Arabic I I I .j I; I I Ii language

- i_ - i r ii - ! i!l! - pr a yers, _ a n d

everythinTJ - in their 1learn ' ii would course." have ..iincluded would:: . - cla sses. . itiiiIr':

Pupils would be drawn from the 250 or 300 (informants' estimates var

children in the parish. Others might come from Latin Catholic familie�

feel their children "miss all that tradition and heritage" in the Latii

church [Mezranol. Financial arguments are made to supplement the cultL-..

and religious imperatives: between 50 and 75% of St. Elias children atte

Latin parochial schools, where they pay out-of-parish tuition. Supplemen

provided by St. Elias to families who cannot meet the cost reach at least

$15,000 per year.

Conklin/McCallum--42

could, combined with the surplus in the treasury (which

is school money, despite the court decision), could go a long

iy toward staffing a school if it is run by nuns. Even possible school

aching staff is an active issue. bi-Chedid had first planned to bring

Lght nuns directly from Lebanon. Later the parish contacted nuns at the

ional Shrine in Youngstown:

had Maronite nuns . . . waiting to teach and the bishop did not encourage them. We have a bishop who is not very aggressive. He

did not encourage them. They finally got disgusted and went back to Lebanon [Boohaker].

e and her family and friends have now discussed the question with four

Latin nuns of St. Rose of Lima in Birmingham who attend St. Elias and who

report themselves willing to learn the Rite and take on the jobs. Mezrano

prefers to look to Lebanese nuns. They are European-educated, he says, and

multi-lingual. His group's plan would be to send them to Sacred Heart Col-

lege at Cullman, Alabama, until they pass the state teacher certification

examination. If established, the St. Elias school would be the only Maronite

school in the United States.

Alongside the controversy about a Maronite parochial school, Arabic

language classes have continued to take place at irregular intervals. In

the 1970s an ethically Lebanese priest from St. George Melkite offered classes

at St. Elias. Josephine Sharbel attended and enjoyed the classes, but the

parish children could not keep up:

We had one priest of the Melkite church. He was very learned. He

taught, taught a higher grade, where the young ones could not--you have to start from the beginning. . . I went when the priest was

teaching. Because I knew a little bit higher Arabic and I could, you know, appreciate it and learn it.

In recent years there have been classes given by seminarians from

Lebanon nterniiiq under Fr. Saad. One man, who was at St. Elias for three

summers, 1978-80, offered Arabic classes twice as part of the "Summer Enrich-

ment Program." This program for families includes Lebanese cooking, movies,

crafts, and other "enriching activities" [Saad]. James Mezrano attended with

his wife and older children. He says that:

the ms were filled . . . We went there very energetic.

textbook

to write it d o w n S.. W.u I write.___You : You bring your own pencil and paper and

Mt, And jhardv.,.Ig, .IU!LL While the Summer Enrichment Program itself lasted only four weeks, the weekly

Arabic classes continued throughout the summer. Saad observes that attrition

was high: perhaps 80 started the class in 1980 and 10 remained at the end

(fieldnotes of interview at University of Alabama, April 27).

This summer-Saad has an intern, Mr- Joseph Koury, who is not a Lebanese,

but rather a Lebanese _�merican who does not meet even the minimum Arabic

skills guidelines established by the bishop. In order to expose Koury to

the language and to renew the Arabic teaching at the school, Saad arranged

with an immigrant elementary teacher, Jackie Akl, to offer a children's class.

Unlike most of the post-1965 immigrants, the Akl family is highly language-

retentive, behavior which Saad attributes to their plans to return to

Lebanon. Mrs. Akl teaches her own daughter at home; she agreed to take on

other children in the 6 to 10 age group. An announcement in the Sunday bul-

letin drew not only children but a number of adults. An additional immigrant

teacher, Michael Wehby, - - - - - - - -

Both classes meet

between early and late mass. This time is usually devoted to religious

instruction, which will be resumed in the fall. If the classes continue, they

will have to be arranged for another time. The adults had hoped for a weekday

evening, longer session, but their teacher was not available any other time.

Conklin/McCallum--44

As Koury and Saad describe the children's class, it now has just over 10

children. Mrs. Aki is introducing the alphabet, reading and writing, counting,

rhymes for word memorization, and other such material, using photocopies of

elementary school books she used in Lebanon. She assigns homework tasks of

rewriting, copying, and translating--which the pupils have completed dili-

gently. The seven or eight adults have requested conversational Arabic and

tneir time is devoted to speaking, not reading and writing, with the exception

of learning the characters associated with the sounds which have no parallel

in English. Practical conversational phrases seem to be the main emphasis.

This appears to be the first course at St. Elias genuinely following the oral

conversation approach. So far the attendance has been good and enthusiasm

high. Most of the adult students have minor passive knowledge of Arabic,

but cannot speak it. Saad expects the classes to go on into the fall, if

interest continues as at present.

0

Conk 1n/McC 1iu --43

ETHNIC MAINTENANCE

Institutionalized Education: The Greeks

S

The factionalism over the Greek School in the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross

parish that split the community for 30 years no longer dominates this commu-

nity. It is thought of as a remote event. However, vestigial factors under-

lying the controversy are manifested in parishioners' attitudes toward ccrnruni-

nity identity and the value of, rationale for, and problems in sustaininq

effective ethnic heritage and language education programs. Community op--

about the Greek School--its past history, present status, and prospects

the future--do often correlate with factors such as time of immigration, gei

ation/age group, occupation, class status, education, city or suburban resi-

dence, native and home language, and ethnic and religious traditionalism or

assimilationism, all of which were important elements in the controversy.

Terri Grammas, a relative newcomer through intermarriage to the Birmingham

Greek Orthodox community, characterizes its composition, as do other infor-

mants, with reference to various of these factors:

In the Greek community, to me, there's two factions. The Greeks from the old country ["Greek Greeks," T. G.] that, I don't even know if they've ever become American citizens . . . Most of the Greeks here

still have family in Greece or in Cyprus. And I think that has a lot to do with it. They do really keep up with the news there; it's

surprising. We [her husband's family] don't. You know, because we don't have family there . . . I don't really know how the split has come . . . There will always be a lot of conflict. They won't change. They won't change their attitudes, ever. There is still a group here

that is fighting, every inch of the way . . . I would say [the other group: "American Greeks," T. G.] has very educated people--lawyers, doctors, teachers. The others [first group] are restaurant owners, people that have maybe a high school education, not necessarily in

this country, but, you know, some of them do. But who have been raised very, strictly Greek. You know, spoke Greek in the home (tape log E582-Mc/C-07).

In addition to Teri:iGrammas' polarized "Greek Greeks" and "American Greeks,"

a third, mediating position rounds out the Greek parishioners' own picture of

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross ethnic identity. Christine Grammas speaks:

. . . See, it's what you learn at home. You've got to go [with]

what you learn at home. You see, when my daddy used to see, when we

used to see the Greek flag, well, we mar ched and we see that Greek

flag waving and the American flag right next to it, why, you know,

you'd just have all that patriotism in you for both countries.

Because they're right there, side by side (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C14).

Her sister, Alexandra Bonduris, agrees and defines the ethnic identity trans-

mitted by their father:

Papa always said, "You're an American. Don't ever forget you're an

American, but never forget your Greek heritage." He instilled that

in us (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C9).

Clearly, in the Birmingham Greek community, the strong Greek immigrant

imperatives for educational and occupational advancement into the American mi

dle class are critical in the study of language and ethnic heritage education

and are viewed as paradoxical by members of the community themselves. Maude

Morgan comments on the Greek "entreprenurial tradition" that coalesces with

its American counterpart, the work ethic: I

doing

Conklin/McCallum--47

is

S

S

C. W. Jovaras characterizes the community's sense of cultural necessity for

the preservation and perpetuation of the Greek heritage:

To me, without traditions it's nothing, that's the way I feel. And I hope I can instill this to my children. Without traditions we are

nothing. You are blank. Well, really. That's the key. And tradi-tions have got to be maintained, not only within the church, but at

least within the home, the family, and okay. So we change and we, uh, you know, look the other way, you know, when we start raping our various other traditions, in the name of liberalism, and modifica-

tion, and understanding. But certain traditions, if we eliminate that, why we're back to nothing. We're nobody (tape log ES82-Mc/C-

dO).

The current status and future direction of the Greek language school in

Birmingham must be examined in relationship to its effectiveness in maintain-

ing this cultural imperative and in reinforcing shared community values. But

there is a considerable range of opinion among the parishioners we interviewed

about their own ethnic identification and how it has changed over time, as well

as about the importance and functions of the language and cultural components

in this maintenance effort. For the Greek Orthodox community in Birminghan'

we have a relatively large sample of informants--representing a variety of

ions about the history and degrees of commitment to the continuation of Gre

School classes. It is therefore possible to abstract a small generational sam-

ple, both by age and by length of U.S. residency, in order to isolate and

analyze the critical sociocultural factors that interact in shaping the evolu-

tion of the community's attitudes toward mother tongue education.

Since the first generation of Greek immigrants in Birmingham are now

deceased, the city's second generation of "whitehairs" [Fr. Vasilakis] , repre-

sented in this study by Christine Grainmas, Maude Morgan, and Alexandra Bonduris,

are the baseline from which to examine generational changes in attitudes toward

ethnic and language education. This group of informants is perhaps the most

ethnically retentive, although those cultural elements they chcs to reserve

Conklin/Mc Callum-- 48

are often archaic relics and survivals from Greece at it was at the time of

their parents' immigration to this country. Fr .Vasilakis sees them as hav-

ing "a fantasy notion" about their Hellenistic roots. These women received a

grammar school, or, at best, high school, education. Since they grew up dur-

ing the post-World War I period, rampant with nativism (particularly in the

Deep South), their memories of experiences outside the Greek Orthodox commu-

nity and of "American [public] School" are often unpleasant. However, their

memories of attending the ten years or so of mandatory daily Greek School

classes are, on the whole, most pleasant and these experiences were clearly

ive. Greek School attendance reinforced cultural values and

in the home, as well as enabling them to learn standard Greek

pronunciation and grammar, and teaching them to read and write the Greek col-

ioquial language spoken within the rapidly-growing Greek Orthodox community

i.n Birmingham--the regionally-accented or non-standard Greek dialects that

.,(ere spoken by their parents and used within the larger ethnic community.

I:hristine Grainmas and Alexandra Bonduris stress that learning to read and

,,rite standardized Greek was emphasized in the Greek Schooic, because:

We already had [Greek] conversation at home . . . All the chil-dren at that time did, because the parents couldn't speak English at all. And if they did, they wouldn't speak to us because they wanted us to learn the Greek (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C13).

It is, in fact, the period prior to 1924, when the flow of new immigrants from

the homeland ceased, that these women recall most willingly. They speak with

a great deal of regret about the later transformation of this homogeneous and

self-sustaining Greek Orthodox community, with its large extended family net-

works, comprehensive parental authority and strict discipline, and focus on

familial and home life. Alexandra Bonduris discusses the far-reaching kinship

networks that extended from the patrida into the U.S. , and her parents' roles

S

Conklin/ McCallum--49

S

S

in easing the transition for new arrivals--kin or not--into the Birmingham

Greek Orthodox community:

Everybody came to our house. It wasn't then that you'd go out to eat. Mama stood over the pot all day long cooking and Papa had a fruit store right opposite to Terminal Station and anybody that came over from Europe would stop at the fruit store. And it was always he was telling me, "Call Mama and tell her your uncle is here and I am bringing him home for lunch." It didn't matter if it was her cousin, her brother, or what, but if he was Greek he was her

uncle (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C9).

On the whole, this group of second-generation Greek Americans were upwardly

mobile. These women's husbands, who began working in Birmingham as street ven-

dors, became wholesalers, retailers, and restaurant owners, and their children

achieved a better public school education than they had. They are proud of

and secure in their cultural preservation and transmission activities, mani-

fested in their unself-conscious continuation of home and external ethnic cus-

toms; their children's attendance of Greek School; their own activities as mem-

bers and officers of the Greek School Board and its "P.T.A."; their firm alle-

giance to Holy Trinity (Christine Grammas: "the original church") during the

period of divisiveness; and their activity throughout the years in Greek commu-

nity social organizations like the Philoptochos Society and the neighborhood

Knit-Chat-Chew group; and their parish work as Sunday School teachers, choir

teachers, and library volunteers.

They describe their own sense of ethnic identity as "Americans born of

Greek descent" [Grammas and Bonduris], and their faith in orthodoxy is so

strong and their knowledge of its ritual so long-standing, that they tend to be

rather liberal on the issue of the choice of language for the liturgy. Chris-

tine Grarnxnas doesn't seem to care which language is used; her sister, Alexandra

Bonduris, prefers that it be exclusively in the original Greek. Maude Morgan

states her analysis of the historical relationship between the liturgical lan-

. . . Now to my parents [first generation] it was important that I

the Greek language. And then Iknow ii iii I iIti.there came a period I 1 the where mo r e parents i i gen epart of the ra tion] co mmunity childr e n

I think because - p a r e nts worked S h a rd and se e k e d - b ett e r e duc a tion f ochildren that it was uppermost in r

the ir tha t their schooling in

o r the American r that they go to college, the i: : _ . _ . Scho ol: : or

I _ _ Ii g to Greek School. And I think this is why this change [in commun i ty I a ttitudes toward

schoolS] chcame ool, ' onGreek ur religion is in the Greek to the hold on to the :::Ip. ',:.:.! :

Their children, represented here by Tasia Fifles (daughter of Christine

Grammas), were raised in Birmingham during the 1930s and 40s and came of age

in the early 1950s. They were better educated, as a group, than their parents,

and are upwardly mobile and upper-middle class. During the post-war years there

was little or no new in-migration from Greece into the Orthodox community in

Birmingham, although out-migration was beginning to occur, and Greek Orthodox

spouses came into the Birmingham community from elsewhere in the country (repre-

sented here by Georgia Kampakis, from Charleston, South Carolina). Non-ethnic

Greek wives (i.e., Janice Mastoras) also converted to the Greek Orthodox faith

during this time, and joined in local community activities. Greek American com-

munities all across the country were also undergoing this period of homogeniza-

r--.-on and assimilation into the American mainstream. These third-generation

immigrants, and their peers by extra-community and inte =faith marriage, appear

to be the least ethnically retentive and most ethnically ambivalent of the Greeks

studied. They have been highly selective about those elements of their ethnic

heritage they choose to preserve, feel the most guilt about their passivity in

transmitting it to their children, and have rejected many of those traditions

their parents saw as essential components of their own ethnic education, both

Conk lin/McCallum-- 5]-

S

S

at home and in more institutionalized and public settings. Not surprisingl',

however, it is this group that has been most active in public display event

(such as the annual Greek Bazaar) exhibiting external ethnic customs, such

foodways, dance, music, and drama,to the public at lar,

Their identification is clearly as Americans, albeit tiie Greek Urt odox

faith. Georgia Kampakis answers the interviewers' question about having strong

personal and familial ties to Greece:

I really don't [have them]. The ties that I have are because my children [adopted as infants] were born there, and of course my mother and father [in South Carolina]. I think I'm just a real Ameri-

can. I, I love my heritage. I'm very, very proud of it. But I real-

really don't have La Greek identity], and I don't think my children have either (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C8).

This group of women did not push their children either to learn the language

or to go to Greek School, and their lack of assertion with regard to ethnic

heritage and language maintenance is a sore spot with them, even today. The

problems of their move to the suburbs, increasing interaction with and influ-

ence of their children's American public/parochial school peers and conflicts

with extra-curricular activities are most often used as a rationale for their

leniency as mothers. They too, however, like their mothers before them, draw

a strong correlation between native home language and the effectiveness of

Greek School classes. Tasia Fifles discusses the decreasing incidence of con-

versational Greek at home:

The only difference in the kids that go to school today and us--I mean I learned Greek because my grandmother, my grandfather were liv-ing. They were from Greece. My father was from Greece, but he spoke English. I mean not well, but he spoke English and we could communi-

cate. Course I had to learn Greek because of my grandparents. We spoke in Greek. When we went to Greek School we knew what the teacher

was telling us. I mean, you know, if she told us to shut the door, we could go close the door. These kids going to Greek School today

don't even know how to count to ten, most of 'em. It's cold, they're cold. It'd be like you walking into the Greek School class and learn-

ing Greek . . . And I think that's the greatest thing about having a

Conklin/McCallum-_ 52

grandmother and grandfather that were born in Greece . . . It's gotten worse. I mean, I can't speak Greek like I spoke before. it's got an accent, an American accent to it.

Our group interview session at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross cathedral also stressed

the interrelationships between language education at home and its institution-

alized component in the parish language classes. They agreed that the mother s

role in language acquisition was as central as that of the extended family

elders, and lamented their capitulation to their children's resistance to

attending the Greek School:

Kanpakis: They've lost a lot by not doing that. Like Janice [Mastoras] and I were saying, when our children say, "I don't want to

do that," we tend to say, "Well, that's ok." Whenever may-

be we should say, "That's not ok. You got to do it.

Morgan: Now, as a mother--my children are grown--my tendency and Daddy's [her husband, James] is to go where we want to be, you know, with our friends, whereas then it was more of a

togetherness, the mothers were in charge, the mothers came

with us, and--not all the mothers, but mothers were appointed almost like what became the P.T.A. in grammar school.

Kampakis: I think that the mother's role in the Greek home is very, very important.

The Birmingham Greek Orthodox community's fourth generation, who grew up

in the late 1960s and 70s, during the era of increased ethnic awareness and

ethnic revivalism, clearly define themselves as Greek American. While they

perceive their ethnic identity as dualistic, they recognize that this is not

necessarily negative, and they are in no sense ambivalent about or unwilling

to utilize vital elements of both cultures and transform them into a synthe-

sized whole that can revivify the community's collective sense of self-

identity. This fourth-generation group is represented here by Terri Gramma5,

a recent convert through interfaith marriage, and Sheree Kannepoulos, a native

Greek Orthodox who grew up in Florida outside any Greek Orthodox community and

came to Birmingham with her Greek-born husband, Themis. These women are S

Conklin/McCallum--_53

S ethnically very self-conscious and aware, and care very much about the revival,

renewal, and transmission of Greek ethnic herit

S

S

They are learning about the community's external ii

ways, music, and dance--from older women by participating in parish social or.

nizations, and seem to be making every effort to reinterpret them, in a mean-

ingful way, within their own home cultures. This self-conscious effort at

ethnic education in the private domain also carries over into the community

arena: Graxnmas' children are active members of JOY (Junior Orthodox Youth) and

participants in the parish's semi-institutionalized dance classes. It has fur-

ther correspondences with their activity regarding institutionalized language

education. Terri Graxumas attends the Saturday classes with her two daughters

and her native Birmingham husband, Nick, who is on the Holy Trinity-Holy

Cross Parish Council. They are strong advocates of the Greek School:

It was not even publicized at that time [c.1977 when they moved to Birmingham] that there was a Greek School. We felt it was necessary

for the kids to learn Greek. We still do. It's helped them a great

deal at school. And they'll continue taking it as long as it's offered. No matter how proficient they get, you know. My husband speaks two other languages and English and, you know, we feel it's very important to speak different languages (ES82-Mc/C-C7).

Christine Grainmas, a second-generation Greek American and a great-grand-

mother, summarizes these generational changes as they relate to institutional-

ized ethnic education, and to the objectives of the Greek School at Holy Trinity-

Holy Cross:

I think it was very rewarding to us to live that way because we can

pass it on to our children. Of course they're not, we're not as strict with our children as our parents were, and my daughter's not as strict to her children as I, you know, was strict to her . .

But every generation changes--they're getting a little bit more Ameri-canized in a way--but still, deep down that Greek is in them. You just can't get it out. It's just there. They love it. The only

thing is that they just can't speak the language (tape log ES82-Mc/C-Cl3)

Her sister, Alexandra Bonduris, agress, and states:

1 doubt seriously if [the Greek School] will conti-nue unless they

make a change. Unless there's a resurgence, I don't know . . . and

I hope that it doesn't lose out (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C14).

Crucial to the success or failure of the Greek School at Holy Trinity-Holy

Cross are intra-community differences of opinion over definition of the prob-

lems of institutionalized language education in the parish today, and the best

means to resolve them. Its future prospects must be assessed both in light of

the perceptions of the parishioners, and of the parish priest, as well as in

view of recent (1980) centralization efforts by the Department of Education of

the Greek Orthodox Diocese of North and South America. It is, among other

things, principally over the issue of the two current Greek School teachers,

whom Fr. Vasilakis says he "inherited," that there appears to be some ecclesi-

astical/lay disagreement, reflecting, as well, the ongoing intra-community ten-

sions between length of U.S. residence, class, educational background, and peda-

gogical approach. The two current Greek School teachers interviewed during

the course of this project, and discussed most frequently by our informants--

both the parishioners and the priest himself--are Nichi Jovaras and Themis

Kannepoulos, both post-World War II first-generation immigrants. Jovaras,

who came to the U.S. in the 1950s and to Birmingham in 1980, is a working-class

woman, educated only through high school., but a "Tiaturai-curn" teacher. Her

informal, pragmatic, conversational approach i-,,ay be we -1-1--3ti.ited for eiurrientary-

aged children, but seems riot to be popular with all of her students or their

parents. In addition, she has "personal and political differences"[Fr. -Vasi--

lakis] with the priest. Kannepoulos, on the other hand, is highly praised I

Vasilakis, principally for his advanced education (as an engineer), "both 11,

the U.S. and in Greece," for his "detached political and intellectual approach,"

as well as for his emphas-is on the classics.

1�1

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Conklin/McCallum--55

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While the parish priest highlights the crux of the Greek School matter as

personality differences and dislike of particular individuals in recent years,

his analysis of some of its problems also concurs with those of his parishion-

ers,discussed earlier in this report. The geographic spread j"dispersement,"

Fr. Vasilakis] of the parish members, and their difficulties in transporting

their children to the school, which is in downtown Birmingham, have already

been noted. In a recent Parish Council meeting over this problem, Fr. Vasi-

lakis told us that "satellites"--smaller language schools out in the suburban

communities--had been considered. The problem of the parish's school-aged

children's competition and conflicts between their Greek Orthodox friends and

those at the American public/parochial has likewise been mention by several

parents. Father Vasilakis also told us, "in [my] layman's opinion," that some

of the textbooks are outdated and that the curriculum is seriously lacking, a

statement with which we agree. The Archdiocese, however, announced in 1980 a

long-range plan to centralize and standardize the operation of Greek Schools

throughout the U.S., with an eight-year afternoon program of Greek language and

cultural study, and a publication schedule for complete Greek language texts to

supplement those currently available from the Archdiocese (Papazoglou 1982: 28-

29; Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America Yearbook 1982: 93-94).

Problems over teacher training and financing for teachers' salaries, curricular

materials, and student tuition, however, must also be resolved if this national

program of institutionalized language education is to be successfully imple-

mented. Additionally, the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross parish, as well as the Arch-

diocese at large, must also address the special needs of converts (non-Greeks)

to orthodoxy as well as those of new immigrants to the United States in develop-

ing Greek School curricula that will serve the varying constituences that now

Conklin/McCallum--56

comprise most Greek Orthodox parishes in this country. Finally, as discussed

earlier in this report, the problems of parental commitment and student moti-

vation and attendance must also be overcome. Parents of fourth- and fifth-

generation Birmingham Greek Americans must become committed to the idea of

Greek School classes for their children, as are the parish's converts and more

recent immigrants.

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Institutionalized Education: The Lebanese

1�1

While it did not split their community into two separate parishes, as

at Holy Trinity, the issues surrounding parish education were no less criti-

cal for the Birmingham Lebanese than they were for the city's Greeks. While

the Greeks argued about control of and most appropriate staffing for their

school, the problem at St. Elias has been not how, but whether to conduct

ethnic education. And the conflict originated not among the parishioners,

but between a unified parish and the church hierarchy. It seems clear that,

had the Maronites been as independent in administrative, financial, and

policy-making matters as are Orthodox congregations, there would now be a

Maronite, Lebanese school at St. Elias. The money, the will, and even

detailed plans for staffing and curriculum were at hand. But the parish was

not a quasi-independent congregation like the Orthodox churches. It was and

is under the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, in which individual

parishes are not permitted to make major policy or financial decisions with-

out diocesean permission. And, to make matters worse, up until the 1970s

Under Fr. Abi-Chedid the parish worked as one for the building funds,

first for the church and rectory and then for the school. Now, with no plans

for further expansion, there are far fewer activities at the church because

money-making projects are not necessary. Fr. Saad, current priest at St.

Elias and priest for the foreseeable future, is not an advocate of the school.

The struggle around ethnic education has thus shifted from parish versus

Conklin/McCallum--59

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never be against them. I think they have to be a part of, they

are a part of us. You can't deny that, but to just exist on that--the dance and the food and the language--then that is, I think, that's surface.

Examined closely over several interviews, his ambivalence appears to be

more that the balance will tip away from the internal Maronite faith to exter-

nal cultural manifestations of a non-religious nature, rather than that the

association of Maronite with Lebanese is incorrect. As a priest, his primary

concern is with spiritual affairs and the maintenance of the faith. He does

not wish to see himself in a dual role as the leader of the ethnic community.

No doubt this, too, is partly the response of an urban American as contrasted

with an old country village priest. Perhaps an additional factor is that this

Deep South Lebanese Maronite parish has long been isolated and self-dependent

and has different expectations of the roles its priest should assume than

might a parish in a more densely Maronite area such as the Northeast. In

part it is an artifact of American Catholicism's mistaking the Maronite Rite

for an ethnic-separatist, even schismatic, sect.

Saad's parishioners do not attempt to make the delicate distinctions

between faith and nationality upon which their priest insists. As Elizabeth

Boohaker puts it: "Well, that sort of goes together, being Maronite and being

Lebanese. If you're Lebanese you're Maronite. Because the Maronite is the

majority in Lebanon." For her, "Well, the church, really, is the real founda-

tion of the [Lebanese] community. Everyone gathers there. If you don't see

them at all, you see them at church." James Mezrano, too, directly connects

his religious and cultural life:

I love it, I love the music, the food, the dancing it's all--the

religion. To me it's a great culture. . . We [i.e., American Le-banese generally] keep the food and lose all the others [elements of culture] and we're so fortunate that we have the church and our whole life . . . Right now the church is the center of every-

body's life. That's what's holding us all together. If we didn't

Conk ijn/McCall um- - 60

have the church we'd be like all the other Lebanese communities. I think we're very fortunate in this area, to have two churches

[i.e., two Lebanese churches, St. Elias and St. George Meikite].

For these parishioners, furthering the Maronite cause and Maronite education

are identical to furthering Lebanese ethnic awareness and cultural mainten-

ance. They are simply not separable.

The struggle surrounding the St. Elias school must be understood in

this light. Saad and his parishioners share deep concerns about the educa-

tion Maronite children receive in the Latin schools and the negative impact

Latin school attendance tends to have on the level of participation of fami-

lies in St. Elias. They are drawn into work for the school's parish instead

and the children make friends among their Latin Rite schoolmates. Part of

the Latin school curriculum is Catholic liturgy, catechism, and custom.

Maronite children learn that this "is" Catholicism.

Until Fr. Abi-Chedid started to grant first communion to St. Silas

youngsters early--at six instead of seven years of age--the Maronite chil-

dren were even studying for and taking their first communion at schooL :ii th

Latin Rite with their Latin classmates. Because the majority o

attend parochial school and thus receive extensive religious instruction in

school, the Sunday school hour at St. Elias has been devoted largely to

"remedial" education in the principles of Catholicism for those who go to the

ubiic school. The majority of the children in parochial school do no

attend. Saad has introduced a quarter-hour specifically on Naronitism

the last year or so, based on materials developed in the parish by himself

and the teachers. This fall, for the first time, there will be Maronite

curricular materials from the diocesean education department available for

children's religious instruction. Starting with these as a supplement to

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Conk lin/Mc Cal lum-- 62

If this approach, centering more on Maronite Catholicism and making

clear the specific ritual, dogma, and history of the church, supplemented

with certain cultural activities, is sufficient to Fr. Saad, it certainly is

not to the St. Elias school advocates. It appears that these latter argue

for the school from somewhat differing perspectives.

Elizabeth Boohaker, daughter of early immigrants to Birmingham, repre-

ents the old country-oriented faction. She and her family are extremely

onservative, socially and religiously, as well as ethnically. Much of her

oncern with the Latin schools is that they are no longer strict enough with

he children. She feels that the liberalization of liturgy, lifestyles of

:r1 sts and nuns, and approach to social issues in the Latin church have been

very cad mistakes. Of the Latin nuns she would hope to retain as teachers

in a St. Elias school, for example, she says:

But these nuns are still real nuns. They are full habits. And And that's what we want. We don't want these nuns who look like me and you and they call themselves nun. They're no more nun than I am.

She criticizes Saad for having married people at St. Elias who have been

divorced and general lack of strictness (e.g., permitting women to attend

mass with bare heads and arms), although among the American Maronite priests

he is "one of the better ones." In her own extended family any niece or

nephew who marries "outside the faith," i. e., any non-Lebanese and non-

Maronite or -Melkite, is excluded from all family functions. Bringing a

non-Lebanese Catholic spouse into St. Elias does not make restitution. The

Boohakers draw a parallel between excommunication from the family and excom-

munication from the church:

They knew at the time they did that that they would lose their

privileges of unity to the family . . . What bothers me is thEy knew they were doing wrong. It's not wrong to marry somebody like that. But we're trying to keep our heritage together.

Conklin/McCallum-- 63

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The Boohakers are so adamant and conservative that they have chosen to with-

draw their active support from almost all parish activities, because of what

they see as religious liberalizations and because of the school. They

think the church is now "mainly social," not religious. This family has

been central to all fundraising activities in the past, but "I told them,

'You want our family back here, you going to have to start that school going,

because the church doesn't need anything else "

While James Mezrano very strongly shares Boohaker's concern over the

integrity of the family and abhors out-marriage, he comes to his support of

the school in a somewhat different fashion. A mid-thirties third-generation

American, he has no strong ties to the old country. Whereas Boohaker has

two nephews who will return to Lebanon to marry village girls this summer,

Mezrano, his family, even his parents have never visited there. He is not

trying to maintain traditional Lebanese ways in the United States, but to

create a sense of place and self for his Lebanese American family. He

inherited not an intact culture, but a fragmentary one. While others in his

age group opted for assimilation as an escape from "foreignness," he has

overcome the ethnic, minority child experience by integrating and promoting

his Lebanese heritage. He speaks of the privileges he had in Birmingham in

comparison to his wife, who grew up Lebanese in a Mississippi town with no

ethnic or ethno-religious institutions. For Mezrano, the St. Elias school

is a means of passing on to his children a fuller cultural experience and

sense of place. He wants them to have what he did not. He describes him-

self:

I'm not that old country and I'm not that modern. But I think we should know who we are, and about our background, and to be proud

of it . . . A lot of people my age wish we could speak it [Arabic], and that's how come we want the school. You know, there are a lot

Conklin/McCallum ­ 64

of young married couples, with children . 1. . We'd just have a fit to have a school down there . . . I would just love for my kids to go to their own church, to their own school, and to par-ticipate and be around their heritage more and be around their own people more.

It is not so much reaction or resistance to external social change that moti-

vates Mezrano, but a positive affirmation of an immigrant experience and cul-

tural heritage.

Interestingly, it is Mezrano who is most emphatic about Arabic language

retention (or renewal). Boohaker was raised in an Arabic-speaking home and

some of her nieces and nephews do speak it. However, her brothers' homes are

basically English-speaking; the new Boohaker Lebanese brides are multilingual,

not their Lebanese American grooms. Mezrano, essentially a monolingual, tries

to use in daily conversation at home all the Arabic words and phrases he still

remembers. Boohaker mentioned many innovations at St. Elias which distressed

her but the increasing use of English in the liturgy was not one. Mezrano,

on the other hand, wants to see the entire mass returned to Arabic. Because

he completely identifies Maronitism with Lebanese heritage, he would eradicate

all Westernisms, not just Americanisms.

At St. Elias today 95% of the mass is said in English. The Holy Conse-

cration is recited in Aramaic and the choir sings "a couple of hymns" [Saad]

in Arabic. This is a radical shift from 1940, when Abi-Chedid was coached by

Josephine Sharbel so that he could recite his first reading of the gospel in

English--he memorized the sounds, not understanding a single word. Sharbel

is a professional musician and has transcribed numerous Arabic hymns into

phonetics for the use of monolingual choir members. Prayer bo

gual texts and a phonetic rendering of the Arabic, so that par:

read along. Saad thinks the switch to Enqf sh is a good move: S

Conklin/McCallum-- 65

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I'm satisfied with just keeping the flavor of it . . . Aramaic is

more important [than Arabic] because it was the liturgical language. Like Latin, it was preserved just for the liturgy and Aramaic was closer to our people because they spoke it at one time. And also

Christ spoke Aramaic. So I think there will always be a closeness to that, to that language, because of those associations You know, I have a flavor, a flavor for it too and I can read Syriac, cause that's how we're trained . . . my idea was that if the rite was going to thrive, people had to know what they're doing, espe-

cially the young. I think these things are, can be transmitted with a flavor, but in English. What they never knew what it was before. And the thing about these churches--the Maronite and the

Melkite churches--this old way of thinking was that they were old country churches, you know, for the old people or those who didn't speak English. I think we've had to change that if there was going

to be any hope for the young people to come. To understand what they were doing . . . And it's successful; it can't help but be

successful if you approach it like that. We have more young com-ing to our church now than ever before.

Saad articulates quite eloquently the linguistic-assimilationist position.

Yet he speaks often of this notion of "flavor." It arises in his description

of the Arabic language classes. Although he maintains that the language-

learning efforts are largely fruitless in terms of actual linguistic skills,

he thinks it is good for parishioners to have the experience of studying the

alphabet, and learning a bit about the language. He especially approves of

their learning vocabulary sets such as greetings, things around the house,

foods--"you know, table-talk kind of stuff"--since it puts them in touch with

the culture they make in their homes.

I don't think it is really going to mean a lot. Except to give you a flavor of the identity, which is all right . . . Now there's

more than an awareness and a real desire for identity . . . [It

would not be good if] you didn't know what to call the foods your grandfathers ate, you know, and that you eat every Sunday. And

you know, they're pretty good, you know, there's nothing else

like them.

Saad, and later Saad and Joseph Koury both, mention the Arabic kinship

terms as a specific example of how exposure to the old country language

helps the people conceive of their own culture. As a child Saad marvelled

Conklin/McCallum-- 66

at the wealth of kin terms that enabled his parents to denote all members

of the family in a single word expression of relationship; "I don't know

them all myself, but it's fantastic." "There's no way" that this concept

of the extended family can be expressed adequately in English.

Mezrano is confident that the young people in the -

effective bilinguals and this is one of the outcomes he

the school. He notes that his five-year old son can recite the non-English

sections of the mass already.

Left to me, the whole mass could be in Arabic, I feel like we have

a prayer book, we can read it, and then we can learn the words in Arabic also. You repeat it so m a n y times and you hear it and can

pick it up.

He would send preschoolers to Arabic classes, before they ever started to

the regular day school.

Although Fr. Saad says that:

I don't think we would ever, I would ever build a school. I would never want to run a school, cause the Catholic church has gotten

out of that I think, and in the place tried to develop good educa-

tional program, good catechistics in the parish . . . No, I think t±aà k it's fairly resolved now. I mean, I say there is still talk about it, yeah, but. I think everyone knows where I stand.

he admits that "Now, there's, we have a lot of children now, coming up, and

there's more talk, ah, from some." And there certainly is lots of talk.

There is as yet no official committee to organize for the school, but James

Mezranc was recently elected to a seat on the Church Council and Elizabeth

Boohaker--much to her suprise ("Somehow, I don't know how, cause I'm on the

outs")--as an alternate. She says:

I think that they're, our church has become sort of a faction thing.

Some want it, some don't want it, you know. And there aren't enough. in there in support of it. Of course now that they have to make all these big payments for education [out-of-parish tuitions to Latin schools] that they make, they've started thinking over again what it could be . . . We talk about it everywhere we go. We propagate

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nklin/McCallum-- o7

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0

a school. Cause that's the only way you're going to preserve

your parish.

Mezrano concludes:

I would give anything if they would open it up. If Fr. Richard

would think the way some of us thinks. But he doesn't . . . I

don't know. I hope we get a school. I really feel that if we don't that we'll lose it all.

1WA 1I w sI:

schoolsThe Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek School and the St. Elias Arabic School

are the most public and formalized expressions of cultural transmission under-

taken by their communities. Although they are community-based and quasi-insti-

tutionalized, they rest upon educational traditions which are integrated into

the ordinary lives of the Birmingham Greek and Lebanese communities. It is

the everyday, home and community casual and informal learning which the

are to supplement. Parish and community organizations represent a middle

ground between institutionalized education and unself-conscious enculturation

of children by family and community. Planned and casual community social

events are one and two steps further removed from explicit teaching/learning

situations in the language school setting. Even in family life, the element

of self-conscious teaching of cultural heritage is often very strong. Many

of the activities, and sometimes the actual physical environments of Birming-

ham Greek and Lebanese homes are calculated demonstrations of ethnic culture.

Using this situational model, we attempt to characterize ethnic heritage

and language education that takes ffiplace in homes, social events, and community

Conklin/McCallum-- 69

dialogue between two Greek informants, Georgia Kampakis and Maude Morgan,

illustrates their view of community education. The Greeks, they say, are:

Morgan: . . . very traditional people, who, ah, church, religion,

and family traditions carried out in the different ages--I mean in coming to America--and how we've continued what we've inherited here. I think that's one of the main rea-sons [for cultural retention] , because our family tradi-

tions are so intertwined with our religious traditions--even though within our church we have holy traditions, which is altogether different from family traditions--

and sometimes people mistake our family traditions for holy traditions.

Kampakis: I think it begins with the family, really. And then from there it sort of branches out to the Greek School and

then the church, and organizations and things like this. But it all begins with the parents, with the mother and the father. It did with us.

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Morgan: I think now it kind of works more through organizations a little more than it did in our first years [as a com-munity]. And when I was a little girl, of course, the Greek School was very important.

Both women express an inseparable relation between the various settings in

which community life and learning take place. For Morgan, the religious and

secular cultures are "intertwined." Kampakis sees the activities of home,

Greek school, and parish organizations as "branches" of the same effort.

Interestingly, Morgan notes that, while the components remain the same as

in her girlhood, the emphasis has shift :.

burden now; the Greek School less. The

the aspects of culture that are most imperative are somewhat different as t

community becomes not immigrant Greeks, but a culture of Americans of Greek

descent. The following examples of community cultural activities and family-

based learning illustrate continuity and change in cultural transmission.

They suggest direct effects on the importance, structure, and content of the

ethnic schools as the communities evolve.

Community cultural activities. The high points of the Creek and Lebanese year

are ethno-religious holidays that occasion the most intensive experience of all

Conklin/McCallum--70

aspects of ethnic culture. It is during the high holidays such as Easter and

saints' days, that the mother tongue is employed most extensively in the

liturgy; mother tongue hymns, prayers, and secular songs are revived; a host

of expressions relating to the festivals are used by members otherwise mono-

lingual. The holidays bring forth feasts of ethnic food, native costumes,

banks of flowers, home decorations and ritual objects (e.g., the Greek Easter

eggs; the Catholic and Orthodox Lenten palms; the Epiphany holy water for the

Greek home altars). Special rituals are performed, both in the church and

within extended families and social networks.

These holidays are celebrations and simultaneously intragroup exhibitions

of ethnic culture. Our informants report the intense level of activity pre-

ceding the important holidays. Women cook and prepare the family home and

decorate the church. Greek men set up the lamb pits; Lebanese men prepare

their backyard grilling areas. The choir rehearses. Children finalize their

dance routines and pageant lines and dress. Non-Greek informants who have

married into the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross community comment that it is in par-

ticipating in these preparations that they became familiar with the Greek

Orthodox customs.

Both the Maronite and Greek Orthodox communities also put on more public

ethno-cultural events. The annual Greek Bazaar attracts participants from the

entire Birmingham area. Last year 7,000 meals were served and uncountable

pastries sold. Young people are trained to lead tours of the cathedral, for

which they must memorize the Greek terms for all the parts of the building and

furnishings. While this event is calculated to raise money for th

and to introduce the Greek community to greater Birmingham, it is

tant expression of the Greek community's external ethnic customs, as well as

Conk lin/McCalluni--- 71

the women's organization that works three days a weeks for six months to pre-

pare all the food for the Bazaar:

I think that is one way we keep the Greek customs alive, through that, even though we don't like to admit that people kind of know

us for our food . . . Why fight it anymore? It's really something

to be proud of. And our customs, our dances, too, because our chil-dren always do dances . . . They [non-Greeks] tell us that they like to come because it's a family-oriented festival. And it really is,

the kids are all working, the grandmothers, the mothers, some grand-fathers that are there, fathers, everybody. It's a community project really, but it's sponsored by the ladies' group (tape log ES82-Mc/C-C8).

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The centrality of intact family and community life is made visible to outsiders,

which in turn reaffirms the community's sense of ethnic integrity.

For the Lebanese, the weekly public dinners of the 1930s-70s served a

similar purpose. They put money the building-fund coffers, created an ethno-

cultural activity in which parish members could become highly involved, pre-

sented a wholesome view of Lebanese life to the external world, and reinforced

the value of their culture to the community itself. Birmingham's Lebanese

also maintain a private social club, the Cedars Club, where organizations hold

meetings, Lebanese young people and adults swim and play tennis, and a vari

of activities, more or less ethnically-related, take place. We visited th

Cedars Club during their weekly bingo luncheon. It is open to the public

at least 300 people of all ages--mostly women, some Lebanese, and many non-

Lebanese--played bingo and consumed a lunch of Lebanese meat pies, tabouli

salad, Lebanese spice cookies, and coffee and iced tea. The Women's Auxiliary

of the Cedars Club prepared the lunch and hosted the affair.

Greek and Lebanese community members also participate in a variety of

casual and social activities that are culturally-related. There are dance

clubs at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross and both Greeks and Lebanese regularly enjoy

ethnic music and dance at weddings, festivals, and private parties. Until

recently there was a Greek music balid of young Holy Trinity-Holy Cross boys

,jjilo played for all sorts of events. The St. Elias parishioners hire Arabic

musicians from New York or elsewhere for major parish events, sometimes even

for weddings. One of the Greek Orthodox men's organizations sponsored a tour

to New Orleans this summer to see the travelling art exhibit "In Search of

Alexander." Last year a women's group visited the first Greek School in the

United States in St. Augustine, Florida. The parish is participating in a

national fund-raising drive to restore the school building to its original

state and to erect a memorial chapel. (See photos of activities, Appendix D.)

All these sorts of quasi-organized activities reinforce the cultural heri-

tage that these ethnic communities wish to maintain and transmit. They form

the background to the interest in Greek and Arabic school courses and indicate

a continuing curiousity about and awareness of their ethnic heritage.

Conk lin/Mc Callum- - 73

daughter which contains her own dolls, her mother's dolls, and new dolls she

has brought back from Greece. She also shows us the mounted display case con-

tam ing artifacts from her wedding and explains why it hangs over the marriage

bed. Several informants utilize mother tongue proverbs, relate stories from

the old country, from the early days in the United States, from Greek/Arabic

School which they often find themselves retelling at their children's requests.

C. W. Jovaras says he has repeated the stories his grandmother told him to his

daughters--stories he was pleased to discover were the great Greek classics

when he studied Ancient Greek at college.

To visit their homes is to enter an environment designed to express eth-

nic identity. Sharbel's living room is decorated with paintings and photos of

family members, small knick-knacks distinctly Arabic in design, and oriental

rugs. She and Boohaker wear heavy gold jewelry, especially hoop bracelets.

Boohaker's home contains oriental rugs, Lebanese lace tablecloths, photos of

Lebanon and family in Birmingham and in Zahie. In her basement is a special

cooker for Lebanese bread; in the backyard a permanently installed triple

gas-fueled grill. Every surface and every wall in the Jovaras home displays

Greek artifacts. They range from replicas of ancient vases to postcards of

costumed Greek dancers, to Aegean seascapes rendered in oil, to homeland

ary. The walls are blue and even the furniture is upholstered in the Gree

national colors. The apartments of Christine Grammas and Alexandra Bondur

are similarly repositories for family and Greek memorabilia. Every home we

visited had a large photo album of trips to the old country conveniently at

hand, and quickly brought forth for our examination. (See photos of homes and

artifacts, Appendix D.)

All of these practices reflect conscious statements of ethnic identity,

and strategies for its maintenance. In the more middle-class homes the objects

Conk iin/McCaJ lurn-- 74

are carefully chosen, artistic artifacts of old country high culture, based

on that class aesthetic. In the more working-class homes, fine art and crafts

are intermixed with mass-produced replicas designed for tourist consumutiori.

Lookin9 beyond them to less external fo ns of ethnic expression, it is criti-

cal to analyze ways of "being" Greek of Lebanese, not just exhibiting Greek--

ness or Lebaneseness.

One facet of deeper cultural identity is home language use. First, what

language is used in the home? In all the homes we visited--save Fr. Saad's

rectory a semi-public space--Greek or Arabic was in regular use, at least an

ters. Boohaker and Sharbel both use Arabic with family and friends of the.

generation, but increasingly make use of English with the younger generation,

practically to the exclusion of the ethnic mother tongue.

Beyond simple language choice, we were aware of conversational strategies

that were derived from the mother tongue culture. The Jovaras', like other

Greeks we interviewed at the cathedral, tended to speak rapidly, respond

quickly to queries, and to interrupt and overlap each other and--to a lesser

extent--the fieldworkers. There are scattered remarks about the contentious

"nature" of the Greeks, e.g., "Everybody wanted to be chiefs . . . That's the

trouble with the Greeks" [Christine Gramluas]; "there will always be a lot of

conflict [Terri Grammas]; "if the Greeks don't have an enemy outside to fight,

they just fight with each other" [C. W. Jovaras]. The somewhat loud, quick,

and assertive style of discourse we encountered indicates that Greek-language

conversational norms unconsciously pervade the community's English as well.

By contrast, our talks with Lebanese Americans were far slower in pace.

There were long pauses between our questions and their responses. Answers

ConJdin/McCallum-- 75

S

S

S

seemed to be careful and deliberate, often clarified with illustrative example

stories. There were few interruptions, either of us or--in the single dialogue

we recorded, of Fr. Saad and Joseph Koury-- of each other. While we are not

familiar with the discourse styles typical of Lebanese Arabic conversations,

the differences from our cn Anglo-English were pronounced enough to elicit

immediate comparisons between ourselves of the Lebanese's sense of timing and

deliberation.

Perhaps the clearest indicator of family life as an expression of cul-

turally-appropriate behavior and of cultural values is the extreme hospital; ,-.-

with which we were met in these two communities. Fr. Vasilakis took it upo

himself to carefully question us about the nature and goals of the researci

project (it was he who requested a written description of the project) and he

selected the interviewees based on our initial interview. Much to our sur-

prise his secretary called one day and informed us that a series of interviews

had been arranged and we were to come to Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, where the

parish members would report to meet with us. Thus our Greek interviews were

clearly conducted under the auspices of the parish priest; the interviewees

were prompt, interested, and open. Subsequently the Jovaras' took it upon

themselves to introduce us to "real" Greek life by inviting us to their home

for an evening of food, music, and conversation. The sisters Grammas/Bonduris

asked us to their homes for lunch and conversation, so that they could share

their photo albums, Greek artifacts, and hospitality.

In the Lebanese homes we were plied with ethnic specialties--even in the

rectory, where we talked around Fr. Saad's kitchen table, passing by the for-

mal reception areas. Our most serious interview problem was bringing the meet-

ings to an end. Fr. Saad, the most apparently de-ethnicized of our Lebanese

Conklin/McCallum--76

informants, concluded our interview by remarking that while "I don't like [St.

Elias] to be called an ethnic community," and while he does not favor a parish

school, he does see certain aspects of Lebanese life as part of Maritonism and

intrinsic to parish life:

Well, the way of life, and the feeling that we have for each other, and the hospitality. There's always been Lebanese hospitality. Always been. Always proud of that. And family life.

ID

0

Con d ri/McCali m-- 78

grants who are war refugees. Greeks fled the destruction of the Nazi occu a-

tion and the Cyprus War. Lebanese fled the devastation of World War II a:

the subsequent armed struggles between Christians and Muslims and between

I s r a e l and the Pale i n I -I 'f - - +- 4.-

professional people

Attitudes towa

sense of pride in their long literary traditions, and both value "the learn

man," as teacher and leader. Nicholas Lambrinides, the most admired Greek

teacher, and Fr. Abi-chedid of St. Elias are characterized by this term. The

Lebanese describe themselves as direct descendants of the Phoenicians and the

great Arabic cultures preceding Turkish domination. The Greeks look back to

the classical Hellenistic tradition.

These traditions have implications for language and ethnic school curric-

ula and pedagogy, and also for the imperative many in the communities feel

toward cultural preservation and transmission. Elizabeth Boohaker explains why

the St. Elias parish was united behind Fr. Abi-Chedid's plan for a Maronite

parochial school:

They were very interested in helping the pastor get the school started because that's the only way you're going to preserve any-thing. You'll preserve your heritage and teach your children who

they are. And of course, we have the proudest heritage there is. We started civilization. We started Learning. We started navigation. We started accounting. Just name it and it was started by the Phoenicians.

While our Lebanese informants all felt the need to allude to their ethnicity's

contributions to world culture with at least some brief remark, the Greeks were

more self-assured that their Hellenic culture is well-known and respected, at

Least by educated Americans such as the fieldworkers. The Greeks' remarks

were intended to show how the classical culture taught as a scholarly subject

matter in America is part of everyday life for Greeks (e.g., as a child, C. w.

,Jovaras' bedtime stories were the Greek myths).

However, the Greeks, too, have been grossly misunderstood by their fellow

Southerners. Fr. Vasilakis reported that he recently attended an ecumenical

Christian ministers' conference, where he was dressed in his black clerical

suit with white clerical collar. On the third day of the meeting another con-

feree responded to one of Vasilakis' observations by asking, "You mean you're

The Birmingham Greeks and Lebanese have had to long struggle not only

against ignorance, but against overt racism. In the segregated South Greeks

and Lebanese were considered non-white. Our interviews contain frequent refer-

ences to discrimination in employment, housing, and the schools. Here are some

representative remarks on the early years:

In the South, there weren't too many ethnic groups. The oniy--Italians,

Greeks, very few Greeks, very few Italians, and the Jewish people. And we were looked down, in fact they called us "dagos" in those days [group laughter]. They did! They called the Italians and the Greeks

"dagos." And everybody would murmur if they wanted to speak to some-body in their native tongue, they would go secretly to speak so they won't be ridiculed (Christine Grammas).

[Greeks were] looked down on [as] foreigners . . . We had the monied

people who settled Birmingham, then we had the foreign people. And they looked on them more or less in the same classification as blacks

[For the first Lebanese] it was a very hazardous life because they

went out into country and sold to these people who, back in those days aliens were nil, you know. ere persecuted. And they didn't know - languag! e and ! - wr o ng •I• - St. Elias community re m ain e d

- - . I committe d to e ach o ther b eca us e ] - - - We ll,

think in - No rthern i-See, people here I III there I j• discrimination II I i

time. Down South. J ne I•E :n afraid to B a ptist I .atholic at ; —

you were Catholic, why . . . - -.

time. one ___ We ha d cow in - yard and some how I . - d o n't

I 11 11 I I boitt. heWreedll he--see suit out of :ii. : , st made

apel (pointing p ortr a it] - - th e lawye r to l d • to put that cross11: away • - - th e y,

th e y' r e - - g oing S might m a k e him lo s e - cas e . He sa id , . "We ll

I I I he case, • r a in't :is is going to help : going :

I I II

- •I - • - - - e n o ug h h e w o n t he c as e (Eliz a b e th .S SI .. -

Conk lin/ 1cCal±um--8O

Alexandra Bonduris exolains that the discrimination eased after World War II:

It made a lot of our American boys aware, especially here in the South, because we have a lot of what you would call "redneck" people that didn't know anything beyond their own little area . . . and

when they were exposed to the farmlands of Italy, England, Italy,

Belgium, and so forth and so on, they realized, "Hey, this is what I

do. These are people, too." I think it exposed them to a lot

But Maude Morgan, although she prefers to think things are far better now, still

sees vestiges of the effects in her son:

[The Greek community at first tried to maintain its own, separate culture and education because] I think at first it was because of

this anti-immigrant. I felt this way when I was in grammar school. And I think the War (World War II] changed everything . . . Now let

me say this. You know C. J., my younger son, because of the preju-dices and because--it seemed at a certain time, even after the war,

that high school children of different nationalities were not heli into getting into, ah, not better positions, and to hold office ir

some of the clubs, and these areas in the high school life. And, they were discriminated against. Not the Greek people only. But,

like I said before, the different groups. And he would always say when they'd ask him, or he'd say to me, "I'm an American." Or if

anybody asked him he'd say, "Well, I'm an American. My mother was born in America." You know, he was kind of defensive.

James Mezrano attributes his aggressive stance toward ethnic heritage and lan-

guage education to discrimination he and his wife suffered as children and which

he does not want to have his children damaged by:

And I'm sure they [his wife's family] had a rough time in Mississippi growing up [apart from an organized Lebanese community] . . . I know my mother and father did, in this area . . . I think they got so

tired of defending having people not understand [that they give up their language/culture]--me I consider it ignorance if they do not

understand. I just feel like they should look at their own back-ground. You know, who are they to judge me? . . . And that's what I tell my children. And I tell them if anyone calls you anything bad--and I tell them what the words are that I think are bad--you have my

permission to pick up a brick and hit them. I don't like violence, but they do [have permission]. And we're in 1982 now and those days are gone, you know, where you have to defend your religion and your

heritage and your background.

Petrou reports on the harassment of the Birmingham Creeks, including being

asked to sit in the black sections of segregated restaurants, being unable to

S

In 1911 Dr. Elkourie testified before the United States Congress on

behalf of immigrants from Greece and Lebanon. These two nations had given Western Civilization the beginnings of its culture, he said,

and it would be a terrible irony for America, the West's most civi-

lized nation, to refuse Greeks and Lebanese a home because they could

not read Enqlish. "You owe it to them for no other reason but that

of paying a debt."

The Birmingham experience strongly contrasts with Naff's (1965: 132)

description of Lehanese Christian immigrant's experience nationally:

Conklin/McCallum--82

• . the Syrians had relatively smooth relations with other Ameri-cans. Hostility toward them was neither specific nor sustained and Syrians were only dimly aware of it.

While Naff no doubt overstates the case--immigrants from the Mediterranean area

to all parts of the United States can recall instances of discrimination and

anti-foreign sentiment--it seems clear that the Birmingham situation was extreme.

Up until the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement brought a de jure end to

segregation, dark complexioned Greeks and Lebanese might have been challenged

when using "white only" services or facilities. Ku Klux Klan and other racist

activists continue to use the narrow definitions of "white" Americans that

include these peoples among their targets. And the stereotype of a monolithic

black/white South has yet to be overcome, both within the region and nationally.

There is little public consciousness of the variety of peoples who make up the

American South outside of the particular locales where European ethnics, Asians,

or native Americans are settled.

According to our findings, the Birmingham Greek and Lebanese communities

have been remarkably culturally retentive and continue to express strong ethnic

identity. Ethnic in-migrants to the Birmingham communities have observed this

as well and, like us, believe that this may be due in part to the unusual social

and cultural context in which they make their homes:

I think [an important reason] was this community being isolated, from the other Greek communities. Because when you go into the Carolinas, Virginia, start moving up north, you can go five miles and meet another

Greek community, ten or fifteen miles, you're in another Greek commu-nity. So you're not an isolated portion. You're really not isolated

in those areas. Here in Birmingham it's very isolated. And I can see that within the people, becoming more clannish, I guess, and it's because of the isolation. And because of your different groups. I

think that in other communities that were not isolated, I think it

became a lot more cosmopolitan, and also more social, and not so much clannish (C. W. Jovaras, tape log ES82-Mc/C-C12).

I think the Birmingham community has always been very aware of itself. I really believe that. And I've heard compliments about them, nation-ally, you know, throughout my time as a priest . . . They've always

Conk liri/McCallum--83

stayed close to their traditions and their identity and their church.

Haven't gone too far away and had to pull them back, I mean, they

know, they have had that awareness. And I think that's due to the

churches which promote that and to the [Cedars] Club (Fr. Saad, tape log ES82-Mc/C-Cl).

These Birmingham cases raise intriguing and important questions about the pro-

cess of assimilation/acculturation and the struggle to maintain ethnic identity

under conditions of isolation in an inhospitable, sometimes hostile environ-

ment. Further study of ethnic heritage and language education, and studies of

ethnic maintenance and cultural tranmission in general, should be broadened

and deepened by examination of the Southern experience, rural as well as urban.

S

0

Conklin/Mc Callum--84

RECOMMENDATIONS

Our fieldwork among the Greeks and Lebanese has been very exciting and

informative, yet leaves us feeling that we have just begun to scratch the sur-

face of two extremely interesting histories and experiences. The mother tongue

schools at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross and St. Elias have led rather marginal exis-

tences for the past few years; there seems to be no reason to believe that they

will not continue at least their present level of activity for some time to

come. Their present status, when viewed in light of their more than 70 year

histories, may make them not less, but more interesting for the stated pur-

poses of this research project.

While they are not ideal sites for comparative analysis of contemporary

teaching methods or curricular materials--the staffs are largely untrained

and volunteer; the materials are mostly ad hoc--the very issues and struggles

which have surrounded them can tell us a great deal about cultural values

and educational attitudes in their respective communities. The issues are

alive and actively discussed. Both proponents and opponents are informed,

analytic, and articulate.

Further work in these communities would benefit from expansion and refine-

ment in several directions:

1. Broader-cased research objectives, which would place classroom

education in the context of related cultural training and main-tenance activities.

2. An approach more informed by related research in other disci-

plines, particularly with regard to research methodologies a perspectives which can account for evolution in both the scP

and attitudes toward education as the communities change ov, time.

3. A longer, more flexible timeline, in order to accomodate the schedules of ethnic community classes and cultural events and

to permit thoughtful analysis of the data before report writing.

Conklin/McCallum--s5

We would like to evaluate our experience in Birmingham in the light of these

three recommendations and suggest directions for future research in the com-

munities we have studied.

Objectives. In the section "Other Forms of Education," above, we have sug-

gested some of the ways in which our informants described their own concept

of ethnic education. In these communities, where the ethnic mother tongue is

no longer learned by the children as a native language, language study is,

for most, not separable from the other efforts to continue ethnic culture.

Rather it is--barring outxnarriage--the single most difficult component in

maintenance of cultural integrity, because of the enormous effort required

for second language learning. These informants seemed to focus their atten-

tion on language teaching for just that reason: it serves as an index of

individual and collective will to keep their heritage alive.

Even self-consciously ethnic community members rang along a continuum

with respect to the intensity with which they feel the need to practice cul-

tural transmission. For some religious practice is most critical. For oth-

ers active participation in ethnic foodways, dance, and music are an additional

required component. For still others, identity is not whole without at least

some familiarity with, and perhaps use of, the ethnic mother tongue.

Some of these components of ethnic identity lend themselves to teaching

on an institutionalized basis. This is especially true of language. Others

can be learned and reinforced in less formal ways--in the home (e.g., cook-

ing), or in casual or directed community activities (e.g., spontaneous danc-

ing at social events or in semi-organized dance clubs). Thus formal and

informal education cannot be ranked as more and less serious or important.

Their intents--even their intensities--may be the same with the method deter-

Conklin/'McCallum­ 86

mined by the nature of the content. Third-generation Greek and Lebanese

:im irn onen an teach their children to cook ethnic foods, so they do so.

JnJIC tonon them the Greek or Arabic language, so they look to the par-

oh for this service.

In order to study the scope and effectiveness of institutionalized eth-

ic education, we must first know what institutionalized education is intended

Lenent. This will enable us to understand the choice of content and

otrictjro of ethnic schools and communities' attitudes toward education, as

to the care-

and thoughtful analysis with which other forms of cultural expression have

..en approached. Whereas folklorists are very much alive to all the forms and

vels of cultural transmission, most linguistic analysis has been unidimen-

onal: a community practices language maintenance if its young people grow

up bilingual and it does not if they become monolingual in the mainstream

tongue. Language, however, should be seen as are other components of culture--

an elusive, complex, and sometimes partial phenomenon, expressed in both direct

and indirect ways.

In conventional sociolinguistic terms, the Birmingham Greeks and Lebanese

have "failed" to retain their mother tongues, since few of the young are

actively bilingual. Likewise the L-Ioiy Trinity-Holy Cross and St. Elias lan-

guage schools are "failures," because their students clearly do not become

fluent or even passibly competent with so limited an exposure. Yet the

courses do provide the "flavor" (to quote Fr. Saad) of the ethnic mother

tongue. This seems highly desirable to many and sufficient to some community

members. Even limited exposure appears to offer a sense of identity with the S

Conklin/McCallum-- 37

mother tongue and its culture, and stands--for the communities--as an expres-

ion of their seriousness with regard to cultural integrity.

because language maintenance is easily computed in simple arithmetical

rms of numbers of speakers, it too often serves as an index of cultural

tention, when in fact a far more complicated analysis is required. Lan-

age is just one, not the central form of ethnic cultural expression, but

has been used as the primary indicator by linguists, anthropologists, and

community members alike. Language retention is a complex phenomenon and must

be analyzed in the context of a variety of social and cultural factors,

such as those suggested in the table below.

Nor should the issue of language maintenance be posed as a yes-no ques-

tion. Rather, it too is a complex of factors and must be answered through

the analysis of what, why, and how, with which other forms of cultural expres-

sion are evaluated. What elements of their language does a community choose

to preserve or to study in the classroom? In the home? Why do these elements

satisfy the need for linguistic identity and understanding of the mother

tongue culture? And then--finally--how are they taught?

Interdisciplinary study. Although we could only do a rather quick review of

the vast literature on ethnicity in the United States, it became clear that

the research required a more complex definition of ethnic maintenance and

identity than suggested in the brief project guidelines, if we were to under-

stand the history and current attitudes of the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross and

St. Elias communities. In particular, a situational approach based on viable,

current definitions of "assimilation," "acculturation," and integration" would

strengthen the conceptualization of the project. The notions of varying rates

of assimilation in different aspects of culture, as developed by anthropolo-

lanrgeei ghnubmobrheor oodsf , spreuarkael rs JjIw J11 !tis1 1 7I i it. Visl

geographical proximity to the homeland; ease of tfavel to the homeland

high rate of return to the homeland; intention to return to the homeland

vocational concentration, i.e. employment where coworkers share language background; employment within the language community (stores serving the community, traditional crafts, homemaking, etc.)

low social and economic mobility in main-stream occupations

low level of education, leading to low social and economic mobility; but educated and arti-culate community leaders, familiar with the English-speaking society and loyal to their own language community

speakersL,anguage Loss 10 1:3, 4.1 Go rt

small number of E WI I rr. ! ir. rn speakers rT

of other languages M

10

long, stable residence in the U.S.

homeland TT remote inaccessible

low rate or impossibility of return to homeland (refugees, Indians displaced from their tribal

vocations in which some interaction with English or other languages is required

high social and economic mobility in mainstream occupations

advanced level of education, leading to social and economic mobility; education that alienates and Anglifies potential community leaders

a.

I

nation at large

('rable continues next 41

11

nativism, racism, and ethnic discrimination as nativism, racisim, and ethnic discrimination as they they serve to isolate a community and encourage force individuals to deny their ethnic identity in identity only with the ethnic group rather than order to make their way in society

.-t_1noI •v

uioi; pdizx

88 --mflhlt?D3N/uTPTuoD

0 (Continuation of tab s S CULTURAL FACTORS:

mother tongue institutions, including schools, churches, clubs, theatres, presses, broadcasts

religious and/or cultural ceremonies requiring command of the mother tongue

ethnic identity strongly tied to language; nationalistic aspirations as a language group

emotional attachment to mother tongue as a de-fining characteristic of ethnicity, of self

emphasis on family ties and position in kin-ship or community network

emphasis on education, if in mother tongue or community-controled schools, or used to en-hance awareness of ethnic heritage; low em-phasis on education otherwise

culture unlike Anglo society

LINGUISTIC FACTORS:

standard, written variety as mother tongue

use of Latin alphabet in mother tongue, mak-ing reproduction inexpensive and second language literacy relatively easy

mother tongue with international status

literacy in mother tongue, used for exchange within the community and with homeland

some tolerance for loan words, if they lead to flexibility of the language in its new setting

lack of mother tongue institutions, from disinterest or lack of resources

ceremonial life institutionalized in another tongue or not requiring active use of mother tongue

ethnic identity defined by factors other than language, as for those from multilingual countries or language groups spanning several nations; low level of nationalism

ethnic identity, sense of self derived from factors such as religion, custom, race rather than speech

low emphasis on family or community ties, high emphasis

on individual achievement

emphasis on education and acceptance of public education

in English

culture and religion congruent with Anglo society

minor, nonstandard, and/or unwritten variety as mother tongue

use of non-European writing system in mother tongue, es-pecially if it is unusual, expensive to reproduce s or difficult for bilinguals to learn

mother tongue of little international importance

no literacy in mother tongue

no tolerance for loan words, if no capturing new experience evolve; ance of loans, leading to mixing

loss

alternate ways of too much toler-and eventual language

68

'L

U

/UTTYjUO')

Conk lin/McCalluim--' 90

gists in Africa and as articulated with respect to U.S. immigration by

Sengstock (1974), and of the evolution of ethnicity, ethnic identity, and

practice, as proposed in Faires (1981), would contribute significantly to

our analysis of cultural maintenance and language retention, and especially

to changing community attitudes toward them.

In addition to interviews with informants and observation of classrooms

with study of curricular materials, the project could be deepened by use of

archival and social historical research methodologies. If we are able to

continue our work, we would like to look at the churches' records (e.g., the

legal documents relating to the split between Holy Trinity and Holy Cross and

the lawsuit against St. Elias; the minutes of critical parish meetings where

educational policy was decided) , reports in local newspapers and other regional

and national ethnic papers available in area archives (e.g., the University of

Alabama, Birmingham Public Library), and follow up on the connections between

these and other parishes of their denominations, especially in the Southeast.

region. We also lack detailed information on settlement: ports of entry,

routes to Alabama, census and immigration and naturalization data, early travel

to and from the old country, marit

and marriage trends in the commun -

E'rom our work so far, we can see ti p

ing individuals' attitudes toward parish heritage and language educatior

time of immigration, generation in the United States, class identity, occup,

tion, level and forms of education (public/parochial), home language retention,

religious conservatism/liberalism, political activism with regard to the old

country, personal and family ties to the old country, to national ethnic net-

works, to the local community. To evaluate these and related issues adequately

Conklin/McCallu m--g1

would require more background information on community development and more

extensive interviews with a broader, more representative sample.

The possibilities for linguistic analysis of these communities has only

been hinted at in the comments on our data. There are interesting questions

of dialects spoken by the immigrant families and the standard of speech taught

in the schools, narrative and conversational styles which may be related to

ethnic mother tongue structures , and widely varying usage of American English

within and among the speakers. Study along the lines suggested by Tannen

(1982) might well prove very fruitful in the analysis of cultural retention

in less obvious language behavior patterns.

Project structure. The short duration of the project was a severe problem for

US. Most obviously--because of the parishes' language school calendars and

the late start-up date of the project--it prohibited our visiting actual

language class sessions. We were not able to follow up with interviews with

a number of informants whom we had contacted and who would have provided a

fuller picture of the evolution of the schools. In particular, there are

large gaps in our ±iformation about the Greek schools. Prospective informants

include young people who attended the classes held in the 1970s, younger

adults who were enrolled in the 1960s, and several middle-aged people who

attend d HcL': TrinitY.' anci I[o1: rc s c1

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross and St. Elias, because the principle holidays fall

outside the research period. Even during our brief period of interviewing

we developed sufficient rapport with our informants that we were invited to

public and private gatherings. The fieldwork phase was so short, however,

that we could not participate in many of them.

colLkliri/McCajIum-- 92

The time between the final fieldwork and submission of the report was

filled, not with thoughtful reflection on our findings, hut the scramble to

copy and log tapes, photos, slides, and organize our documentation. We would

have preferred to have had the leisure to put more careful thinking into this

report and to have conducted a more thorough study of the secondary literature

and related local documents before trying to evaluate our data. The period of

just one month between the submission of this report and the seminar seems

brief. We still have a lot of thinking to do.

In general, our findings substatiate the hypotheses set out in the project

guidelines. Our suggestions here serve as refinements of those guidelines,

based on this initial research. We wish to strongly urge the continuation of

the project, on a longer-term and more broadly conceived basis. By understand-

ing the "fit" between school structures, content, and pedagogies, and the cul-

tures which create them, and by studying schools in relation to other culturally

retentive community and family activities, we will come to understand the

woridview which communities share and are attempting to transmit. This project

has the potential to go far beyond a simple survey of the success and failure

of ethnic heritage and language education efforts, to perceive the complex

and dynamic cultural values articulated through the ethnic educational rocess.

4

0

LEBANESE ARABIC SCHOOL AT ST. ELIAS MARONI] CATHOLIC CHU RCH

and

CREEK SCHOOL AT HOLY TRINITY-HOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL — Birmingham. Alabama

Nancy Faires Conklin, Northwest Regional Educatio ci Laboratory Portland, Oregon

and

Brenda McCallum, Popular Culture Library, B. ing Green State University Bowling Green. io

Washing .n. D.C.: Library of Congress

merican FolI.::li-fe Center 1986

S_ K\. CL C" C Ccr\ \\

Like most Greek and Lebanese communities ir the United States, thc:e

in Birmingham were established in the years fcllowinQ 189O up until the I-'

immigration restrictions in the 192 s.1 T e-e who came to Birmingham

entered one of the fastest growing, most rapidly industrializing cities in

the nation. Within this expanding economy, most Greeks and Lebanese

established themselves in commercial enterprises, servicing the needs of

the new, urbanized working population drawn from the rural areas of the

region, as well as from Europe and the Mediterranean. Migrants from the

surrounding countryside, both black and white, and immigrants from

northern and eastern Europe primarily sought industrial jobs. The

developing Greek, Lebanese, Russian Jewish, and Italian communities,

however, sought out economic opportunities in businesses providing food,

dr oods, and other necessities to the wage workers.

Within Birmingham's commercial economy the immigrant businessmen and

women carved out highly specialized niches into which they could readil>

introduce newcomers to their communities. They were attracted to

enterprises requiring little capital and limited knowledge of English

and local custom. ews became leading retailers of clothing

and, eventually, owners of department stores. Italians opened small

grocery stores in laborers' neighborhoods, selling staples and meats. The

Greeks became the primary purveyors of fruits and vegetables, starting

with small carts and street stands and developing into produce store

owners aanndd food distributors, & owner-operators of

restaurants, bakeries, and bottling companies. A 1908 city survey listed

125 food-related businesses owned by Greeks.2 Most Lebanese worked

as peddl 'rs, venturing out into the rural areas of Alabama as well

C:rik I I n NicI::a I 1 urn,

I nc4 the c I t, wi t ar:/ ood; and not i oris . 8::" the 192E1; most of these

itinerant salespeople were able to establish stores, who] esalinc and

re tai linQ dr ods, fine linens and laces from LebanonAand, in some case;, 11-1

Groceries and produce. The Southside neighborhood, center of the Lebanese

community, had( 2 ' Lebanese -owned stores.3 -

Linlike many native born American businesE. owner;, who restricted

their clienteles by race, the immigrant entrepreneurs sought out customer;

without reciard to ethnic considerations. T-rt economic advantage was

tempered by ani mosity created among the area's powerful segregationists

and rat st; who were resentful cf the immi cirants' presence and success.

Greek and Lebanese economi c ad'..ancemen t took place wi th ri a soc si con te::< t

that was aggressively racially bifurcated and overwhelmingly Protestant.

Along with their fellow immigrant Jews and Italians, the Greeks and

Lebanese were sometimes regarded as "colored," their very presence a

challenge to the myth of a biracial, socially segregable South. -n ,_ -----

Orthodox and Maroni te alike, the Mediterranean peoples faced anti-Catholic

nelicious hatred. It is within this context of economic opportunity and

;cc -al stricture that the development of the Birmingham Greek and Lebanese

communities' autono u Lnstitutions must be understood.

STORY .IDF 87. EkIAS MARONITE CATHOLIC CHURCH

St. Elias M n-i-te---G-at ol ic Church is the primary center of Lebanese

ommunity life in Birmingham. Together with a Melkite church and a

ecular ethnic club, it is one of three major institutions founded by

mmigrant Lebanese, all still active today and located near the center of

the traditional Lebanese Southside neighborhood.4 The pioneering

Conklin S.; McC:al 1 urn, p. L3

immigrants established a social club, originally called the Phoenician

Club and continuing today as the Cedars Club, the locus for part ie s,

meetings, recreation, and a variety of secular a: t t CE-. They -founced

two churches to continue the major Christian traditions of Lebanon in

their new homeland. A minority of the ethnically Lebanese population of

Birmingham are parishioners at St. George Melkite Greek Catholic Church,

which al o enrolls Catholics from other nations, including Palestine,

Greece 1 and Russia. M on te- C 4t l-4-cism is the majority Christian

religion in Lebanon --ts---81-rmi-ngharn par i sh, St... Eij.. is sirni lar--y,

the--re-li--gious hom for the majorit c'f the ci.ty's Lebane e..-. This s t u

+c'duaes or ethnic education in the St. Elias :ar Han, since it is t

lam est institut ion and, unlike St . Geor ge NielKite, E.peci+ic H1 a

Lebanese parish.

To understand the hi story of ethnic maintenance efforts at St. El i as,

it is necessary first to consider the relationship between the Maronite

faith and Lebanese national i ty. While the inst I tut ion of Maccr i t I . and

concept of Lebanese nationality became closely tied during the period of

struggle toward independence in the 192@s through 1940 . .. t the time of

large—scale immigration to Birmingham the identification of Maroniticrn

with Lebanese nationality was tenuous. The development of Lebanese

national identity among the St. Elias parishioners played an imp

role in their efforts to establish an ethnic school at the chur:

At the turn of the century ámong the Maronites, and Melkites as well,

the notion of ethnic identityV 11-1 tied to their local region or village

and to their fal th ather than to a p01 i t i cal en t I ty. 5

which most American Maronites cluding those

The regions from

to Birmingham )

emigrated was not actually in the province of Lebanon, but rather in

Conklin & McCallum, p. L1

Syri a ; contemporary Lebanon was not created until a f t e r World War II. Yet

the Marcri tea di d n o t dent I + wi th Syria, for m o s t Syrians were Musl im

and m ost S y r ia n Christians were Orthodox. When pressed for their

n a t orality, early immigrants would report Syrian because they carrie

Syr ian paper s, but among themselves they spoke of a Marcri t e communi ty or

of their native village. They developed the notion of Lebanese

national i ty in response to the American nationality-based dc-f in i t Ofl of

ethnicity and to distinguish themselves from other Syrians. Several of

our Birmingham respondents have commented that the early settlers "had to

be taugh t" that they were Lebanese by the pr iest who came to them from the

old c o u n t r>' in 1?30.

To make matters more di fficul t, the American Catholic Church re garded

the Maronites ether "Syrian" or "Lebanes - as just another ethni c

/ group to assimilate into the "universal" Latin' Rite. The Latin bishops,

not understanding the Lebanese adherents' liturgical distinction from

Latin Rite Catholicism, thwarted Maronite efforts to create autonomous

churches and competing schools. They also discouraged them from

practicing their rituals in the Antiochene style and the Aramaic, Syriac,

and Arabic languages. It was not until the second Vatican Council in 19 5

that acknowledging the integrity o f the Eastern Rites became a policy of

the Roman church. Catholics are now instructed to ': 1 : ' r-

their -Fathers when a parish o f that rite exis

Thus the Lebanese Maronites -Found themsel ves n s o rn e t r r c c t a wouL

bind. On the one hand, they needed to respond affirmatively with a cle D.

nationality-based sense o f ethnicity, if they were to withstand

assimilation into the American cultural mainstream. On the other, they

had to convince the American Catholic Church that their demands for

C:onk I in & NicCal I um p L5

separate I nat i tu t i ona were based not or nat i oral but on dc ,-- tr i nal

differences.

In St. Elias today the debate continues. The priest identifies

himself first

a Lebanese.

a Maronite Catholic I"and second, and only privately, as

His parishioners see the Maronite Church as the spiritual and

cultural center of their ethnic community, however. These distinctions --

between ecclesiasticism and nationalism, between sacred and secular church

functi ons - - and the rol e of the lay community in controlling and

sustaining the parish school are important determinants of the practice of

ethnic heritage and Arabic language education in the parish.

( The Lebanese community in Birmingham was established in the years A'

Z-Fot'lowing 1890. Settlement continued until the immi gration restrictions

Most Lebanese migrated first to cities in the Northeast or Great

LaVes and thence to Alabama. The founding Lebanese families in Biminqham -

—originated in the farming villages in the area around Zahie in central

rLebanon. They were attracted to Alabama by opportunities to enter into

/ itinerant trade among rural residents or in urban areas amidst the growing

numbers of mining, steel, and iron workers. They did not often choose

-farming or even industrial wage labor because they intended to return to

the old country. Also the tenant farmer and sharecropping agricultural

system prevalent in this region was antithetical to their experience and

ambitions as independent small farmers. 'k1ost Lebanese immigrants became a

peddl /rs, traveling the back roads carrying notions, dr oods, and

hand—crafted items on their backs. The profit was high, the investment

low, and only minimal English was necessary. A route and stock could be

obtained from more established Lebanese who owned shops and organized

routes for newcomers. As they became permanent settlers they often moved

afternoons." St. El ias was founded in 1910 in a converted publ ic schooll

building at 20th Street and Sixth Avenue South. It was named after the

- - - - -

the Latin Rite

Diocese in al 1 other matters, and had + i nanc i al obl i gat i ons to the bi shop

- e xp erienc e d c o n s id e r a b le a ttriti o n -

- th o u gh d o e s n o t .. . . .. to ha ve a -

as the estimated fifty - re p o r te d fo r - a - co n g r e g a ti o ns

nati o n a lly . 6 r e m a ine d in it s o r ig in a l., temp o r a ry, a nd in a deq u a te

quart e rs a s - co m m u n ity - - . a w ay fr o m - church a re a a the

nei g hb o rho o d s o f Gl e n Iris a nd a - U o n - so u th w e st a - o f

Birmin g ha m . Fin a lly, - church close d 19 3 9 fo r la ck o f - p riest;

a p pea ls p atr ia rch a te we nt unansw e re d fo r o v e r mo n th s . -

community - d ir e ctly co n ta ct e d - p r ie st a ha p p e n e d be visiting his

U a nd - ter a . - - p e r m i s s io n a p a tr i a r c h a

I.,Jhen Father a - a a r r iv e d a

F1 1 F1 & Nlci:.al 1 'jrn,

reas embled at St. El i a. The ori1. remaininn +unct cnin church

organization was the Ladies' Altar Society, which raised $311 to add to

the church treasury o $7.87 so that Father Abi -Chedi d could reopen the

bu ii ding and begin cal Ii ng the Maron i tes together again. He quick]

learned sufficient English to read the Gospel and to communicate with the

Birmingham business and professional community. He then set about

obtaining property in the Lebanese neighborhood arid managed to have almost

a -full city block of land donated to the parish.

In 1949 construction began on the present church building at 8:3

Eighth Avenue South. At the time of Father Abi-Chedid's retirement and

return to Lebanon in 1970 the complex consisted of the church, a parish

house, an auditorium/ca-feteria, and a -four-classroom educational building.

There were also plans for an additional our classrooms and a small

- - - - - - - -k' convent. Zach 'of the buil dings in cash raised primarily

through the Ladies' Altar Society weekly Lebanese dinners, which became a

veritable institution for many Birmingham residents.

The church had a series of short-term resident priests after Father

Abi-Chedid. In 1972 the present priest was appointed to St. Elias. He

was a member of one of the -first classes to graduate from the American

Maronite Seminary in Washington, D.C., and is the -first American-born

priest at St. Elias. Although of Lebanese descent, he is also the -first

priest not to speak Arabic -fluently. Since his arrival he has

concentrated his efforts on consolidating the pari sh membership, reaching

out to Maronites who had turned to the Latin Rite, and restoring the

teaching and celebration of the Maronite Rite. With the help of the

Ladies' Altar Society, he has also begun converting one classroom iritc' a

i brary - - one of only two or three such Maron i te 1 i brar i es in the Lin i ted

Ocinki in & McCal lum, p. LB

States.

In 1982 St. Elias' congregation numbers 260 active families totaling

800-1,000 people, most of whom are of Lebanese descent. These numbers

reflect the post-1965 immigration, which has brought primarily educated,

professional people, displaced by recent conflicts in the Middle East.

St. Elias is now one of three Maronite churches in the Southeast,

including chuches in Atlanta and Miami, and one of -Fifty churches and +i.e

missions in the entire country. In 1962 the pope authc'rized =-k r, apostolic

exarch to the United States with a mission to unify the American

Maronites. The exarch at Detroit became bishop of the Eparchy (DioccEe)

of St. Maron of the USA in 1971, and the Maronites were removed from the

authority of the Latin hierarchy. The eparchy is now administered from

its seat in Brooklyn, New York. It oversees the churches and missions,

the seminary in Washington, and a convent in Youngstown, Ohio. /

I Nationally, Maronites number over 36,000.7 The p+e- -emt priest has applied

for an assistant at St. Elias so that he can extend his outreach to

Maronites in the Nashville, Tennessee and Mobile, Alabama areas who now

worship in Latin Rite churches.

St. Elias maintains friendly relations with St. George Melkite Greek

Catholic Church -only three blocks away, and the ethnically Lebanese

parishioners sponsor some joint activities. St. Elias is the meeting

place for the American-Lebanese Alliance, though it occasionally meets at

St. George to demonstrate its ethnic, non-dl basis. The two

major religious festivals celebrated at St. Elias and other Maroni te

churches are the Feast of St. Maron on February 9 (Gregorian calendar

February 14), and the Feast of St. Elias on July 20 (Gregorian calendar

Tj - 7i- 4 rrr . n mrV - d 1, 1i *1 cn r i l ci n. r 1 y r- i

Conklin & McCallum, P.

food, music, dances, and other entertainment and the latter is ccl cbr ted

with a religious observance and a c h u r c h pi c ni c.

HISTORY OF ST. ELIAS ARABIC SCHOOL

The parish organized the first Arabic language classes in 191 , just

five years after founding. During the early years Kh& tar t4ehby, one

C • - , • _ ; of the few wel 1-educated immigrants, conducted th-em. At' -st the s?s_

I took place in a section of the old church and later at another location.

Wehbv taught as a volunteer, giving classes after school for several hour's,

each day. Both the students and the teacher were bi 1 i nqua] in Arabic and

English and used the two languages in class. The classes were to make the

children literate in Arabic, familiarize them with Arabic/Lebane;e

literature, and supplement the cultural education they were receiving in

Latin parochial schools.

The classes were not successful for very long. 4ehhy perse/cer'cd,

starting classes each fall until the 1920s, but the consistent attrition

discouraged him. 4ehby's daughter, an active St. Elias parishioner

describes her

- - - S

He

C •1 1

(-S I don ' t want anything, j ust let me teach them.

didn't receive cooperation. And, you know, he didn't

'ant anything from them. He'd say, "Give me your children

Well , it just wasn't supported, I mean, in that they didn't

cooperate with Papa. Maybe the parents kind of just

drifted away. And then my father just got disgusted Yrn

just quit.8

-

As textbooks t4ehby used grammars, d

,

flnrl':l in NlcC:alium, :. L1

and e s s-a y uolume -a that he had t'r':'uqht k&i i t hi m fr om Lebanon. Al thou'h

trained in clas Hc.al Ar.abicq he taught the vernacular language. U We

learned the alphabet. We learned to read to spell. We learned poetr/

and songs," says his daughter. Except for the songs, the efforts were

directed toward re-fining the children's language skills. She also recalls

that the instruction was -

More or less, I wo Td say, ccn' erEati orial A nd

the spelling and things I i k:e that, but bare) '..'r it i rig.

'Cause I don't think we ever got to the point where i.i IAI e r e

doing too much writing, especially not the print. I think

we were printing

Another parishioner who attended the Wehby classes for Ar.abii:-speaktng

children reports a si,i-l- exp r -f&Q e.

And the reason we learned - - we took part in the choir at

the church and we sang in Arabic. And we took the books

and would start reading out of the books, the Arabic

language print. Now, sct-st

but I can read pJ t- --

ting] , I c a n t read,

The next ser Lous efforts at-'Tanquaqe education did not take place

:jti1 Father Abi-Chedid became priest of St. Elias in 1940. He came to

Birmingham intending to open a full-day Maronite parochial school, but his

:.arishioners had a different priority.

didn't want to build a new church first; he wanted to open

going to learn other cultures,,,-and -:,,ou Just t,-.1on't have -Vour

The school building was not immediately forthcoming, so Father ""bi-Chedid

introduced Arabic classes for the young people after school and on

4II da ys_

He tried to teach us Arabic, but his bedside manners were

M33MMJ Mh and the children were very scared of him. We�d

just shake. He was just very stern and strict, and, I

don ' t know, we i ust cou I dn ' t I earn from h i m. L2--,

Fa th e r Ab i- Ch e d id 's s tu de n ts w e re U lo n g e r o r b ili n gu a l

in Ara b ic a nd En g li s h; w e re se co n d - a nd thi r d - ge ne ra tion

Le b a n e se , a t b e st, p a s s iv e kn o w le d g e o f la ng u a ge.

s- U • - - U Le b a n e se -Am e ric a n Birmingh a m d e s c r ib es hi=-. own skillE.

/111 s typic a he - un d e r s ta nd - co n s id e r a b le a m o u n t, U he ca nn o t

nox/C a n he . 0 o r U "E v e n th o u gh th e y [his U - U

par e nts] - Ar a b ic , a nd we we re sp oke n U b y Ar a b ic , a nd

understood it, we were never taught to speak it fluently," he explains.1-8'

Father Abi-Chedid emphasized conversation ., pronunciation-drill (in

C.onkl n & NicOallum, p. L12

Eome caaes, ph:'slc.11•/ tr:in; to s:or ce l.arync l s out of his pupil's), and

the alphabet. The classes would start up again and again and stop because

ropped out after a month or so. "I guess that's why I kno

the alphabet so well , " says one student. "we went through it so mar."

t i me s Althouc1h these experiences were not promising, Father

Abi-Ch did did not waver from his determination to have a school at St.

El ias to replace the Latin parochial education of the parish children.

At his parish's wish Father Abi-Chedid built first the new church ar

then the rectory. Working with the Ladies' Altar Society and the Knight'--

of St. Maron q a special parish lay organization established for the

purpose, Father Abi-Chedid raised the money necessary for the -Fir-=.t hai

of the school building. Finally, in 1958 the prospective school -

'-auditorium/cafeteria was completed and in 196e the first four of the

planned eight classrooms. The completed complex would be in the sh e o-f

a cross. The school was to have eight grades and teach all subject;

required by the state. In addition, the school would offer i n s t r u c t i o n 1r

Lebanese heritage and the Maronite Rite.

To ensure the realization of his dream of a school, Father Abi-Chedid

established a designated Maronite education trust fund. The proceeds from

the Lebanese lunches and dinners that became so popular in Birmingham in

the 1950s and 1960s contributed substantially to the fund. After Father

Abi-Chedid's retirement, however, his "school money" was restored to the

dioce i n and parish general funds, to be used for support of exist ing

programs. The final

No teachers were hire:.

The disposition 0± I "

St. Elias to this day. School advocates in the congregation see their

Conklin & N1CC..Eillurn, p. L13

opportunity to establi sh a full day school that i.jtj1d be responsive to

their ethnic and cultural needs to have been lost to other priorities

some argue, failure to recognize the imperative to have a Maroni te

Rite-based curr iculum for Lebanese-Amer ican ch I 1 dreri.

The parish today owns a substantial school complex of which it makes

very little u s e . The land adjacent, designated for the remainder of the

school , stands vacant. In such a si tuat ion it in u n I i ke 1 that the school

issue would easily disappear from memory. Indeed, today "s parishi oners

and priest report that, over ten years later, it remains a subject of

debate within the congregation.

Advocates of the school foresee a full curriculum of public and

parochial school subjects, as well as supplementary classes, including

Lebanese history and culture, the Maronite Rite, and the Arabic language.

One believes that Arabic should be begun "at an early age - - two or three.

I think it would be great for the younger, because it's easier -for them to

speak at that time."4-5, Another c describes the school she envisions thi s

came from. Teach them the history of Lebanon from the time

of the Phoenicians to the time of our present-day

situation. Teach them their religion, which is the oldest

rite in the church. Tear: 'He family life.

And besides, they would get this basic education that is

necessary for college or high school We were

going to have nuns who would teach them in English, except

the Arabic language, and the rite, and the church - - the

c h u r c h Probably they would have included in

the i r c-I a.=_-ses the Arabi c 1 anguage , as a course That would

be in A-ddi tion to their re ,:�ular studies.

Pu p s w o u b e d rawn

childr e n - p a r is h. Other s mi ght come fr o m La tin Ca th o lic

U - - 1 their childr e n a ll - tra d iti o n

the Latin church, su g g e sts a c hu r ch c o u n c il m e mbe r. Financi a l

are - de in additi o n U - cultur a l a nd r e li g io us

scho U b e tw e en a nd - - - pe rcent o f c hil d ren

atten d La tin R it z P aro chi a l sch o ols , w he re - • _ o u t- o f- p arish

Sch U . a dvo c a te s • U - - wo u ld r e d ir e ct - su p p le m ents provi d e d U

famili e s y St. Elias to_ U c a nn o t - - - co st

o f La tin sch o o ls , a n - S

least - 15,000 p e r ye ar U-

I

- mo st o u ts p oke n a d v o c a te s o f a rgue

capital U -fr o m - - - g e n e ra te d - - a nd -

earm a rk e d fo r - b u ildi n g fu n d e st a bli s he d _ U - . S Fa th e r - - . U U

a ls o b e d ed ic a te d U - p r o p o s e d e d u c a tion

would go a long -way toward supporting the school , v4re i t staffed by nuns.

Even the teaching staff of the projected school is a much discussed

issue. Father Abi-Chedid had first planned to bring eight nuns directly

from Lebanon. Later the parish contacted nuns at the Maronite National

Shrine in Youngstown, Ohio. We had Maronite nuns. waiting to

teach, and the bishop did not encourage them," recalls a parishioner very

active at the time. "We have a bishop who is not very aggressive. He did

I n P Mc f:a I urn p Li

not encourage them. They f i nal 1 y got di s g u s t e d and went back ti:

Lebanon I- A pro-school gr4up w thin the con rec.t i on has recentl

discussed the question with four Latin Rite nuns o-f St. Rose of Lirna in

Birmingham who attend St. Elias and who had declared themselves willin to

learn the Maronit rite 'and take on the jobs. Another pro-school

spokesman prefers to look to Lebanese nuns; they are European-educated, he

says, and multilingual. His group's plan would be to send them to Eacrei

Heart College in Cullman, Alabama until they pass the state teacher

certification examination. If established, the St. Elias school iiou1c be

the only Maronite school in the United States.

Along with the controversy about a Maronite parochial school, rabic

language classes have continued to take place at irregular intervals. In

the 197@s a Lebanese priest from St. George Melkite offered classes at St.

Elias. One adult versed in Arabic attended and enjoyed the classes, but

says the parish children could not keep up.

We had one priest of the Mel ki te church. He ..i. '.er

learned. He taught a higher grade, where the your: Ir e

could not [keep up] - - you have to start from ft

beginning.- . . I went when the priest was teacn,ir

because I knew a little bit higher Arabic and I

appreciate it and learn it. I*s �_ 4:_ —

could

In recent years there have been classes given by seminarians from

Lebanon interning at the parish. One man, who was at St. Elias for three

summers between 1978 and 1980, offered Arabic classes twice as part of the

Summer Enrichment Program. This program for families includes Lebanese

cooking , m o v i e s craft s, and other erir criing act ivities," notes the

parish priest. A respondent who attended with his wife and older children

recalls that the classrooms were filled. 914e went there very energet ic.

There's no tex tbookv you bring your own penc I 1 and paper, and you get -

there and you 1,-J r I te . You try to wr ite it down and pronounce i t , and t

YCP:/ hard to pronounce.' 14h11e the Summer Enrichment Program itself

lasted only -four weeks, the weekly Arabic classes continued throughout the

summer. The parish priest observes that attrition was high: perhaps

eighty started the class in 1980 and ten remained at the end.

In the summer of 1982 the interning seminarian is a Lebanese-Omer

who does not meet the minimum Arabic speaking and reading skills

guidelines established by the bishop. To expose his intern to the

language and renew Arabic teaching at the school, the parish priest

arranged that an immigrant Lebanese who is a professional elementary

teacher offer a children's class. Unlike most of the post-1965

immigrants, her family is highly language retentive, -a fact that the

priest attributes to their plans to return to Lebanon. This woman, who

teaches her own daughter Arabic at home, agreed to take on other children

in the six to ten age group. An announcement in the Sunday bulletin drew

children and also a number of adults. An additional teacher was then

found from among the recent immigrants, and a n adult class has also be gun .

Both classes meet for just one hour each week duri ng the Sunday

i\ j2 ' chool period between early and late mass. This time is usually devoted

to religious instruction. The children's class now has just over ten

children. The teacher is introducing the alphabet, reading and writing,

counting, and rhymes for word memorization using photocopies of

Conklin & NlcOali'jrn, p. L1T

elementary school books she used in Lebanon . She assigns homework task

Of rewritin g, copying, and translating, which the pupils have completed

dili gently. The seve iht adults in the other class requested

conversational Arabic. Their time is...de- 4ed to speaking, not reading and

writing 1 with the exception of learning the characters associated with the

sounds which have no parallel in Engi i sh. Pract ical conversational

phrases seem to be the main emphasis. This appears to he the iirst cour se

at St. El i as following a conversation approach. Sc far the at tendance has

been good and enthusiasm high. Most of the adult students have minor

passive knowledge of Arabic, but cannot speak it. The parish priest

expects the classes to go on into the fall, if interest continues at the

present' level. The adults had hoped for a longer session or a weekday

evening class, but their teacher was not available except on Sunda -.,--

mornings. If the adult classes continue, they may have to be scheduled

for another time.

- FUIURE 9W THE ST. ELIAS ARABIC SCHOOL / t c

Under Father Abi-Chedid the parishion r?­ivVrKW1 gether to raise t

building funds, first for the church and rectory and then for the school

Now, with no plans for further expansion of the school, the church, or th

rectory, there are far fewer activities at the church, because

money-making projects are not as necessary.

The parish priest argues � that the idea of a school at

St. Elias runs counter to the American Catholic Church's general movement

away from parochial education, brought about, in part, by the loss of nuns

and the high cost of lay teachers. More importantly, however, he sees

Maronitism as a rite, a special tradition of Catholicism, and resists the

- thnic co m m u n iti e s wa nt e d th e ir p a r is he s . S

that is a misn o m e r, b e c a us e a rite is - distinct entity in

the Ca th ol i c des us. We're a

M-ar o n it e c hu r ch a nd Ge o r g e - - - Greek

Cath o li c B th o s e will stand, yo u a

e thnic thin g , w e d e p e n d ed o nl y e thnicity,

woul d die out .1-94

The co n fu s io n o f a nd e thnic identific a ti o n pe culi a r - U

Am e rican - - a nd o t h e r Ma ro ni t e s livin g o v e rs e as, sinc e th e re is no

co m p e titi o n - La tin R it e / O r, - - a a o f - div e rsity

within the Ca th o li c -fa ith Le b ano n • _ S - lf. As a n Am e rican,

p ri e st mo r e se nsitiv e to th e issu e - p r ie sts fr o m Le ba no n m a b e ,

o r, in d e ed , - a - o t h e r p r ie sts a t Eli a s ha ve b e e n. - he is

ca u ti o u s a b ou t t o o clo s e a n id e n tity b e t w e en Mar o ni ti s m a nd Le b a n e se

he d o e s n o t U e n ti r e ly d is a ss o c ia te - two. E x a min e d

cl o s e ly o v e r se ve ra l - - int e rvi e ws, - ca uti o n a p p ea r s U - fr o m -

co n c e rn - - e m p ha sis U - I a way fr o m - int e rn a l Ma ro n it e fa ith

U e xt e rn a l cultur a l ma nif e stati o n s o f - no n - r e li g io u s - - ra th e r

- - a ss o c ia ti o n U U o f M a ro ni t e wi t h L e b a n e se is incorr e ct. - p r ie st,

his p rim a ry - co n c e rn b e w i t h s pi ri t u a l a ff a irs - a nd - ma int e na nc e of

- fa ith. d oe s n o t w is h U - - hims e lf - d u a l ro le a s

Cu:nklin & Mcr::aliurn, p. L1'

of the ethnic community. No doubt this too, is partly the response of an

urban American socially -far removed from the viJlage leader role of

priests in traditional, rural Lebanon. Yet /St. El ias is a Lebanese

Maronite parish in the Deep South, long isolated and self dependent; its

congregation may have broader expectations of the roles its priest should

assume than might a parish in a more densely Maroni te and Lebanese area

such as the Northeast.

The parishioners do not attempt to make the delicate distinctions

between -faith and national i ty upon which their priest insists. As one put

it, "Well, that sort of goes together, being Maronite and being Lebanese.

If you're Lebanese you're Maronite. Because the Maronite is the majority

15 1 in Lebanon." And, -further, "Well , the church, really, is the real

-foundation of the [Lebanese] community. Everyone gathers here. Ni-F ;;--

don't see them at all, you see them at church." Other &!�,, L_�, C �k S

connect religious and cultural life:

I love it. I love the music, the -Food, the dancing -- it's

all the religion. To me it's a great culture. . . .

[i.e., American—Lebanese generally] keep the -food and lose

all the other [elements of culture], and we're so fortur

that we [in Birmingham] have the church and our whole 1

Ri gi b' t r :- :n

1 i -fe; that

have the church, we'd be like all the other Lebanese

communities. I think we're very -fortunate in this ar a :

have two churche E . e i j — ' ' Crri:'M 1L5

- V---

directly

Ouriki i ri & Mcf:al lum, p. L2c1

For these parishioners, maintaining the Maronite faith and Maronite

religious education are identical with maintaining Lebanese ethnic and

cultural awareness f?it they are simply separable.

The struggle surrounding the St. El as school must be uriderstcc'd in

light of the above sentiments. The priest and his parishicrierE. share deep

concerns about the education Maronite children receive in the Latin

schools and the effects that Latin school attendance appears to have cr

the level of participation at St. El ia families are drawn to do

volunteer work for the school's parish instead of their own, and the

children make friends among their Latin Rite schoolmates. In addition,

part of the Latin school curriculum is Catholic liturgy, catechism, and

custom, and Maronite children learn that this is the universal

Catholicism. Until Father Abi—Chedid started to grant first communion to

St. Elias youngsters early - - at six instead of seven years of age - - the \__d - ,

Maronite children were even studying for and taking their communion at

school in the Latin Rite with their Latin classmates.

Because the majority of the children attend parochial school and thus

receive extensive religious instruction during the week, the Sunday chool

hour at St. El iás has been devoted largely to "remedial" education in the

principles of Catholicism for the minority who go to the public school

Most parochial school children do not even attend. The priest has

introduced a quarter hour specifically on Maronitism in the last year or

so, based on materials that he and parish teachers have developed. In

fall"1982, for the first time, there will be Maronite curriculum materials I.. '

from the exarchate education department available for children's religious

( )instruction. The priest hopes to expand the Sunda 1chool into a full

f:Lrik I n & N1cf.. 1 1 urn p. L21

hour of Mar':ni te Catholic study, using the e:<srchate materi als to

supplement the standard Latin rite—based books and catechism.

—

In tribute to his eminent predecessor and ha Father Abi-Chedid _ -----

'5 educational ambitions, the current priest has had the church 1 i brar:y named

after t —b - d ----.o+ th!-....s' o +---c n + x -- n whtch H-t-- t iu'sed; For tic

::'ears the Ladies' Altar Society has been developing the Iihrar::' s

collection, which consists o f books and pamphlets on Maronitism and • •: . . ,

Catholicism; a section of travel, 'archaeology, history, and art 1-

br.oc wc e-t Lebanon and the Middle East; a -few Arabic and Syria:

grammars and dictionaries; yearbooks and convention books from St.

and other American Maronite chu -hes; and issues of The ChallenQe, the

\ 'ç: i -\ . • .

American exarchate newspaper. Few Arabic language

\4LJ •. . - -

been L considerable number of old Arabic books -

as For the priest the "real special" section is the

o n e o n the Maron I te Rite and the history of the Maron i te people:

W e w a n t e d t h e l i b r a r y t o s p e c i a l i z e i n things of our rite,

and o f our history, and of our culture. . . . Books ar

very hard to get and expensive to find - - in English.

Any Arabic books we've gotten, people donated them

their homes and things. We're trying to classify them,

identify them, and put them out. . . You'd be

surprise a young person comes by doing a paper in school, -

and is trying to do it about the Maronite Rite, and the

history of Lebanon, or something, and they would have a

source here. We want to have things here they can't find

anywhere else. We want to have regular hours, but

„-)h i ch there k,,ii I I Lbe re-_;Lal -ig5 -from the books, or + i Ims -and tapes about the

ar the specific ritual , dogma, and history of the church, supplemented

it certainly is not for many lay advocates of the St. Elias school. T r-I

.Rrgue for the necessity of a school from various perspectives. I.tiT iu

of early immigrants to Birmingham, for example, represents the +action o+

parishioners oriented toward the old country. They aresocially, religiously, and ethnically. One of their concerns about t�it-

the Latin nu n s the lu teac hers in a schoi i

But these nuns are still real nuns. They are full habits.

And that s what we want. We don't want these nuns who look

like me and you, and they call themselves nun. They're no

They fear that St. Elias is, increasingly, "mainly social,” not religious.

This family has been central to all fundraising activities in the past,

but "I told them, "You want our family back here, you're going to have to

start that school going, because the church doesn't need anything

Conklin & McCallum, p. L23

else!'"24- Deeply religious, this family, like its priest, fears

dissolution of the Maronite parish, but espouses a different strategy for

maintenance e f f o r t s , i.e., closer alignment of ethnicity and religion via

parochial schooling that integrates secular and sacred needs.

Another parishioner who shares concern over the ntegr I t::' of the

family and abhors marriage outside of the ethnic and rel i g i o u s c o m m u n i t>

arrives at his support of the school in a somewhat different fashion. A

third-generation American in his mid-thirties, he has no strong ties to

the old country. Whereas two young men of the fami ly discussed above wi 1 1

return to Lebanon to marry village girls during 1982, this parishioner and

his family, and even his parents, have never visited the old country. He

is not trying to preserve old country ways in the United States /but to

create a sense of place and self for his Lebanese-American family. While

others in his age group opted for assimilation as an escape from

"foreign-ness," he has overcome the ethnic, minority -child experience by

integrating and promoting his Lebanese heritage. He speaks of the

privileges he had in the Birmingham community in comparison to his wife,

who grew up Lebanese in a Mississippi town with no ethnic or

ethno-religious institutions. A school at St. Elias would be a means for

passing on to his children a fuller cultural experience and sense of place

than he and his wife have had.

I'm not that old country, and I'm not that modern. But I

think we should know who we are, and about our background,

and to be proud of it. A lot of people my age

wish we could speak it [Arabic], and that's how come we

want the school . You know, there are a lot of young

C:cnkl iri & ricc..i U p. L24

married couples with chi ldreri. C d j ij s t h a 'S.' e a

-fit to have a school down there. . . I would just li:ue

for m kids to go to their own church, to their own school,

arid to participate and be around their her it age more and be

•arc'urd their own people

- -

Thu-, the school i S 4 qe-d-as a bulwark •a i nst e::ter-n.al soc al ch n e

as a positive affirmation of the immigrant experience and as a cultural

link between grandparent, parent, and child.

Interestingly, it is the latter parishioner who i-s most emphatic

about Arabic language retention or renewal. The elders in the first

family cited above were r in an Arabic-speaking home and some of the

younger adults also speak the language. Their homes are basically

English-speaking, howeverjya 4' the new Lebanese brides will be

mu 1 t I 1 I ngual , although they- Lebanese-Amer ican grooms are not / he ir.

homes, too, will be English speaking. In contrast, the adults in the

second family, without old country ties and essentially monolingual in

English, try to use the few Arabic words and phrases they still remember-

in daily conversation at home. While many innovations at St. Elias

distressed the -first Lebanese-oriented family, they did not mention the

increasing use of English in the liturgy. The latter family, on the other

hand, wants to see the entire mass returned to Arabic.

At St. El ias today ninety -five percent of the mass is in English.

The Holy Consecration is recited in Aramaic and the choir sings "a c':'uple

of hymns" in Arabic. This is a radical shift from 1940, when Father

Abi-Chedid was coached so that he could recite his first reading of t-

Gospel in English; he memorized the sounds, not understanding a sing]

Conki in &' Mcf:a lurn, p. L25

i&ijrd. One parishioner who speaks Arabi': arid is a professional musician 1

has merous Arabic hymns into phonetics for the use o1

monolingual choir members. Prayer books have bilingual texts and a

phonetic rendering of the Arabic, so that parishioners can read along. In

the parish priest's view the switch to English has been positive for the

congregation:

I'm satisfied with just keeping the flavor of it.

Aramaic is more important [than Arabic], because it was the

liturgical language. Like Latin, it was preserved just for

the liturgy. And Aramaic was closer to our people, because

they spoke it at one time. And also, Christ spoke Aramaic.

So I think there will always be a closeness to that

language, because of those associations. . You

know, I have a flavor, a flavor for it oo, and I can read

Syriac 'cause that's how we're traine &( . My idea

was that, if the rite was going to thrive, people had to

know what they're doing, especially the young. I think

these things are, can be, transmitted with a flavor, but in

Englis 2(hat they never knew, what it was before. And

the thing about these churches --- the Maronite and the L L-

Melkite churches, this old way of thinking -- was that they

were old—country churches, you know, for the old people, or

those who didn't speak Engl ish. I think we've had to

change that, if there was going to be any hope for the

young people to come, to understand �hat they were going >

And it's successful; it can't help but be

•"¼ "

7

AJ -'

Conk 1 i n & McC.a I I urn, p. L2o

successful if you approach it like that. We have m o r e

young coming to our church now than ever before

He articulates quite eloquently the 1inguistic-a imilationist

position. Yet the priest speaks often of this notion of "flavor.' It

arises in his description of the Arabic language classes. Although he

maintains that the language learning efforts are largely fruitless in

terms of actual linguistic skills, he thinks it is good for pariahicrer

to have the exper ience of studying the alphabet and learning a bit about

the language. He especially approves of their learning vocabular::. acts

such as greetings, household items, foods - - "you know, table-talk kind o f

stuff" - - since it puts them in touch with the culture they have in their

homes.

I don't think it is really going to mean a lot, except to

give you a flavor of the identity, which is all right.

Now there's more than an awareness and a real desire

for identity. [It would not be good if] you didn't

know what to call the foods your grandfathers ate and that

you eat every Sunday. And they're pretty goo ;)there's

nothing else like

The priest and his intern, both Lebanese-Americans, cite the Arabic

kinship terms as a specific example of how exposure to the old-country

language helps the people conceive of and internalize their own cultural

At-torl k,iew. As a child, the priest marvelled at the wealth of kinship

rents to denote each member of the e' ended

Conk I n & N1cC.i 1 urn, p. L2T

family in a single expression of relationship. "I don "t kn ow them all

rnxse1+ but it ' s -fantastic. There is no way we can do it [ e x p r e s s this

concept of kinship) in English."

Arahic language advocates remain confident that the young people

in the pariah could become effective bilinguals, and that is o n e o f the

outcomes they would expect from the school . One notes that h

-f i.e-year-old son can re: te the sn sect ions of the rn.aas already.

Le-ft to me, the whole mass could be in Arabic. I -feel like

we have a prayer book, we c an re-ad it and then we can

learn the words in Arabic also. You repeat it so many

times, and you hear it and can pick it

He would send preschool ers to Arabic classes before they e er at?rt e

regular day school.

I w o u ld gi v e a n yt h in g if they would open it u p. 1T the

Father would think the way some of us think; but he

doesn't. . . I don't know s I hope we get a school. I

real 1 y f9 T that, - don' t, that we'll lose it all .2 TfCQ - —

I,n a )

\- H/ STORY pF HQ

Local legend has it that three seafaring brothers were the -first

Greek immigrants to Alabama the -first settled in Mobile in 1873, the ,

second in Montgomery in 1878, the third - - GeorQe Cassimus - - in

Birmingham in 1884. Cassimus is described as a British merchant seaman,

who,-with his two brothers/ hired out on a Con-federate gunrunner. He

n N1cC..1 1 urn s p

arrived in Birmingham from the port city of Mobile, -F)rst work inc1 for the

fire department and later opening up a lunch stand. Despite the legends

surrounding the origins of Alabama's first Greek settlers, most Greek

mini crants to Birmingham entered the Un i ted States through El -I is Isi and,

settling in this country under less dramatic circumstances.

Most Greek immi gran ts to the IJni ted States until after IAIor1d .Jar II

were unskilled single males. They often planned to return with their

savinqs from America to their Peloponnesian villages to establish a farm

or business, or to support their kin or dower their daughter or sister ,

both strong Greek traditions. Many of the Greek immigrants to Birmingham

h:wever, as well as those who settled elsewhere in the country after 19i

were already married, or later returned to Greece to find a bride,

intending from the outset to establish permanent residency in America. Z)

The majority of the early Greek immigrants to Birmingham came from

the Peloponnesian area and the islands of Corfu, Samos, and Rhodes. The::.

settled in metropolitan Birmingham, as well as in many of the sate] 1 te

communities - - Ensley, Bessemer, I4ylam, and Prat ci y in particular

oriented toward Jefferson County's coal mines and iron and steel mills.

In the city of Birmingham proper Greeks settled on the Southside,

especially on Cüllom Street, and in Norwood.

Reports conflict on the number of early Greek residents in the city ,

and the official federal immigration and census statistics are

inconsistent. Growing from the 100 enumerated in the 1900 Census, Greek

residents in Birmingham numbered 908 and 1,200 in Ensley by 1913.

Census data from 1920, however, ly 485 Greeks in Birmingham.

Before World War I, but especially after 1920, Greeks in Birmingham,

f:onkl in & McCallum, p. 32'

retail businesses. A Greek-American middle class emer ged -Fairly early in

the ':ommu i t:: s hi story in this cauntr . The major i ty of the Greeks

soon made opportunities for themselues in wholesaling and retailing.

By the early 1900s Greeks had such a monopoly on street vending that a

1902 petition to the city council unsuccessfully tried to rev e their

,

retail 1 I censes.3. e'many emerged as restauraq(t urs. Other

early Greek-owned businesses included hotels ., barbershops, shoeshine

stands, lauridri es, and bill lard parlors.

The most recent wave of Greek immigrants to Birmingham followed the

1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. Some 142,000 Greeks emigrated to

the United States during the late 1960s and early 19T'Os. These later

immigrants included both men and women with professional and technical

training. Many came from Athens or central Greece and had no intention of

\c, returning to their homeland. The Birmingham Greek community, however,

also includes a sizeable number of recent immigrants who have been

educated only through grammar school.

Ho

HISTORY OF

The seventh Greek Orthodox congregation in the United States, Holy

Trinity Church Was founded in 1902 with the organization of a lay

committee, the Lord Byron Society (named in honor of the British poet who

championed Greek independence). The committee's purpose was "to establi- h

a Greek Orthodox Church, also to assemble the members of the

one place for order and social improvement." 1I, Reverend,Ca1l Kanellos, an ethnic Greek from Constantinople, Turke

priest. Ptr first mass t' s ce1ebr&te-d- in 1907. AftE-

fundraising drive, during which the small parish met in rented h

/

Conk 1 in & McCal lum, p.

:'c'cict::/ purchased -?. -former Methodi st-Episcopal church building on 19th

Street and Avenue C South (now Tht7f Avenue South)

In 1906 the parish of 100 members was officially named the Greek

Orthodox Community of Holy Trinity Birmingham, Alabama, and received a

state charter. Daily afternoon Greek ool classes began shortly after Qt

the or ganization of the church in the "1 i ttle run-down building" next

door, that was also used as a general meeting place.VY When Father

K.ariel1cs left in 1912 he was replaced by Father Germarios Smirriaki a.,

described as a most learned man , a good 1 riqu at and the author of

several book-.

people on various subject s religious, historical, hygienic,

succession of, presumably, Greek-born priests appointed to the Holy

[who also] lectures every Sunday evening to hi s

etc . " A

Trinity parish by the Archdiocese followed Father Smirnakis.

On the eve of the Depression the Greek-American community in

Birmingham numbered over 1,500. "With this expansion came inter-community

[sic] tension," between factions of parishioners with differing values

relating to ethnic heritage, language, and education. 1.09101

Dissen t w i t h n

the community began developing in 1926 over the selection and hiring

process of an additional teacher. At the base of the argument was a

long-standing controversy within the Greek-American community between

ecclesiastical and lay community authority in church affairs. The

argument continued through 1932. After unsuccessful efforts at

recoric i 1 i at ion the Birmingham Greek community formally spl i t over the

school issue in 19:3:3 Approximately one-third of the Holy Trinity

parishioners '.ithdrcw their membership and formed another parish, that

Holy Cross [with] aims and purposes being of course the same, but in a

Tr fl fl C mj7e to the 'kinci.' Z /

of

educational

Conklin & McCallum, P. i3r3 11

Not form ally recognized by the Archdiocese , group :- t - _

_yawinhinners. The group advertised in the

New York Greek newspaper Atlantis for a priest and hired Father Dionvsic,;

Dimitsanos from Corfu in 1933. Services had previously been held in the

Fraternal Hall belonging to Holy Trinity, but within three months the

dissident parish had 150 members and Yen- e- r extensive fundraising

acA

efforts to build its own church. This in 1934, with the

aid of the American Hellenic Educational Progres e Association (AHEF

and other community organizations. The -first Holy Cross Church t t--

S at North 25th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenue' in Birmingham.

From the outset Mr. Anagnostou, one of the two teachers involved in the

41

confrontation at Holy Trinity, taught Greek school classes in the church

building.

Competition between the two parishes continued. In 1931 Holy Tniriit'

('the original church") bought the properties next door and erected a new

1935 the dissident par Nh, Ho'T' building. In

In 1938 Holy Cross built a rie

church next door to its old one, again with AHEPA's aid, and began using

the former church as an educational building. A Youth Center was

completed in 19 1. In 1949, after some disagreement about relocation to

an area nearer the homes of one community group, Holy Trinity built the

present church (dedicated and consecrated in 1956) on its old site.

Reconciliation efforts between the churches began in 1947. It was

the social activities of the youth groups of both parishes that final] -;''

reunited the Greek-American community in Birmingham. The factional

between the two churches had divided the entire community for thirt

years, during which time the community's mutual aid and church-affi

Conk I i ri & N1u:r::..l I un-,

Z-E4t I 'fl E. ncludi ri; the church youth Lip r:up so, be! n open i n g the i r

social and recreational functions to one another. The Greek On t flr:do::<

(outh of America (GOYA), a national orqanization aimed at the uni fi c ati cn

of independent Greek-American youth groups across the country, chose

Birmingham to host the third annual GOYA conference in 1953 • member•E

c-f both churches' chapters joined in its planning. The occasion re uIted

in the reunification of Birmingham's two Greek Orthodox parishes. The

chairman 0± the e'ent recalls the -final atherHn c-f the

convention;

Nobody that came could forget the enthusi asm. I think one

night they raised $45,'3e0, just off the floor from the

k i ds. There were old gold coins. People were crying. We

re-al i zed all the great things that needed to be done for

the community coul d, not he done without the communities

pulling together.24

A binding legal contract named the reconciled 1,1500-member parish the

United Greek Orthodox Community, Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, Birmingham,

Alabama. It specified that a new priest would be brought in to serve the

community and outlined the usages of bo h parishes' new buildings. The

Holy Trinity jducational,, &jlding be used for joint Stunday Sc c:

/ and Greek( chool classes; the Holy Cross Youth Center be used for-

all parish social functions. Th mutual use of each parish's former

property appears to have continued until the 1970s, when )he unified

parish sold the property of th e o ld Ho ly Cross Church Fter it had been

damaged in a fire. To "satisfy the newer generation," Holy Trinity-Holy

C:c,rikl i ri & McCal I urn, p.

Cr oss replaced the old educational bui lding wi th a modern one' - - the

current Hellenic Orthodox Christian Center -- dedicated in 1973. It

ntai n Surida::. fchool ci assroom;. the Greek 1 anguaqe school ':1 assrc'orn, a

parish library, social halls, a gymnasium/audi tor ium, meetinq rooms, arid

C CS.

Most of the Greek-Americans in Birmingham interviewed about the spi i t

caused by educational di f-ferences agreed that i t was unfortunate, but

rational i zed the commun i ty fact i oral i sm by drawing on Greek proverbial

lore. An elder whose oral history is in the parish library said, "I

know division is no good and all that, but, on the other side, it brinu

you. progress, too. You have to fight for existence, you know.

11 And as one of the elders interviewed in this study put it,

"Everybody wanted to be chiefs. Nobody wanted tQ be an Indian. Tha

the trouble. That's the trouble with Greeks."

Today Holy Trinity-Holy Cross is the third largest Greek Orthodox

parish in the South, ranking behind Atlanta and Houston. It boasts the

largest congregation and only cathedral in the state of Alabama. Other

smaller Greek Orthodox parishes exist in Montgomery, Huntsville, and

Mobile. There is a "mission parish" as well /" in Daphne, Alabama. Since

the 1953 reunification the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross parish has had five

priests. A variety of church-affiliated groups continue to fulfill

important aspects of the parish's religious, educational, and social

missions. The 1982 Holy Trinity-Holy Cross roster listed 650 members,

about seventy-five percent of whom, according to the current priest, are

"ethnic Greek."

The issue of the liturgical language is controversial among

parishioners today. Some want to further increase the percentage of the

for three hours daily, Mond-ay through Saturday. One

C:nk:1 i ri & McC.al lum, p. 034

1 i turgy that i n Engi i sh (wh I ch has i increased from f -f ty percent Greek

and fifty percent English to thirty--five percent Greek and sixty-five

percent English in the year and a half since the current priest, a

Greek-American, took off ice , and others would return to serc ices that are

entirely in Byzantine Greek.

HISTORY OF HOLY TRINITY, HOLY CROSS AND HOLY TRINITY-HOLY CROSS GREEK

SCHOOLS

The -first language classes in Birmingham's Greek Orthodox community

were offered shortly after the founding of Holy Trinity Church. As early N\<C -

as 1907 daily afternoon Gree�/ c hool classes 4 ight y-1r- rn tiria

in a "shack" behind the church. She was followed by Andreas

Kopoulos (also known as Mr. Andriakopoulos), who lived above the Greek

3chool. A cantor at Holy Trinity, early pa ish records indicate that his

any waE. hi ;her than that of the priest.

The Hellenic focus of the school was made clear in its state

purpose: so "Americanized children [would be] secure in Greek thc ',

legend, and tradi tion."4 ' The fledgling Greek Orthodox parish in

Birmingham recognized the value of both Greek language maintenance and

English language acquisition, and its lay organizations were instrumental

in organizing and -fundraising for language education. In 1910 the Your;

Greeks Progressive Society was conducting English language clao e; for I t

membership of 150 young businessmen. A group of Greek women attended

9. weekly sessions at a school on Highland Avenue," and in 1911 a local

chapter of the Pan Hellenic Union was organized in Birmingham 7 with

objective .b LD '"to plan and fund the Greek school." '

The earliest Greek Achool classes were held from June to September

accomodated al 1 r ocum

4

el emeritary Qraces arid - - tea':her time arnc'r student. c+

\ _

arious grade levels. As many as ninety students at one ti me - -

desks arranged according to age and ability - - studied Greek grammar,

history, geography, literature, mythology, -fo ksonqs, drama, and dial

Excercise drills occurred on Saturdays, when religion was and .4 -

athletics p- ct c.-d. The only available curricular materials were those

imported from Greece by the teacher; the teacher often had the only books

and students copied lessons from the blackboard. Rote learning,

memorization, and recitation were the standard learning method=-.. trict

disciplinary measures were the rule.

One parish elder who attended Greek ho c Classes +rcrn 11? tc' 1522

describes the curricular materials and pedagogical methods used by Father

Nicholas Lambrinides, the revered, multilingual teacher who had beer

trained in Constantinople be-fore coming to Americ

remembered, even though he only spent six years

- .4

S t.J j tie

in Birmingharr

We had only one book - - the reader. All the rest of the

subjects he would write on the board, like for history, for

instance, and we would copy it, start on scrap paper. He

demanded that we would put it in a composition book in

cal 1 graphy - - and I mean without smudges, without

misspelling1. . . and that way we had the pretty

handwriting, and that way we would memorize what we wrote

and we'd remember our history and religion topics and

geography. He stressed geography, oh yeah! He would have

the islands made in poetic -form and we would point them out

as we recited them. We w ould po int them out , and if we

Conki i n & Nlcf;allum, p. G3o

made one 1 I ttle mi take we d get a whack o n the hand. He

was v e r y strict, but we learned; he made us learn. I kne'...'

the Greek geography as if I did, better than I knew the

U.S. map. And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the Greek School

( ;—cL A

Arr:ther Eeccrd -;erierat i o Greek frc'm 6 r m i nqham / recal 1 a her ear II

.per encea jr the "Helleriir' classes from arr''jnd 1'22 to 1° S:

It I...LE4 E. just a 1 ittie, s. house a ai1:- to start with, that

they had bought and converted into the Greek p'chool . And

my mother happened to be on the Board of Education for the

Greek fichool so I had to be at school on time.

Actually, the curriculum was reading writinu , cf

course, and not penmanship writing/ but what they used t o

call c'rthoQraphia, which was the correct spell iriq.

And correct yrammar

It started from the E :< year old and w e n t on up to

IN seventeen at least. . . You know, I don't know how

long I went to Greek chool ; it seemed like it was forever.

And our written examination we would write for

weeks ahead of time, and then all our papers would be hung

on line so that our parents could view them. . If

:.O'J CflC

sent o'J t

'er v unr'j I cr di d some th ng very bad, we were

to cut the so-ii tches off the trees and we were

tched on our hands - - for doinQ some thin Q really bad.

Cc'nkl in & McCal 1um p. 037

you know. It al 1 depended on the teacher , what he thou ght

was so terrible , - n-.--- --

Both women also recall

I - -

prc"iuction c -f

Greek patriotic plays, accompanied by Greek songs, was an important ocu

of the school year under Father Lambrinides and subsequent teachers. Such - C -

presentations were often hi Qh 1 i at the annual graduation exercises

the Fraternal Hall next to the church or at. 31 r-mi n' ham s Bijou Theatre

A succession of Greek-born schoolteachers -followed Father

Lamhr in ides' tenure at the Greek school . Many teachers durin g q this period

also traveled on certain weeknights to the steel mill towns of Ensley and

Greek Fairfield to hold ,School classes for the parishioners in those ø ç' -f I

communities. In 1926 controversy began to develop in the Birmingham

Greek Orthodox community over the hiring of teachers for the Greek hocl

its site, and policy-making decisions. This ument U

culminated in 1933 with the split of the community and the -formation of

the separate Holy Cross parish. Birmingham then had a second Greek ,dchool

/ supported, in part, by the fundraising efforts of Holy Cross' Chapter

T I tILa 1i -

AHEPA , a community advancement group. Holy Cross offered its own

"parochial afternoon school of Greek," taught first by Mr. Anagnostou, and

then, beginning around 1942, by the church's rector, the Reverend D

Sakellarides. After 1949 Christine Sepsas taught the classes, first

taking pupils into her home and later affiliating with the new Holy Cross

parish. I

Mrs. Sep -sas'A mother had also been a Greek 1 chool teacher.

And,

I:.:n:1 in & 1•icC. 11uri-, p. L::::

Greek Cu stom ani +amj t I ri ari c e s 1.0 0 U I d c'ri 1 al 1 caw her brother to rece i '.'e a

higher education. No longer at the Greek /chool , she continues to offer

classes ir her home, teaching English to new immigrants in Birmingham.

Another teacher from the Holy Tr in i ty par i sh re Vampak: a,

'raduated from a teachers' school in Athens, is a o w del re rnbered

today in the Greek community in Birmingh ' r W her crmer CX '

students as being "very learned.' A ...h::

attended Greek School at Holy Trinity in the late 193 s. arid e.rl 194

The class was divided - - C

you know, that's surprising, because every Greek chi

was going to Greek $'hool , every day, right after sc hoo l /

We'd get on the bus, get the tickets from the Birmingham

Electric Company, because that's what used to be the

streetcar. . . . We had to run and get the bus at six

'cause they wouldn't take your tiket after six o'clock on. IN

It was packed. The streetcars were packed. We had to

stand up and everything. . I wouldn't take a thing

for those years. In fact, we sit around the table and talk

about Greek chool. . My kids have heard these

stories a hundred and fifty c)

It seems that there were no formal Greek fi hool classes in Birmingham

during the war years, and by 1953 the two Birmingham Greek Orthodox

parishes had reunited. By the mid-1960s and through the early 1970s Greek

chool classes at the united Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Church had decreased

f:cnkl i r & McC:al I Urn, p.

to unce-a-'..jeek even i nq c Ia. sse 'i th a very h i cih at tr it i on rate b the end

of the school year.

Although not directly cited by any of our American-born respondents,

part of the problem during this period appears to have been staffing

difficulties. In the late 1960s the one teacher at the Holy Trinity-Holy

Cross Greek School was an elderly woman from Greece whose teaching style

was not well received by her students, accustomed to the ways of

American schools. One student called her a "strict discipline classic

Greek schoolteacher" in the old country fashion. She was foll owed in the

early to mid-19 70s by an immigrant from Cyprus. A current teacher

1 ersel an immigrant Greek' describes his pedagogical methods:

He was not for children. He [should have] taught adults.

He was really tough on the children, you know. He

thought he was back in Greece, in the old school in Greece,

and children would resent it. . . Well, I'll tell you

how it started. There was these three little girls"- - -

intermarriage, you know -- so they were going to this Greek

chool. Well, one day he made a mistake. In Greek [he

said], "Look at all these American kids come to Greek

chool . " Well naturall . . . they didn't want to go

back. And [my daughter] says, "If they're not going to go,

then I'm not going to go." So I said, "If you're going to

sit at home, then I'm going to teach you." . . And the

i ttl e girls say, "t4e1 1 , can we come too?" And I say,

"Yeah." And that was good, because that was one time [my

daughter] really learned her Greek because, see, the four

o+ them together , I had them two daxs a week , and I

them uf thi ngs . _

0

respondent This

Tr in i ty-H o ly Cross on one or U w e ekd a y e v e nings U

This past semester she taught a tw o - ho u r Tu e sd ay - U c la ss U a mixed

group of stu d e n ts , bu t th e ir a tt e nd anc e - irre g u la r a nd

- cl a ss . o ld e r stu d e nts every o ne knew the Greek alphabet, she used Meth o d s o f En qlish.

father e m p lo y e d he tau g ht h e r b r o th e r p It rinted

a "p ho n e ti c s ," a n d En gli s h tr a nsl a ti o n a nd fo c u s e s +,--,r-

so cial a nd b usiness co nv e rs a ti o n a s - ll a s st o ry a nd Her-

stu d e n ts a a +o u r th - ge n e ra Ltion Gr e e k-American chil d r e n a sp o us e s

conv e rt e d U Gr e e k o r th o do xy U U in te r m a rria g e .

a attitu d e s to w a r dl a n gu a g e acquisition as +ollows.:

Now I do have students , ti a t

use the English a - tics U

do. But I di a U U o n e U the ncin-Gre that

Car e ] - ma rri a g e , - Ca re ] - Gr e ek [thr o ug h int e rm a rri a g e ], th e y'r e mo r e re ce p ti v e U le arn

th a n - o n e s - a ctually a re Gre e k, b e c a us e - a p p ly-

th e mselv e s b e c a us e th a t's - th e y'r e th e re fo r. Thex

hav e a n a im within thems e lv e s - to • a so m e thin g , - U U the -, are

Ccinkl in & Mcf:al 1 urn, p. 641

l earn irici. because that s what they are applyinci themselcie

to do. . . No, we don't have history, al 1 we're doin g

is strictly conversation, but, like I said, they do know

the alphabet. They do know how to read in Greek if they do

want to read it in Greek but most of them will read in

Engl I sh O . -. _ - _-- - za ' (

Dur i ng the same per i ad two other rat i ye Greeks have been teach i n- __j

One gives afternoon and evening session rimarily to adults,

A a trilingual Greek-French-English speaking home, started teaching upon

arrival, in Birmingham in the late 1970s and attracts a somewhat more

advanced level student group whose retention rate appears to be higher.

He now teaches a Saturday morning Greek /chool class at Holy Trinity-Hol

Cross for adults only. This past semester he had six students in this

class, including a recent convert married to a second-generation

Greek-American and the couple's two daughters. The mother describes her

daughters' ethnic identification and their attitudes toward Greek School:

[They] are,very close to their background. The Greek is

definitely prevalent. My children are so Greek-oriented

that when they filled out applications for school [a

special public school, gifted-child program]' - - they're

twelve and fourteen - - and they asked for national I ty, they

put down Greek. . . And I was in a state of shock.

It didn't occur to me that they would ever consider

anything but American, but, you know, the Greek is really

Conklin & McCallum, p. 042

riQrained in them. [But] one of them is rebelling

ciainst it [Greek chocl class]I . the youn ger one.

Where the older one comes and enjoys i she has more c

a knack for langua es than the other crc .

-

This teacher describes the books he uses i ri the E turdai c E.E.:

I .'jent thrcuch a lot o± books ±rcrn there [Greece] .3rd +curid

ores that 9 in my opin:on are good books, so . take

the history of the 1:321 revolution, Iliad and Odyssey, arid

some history of that era al and since I know what th

know, what I do is,I read a chapter and rewrite in a way

that would be uncle Z ' by the people.

writing little things, little essays /I guess, in English

or in Greek, and they would have to translate i t to the

oth3r .n;u ;e. And I teach them some grammar and syntax

-- syntax is very important. It's very simple. There were

very few rules. What we do is basically, my plan

was to try to teach the people every ti e we meet a number

of new words nd that's how we started out. And then after

some time enough words, presumably, have been learned from

both phrases, and [they] make little essays using those

wcurd

His classes, which will resume after a hiatus for his students' and

his own vacations, are expected to continue in the fall with many of the

same students, some he irninq their third and fourth years. The other

Conklin & McCallum, p, G4.-:

teachers also plan to offer classes again in the -fall. There is no ne on

to believe that the level of language education activit y '.Jili diminish in

the foreseeable -future.

The factionalism over the Greek hc'ol that split the parish for

thirty years no longer dominates this community; it is now thou ght of an a

remote event. Vestigial factors underlying the controversy are manifested

in parishioners' rationales for ethnic heritage and language education

programs and their ideas about how the::' best be sustained. Commun I

opinions about the Greek hoo its past history, present status, and

prospects for the future /__ often correlate with factors such as time of

-I

immigration, age group, occupation, education, neighborhood of residence,

native and home language, and ethnic and religious tradi ticnal m or

assimilationism, all of which were important elements in the corit c.en:..

A newcomer to the community through in termarriage characterizes her

-fellow parishioners as "Greek Greeks" and "American Greeks," the former

tending to be older immigrant Greeks with orientations toward the old

country, the latter younger, native-born, professional people. There dc,

appear to be two groups, differing on questions of language used in th

liturgy and appi oach to Greek language classes. But, interestingly,

do not contrast on the issue of the importance of Greek %chool at ----------- -

A (OO + 1 The students in the 7Gr-e-e< classes are made up of parishioners frog the /

1 -

more traditional a d'j ore American-oriented group ')however, they tend to

enroll in different classes.

For example, an "American Greek" family attends a class led by a

younger, well-educated, professional man who immigrated from Greece and

who uses contemporary second-language teaching strategies and simplified

:ree. rn tn. a s ;tE. The r.ii. cn He this i-.rr to at tenj wr oO

School is not only to instill family heritage, but to offer their children

;eneral educational advantages of a second language. The "Greek

articulate an ethnic identity that is less a cc'rnplernentarit> ':+

:ultures than an amalgam. Two elders from one of the Birmingham Greek

what you learn at home. You see s when my daddy used to

see, when we used to see the Greek f1a9 - - well, we marched

and we see that Greek flag waving and the American flag

right next to it. Why, you know, you'd just have all that

patriotism in you for both countries. Because they 're

right there, side by side.&I

Her sister agrees, "Papa always said, 'You're an American. Don't ever

forget you're an American, 'ut never forget your Greek heritage.' He

if instilled that in us."6 ' This integration of Greekness with Americanism

A is the motivating factor for other parish Greek teachers and their

students. Their classes tend to be more personally constructed,

conversational rather than 1 i terary, and may include older teaching

materials that they themselves used as schoolc

Gr ek—American as well as Greek cultural conte c.

embers commented on the commsoilyAl sense

for preseruat ion and perpetuation of the Greek heritage ;

To me, without traditicins ts nothing; that s the way I

Ocinki in & McCa1 lum, p. G45

feel. And I hope I can instill this to rn>' children.

Without tr,3di tions we are nothing. You are blank. Well

real l, hat -'s the key. And tradi t i on ave got to be

mainta( ed, not only within the church/ but at least within

the home, the family. And, Yen, so w e change and we look

the other way, you know, when we start raping o u r v a r i o u s

other tradi t ons in the name of 1 iberal ism, and

modification, and understanding. But certain traditions,

if we eliminate that, wh y we're hack to nothing,

nobody.&& C we , re

The c u r r e n t status and -future direct ion of the Greek language schoo l

in Birmingham must be examined in relationship to its effectiveness in

maintaining this cultural imperative and in reinforcing shared community

val ues. But there is a considerable range of opinion among the

parishioners we interviewed about their own ethnic identification and how

it has changed over time, as well as about the importance and functior,/' T'

the language and cultural components in this maintenance effort. The

future of the Greek 81hool must be assessed in terms of how effective

continues to be -responsive to the church members' varied and changing, '

needs, interests, and expectations for it. The Greek respondents

expressed a variety of opinions about the history and degrees of

commitment to the continuation of Greek ic hool classes. Since the first

generation of Greek immigrants in Birmingham are now deceased, the city's

second generation of founding family elders (mostly women) can be used as

the baseline from which to examine generational changes in attitudes

toward ethnic and language education. This generation is perhaps the most

Conklin & McCallum, p. 04±

ethn ically retentiv e, althou gh those cul tural elements they c h o o s e to

preserve are often archaic relics and survivals from Greece as it was a t

the time of their parents' immigration to this country at the turn of the

century. Other Greek-Americans see them as having a "fantasy notion"

about their Hellenistic roots. They received a grammar school education.

Since they g r e w u p during the post-World War I period, rampant with

nativism and racism (particularly in the Deep South), their memorie s of

experiences outside the Greek Or thodox commun ity and of "American [public]

school" are often unpleasant. On the other hand, their memories of

attending ten years or so of mandatory Greek ,1 hool clasacs on

basis are, on the whole, most pleasant. Greek ,1School attendance

reinforced cultural va lues an d cus toms learned in the home and instructed

them in standard Greek pronunciation and grammar. It also taught them to

read and write the Greek colloquial language spoken within the rapidly

growing Greek Orthodox community in Birmingham. Each stressed 'that

learning to read and write standardized Greek was emphasized in the Greek

School , because: / /

We already had [Greek] conversation at home. Aii

the children at that time did, because the parents coultn t

speak English at all. And if they did, they wouldn't speak

to us because they wanted 'i a to learn the Greek

Or, the who , :r: Veer _MPT : A

upwardly mobile. These women's husbands, many of whom began workir

Birmingham as street vendors, became wholesalers, retailers, and

restaurant owners, and their children received better education than they A

Conk 1 i r & McCa1 I urn, p .

themselves had had. The '-11 are proud of and secure in their cu tural

preser'..at cr arid transmission activities. This is manifested in their,

unselfconscious continuation of home and external ethnic customs, their A

children's attendance at the Greek Achool, their own activities as members

and officers of the Greek ,School board and its parent-teacher

or ganization, their activity throughout the years in Greek community

social organizations their parish -

choir teachers, and library volunteer

They describe their own sense of

of Greek descen ½" d' their faith in Orthodoxy is so strong and

knowi edge of i ts ritual so long-standing that they tend to be n ather

liberal on the issue of the choice of language for the I i turcy. One

respondent analyzes the historical relationship between the liturgic al

language and institutionalized language efforts:

Now to my parents [first generation immigrants] it was

important that I know the Greek language. And then there

came a period of time where the parents [second generat on]

wanted their children to be a part, more a part of the

) [American] -communi ty. . . And, I th i nk , because the

parents worked so hard and seeked the bet ten educati cr -for

their children that it was uppermost in their mind that

their schooling in the public school, or in the American

school, or that they go to college, or whatever, were more

important than going to Greek $ hool And I think this is

why this change [in community atttudes toward the school]

came about. The only thing that made them hold or to the

f:cinkl i n & r•ii c 1 I u rn, p. 048

Greek ,,gchool , I think, was the fact that the church is, our

re ll i giori is in the Greek language. Because of

th i a they try to hold on to the Greek 1 anguaye .

The ir :1-ri Idren were raised in Birmingham during the 1'30s arid 1'4Us,

coming of age in the early 1950s. This generation, now the mainstay of

the congre tion, was better educated as a group than its parents, and is

so':iall pwardly mobile. During the post-war years there was

little or no new immigration from Greece into the Orthodox community in

Birmingham. Greek Orthodox spouses came into the Birmingham community from

elsewhere in the country. Non-ethnically Greek wives also converted to

the Greek Orthodox faith during this time and joined in local community

activities. Greek-American communities all across the country were

undergoing t - p od of homogenization and assimilation into the

American mainstream. These third-generation immigrants, and their peers

by extra-community and interfaith marriage, appear to be the least

ethnically retentive and most ethnically ambivalent of the Greeks studied

in Birmingham. They have been highly selective about the elements of

their ethnic heritage they choose to preserve, have felt the most guilt

about their passivity in transmitting their heritage to their children,

and have rejected many of the traditions their parents saw as essential

components of their own ethnic education, both at home and in more

institutionalized and public settings. Not surprisingly, however, it is

this group that has been most active in public display events like the

annual Greek Festival, which exhibits external ethnic customs such as

foodways, dance, music, and drama, to the public at large. TI'ey identify

themselves as Americans, albeit of the Greek Orthodox faith. One

C:onk:l in & McCal lurn, p. G4'

seccind-generat on Amer i can-born woman descr bes her persciria] and 1-ami I i al

to Greece:

I really don t [have them]. The ties that I have are

because my children [adopted as infants] were born there,

and, of course, my mother and -father. I think I'm just a

real American. I, I love my heritage. I'm very, very

proud of it. But I really don't have it [a Greek -

identity], and I don't think my children have ci ther. --

Many Greek-American women from this generation did not push their

children either to learn the language or to go to Greek /chool , and thei r

lack of assertion with regard to ethnic heritage and language maintenance

is a sore spot with them even today. Their move to the suburbs,

increasing interaction with -fr'their children's American

publ I': or Roman Catholic parochial school peers, and con-fl icts with

extra-curricular activities are most often used as Frationale for their

leniency regarding cultural transmission, as this extract from

conversation between two respondents illustrates:

A: We I, why do you not send your children to Greek

fc hool? Or have they ever gone?

B: They didn't want to go.

A: Have your children ever gone to Greek IT

B: Never gone to Greek ,,A hool . I'll tel

would.have to do all the transporting. They had so ma. -

c, t thinq. to dc and I cuId hare to tal:e them. And I

f:c!rfkl i n & McC:al lurri, p. '350

ID U it '.as just, their interest '.iasn t that b for ire to

sacrifice that time at that time. Now, oh yeah, now the.

want it. . Now they're learning it.

to know Greek. But I couldn't tell them that

ten years ago.

A: They blame the parents for not making them.

B: And then they would have blamed you for mak n them o.

I used to blame my mother.

A: When he [my son] went to college, I never will forget,

when he came home, on his first trip back home\ J . . he

turns around to me and he says, "I'll never -Forqiue .,You for

not making me go to Greek 7 hoo1.

B: I -feel I've failed my kids., 'cause

little, if I had spoken Greek to them as they grew up,

'..'c'uld know something, and I didn't. And I thought us

bringing them down here [from the suburbs] for one hour a

day, for once a week, what are they going to learn in that

short little time? . But, I thought, well gosh,

they don't even know how to count to ten, they're going to

have to learn all that, and one hour a week is nothing. 6 -

( — a-cc

These women, too, like their mothers before them, draw a strong

correlation between native home language and the effectiveness of Greek

chool classes. They cite decreasing incidence of conversational Greek at

/ home:

The only difference in the kids that go to school today and

Gre eus, ce, I mean, I learned Greek because my grandmother, my

grandfather were living. They were from Greece. My father

was from sp oke English. I mean, not well,

but he sp oke English and we could

lehad to arn Gr e e k b e c au se o f a. _ s p ok e

Greek. When we went to Greek / h hool we knew what the

teacher was telling us. I mean, in

to shut - do or , - could U c lo s e - door.

going to - U to d ay don't

count to ten most of them._ E c o ld, Jt th ey 're c o ld . It

be like you 04he-nur=breeK inlervi4a-e-r-s-]" walking

l 0ool class and learning Greek. . . And I think

that"s the greatest thing about having a grandmother and

grandfather that were born in Greece. . . It's gotten

worse, I mean, I can't speak Greek like I spoke it before

it -s got an accent, an American accent to it.,

Cross also stressed the interrelationships between language education at

home and its institutionalized component in the parish language classes.

Those interviewed agreed that the mother's role in language at home was as.

central as that of the extended family elders, and lamented their

capitulation to their children's resistance to attending the Greek A hool.

C:cnkii Ff & N1cO.l lum, p.

cc that Whenever ma:be 'c nc'uld S hat not

You Qot to do it."

-i: Now, as a mother - - my children are grown - -

tendency and my husband's is to go where we want to be •

know, with our friends. Whereas then it i....'. more c f a

toge therness. The mothers were in char' e . The mothers

came wi th us, and, t al 1 the mothers, but mothers ''crc

appoi rited almost like what became the PTA in [ publ ic

g r .mm a r h 00 1

C: I think that the mother's role i n the Greek home

'.. e r y '.) e r y important .&P P4 �

The Birmingham Greek Orthodox Community''; fourth q e n e r a t i o n , children

who grew up in the late 1960s and 1973's, dur i nq an e r a of increased ethn i

awareness and ethnic revivalism, clearly define themselves as

Greek—American. t4hi1e they perceive their ethnic identity as d'JaliEtic,

they recognize that this is not necessarily negative. They are in no

sense ambivalent about or unwi 11 ing to use elements of both cul

transform them into a synthesized whole that can revitalize the

community's sense of self—identity. These women are ethnicall>

selfconscious and aware. They care a great deal about the revival

renewal, and transmission of Greek ethnic heritage and language

traditions. Ethnic Greeks and "married—ins" alike are learning about the

community's foodways, family customs, and traditional dress from the older

women by participating in parish social organizations, and are making

every effort to reinterpret them in a meaningful way within their own

homes. This sel-Fconscious effort at ethnic education in the private

f:r: n k I n & McCall um , p,

d omain carries o ve r in to the community sr-ens their children are acti v e

member; of JO' (junior Orthodox Youth) and participants in the parish "=-

s e mi - in s ti t u t io n al i z e d dance classes, as well as student-E s t the Greek

k hool

These Young women's eff or ts at ethnic educati on have fur ther

correspondences with their act lvi t es regarding i nEt tut i onal i zed langu age

education . They tend to be strong advocates of the Greek hool

It was not even publicized at that time Cc. 1977, when she

mooed to B rm I n'ham] that there was a Greek chool We

-felt it was necessary for the kids to learn Greek. We

still do. It's helped them a great deal at Epuhi icJ

school. And they'll continue taking it as long as it s

offered, no matter how proficient they get. My husband

speaks two other languages and English and we feel it's

important to speak different

Crucial to the success of the Greek ,pchool at Holy Trinity—Holx Cross

are di -f-ferences o+ opinion within the community over the nature of

insti tutional ized language eduation in the parish today. The -future

prospects for such education must be assessed both in light of the

perceptions of the parishioners and of the parish priest, as well as in

view of recent centralization efforts by the Department of Educstiori :-F

Orthodox Diocese Greek Orthodox Diocese of North and South Americ '

At the present time there is considerable discussion of the prop-

role of Greek / hool education in the life of th e par ish. How closely

should it be tied to ecclesiastical concerns, i.e., is Greek instruction

Conklin & McCallum, p. G 4

important for reasons of cul tural heritage, or as preparation to

participate in and appreciate the (increasingly English language) litur gy?

What should be the qualifications of Greek hool teachers: need they be

trained in pedagogy, educated in the classics, holders of college degrees -'

This is a community and cultural tradition in which learning and

intellectualism are highly valued. Are there approaches that are more

appropriate for children and others for adults and, if so, how would the

now all-age classes be restructured without discouraging those whose

attendance is a family activity?

Although he is a newcomer, the parish priest's analysis of some of

the school's problems generally concurs with that of his parishioners.

The geographic spread of the parish members and their difficulties in

transporting their children to the school, which is in downtown

Birmingham-, have aiready been noted. In a recent P + -C uci-cr1 'meeting

cR \. over this probl em "satellites" - - smaller language schools out in the

suburban The problem for students of

choosinc.

the Amer

alike. Furthermore, the priest points out some of the textbooks ar

outdated and the curriculum is seriously W king, a conclusion with n

we must agree.

centralize and standardize the operation of Greek 16choo1s throughout the

United States i t, an eight -year, afternoon program of Greek language and

cultural study and y publ I cation unhadh fu, a complete series of Gree k Y�

language texts to supplement those currently avai lable. of teacher

training and school + nan': no f this national program of

C:crkl i n & r-icc:.l

lanclUaQe education is to be suLL .+ully imp] emerite Add I t I on a 11 y, Ho

Trinity-Holy Cross like the Archdiocese at I arge must address a 'ariety

of special needs, e.g. converts -ruii—Ore to Or thodc>::y arid ne'.'

mini grants, in developing Greek 7chocl cur-n cul a that '..i 1 1 acr e al I the

varying ':onsti tuenc lea whi ch now comprise the par -i -E.h

HER F RMS OF ETHNIC EDUCATION AT ST ELIAS AND HOLY TRINITY-HQJ Y. CROSS

The St. El i as Arabic School and the Holy Trini ty-Holy Cross Greek

School are the most public and formalized expressions of cul tural

transmission undertaken by their communities. Although they are commun

based and quasi - institutionalized., they rest upon educational traditions

which are integrated into the ordinary lives of I'

(Birmingham Lebane=.e

and Greek communities. The schools are a supplement to the informal

learning that takes place in the home and community on a daily basis.

Parish and community organizations represent a middle ground between

institutionalized education and unselfconscious enculturation of children

by family and community. Planned and casual community social events are

one and two steps further removed from explicit -t eaching/learning

situations in the language school setting. A-&"at the least formal le d

even in family 1 ife,,-the element of selfconscious teaching cf cul tur-al

) A heritage is very strong. Many of the activities, and sometime -s the ctu

physical environments of Birmingham greek and Lebanese homes,

calculated demonstrations of ethnic culture.

The following dialogue between two Greek respondents illustrates

common view of community education. The Greeks, they say are:

A: Very traditional people, who [ have 3L church,

Conklin & McCallum, p.

religion, and family traditions [that are] carried out in

the di fferen t ages. I th i rik that "s one of the main reasons

N or Greek cultural retention], because our family

traditions are so intertwined with our religious traditions A

— veri though, within our church, we have holy traditions,

which is altogether different from -family traditions, and

sometimes people mistake our -family traditions for holy

tr aditi ons .

0: I think it begins with the family, really. And then

from there it sort of branches out to the Greek 111choo1 and

then the church and organizations/ and things like this.

But it all begins with the parents4 with the mother and the

-father. It did with us.

A: I think now it kind of works more through organization

a little more than it did in our -first years [as

community]. And when I was a 1 i ttle girl, of course, t e

Greek hool was very important - (-

Both women experience an inseparable relationship between the v a ri o u s

settings in which community life and learning take place. The rel igious

and secular cultures are "intertwined." The activities of home, Greek

Zhool, and parish organizations are seen as "branches" of the same effort. While the components remain the same as in their childhoods, the

- emphasis has shifted - - the social organizations bear more of the burden

'—I

now , he Greek pchool less. The learning continuum is unaltered, but the

aspects of culture that are most important change as a community o

immigrant Greeks becomes a community of Americans of Greek descent.

Conk 1 in & Mr- Oal 1 urn, p.

The h i gh p o i n ts c-i- the Greek and Lebanese years are e thno-rel i gi ou;

hol i da':'s. It is -during the high hol i da>s uch as Easter and saints' da: s,,

that the mother tongue is employed most e"terisi vel y in the liturgy. In '

addition, secular songs are revived and4a host of expressions relating to

the -festival members oth w e monol i ngual . The hol idays A - - ' A

bring forth feasts of ethnic food, native costumes, banks of flowers, home

decorations, and ritual objeu:ts such as Greek Easter eggs, Catholic and

Orthodox Lenten palms, and the piphany holy water for the Greek home

altars. Special rituals are performed, both in the church and wi thin

nuclear and extended families and social networks. 1'

These holidays are celebrations and simultaneously intr group

exhibitions of ethnic culture. Our respondent; report an intense level of

activity preceding the important holidays. Women cook, prepare the family

home, and decorate the church. Greek men set up the lamb pits. Lebanese

men prepare their backyard gr I 1 1 I ng areas. The choirs rehearse. Children

practice their dance routines and pageant speeches, and are fitted in

their ethnic costumes.

0 Both the Maronite and Greek Orthdox communities also put on

A e thno-cul tural events for the general public. The annual Greek Festival

attracts participants from the entire Birmingham ea. ,Last year 7,000 ,c

meals were served and uncounted pastries sold. /oung people r-e---t ±rr d-Q. 4

to�liead tours of the cathedral , for which they must memorize the Greek

terms for all the parts of the building and furnishings. While this event

is calculated to raise money for the church and to introduce the Greek

community to greater Birmingham, it is also an important expression of the

Greek community's ethnic customs, as well as its deeper values. The

president of the Philoptochos Society, the women's organization that works

Conk I in & McC:al 1 urn, p. G58

three days a week for six months to prepare the -f':'od for the festival

says:

I think that is one way we keep the Greek customs al i'e

through that, e v e n though we don't like to admit that

people kind of know us for our food. . . Why fight it

a n y m o r e ? It's real l::' some thirc t.: e :u of And our-

customs, our dances, too, because our children always do

dances. They [non-Greeks] tel 1 us that they 1 i ke

to come because it's a family-oriented festival. And it

7-

really is -- he kids are all working, the grandmothers,

the mothers, some grandfathers that are there, fathers,

everybody. It's a community project really, but it's

sponsored by the ladies' group.

The central i ty of family and community life is made visible to outsiders,

which in turn reaffirms the community's sense of ethnic integrity.

For the Lebanese the weekly public dinners which took place from the

1930s through the 1978s served a similar purpose. They put money in the

building-fund coffers, created an ethno-cultural activity in which parish

members could become highly involved, presented a wholesome view of

Lebanese life to the external world, and rein-forced the value of the

culture for the community itself. Birmingham's Lebanese also maintain a

private social club, the Cedars Club, where organizations hold meetings,

Lebanese young people and adults swim and play tennis, and a variety of

more or less ethnically related activities take place. We visited the

Cedars Club during their weekly bingo luncheon. It is open to the public

p la ye d • U a n d consume d -a lunch of Lebanese meat

ta b oul i ad (made -from b ulgur wh e at Le b anese

�_.pice cookies, a e e ., and iced tea. The Women ̀ s Aux i I i ar­." of the CPcI.Zr-

I__:lub p r e p a r e d host e d

Greek a Le b ane se _ - - co mmunity me mbers -

casual a nd s o c ia l activiti e s relat e d .

danc eethnic clubs at U ly tx - Ho ly bo th -

an d da nce a t - U

a

U ly U ly Cr o s s U p la ye d fo r a ll so r ts o f nts. The

St. El ias p a r is hi o n e r s - Ara b ic - - w York or - -

for ma jo r p arish e ve nts, - so m e tim e s e ve n

- . we d d in g s . On e o f -

Orth o do x Greek o r g a n iz ati o n s - to u r U - Orl e a ns

to - - - trav e l a a rt e xhi b it Se arch o f -

Hellenic a rtif a cts - fr o m - p e r io d o f Al e xa nd e r

- U - Gr e at. - st - -

• - g r o u p v is it e d - first Gre e k U . - Unit e d St a tes

Augustin e , Florid a . p a r is h p a r ti c ip a ti n g - fun d raising

d rive re st o re

e re ct - - me mori a l - _ I -

All such q ua si— o rg anized - a a

- th e se e thnic co mmuniti e s - ma ntain

a nd tr a nsmit. - a

b a ckg r o u nd to p a r is h - a sp ir a ti o n s U - U fo r - - - • A rabic U .

co u r s e s a nd U - - - co n ti n u in g U ity a b o u t a n d a w are ne ss - - - o f

ethnic he rita g e .

All of our respondents can readily provide a long list of examples of

family practices steming from their ethnic background. Not only are thex /11

conscious of the many aspects of their cultures which they are passinc�

down thr o ugh fa m ily lif e , b u t th e y a ls o c a n de scri b e

they - teaching Every res p o n dent menti o ns

dancin g . - women me nti o n U •

teachin U th e Le b a n e s e a nthem an d other Arabic songs to her

children an d g r a n d chil d r e n . An o th e r e xpl a ins ho w he employs all the

Ara b ic - S with his children, and a non-Greek convert

her husband uses to get their daughters to u:e

their rudimentary r 7 , % Greek. Many respondents utilize

the early days in the United States, and Greek or Arabic school, whicl-

they often find themselves retelling at their children"s request. One

Greek American tells how he repeats the bedtime stories his grandmother ow

ildrenc o tories he was surprised and delighted to

t Greek "classics" when he studied ancient Greek iF,

nd Lebanese -American homes is to enter environmentz I. 'I U

showed us their home altars decorated with icons or figures of sa -

palm-frond crosses, and vials of holy water and incense._ UI on e T

daughter's bedroom displays a collection of Greek dolls, includin; ine

mother's own dolls, hep m We dolls, and new dolls

from Greece. y also showed us a- mounted display case containin,

photos of +ami y -_1j jrAjj, porcelain, and wooden object -

distinctly Arabic in design, and Oriental rugs. EwPn in rasual npl*

on

Maronite women wear their gold jewelry, especially hoop bracelets.

Lebanese homes contain Oriental rugs, Lebanese lace tablecloths, and

photos of Lebanon-and A W Aome homes photo! of family in Zahle, CLI_ their

village of origin. In one basement we were shown a special griddle +or

Lebanese bread and,'in the backyard,va permanently installed, triple,

_Q Jars of clarified butter and gas-fueled grill over ten feet long2

I. IIvases to

hosts provided a Greek dinner for us all traditional dishes with +rewh

Greek herbs from their garden,' and Greek wine.

- ap artments - e lderly U .

memorabili a . sitories for family and Greek

Ev e ry ho m e we visite d ha d - la rge a lbum p ho to s

to Greec e conveniently at han d ,

All of these p r a c ti c e s r e flect

id e n tity a nd s tr a te g ie s ma int e na nc e . - - - - mor e U . -

hom e s - o bje c ts a re ca re fully - ch o s e n , U U la rg ely

artifacts of o ld c o u n tr y, U c u lt u r e . - mo r e worki n g - c la s s • me

fine art a nd c r a fts - re intermix e d w ith m a ss- p r o d u c e d r e p li c a s d e s ig n e d

• to u r is t U •

Lo o ki n g be y o n d - terial a rtif a cts - U le ss o b v io u s for m s o f e thnic

e xp r e s s io n , U - U a na lyze - ra ng e - ys of U e ek

o r Le b a n e se , bey o n d e xhi bi ti n g • U e thnic id e n tifi e r s . o f d e e per

or Arabic was in regular use, at least among the residents themselves.

M C

ME ME A A yea .ing to their daughters. Several,

el d e r s - Ara bi c wi t h f a mi l y a n d f ri e n d s - - U b ut

incr e asin g ly m ake u s e o fexclusi o n

to the .

In addition to language choice, we were aware of conversational

strategies that were derived from the mother-tongue culture. The Greek-=

we interviewed tend to speak rapidly, respond quickly to queries, and to

interrupt and overlap each other and even the fieldworkers. There are

scatt e re d r e marks a bo u t - co n te nti o u s - Gr e eks,

"Ev e ry b ody w a nte d t o b e c hi e fs . - tr o u ble

3r e e k1 j "Th e re will a lways be - lo t o f c on +l i c J _" I+ t h e Gr e eks a.

en ehave an my o u t si de t o fi gh t , th e y e ach o th e r.

rel a tiv e ly lo ud, q u ic k, a nd a s s e rtiv e styl e of d is c o u r s e e nc o u n t e red

Greek-langu a g eindicates that a1)O r s ati on a l pervade

By co n t r a s t , o u r ta lk s w ith L e b a n e se-Am e ricans we re far slower in

Th e re we re lo n g p au s e s b e t w e en o u r q u e s ti o n s -

Answ e rs a p p e ar e d to b e - - a nd d el i be r a te , o f t e n cl a rifi e d with

There was almost never an interruptlg-I WXKM ��

the fieldworkers or of each other. While the discourse styles typical of

not been researched, the

and, markedly, from Greek-American

Conklin & McCallum, :.

Ferh..p, tne c r : indic at or of ±arrii I Ve as an pr H

cul tural ly appropriate behavior and cultural values is the extreme

hospi tal i ty with which we were met in these two communities. The Greek:

Orthodox priest took it upon himself to carefully question us about the

nature and goal s of the research project, select ing those we would

interview based on our initial interview with him. His secretary called

one day and informed us that a series of interviews had been arranged and

we were to come to Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, where the parish members would

report to meet with us. Thus our Greek interviews were clearly conducted

under- the auspices of the parish priest. The interviewees were prompt ,

interested, and open. Subsequently some interviewees took it u p o n

themselves to introduce us to "real" Greek life by invi ti n g u s to their

homes for food, music, and conversation, so that they could share their

photo albums, artifacts, and stories d demonstrate Greek hospitality.

Our first and primary contact at St. Elias was also the parish

:riest, but he simply provided names of potential contacts.

rificantly, these suggestions included those who disagree most strorgl>

.h-him on the issue of opening an al 1-day school . In the Lebanese

homes, too, we were plied with ethnic specialties. Our most serious

interview problem was bringing the meetings to an end. The parish priest,

ever careful in distinguishing faith from culture, concluded one interview

by remarking that, while he does not like St. Elias to be thought of as an

ethnic community, he does see certain aspects of Lebanese life as part of

Maroni tism and intrinsic to parish life. "Well , the way of life, and the

feeling that we have for each other, and the hospi tal i ty. There's always

been Lebanese hospitality, always been.

- -

Always proud of that, and family

:;)

Conkli n & McCallum, p.

- EXPERIENCE

Bi rrni righam s Lebanese and Greek communi ties have severa l

commonali ties. Both are practitioners of Eastern rites of Chr i st i •n

-faiths that are very ritualistic and "hi gh church" by American Chr

standards -especi all>' for the Deep E;cu th , where

I fundamentalists and Pentecostals are in the CLCrJhC m -

The Greek Orthodox cathedral like the Maroni te church, functionE e

something of an outpost for the -faith. Holy Trinity-Holy Cross is the

oldest, largest Greek Orthodox community in Alabama, and still the third

largest in the South. St. Elias remains one of only three Maronite

communities in the entire Southeast. The two parishes were -founded within

three years of one another.

Immigration began for both communities in the 1880s, typical ioF

populations from c: r-

Lebanese and the Gr ee erri r 'ed be:

tiny -farms. They were uneducated, with the exception of a -few individua;

who became key leaders in the parishes and the parish schools. Because c

the history of -federal immigration Jaw th p"also grew in parallel ways.

toward'--6ducation b t ( rnTrrrr tl l - P .e Zfrom a

great sense of pride in their long literary traditions. Lebanese and

Greeks alike value "the learned man" as teacher and leader. Both Nicholas

Lambrinides, the most admired Greek schoolteacher, and Father Abi-Chedid

of St. Elias were characterized by this term. The Lebanese described

themselves as direct descendents of the Phoenicians and the great Arabic

cultures preceding Turkish domination. The Greek/look back to the

Hellenistic classical tradition.

These traditions have imPI ic.:Rtions for lanqu.!_;.qe_ ., ethnic: school

preservation and transmission felt by man>, community members. An elder-

explains why the St. El ias parish war. 0.re-14- 60-h.LracL Father. Abi -Chedi

They Were Very in terested i n he I p i ng the pastor get t�]-?

sch U . s ta rted b e c a us e -

preserve a nything . p r e serve he ritag e

�:�our children who they are. And of

and teEkch

start e d l e arnin g . W e start e d n a vi g ati on . W e st a rted

accounting. Just name it a n d it w a s start e d by

Whi le each o+ our Lebanese respondents asserted their, +ore+ather-s̀

co n t ri bu ti on s t o w orl d c ul t u r e with at la st - bri e f inf o r m a ti onal

re m arks, - - Gr e eks a p p e a r e d c o m p le tely co n fi d e n t - th e ir

b e we ll kn o w n a nd r e sp e c te d , - • - . a t le ast b y Am e ric a ns

+iel U U - Th e ir re m a rks - we re int e nd e d a - to sho w ho w - cl a ssical

a gainst o v e rt Gr e e ks an d Le b a n e se we re so m e tim e s co n s id e red

non-white in the segregated South. Our interviews contain frequer-'

references to discrimination in employment, housin ,-

are some representative remarks on the early year�-::

in the :cu th , there ieren t trio many e t h n i g r cup . The

only [ones were] Ital i ans, Greeks - - very few Greeks ,er

-fe w Ital ians - - and the Jewi E.h people. Arid to e w e r e locked

down I ri f a L t, hey cal I e us da c's' n thr:se da.:E. rcup

lau ghter]. T1ey did! They called the I tal I ans and the

Greeks "dagos.t' And everybody would murmur if they wanted

to speak to somebody in their native tongue; they would go

secretly to speak so they won't be ridiculed. (

[For the first Lebanese pedd1/r

1i f because they went out into [the] country and

these people who k in those days aliens were nil,

know. They were persecuted. And they didn't know the

language and might say the wrong word. . [The St.

Elias community remained strongly committed to each other

because] well , I think in the northern cities there was not

that much discrimination. See, people here were even

afraid to say they were Catholic at one time. Down South,

you know, that is a Baptist country. If you said you were

Catholic, why you got it.

My father had to go to court one time. W e had a cow a a

in the yard and somehow the cow - 1 don't think it

bothered that woman, or anything; she just made a big suit

out of it. Well he ee that cross he's wearing on his

lapel [pointing to his portrait] the lawyer told him to I -. --- -

put that cross away because they, they're going to, it

r & McCall um,

might make him lose the case. He said. "Well, let me tell

You buddy, this is going to help me win the case, don "t

worry about it. I ain't putting away no cross. It's 'c'ir

to stay right here " Sure enough, he won the case. 75

R':ial discrimination eased after World War II:

It made a lot of our American boys aware, especially here

in the South, because we have a lot of what you would call

"redneck" people th t didn't know anything beyond thei r own

i ttle area. . . And when they were exposed to the

-farmlands of Italy, England, Belgium, and so -forth and so

on, they realized, "Hey, this is what I do. These are

people , too . " I think it exposed them to a lot .

But vestiges remain:

[The Greek community at first tried to maintain its own

separate culture and education because] I think at first it

was because of this anti-immigrant. I felt this way when I

was in grammar school. And I think the war [World War II]

changed everything. Now let me say this. You

know my younger son, because of the prejudices and because

it seemed at a certain time, even after the war, that high

school children of different national I ties were not helped

into getting into, not better positions, and to hold o-f-fi':

in some of the clubs and these areas in the high school

"Well, I'm an American. My mother was born in

st,ance towar d ethnic her-i tage and language education to discriminat i on �!P

and his wife suffered as children which he doe-=-� not i-j-ant hi =-. chi ldren

to e n du r e :

- - ____1 I know 1 i. mother T1 and fathe r J di d, I

def e nding,

turning inward, i.e., creating employment in their o w n businesses .

supporting each other in various mutual-aid associations, and by turning

outward, trying to enhance the image o f the Greeks to the larger public

and actively combating discrimination. In 1922 several men from Hc'l::'

Trinity travelled to Atlanta to meet with other southern Greeks and decide

o r a r e s p o n s e to di scr mi nator::' practices and attacks by the Ku Klux K lan.

They returned to found the third Amer ican Hel len ic Educational Progressive

Association chapter in the United States, following the lead of the

communities in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Lebanese also took care of their own under adverse conditions and

struggled to alter the racist attitudes and behaviors of those they lived

among. Dr. H/A. E e.'responded to Alabama Congressman and nativist

John Burnett's proposals made at a Birmingham civic club that "non-whites"

be excluded from immigration. In articles written to local newspapers and

a volume of privately published essays his Lebanese physician argued that

/7 not only was Burnett wrong in stating that Mediterranean peoples are

"non-white," but that the "Syrians" had been quick to adopt American ways

and to advance themselves educationally and econo lly, making a

substantial contribution to their city and nati . The Syrians

(Lebanese] are, El-Kourie state "law-abiding, 'thoroughly Americanized'

members of the white race." Dr. El-Kourie became a national spokesperson

in opposition to immigration restrictions and English language and

literacy tests for immigrants, traveling to Washington, D.C., to testify

before the Congress.

Ethnic and religious discrimination did not cease with the nativists'

Conkli n & Mcf:.i I urn, p fl'fl

success n passing immi grati on restrictions in th 1920E.. The +ol lot...ii n

decades w e r e r if e wi th attacks on blacks, "coloreds ," the non-native-born ,

Catholics and other non-Protestant Christians, and Jews. Birmingham

became o n e of the strongholds for the Ku Klux Klan, one KKK -fact i o n alone

numbering 1O,@@ø members in the city. Up until the Civil Ri ghts Movement

-forced an end to de jure segregation in the 1960 , Greek- and

Lebanese-Americans had to -Face possible challenges when using "white-only"

aci ii ties and services. Religious bigotry was a -Fact of li fe. E'..en

today the communities endure insults grounded in ignorance and, from some

elements, continued resentment. It is in this adverse context that the

parishes of Holy Trinity-Holy Cross and St. Elias perservered in the I r

efforts of religious and ethnic continuance. Their parish sch:lI:1 ; w e r e

instruments for community survival.

The Birmingham Greek and Lebanese communities have been remarkably

culturally retentive and continue to express strong ethnic identity

despite their small numbers. Immi grants to the Birmi ngham communiti es

have observed this as well and, like us, believe that this may be due in

part to the unusual social and cultural context in which they make their

homes : , /

I think Can important reason] was this community being

isolated from the other Greek communities. Because when

you go into the Carolinas, Virginia, start moving up North,

you can go five m i les and meet another Greek community, ten

or fifteen miles, you're in another Greek communit y. So

you're not an isolated person. You're really not isolated

in those areas. Here in Birmingham it's very isolated.

C':'rikl I ri & NicCal 1 um p. G

And I can that within the people I, becoming more

clannish, I cluess, and i t's because of the isolation, and

because of your different groups. I think [that elsewhere]

t became a lot more cosmopolitan , and also more social ,

and not so much c1annish.8 -

I think the Birmingham [Lebanese/Maronite] community has

ali,..Lays been very aware o-f i t';el+. I -.1. bel eve that.

And lye heard c omp imenits about them nati':na11y you

know, throughout m y time as a priest. . The ue

always stayed close to their traditions, and their

identity, and their church; haven't gone too -Far away and

had to pull them back. I mean, they know, they have had

that awareness. And I think that's due to the churches

which promote that and to the [Cedars] C1ubr 4 (i-

CONCLUSION

Brief fieldwork on ethnip- + guage and heritage schools n these two

parishes clearly suggests that-A U of community -based education offers a

valuable perspective on cultural maintenance and adaptation. By analyzing

the "fit" between school organizations, content, and pedagogies and the

cultures of the communities which create them, and, especially, through

study of community-based schools in relation to other

culturally -supportive community and family activities, we can come to

understand the worl view that a community shares and is attempting to

transmit.

Further work in this area would benefit from expansion and refinement

in several

d irecti o ns. a stu d y

other, less fo r m a li z e d, c ontexts cultur a l shoul d be

integrated to pr o vide vi e w of the ethnic maint e nanc e p rocess.

Some com p on e nts - cultur e , re li g ious

language and literacx, le nd thems e lves U te a chi n g o n

basis, while o th e r s , U - I e thnic co o king -

tau g ht milx cust oms , are easilx

U in fo r m a l e ducation ca nnot

as more and less I - - points in an array o f

transmission Processes that occur in a wide range of contexts, within the

Community members a . to th e ir instituti o ns P r o vi d e su p p ort

-1401slis p e c ts o f he rit a g e

which re q u ir e litur g ical knowl e dg e - nd

ecclesiastical • U - - - U a - • _

p r e c e p ts; - - -

o r - m t U a n e ms - - - U - •

par

• - a - - - a a - - - a _ • -

fnr which max - re q u ir e la rg e r g ro up a U p art ic

• _ - -

U - .- - I U • - -

und e rstan d in g o f tr a d itional a mmunitx va lues - b e

e xp an d e d u a - . b y

- nalys

of what - co mmunity b est ta ug ht

an d wha t le a ve s - - to inf o rm a l le a rnin g .

Secon d ,

- qu e sti o n o f la ng ua ge maint e nanc e has rar e ly b ee n

to the - a nd th o ug htful

a a na lysis - o th e r

e xp r e ss U - - U - - • _ - - fo lkl o rists a re very muc,

ll o f - - fo rms a nd le ve ls - o f cultur a l - a a lin g uist st

analysis

- b e e n o n e d im e nsi o na l: - a - - community p r a ctic e s langua g e

IN

mai ntenance i -f ita /curi people circ'w up b 1 IrciUai and' it doca not i + the.:.

become monol I n ual in the ma n-E-tream tongue . Language, however, should be

seen, as are other components of culture, as an elusive complex, and

situational phenomenon, expressed in both direct and indirect ways, and

evoking varying responses to, strate gies for, and modes of retention and

transmission. We should ask, for example, how the demands of particular

situat ions in both the puhi i c and pri vate -sectors a-f-fec t the processes c'-f

cul tural and linguistic change. What occasions demand "Greek Greek-ness?"

What situations demand "Greek-American-ness?" What situations call for

"Amer i can-ness?" How do individual responses to such situations vary

within each ethnic culture? What does it mean, for example, when St.

Elias' priest states that it is important to keep the "flavor" of the

Ar' hic I anguage alive? What would the necessary "flavor" of Greek be to

parishioners at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross? How is this metaphor of cultural

distillation used when Greek-American respondents speak of "instilling"

not only the mother tongue, but other aspects of their ethnic heritage, to

their children?

Third, study of ethnic heritage and language education can inform,

and should be infor jd by, contemporary understanding of the dynamic

nature of ethnicity.8-' Different aspects of culture demonstrate differing

rates of change and degrees of assimilation, and the relationships among

these rates are not constant across cultures. What is the place of

community-based education in the evolution of ethnic identity? Why and at

what points in a community's history is institutionalization of ethnic

maintenance chosen as a strategy? What are the roles of the Greek

Orthodox and Maronite Catholic churches as cultura.--- preserving

-"- -

institutions? f voluntary ani mutual aid assoc iations? In what respects

-

U U impinge on these conservati ,..)e

in • U • U -

- serve as - response U U -

U of re la tionships be tween different U immigration status within ethnic communities for maintenance o+

lan g u age

ethnic a

S -

U - - S - - U response - Usometimes

U - U U U - U - U U - U - and - U U -

pride sense o-F

- _ • - U •U - - - . U - - U U the

- U profiles - demonstrate, U U - -U - I U -

U - I- U - l maintenance as an affirmative

ii:iiiiiii-I;U Laboratory and McCatlum is Assistant Professor and Head, Popular Culture

Library, Bowling / reen State University. The research for this project

C:Lnkl i ri & ricc:.ai I um r•JCTEE;, p

w as carried out by both -fier rkers in complete collaboration. Likewise /

this report i s jointly au iored. However, Conkl in, a sociolinguist, has

been pr imarH ly respo _ible for the 1 I terature review and analysis of the

commun ity re pon - s concerning la n g u a g e mai ntenance ; McCallum, a

fol k 1 cr i at , _'r the li terature and responses concerning cul tural

ma ri tena

1. For its discussion of historical b a c k g r o u n d and socioeconomic

context of migration and immigration to Birmingham, Alabama, this paper

s, in part, upon the work of Nora Faires, especially her

ibutions to b. paper co-authored with Nancy Faires Conkl in,

:munity in Birmingham, Alabama,"

ted States to 194O,(ed? Eric

oogland and Evelyn Hanser shington.,— .-c-,: The Smithsonian Institution

:ress, in press). We thank Nora Faires for permission to incorporate that

aterial here. In comparing the experiences of Lebanese and Greek

mmigrants to urban-industrial Birmingham with those of in-migrating rural

southern blacks, we draw on fieldwork by Brenda McCallum, especially the

"Working Li ve s 1" Collection of historical documents and tape-recorded

interviews, which are deposited at the Archive of American Minority

Cultures, Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama,

University, AL. We also wish to acknowledge the cooperation

Norrell , Director of the BirmingFind public history project,

based at Birmingham-Southern College, for his assistance. Most

especially, we wish to express our gratitude for the cooperation of the

priests and parishioners of St. Elias Maron I te Catholic Church and Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral throughout this project.

2. "The New Patrida: The Story of Birmin';ham s Greeks," a

of Jeff

Conkli n & McCallum, .n:!TE::;, P.

Bi rmi ncFi rid p.mphi e

n . d

3. "Birmingham's Lebanese: The Earth Turned to Gold ,-̀

BirrningFind pamphlet (Birmingham : EBirminuham-Southern Colle ge],

n.d.::'.

4. Among the foundi ng fami I es in the Birmingham c o m m u ni ty were

adherent; of the t w o p ri m a r y Christian faiths in the Lebanese homeland.

Both Maronites and Melkites a r e Eastern Catholics, giving allegiance

(Birmingham, -A0 EBir'mincharn-;c tf--j r.r cci

'- I

the p o p e at Rome, but worshipping , in accordance wi th ancient li turgic al

517 rites distinct from th e La ti n e., Roman te practiced by the

majority of the world's Cath o li cs an d by th e c Church

hierarchy. The mountains of Lebanon were, _00; rrr mr turies, refuge to

minority religious groups, including Q N visionary and

ascetic, St. Maron, and his followers. The Maronites, a uniquel'

Lebanese/Syrian faith under the domain of the patriarch at Antioch, have

ma intained their union with the Catholic Church throughout the centuri es .

Their Antiochene or, more Maronite Rite is characterized

among other things, by the use of Aramaic or Syriac in the liturgy. The

first Lebanese to Birmingham were Maronites and they founded St. Elias.

Other early Lebanese settlers were Melkites, followers of the Byzantine

patriarch, and the IQ '14 th Greek Catholics of non-Lebanese na ti onal

worship at St. Georg 't he Melkit es are one of three major trad it ion s.

among Catholicism's Byzantine Rite adherents; they are known collective!

as Greek Catholics. Like Byzantine Rite adherents in southern, centr ',

and eastern Europe, the Melkit es split from Rome in the

Bt 'in the eL bt , century -ihe Arab Orthodox reunited with t

at Rome, as other Byzantine Rite practitioners had done in the intervening

.ears. , - -

Their distinct rite/ howev r, - th y retained. Thus, Melkite Gr ee k

Catholic churches, including St. George in Birmingham, may be

multi -national, attracting not only their founding Melki tes / 0'''U 7

co -religioni st Byzantine Rite Catholics of European descent.

5. Philip M. Kayal , "Reli gion in the Christian 'Syrian-Americ;r

Community,'" in Arabic -Speakinq Communities in American Cities, e4 —

Barbara C. Aswad (Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies of New York,

1974), P. 111.

6. Kayal 19- 4 p. 125.

7. 1979 Official Catholic Director

S. Interview by Brenda McCallum and Nancy Faires Conklin, 28 April

and all subsequent

interview tapes cited were recorded by the authors from April to June

1982. Original tape recordings, transcripts, and other project data are

deposited in the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folkl ife Center,

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Duplicate copies of data collected

during the course of this research are deposited in the Archive of

American Minority Cultures, Special Collections Library, The University of

Alabama, University, AL. (All ipte

her t E $ T TiT

9 2-Mc/C -ca. -.--

_LO. ESR7-1 fr/1 _r4

c- C4 • - ,

+

-4-4- -E 882-Mc/C -C1 - -

rn. € }- &.

/

1cf; I urn, CTEE, p.

?.

9 € e2

C £t------ -

23 .ES82--4c/c-c4 . .

2 4-.--.ES32—M C4

25-.-- E582—Mc,'C—Cl 6.

2.-.- E 2—Mc/C_C >- ..

27.

28. ES82'-Mc, C-C16.

2Q - 6.

I a Lafak is Petrc"j Hi tory cf the I3reek=. in Bi rrni rih rn,

- (tBirmingham m.? n p 1979), pp. 2-3.

Nicholas Christu interview by Sofia Petrou,

transcript, Oral History Research Office, Department of History,

University of Alabama in Birmingham, pp. 1-2. & (j j

Petrou 1979, p. 19 ; "Th e New Patrida: The St ry of Birmingham's

1 abama

Greeks," n.d.

C.

Christu transcript 1977, p. 12.

Petrou 1979, p. c'•

Moskos .

The Un i ted Greek Or thodc'x Commuri i t, Hol ;' Tr in' ty—Hc

3.91 Christu transcript 1977, p. 12.

hom-as Surgess, Greeks in America

R and E Research Associates, 1?7CI).., pp. 173-174.

am

4z,�- Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, 1?56, n.paq. On the role of the chur-!-_�71

in American ethnic communities, the community-based naturr-e C-It P-_Rr1_.h

E-chools, and conflicts between sacred and secular functi,_-IFI�_

churches a nd sc h ools,

Religious - of Am e rican -

Ex p lo r ati on s in Ni n - - - Soci al Hi st o r y ,T a m a r a K. Hareven, ed.

(En gl - ..a - - U - , 1971 p.

Raymon a - Immi g r a nt - a - - a

Defen s e ," - 1981

Petrou 1979, p. 35.

I 1 1111 IN IN

A&. Holx Trini tx-Holy Cross Hel lenic Orthodox Christian Center

( i&�,,)5 0. Petrou 1979, pp.

1 c; 53. Petrou 1979, p. 25.

� �'54. The Uni ted Greek Orthodox Communi ty "Holy Trini t),,-Holy Cross,"

flcnk n & N1cf'a' urn, JOTE5, p.

5 nn ufls p. : 19 -1' - Hc / Tr nit,' Dedic t H-n th

ri . : . ,1 ca. 1956), n. pa .

CLLl-r >

-4 cs 2-Mr xr ri ... _-

Q 17) M zr' _r'

71

72.. E002

73. ESS2-Mc/C-C12.

Bi r rn i n c h . . m

is conversat anal st e as been documented arncuriQ Greeks and

Greek-Amer jcans in the work of Deborah Tar men, e.g., "O,s-al and Literate

Strategies in Spoken and Written Narratives, " LanquaQe 58 (1982), 1-21

I ' } 7-5-v E 2-McJC-- t EOO2

Conkl in & McCallum, r-.I:TE;, p. ::1

80. ESSt-4c/r - rQ -

8-?-.---M -e articles appeared in the Birminc1ham Ledc1er, September 2

19 7, and the Birmin'ham Ate-Herald October 20, 1907. The essay

collection is entitled "In Defense of the Semitic and the Syrian

Espec ially" and was made available by Jeff Norrei 1

84. ES82-M 'C-€t;

or example, Mary C. Senq.tcck: 1 "Di f+ereritial Rates of \ - :

Assimilation in an Ethnic Group: In Ritual, Social Interaction, and

Normative Cultures" International Miqration Review, (1969) 8-31;

Judith A. Nagata, "Adaptation and Integration of Greek Working

Immigrants in the City of Toronto, Canada: a Situational Approach,''

International MiQration Review, 4- (1969$ 44-70; and Nora Faires, "The

Evolution of Ethnicity: The German Community in Pittsburgh and Allegheny

City, Pennsylvania, 1845-188 cPh.D. diss -iJnivers t>' of Pittsburgh,

19811

LEBANESE Ai iC SCHUOL AT ST. ELIAS MARONITE CTBOLIC CHURCH

Sirmingriain, Alabama

and

GREEK SCHOOL AT HOLY TRINITY-HOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL

Birmingham, Alabama

r

Sy ria;

History of St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church

To understand the impediments to ethnic maintenance facing Maronite

immigrants, it is necessary to consider the relationship between the Maronite

faith and Lebanese nationality. Maronites are the majority Christians and

leaders in Lebanon today, and Maronite Catholicism is, for all practical-

purposes, the official religion. The identification of "Maronite" with

"Lebanese" was tenuous at the turn of the century, however —during the period

of massive immigration —and remains problematic for the church.

_ _ _ contempor ary1

2

To make matters more difficult, the American Catholic Church regarded the

Maronites —whether "Syrian" or "Lebanese" —as just another ethnic group to

assimilate into the "universal" Latin Rite. The Latin bishops directly thwarted

Maronite efforts to create autonomous churches and schools. They also

discouraged them from practicing their rituals in the style and the

Aramaic/Syriac and Arabic languages. It was not until the second Vatican

Council in 1965 tiar acknowledging the integrity of the Eastern Rites became a

policy of the Roman church. Catholics are now instructed to follow the rite of

I[tir fathers when a parish of that rite exists.

Thus the Lebanese Maronites found themselves in something ot a douDLe

On the one hand, they needed to respond affirmatively with a clear,

tionally_based sense of ethnicity, if they were to withstand assimilation

into the American mainstream. On the other, they had to convince the American

Catholic Church that their demands for separate institutions were based not on

national, but on doctrinal differences.

In St. Elias today the debate continues. The priest identifies himself not

as a Lebanese but as a Maronite Catholic. His parishioners see the Maronite

Church as the institutional core of their ethnic community, however. These

distinctions are important determinants of the practice of ethnic—heritage and

Arabic language education in the parish.

The Lebanese community in Birmingham was established in the years

following 1890. Settlement continued until the iimni

1924. Most Lebanese migrated first to cities in the

and thence to Alabama. The founding Lebanese families in Birmingham originit

3

in the farming villages in the area around Zahie in central Lebanon. They were

attracted to Alabama by opportunities to enter into itinerant trade among rural

residents or in urban areas amidst the growing numbers of mining, steel, and

iron workers. They did not often choose farming or even industrial wage labor

because they intended to return to the old country. Also the tenant farmer and

sharecropping agricultural system prevalent in this region was antithetical to

their experience and ambitions as independent small farmers. Most Lebanese

immigrants became peddlars, traveling the back roads carrying notions, dry

goods, and hand-crafted items on their backs. The profit was high, the

investment low, and only minimal English was necessary. A route and a stock

could be obtained from more established Lebanese who owned shops and organized

routes for newcomers. As they became permanent settlers they often moved from

peddling into shopkeeping and wholesale grocery and produce businesses.

By 1915 sixty-five Lebanese families were settled in Birmingham and had

established a Maronite Catholic urch with an Arabic school in the afternoons.

St. Elias was founded in 1910 in a converted public school building at 20th

Street and Sixth Avenue South. It is named after the church in

Wadi- el-Arayeche, the home village of many Birmingham families. Until the 1960s

St. Elias was one of only two Maronite churches in the Southeast.

St. Elias was established under the authority of the

who supplied the parish with a series of priests from Lebanon. Once

established, however, it became a responsibility of the Latin Rite Diocese in

all other matters, and held inancial obligations to the bishop and to the

Latin parochial schools.

f irst thirty years, although it does not appear to have been as high as the

estimated fifty percent reported for Maronite congregations nationally I V t

remained I its original, settled away from the church area into the neighborhoods of Glen Iris and

Idlewild on the southwest side of Birmingham. Finally, the church closed in

1939 for lack of a priest; appeals to the patriarchate went unanswered for over

six months. The community then contacted a priest directly who happened to be

visiting his brother in Detroit and later obtained permission for Father Joseph

Ferris Abi-Chedid to come to Birmingham rather than return to his monastery in

St. Elias. The only remaining functioning church organization was the Ladies'

Altar Society, which raised $311 to add to the church treasury of $7.87 so

that Father Abi-Chedid could reopen the building and begin calling the

Maronites together again. He quickly learned sufficient English to read the

gospel and to comm u nicate

community. He then set about obtaining property in the Lebanese neighborhood

and managed to have almost a full city block of land donated to the parish.

In 1949 consfruction began on the present church building at 836 Eighth

Avenue South. At the time of Father Abi-Chedid's ( ' 1'l lan d retu rn 4S

Lebanon in 1970 the complex consisted of the church, a parish house, an

also 1 plans for )

5

buildings was paid for in cash raised primarily through the Ladies' Altar

Society weekly Lebanese dinners, which became a veritable institution for many

Birmingham residents.

The church had a series of short-term resident priests after Father

Abi-Chedid. In 1972 the present priest, Father Richard Saad, was appointed to

St. Elias. Father Saad, a member of one of the first classes to graduate from

the American Maronite Seminary in Washington, D.C., is the first American-born

priest at St. Elias. Although of Lebanese descent, he is also the first priest

not to speak Arabic fluently. Since 1972 Father Saad has concentrated his

efforts on consolidating the parish membership, reaching out to Maronites who

have turned to the Latin Rite, and restoring the teaching and celebration of

the Maronite Rites. He has also begun converting one classroom into a

library--one of only two or three such Maronite libraries in the United

States--with the help of the Ladies' Altar Society.

St. Elias now has 260 active families, totaling 800-1,000 people, most of

whom are of Lebanese descent. These numbers reflect the post-1965 immigration

of educated, professional people, displaced by recent conflicts in the Middle

East. It is now one

churches in Atlanta

the entire country.

of three Maronite churches in the Southeast, including

and Miami, and one of fifty churches and five missions in

In 1962 the pope authorized an apostolic exarch to the

United States with a mission to unify the American Maronites. The exarch at

Detroit became bishop of the Eparchy (Diocese) of St. Maron of the USA in 1971,

and the Maronites were removed from the authority of the Latin hierarchy. The

eparchy is now administered from its seat at Brooklyn, New York. It oversees

the churches and missions, the seminary in Washington, and a convent in

Youngstown, Ohio. Nationally, Maronites number over 36,OOO\ ,,/

Father Saad has applied for an assistant priest at St. Elias to extend his

outreach to Maronites in the Nashville, Tennessee and Mobile, Alabama areas who

now worship in Latin Rite churches. St. Elias maintains friendly relations with

St. George Melkite only three blocks away, and their parishioners

sponsor some joint act vities. St. Elias is the meeting place for the

* Amer ican-Lebanese Alliance, though it occasionally meets at St. George to

demonstrate its ethnic, non-denominational basis. The two major religious

festivals celebrated at St. Elias and other Maronite churches are the Feast of

St. Maron on February 9 (Latin calendar February 14), and the Feast of St.

Elias on July 20 (Latin calendar July 25). The former is marked with a special

mass followed by Arabic food, music, dances, and other entertainment, and the

h rt d

;t ory .t i r H 1

The parish organized the first Arabic language classes in 1915, just five

years after its fdunding. During the early years Khattar Wehby, one of the few

well-educated immigrants, conducted them. At first the classes took place in a

section of the old church and later at another location. Webby taught as a

volunteer, giving classes after school for several hours each day. Both the

students and the teacher were bilingual in Arabic and English amd used the two

7

languages in class. The classes were to make the children literate in Arabic,

familiarize them with Arabic/Lebanese literature, and supplement the cultural

education they were receiving in Latin parochial schools.

The classes were not successful for very long. Wehby perservered,

starting classes each fall until the 1920s, but the consistent attrition

discouraged him. Josephine Wehby Sharbel describes her father's teaching

efforts as follows:

He didn't receive cooperation. And, you know, he didn't want anything from them. He'd say, "Give me your children.

I don't want anything, just let me teach them." . . . Well,

it just wasn't supported, I mean, in that they didn't cooperate with Papa. Maybe the parents, you know, kind of just drifted away. And then my father just got disgusted and lie just quit. (ES82-Mc/C-C3)

As textbooks Wehby used grammars, dictionaries, histories, and poetry and

essay volumes that he had brought with him from Lebanon. Although

trained in classical Arabic, he taught the vernacular language. "We learned the

alphabet. We learned to read, to spell. We learned poetry and songs," says his

daughter. Except for the songs, the efforts were ciirected toward refining the

children's language skills. She also recalls that the instruction was:

t1ore or less, 1 would say, conversational . . . and the spelling and things like that, but barely writing. 'Cause

I don't think we ever got to the point where we were doing too much writing, specially not the print. I think we were printing more or less. (ES82-Mc/C-C3)

Elizabeth Boohaker and her brothers also attended the Wehby classes for

Arabic-speaking children. She reports a similar experience.

d

Ana the reason we learned--we took part in the choir at the church and we sang in Arabic. And we took the books and

would start reading, you know, out of the books, the Arabic language, ah, print. Now, script, I can't read, but I can read print. ES 2-Mc/C-C4)

The next serious efforts at language education did not take place until

Father Joseph Abi-Chedid became priest of St. Elias in 1940. He came to

Birmingham intending to open a full-day Maronite parochial school. Elizabeth

Boohaker recalls riis arrival:

The people were riungry for a new church. In fact, be didn't want to build a new church first; he wanted to open a school first. He says--which is true--"without the school you have no parish." The children are going to disperse, they're going to go to other places, they're going to learn other cultures, and you just won't have, won't have your parish. (ES82-Mc/C-C4)

But the school building was not immediately forthcoming, so Father bi-Chedid

introduced Arabic classes for the young people after school and on Saturdays.

James Mezrano was one of his pupils.

He tried to teach us Arabic, but his bedside manners were very rough and the children were very scared of him. We'd just shake. He was just very stern and strict, and, I don't know, we just couldn't learn from him. (ES82-Mc/C-C16)

Father Abi-Chedid's students were no longer Arabic-speaking or bilingual

in Arabic and English; they were second- and third-generation Birmingham

Lebanese, with, at best, passive knowledge of the language. Mezrano describes

his own skills as typical: he can understand a considerable amount, but he

cannot respond nor can he read or write Arabic. "Even though they [his

9

generations's parentsj Knew Arabic, and we were spoken to by them in Arabic,

and I understood it, we were never taught to speak it fluently," he explains.

(ES82-Mc/C-C16)

Father Abi-Chedid emphasized conversation, pronunciation-drill (in some cases,

physically trying to force laryngeals out of his pupils), and the alphabet. The

classes would start up again and again and stop because the children dropped

out after a month or so. "I guess that's why I know the alphabet so well,"

says Mezrano, "we went through it so many times." (ES82-hc/C-C16) Although

these experiences were not promising, Father Abi-Chedid did not waver from his

determination to have a school at St. Elias to supplement the Latin parochial

education of the students.

At his parish's wish Father Abi-Chedid built first the new church and tnen

the rectory. Working with the Ladies' Altar Society and the Knights of St.

Maron, a special parish organization established for the purpose, Father

Abi-Chedid raised the money necessary for the first half of the school

building. Finally, in 1958 the prospective school's auditorium/cafeteria was

completed and in 1960 the first four of the planned eight classrooms. The

completed complex would be in the shape of a cross. The school was to have

eight grades and teach all subjects required by the state. In addition, the

school would offer instruction in Lebanese heritage and the Maronite Rite.

To ensure the realization of his dream, Father Abi-Chedid established a

trust fund designated specifically for the school. It totalled $250,000 in

1969, when he retired from the parish. The school fund was kept

all other church accounts, so that it could be hidden from the Hi

IDJ

who regarded a school at St. Elias as unnecessary competition with the existing

parochial schools and who generally resented the Maronites "outshining"

(Mezrano's term] him. Father Abi-Chedid had tied up the money in such a fashion

that he felt it was safe from the Latin bishop, but one of his successor

priests brougftt the existence of the fund to the attention of the newly

appointed Maronite bishop. A struggle ensued which made the question of

Maronite education the most divisive issue in St. Elias's history. Elizabeth

Boohaker, church secretary under Father Abi-Chedid, recalls:

This money in the trust fund was placed by an organization

in the church that was working toward building a school. It was a St. Maron organization. And they put the money in the

trust •1 s o - bi shop wouldn't get his handson it and

- ire acame up [i.e., was built and dy to occupy], you see, we g o t a n e w p ast or aft e r .. al e ft. I .J • _ •

got I o f - - bisho p kn o w i t . W e ll, b y

courtthat time we had our own says, "that's rch money, and

be a ey

went togot up :operate the bishop'•':ind court decreed —I don't pued the arishioners ': f each trust (there were .:1ee —that the parish H. trusts)T . . And the bishop got, you know how

m u c h h e tax!es I !I1IIL!

portionx

The parish, therefore, owns a school complex of which it makes ver ,.

use. The land adjacent, designated for the remainder of the school, stall

vacant. In such a situation it is unlikely that the school issue would e

11

disappear from memory. Indeed, today's parishioners and priest report that,

over ten years later, it is the key to the factionalization within the

congregation.

Advocates of the school foresee a full curriculum of public and parochial

school subjects, as well as supplementary classes, including Lebanese history

and culture, the Maronite Rite, and the Arabic language. James Mezrano believes

that Arabic should be begun "at an early age--two or three. I think it would be

great for the younger, because it's easier for them to speak at that time."

(ES82-Mc/C-C16) Elizabeth Boohaker describes the school she envisions this

' 1 L Lk& J uu d LCdC:k LL a Lu LR y Al c , jUu 11L

where they came from. Teach them the history of Lebanon

from the time of the Phoenicians to the time of our present-day situation. Teach them their religion, which is the oldest rite in the church. Teach them the family life.

And besides, they would get this basic education that is necessary for college or high school. . . . We were gonna have nuns who would teach them in English, except the Arabic language, and the rite, and the church —the hymns, the prayers, and everything that they would learn in church. . . . Probably they would have included in their classes the Arabic language, as a course. That would be in addition to their regular studies. (ES82-Mc/C C4)

Pupils would be drawn from the 250 or 300 (informants' estimates vary)

children in the parish. Others might come from Latin Catholic families who feel

their children "miss all that tradition and heritage" in the Latin church,

suggests Mezrano. Financial arguments are made in addition to the cultural and

religious justifications for the school: between fifty and seventy-five percent

of St. Elias's children attend Latin parochial schools, where they pay

out-of-parish tuition. Supplements provided by St. Elias to families who cannot

meet the cost amount to at least $15,000 per year. Combined with the surpius

the treasury (which advocates see as school money, despite the court decision

this money could go a long way toward staffing a school, if it is run by nuns ]

Even the teaching staff of the projected school is a much discussed issue.

Father Abi-Chedid had first planned to bring eight nuns directly from Lebanon.

Later the parish contacted nuns at the Maronite National Shrine in Youngstown.

"We had Maronite nuns . — . waiting to teach, and the bishop did not encourage

them", recalls Elizabeth Boohaker. "We have a bishop who is not very

aggressive. He did not encourage them. They finally got disgusted and went back

to Lebanon." (ES82-Mc/C-C4) She and her family and friends have now discussed

the question with four Latin nuns of St. Rose of Lima in Birmingham who attend

St. Elias and who report themselves willing to learn the * t. take .js 4T

jobs. Mezrano preferssays, and multilingual. His group's plan would be to send them to Sacred Heart

College in Cullman, Alabama until they pass the state's teacher certification

examination. If established, the St. Elias school would be the only Maronite

school in the United States.

Along with the controversy about a Maronite parochial school., AraibLc 1ingua4e

classes have (continued to take place at irregular intervals. In the 1970s a

1ILebanese [ f priest ) TI from 1 Ir-t.i

learned. He taught, taught a higher grade, where the young ones could not [keep up]--you have to start from the

13

beginning. . . . I went when the priest was teaching, because I knew a little bit higher Arabic and I could, you

know, appreciate it and learn it. (ES82-Mc/C-C3)

In recent years there have been classes given by seminarians from Lebanon

interning under Father Saad. One man, who was at St. Elias for three summers

between 1978 and 1980, offered Arabic classes twice as part of the Summer

Enrichment Program. This program for families includes Lebanese cooking,

movies, crafts, and other "enriching activities," notes Father Saad. James

Mezrano attended with his wife and older children. He recalls that the

classrooms were filled. "We went there very energetic. There's no textbook —you

bring your own pencil and paper, and you get there, and you write. You try to

write it down and pronounce it, and it's very hard to pronounce."

While the Summer Enrichment Program itself lasted only four weeks, the weekly

Arabic classes continued throughout the summer. Father Saad observes that

attrition H . ' ' : • : . - ( 1U ñ

at the en:.

During the summer of 1982 Father Saad has had an intern, Mr. Joseph Kour.

a Lebanese-American who does not meet even the minimum Arabic-skills guidelines

established by the bishop. To expose Koury to the language and renew Arabic

teaching at the school, Father Saad arranged that an immigrant elementary

teacher, Jackie Aki, offer a children's class. Unlike most of the post-1965

immigrants, the Aki family is highly language retentive, a fact that Father

Saad attributes to their plans to return to Lebanon. Mrs. Akl, who teaches her

own daughter at home, agreed to take on other children in the six to ten age

group. An announcement in the Sunday bulletin drew children and a number of

adults to the course. An additional immigrant teacher, Michael Wehby, was then

found, and an adult class has also begun.

14

Both classes meet for just one hour each week during the Sunday school

period between early and late mass. The time is usually devoted to religious

instruction. As Joseph Koury and Father Saad describe the children's class, it

now has just over ten children. Mrs. Akl is introducing the alphabet, reading

and writing, counting, and rhymes for word memorization, using photocopies of

elementary schoolbooks she used in Lebanon. She assigns homework tasks of

rewriting, copying, and translating, which the pupils have completed

diligently. The seven or eight adults in the other class requested

conversational Arabic. Their time is devoted to speaking, not reading and

writing, with the exception of learning the characters associated with the

sounds which have no parallel in English. Practical conversational phrases seem

to be the main emphasis. This appears to be the first course at St. Elias

genuinely following a conversation approach. So far the attendance has been

good and enthusiasm high. Most of the adult students have minor passive

knowledge of Arabic, but cannot speak it. Father Saad expects the classes to go

on into the fall, if interest continues at the present level. The adults had

hoped for a longer session or a weekday evening class, but their teacher was

not available except on Sunday mornings. If the adult classes continue, they

may have to be scheduled for another time.

Future of the St. Elias Arabic School

Under Father Abi-Chedid the parish work.i 0

funds, first for the church and rectory and then for the school. Now, with no

plans for further expansion of the school, there are far fewer activities at

the church, because money-making projects are not necessary. Father Saad, the

current priest at St. Elias, is not an advocate of the school. The struggle

around ethnic education has now shifted, therefore, from one between the parish

and the church hierarchy to one between conflicting factions within St. Elias

tET u...

Father Saad argues that the plan for a school runs counter to the general

movement in the Catholic church away from parochial education brought 1about 1 11

the loss of nuns and the high cost of lay teachers. More importantly, however,

hr -t* Maronitism as a rite, a special tradition of Catholicism, and resists

the equation of Maronitism with Lebanese ethnicity. In part it is a question of

making clear the doctrinal and ritual integrity upon which the church is based.

As he explains:

People associated the rites [Maronite and Melkite] with

ethnic communities which wanted their own parishes. And

that is a misnomer, because a rite is a distinct entity in

the Catholic church, and that includes us. We're a Maronite

church and they're [St. George Melkitel a Greek Catholic

church. And so those will stand, you know. The ethnic

thing, if we depended only on ethnicity, I think it would

The t c o nfusi o n s) r eligi o u s a n d e thn ic identification i peculiar to

lb

ambivalence appears to stem from a fear that the emphasis will tip away from

the internal Maronite faith to external cultural manifestations of a

non-religious nature, rather than that the association of Maronite with

Lebanese is incorrect. As a priest, his primary concern is with spiritual

affairs and the maintenance of the faith. He does not wish to see himself in a

dual role as the leader of the ethnic community. No doubt this, too, is partly

the response of an urban American. Perhaps an additional factor is that this

Lebanese Maronite parish in the Deep South, long isolated and self dependent,

and has different expectations of the roles its priest should assume than a

parish in a more densely Maronite area such as the Northeast might.

Father Saad's parishioners do not attempt to make the delicate distinctions

between faith and nationality upon which their priest insists. As Elizabeth

Boohaker puts it, "Well, that sort of goes together, being Maronite and being

Lebanese. If you're Lebanese you're Maronite. Because the Maronite is the

majority in Lebanon." For her, "Well, the church, really, is the real

foundation of the [Lebanese] community. Everyone gathers there. If you don't

see them at all, you see them at church." (ES82-Mc/C--C4) James Mezrano, too,

directly connects his religious and cultural life:

I love it. 1 love the music, the food, the dancing --it's all the religion. To me it's a great culture. . . . We

[i.e., American-Lebanese generally] keep the food and lose all the others [elements of culture], and we're so fortunate that we have the church and our whole life. .

Right now the church is the center of everybody's life; that's what's holding us all together. If we didn't have the church, we'd be like all the other Lebanese

communities. I think we're very fortunate in this area to have two churches [i.e., two Lebanese churches, St. Elias and St. George Melkite]. (ES82-Mc/C-C16)

For these parishioners furthering the i-laronite cause and Maronite education are

identical to furthering Lebanese ethnic awareness and cultural maintenance;

they are simply not separable.

The struggle surrounding the St. Elias school must be understood in light

of the above sentiments. Father Saad and his parishioners share deep concerns

about the education Maronite children receive in the Latin schools and the

negative impact that Latin school tends to have on the level of participation

at St. Elias--families are drawn to work for the school's parish instead of

their own, and the children make friends among their Latin Rite schoolmates. In

addition, part of the Latin school curriculum is Catholic liturgy, catechism,

and custom, and Maronite children learn that this "is" Catholicism. Until

Father Abi-Chedid started to grant first communion to St. Elias youngsters

early —six instead of seven years of age —the Maronite children were even

studying for and taking their communion at school in the Latin Rite with their

Latin classmates.

quarter hour Ispecifically o n o !Maronitism in the last year or)

10

department available for children's religious instruction. Father Saad hopes to

e'pand the Sunday school into a full hour of Maronite Catholic study, using the

iLocesan materials to supplement tile standard books and C atechism.

t:r 5iite ) ifs c:nfnetir nrR(ir cess)r Si ki tD Vat:der •\nt

educational ambitions, Father Saad has had the church library named after the

builder of the school complex in which it is housed. For two years the Ladies'

Altar Society has been developing the library's collection, which consists of

b o s and pamphlets on Maronitism and Catholicism; a section of travel,

n(, c)Lay, history, and art books and brochures about Lebanon and the Middle

a few Arabic and Syriac grammars and dictionaries; yearbooks and

c: ntjon books from St. Elias and other American Maronite churches; and

issues of The Challenge, the diocesan newspaper. A few Arabic language texts

have already been shelved. A considerable number of old Arabic books have

recently been donated by the Mickwee family and other parishioners. For Father

id the "real special" section is the one on the Maronite Rite and the history

md of our history , and of our culture. . . . Books are Very hard to get and expensive to find--in English. 'My Arabic books we have gotten, people donated them from heir homes and things. We're trying to classify them, identify them, and put them out. . . . You'd be surprised

young person comes by doing a paper in school, and is trying to do it about the Maronite Rite, and the history of Lebanon, or something, and they would have a source here. We want to have things here they can't find anywhere else.

We want to have regular hours, but we're not at that point yet. (ES82-Mc/C-C1)

general

The library committee of the altar society will help him plan a summer

literature and film series to help advertise the library, during which there

will be readings from the books, or films and tapes about the rite and Lebanese

If this approach-- centering more on Maronite Catholicism and making clear

the specific ritual, dogma, and history of the church, supplemented with

certain cultural activities--is sufficient for Father Saad, it certainly is not

for advocates of the St. Elias school. They argue for the necessity of a school

from various perspectives. Elizabeth Boohaker, the daughter of early immigrants

to Birmingham, for example, represents the faction of school advocates oriented

toward the old country. She and her family are extremely

conservative--socially, religiously, and ethnically. Much of her concern with

the Latin schools is that they are no longer strict enough with the children.

She feels that the liberalization of the liturgy, the lifestyles

nuns, and the approach to social issues in the Latin church have

mistakes. Of the Latin nuns she would hope to retain as teachers

St. Elias she says:

of priests and

been very bad

in a school at

But these nuns are still real nuns. They are full habits.

And, and that's what we want. We don't want these nuns who

look like me and you, and they call themselves nun. They're no more nun than I am. (ES82-Mc/C-C4)

20

functions. Bringing a non-Lebanese Catholic spouse into St. Elias does not make

amends. The Boohakers drew a parallel between excommunication from the family

and excommunication from the church:

They knew at the time they did that that they would lose their privileges of unity to the family. . . . What bothers me is they knew they were doing wrong. It's not wrong to marry somebody like that. But we're trying to keep our heritage together. (ES82 Mc/C-C4)

The Boohakers are so adamant and conservative that they have chosen to withdraw

their active support from almost all parish activities because of what they see

as religious liberalizations, and because of disagreements over the school.

They think the church is now "mainly social," not religious. This family has

been central to all fund-raising activities in the past, but "I told them, 'You

want our family back here, you going to have to start that school going,

because the church doesn't need anything else!'" says Boohaker. (ES82-Mc/C-C4)

While James Mezrano shares Elizabeth Boohaker's concern over

the integrity of the family and abhors marriage outside of the ethnic and

religious community, he arrives at his support of the school in a somewhat

different fashion. A third-generation American in his mid-thirties, he has no

strong ties to the old country. Whereas Boohaker has two nephews who will

return to Lebanon to marry village girls during 1982, Mr. Mezrano, his family,

and even his parents have never visited the country. He is not trying to

maintain traditional Lebanese ways in the United States, but to create a seiis

of place and self for his Lebanese-American family, having inherited a

fragmentary culture. While others in his age group opted for assimilat

escape from "foreign-ness," he has overcome the ethnic, minority-child

experience by integrating and promoting his Lebanese heritage. He speaks of the

21

privileges he had in Birmingham in comparison to his wife, who grew up Lebanese

in a Mississippi town with no ethnic or ethno-religious institutions. For

Mezrano the St. Elias school would be a means of passing on to his children a

fuller cultural experience and sense of place. He wants them to have what he

did not. He describes his position regarding the school as follows:

I'm not that old country, and I'm not that modern. But I think we should know who we are, and about our background, and to be proud of it. . . . A lot of people my age wish we could speak it [Arabic], and that's how come we want the school. You know, there are a lot of young married couples with children. . . . We'd just have a fit to have a school down there . . . I would just love for my kids to go to their own church, to their own school, and to participate and be around their heritage more and be around their own

people more. (ES82-Mc/C-C16).

It is not so much reaction or resistance to external social change that

motivates Mezrano, but a positive affirmation of an immigrant experience and

cultural heritage.

Interestingly, it is James Aezrano who is most emphatic about Arabic

language retention or renewal. Elizabeth Boohaker was raised in an

Arabic-speaking home and some of her nieces and nephews speak the language. Her

brothers' homes are basically English-speaking, however, and the new Boohaker

Lebanese brides are multilingual, although their Lebanese-American grooms are

not. Mezrano, essentially a monolingual, tries to use all the Arabic words and

phrases he still remembers in daily conversation at home. Boohaker mentioned

many innovations at St. Elias which distressed her, but the increasing use of

English in the liturgy was not one. Mezrano, on the other hand, wants to see

the entire mass returned to Arabic. Because he completely identifies M

with Lebanese heritage.

not

1 11

22

At St. Elias today ninety-five percent of the mass is in English. The Holy

Consecration is recited in Aramaic and the choir sings "a couple of hymns" in

Arabic. This is a radical shift from 1940, when Father Abi-Chedid was coached

by Josephine Sharbel so that he could recite his first reading of the gospel in

English; he memorized the sounds, not understanding a single word. Sharbel, a

professional musician, has also transcribed numerous Arabic hymns into

phonetics for the use of monolingual choir members. Prayer books have bilingual

texts and a phonetic rendering of the Arabic, so that parishioners can read

along. Father Saad thinks the switch to English has been a good move:

I'm satisfied with just keeping the flavor of it. Aramaic is more important [than Arabic], because it was the

liturgical language. Like Latin, it was preserved just for the liturgy. And Aramaic was closer to our people, because they spoke it at one time. And also, Christ spoke Aramaic. So I think there will always be a closeness to that, to that language, because of those associations. . . . You know, I have a flavor, a flavor for it too, and I can read

Syriac, 'cause that's how we're trained. . . . My idea was that, if the rite was going to thrive, people had to know what they're doing, especially the young. I think these

things are, can be, transmitted with a flavor, but in English. What they never knew, what it was before. And the

thing about these churches--the Maronite and the Melkite

churches, this old way of thinking —was that they were old-country churches, you know, for the old people, or those who didn't speak English. I think we've had to change that, if there was going to be any hope for the young

people to come, to understand what they were doing. .

And it's successful; it can't help but be successful, if you approach it like that. We have more young coming to our hiirch now than pvpr hefor . (ES 2-Mc/C-C1

St

k)obLLiOfl. Yet he speaks often of this notion of "flavor." It arises in his

description of the Arabic language classes. Although he maintains that the

language learning efforts are largely fruitless in terms of actual linguistic

skills, he thinks it is good for parishioners to have the experience of

23

studying the alphabet and learning a bit about the

approves of their learning vocabulary sets such as

foods--"you know, table-talk kind of stuff"--since

the culture they have in their homes.

language. He especially

greetings, household items,

it puts them in touch with

I don't think it is really going to mean a lot, except to give you a flavor of the identity, which is all right. Now there's more than an awareness and a real desire for

identity. . . . [It would not be good if] you didn't know what to call the foods your grandfathers ate, you know, and

that you eat every Sunday. And, you know, they're pretty good; you know, there's nothing else like them. (ES82-Mc/C-Cl)

Father Saad, and later he and Joseph Koury both, mention the Arabic

kinship terms as

helps the people

marvelled at the

a specific example of how exposure to the old-country language

conceive of their own culture. As a child, Father Saad

wealth of kinship terms that enabled his parents to denote all

members of the family in a single expression of relationship. I don't know

them all myself, but it's fantastic." There is no way that this conce

1 1 - 1

effective bilinguals, and that is one of the outcomes he would expect from th

school. He notes that his five-year-old son can recite the non-English sections

of the mass already.

Left to me, the whole mass could be in Arabic. I feel like

we have a prayer book, we can read it, and then we can learn the words in Arabic also. You repeat it so many times, and you hear it and can pick it up. (ES82-Mc/C--C16)

He would send preschoolers to Arabic classes before they ever started regular

day school.

24

"I don't think we would ever, I would ever build a school" says Father

Saad.

I would never want to run a school, 'cause the Catholic

church has gotten out of that, I think, and, in the place, tried to develop [a] good educational program, good catechistjcs in the parish. . . . No, I think it's fairly resolved now. I mean, I say there is still talk about it, yeah. But I think everyone knows where 1 stand.

(ES82-Mc/C-C2)

He admits, however, that "Now, there's, we have a have a lot of children now

coming up, and there's more talk, ah, from some." There certainly is lots of

talk. Although there is as yet no official committee to organize the school,

James Mezrano was recently elected to a seat on the church council. Elizabeth

Boohaker is an alternate, much to her surprise, since she feels she is on the

outs with the church. As she says:

I think that they're, our church, has become sort of a faction thing. Some want it, some don't want it, you know. And there aren't enough in there in support of it. Of course, now that they have to make all these big payments

for education that they make, they've started thinking over again what it could be. . . . We talk about it everywhere we go. We propagate a school, 'cause that's the only way you're going to preserve your parish. (ES82-Mc/C-C4)

"I would give anything if they would open it up," says James Mezrano. "It

Father Richard would think the way some of us thinks; but he doesn't. . . . I

don't know, I hope we get a school. I really feel that, if we don't, that we'll

lose it all."

LiLsiory ot doly frinity-Iiol 1 r ee k r lod x .t lu d

Local legend has it that three seafaring brothers were the first Greek

immigrants to Alabama: the first settled in Mobile in 1873, the second in

Montgomery in 1878, the third —George Cassimus —in Birmingham in 1884. Cassimus

is described as a British merchant seaman, who, with his two brothers, hired

out on a Confederate gunrunner. He arrived in Birmingham from the port city of

Mobile, first working for the fire department and later opening up a lunch

stand /Despite the legends surrounding the origins of Alabama's first Greek

settlers, most immigrants entered the United States through Castle Garden on

Ellis Island (the kastengardi that is often the setting for immigration

narratives),\,4ettling in this country under less dramatic circumstanceà /

Greek migration to the United States has always followed political

developments in the Mediterranean area, particularly between 1880 and 1920, a

period marked by continued tensions between Greece and Turkey, the Balkan Wars

(1912-1913), and the flight of Greeks from army conscription or persecution in

Asia Minor-\7/Turbulent internal politics and unstable leadership also

contributed to the exodus at this time. Most of the early Greek immigrants to

America, however, left their homeland as a result of the poverty resulting from

the severe depression of its agricultural economy. The Peloponnesian peninsula

was especially hard hit from 1882 to 1886, when the European market for raisins

and currants, Greece's principal exports, collapsed. /

Most of the earliest immigrants to the United States until after World War

II were unskilled single males. They often planned to return with their savings

from America to their Peloponnesian villages to establish a farm or business,

26

or to support their kin or dower their daughter or sister, both strong Greek

traditions. Many of the Greek immigrants to Birmingham, however, as well as

those who settled elsewhere in the country after 1900, were already married, or

later returned to Greece to find a bride, intending from the outset to

establish permanent residency in America /

The majority of the early Greek immigrants to Birmingham came from the

Peloponnesian area and the islands of Corfu, Samos, and Rhodes. They settled in

metropolitan Birmingham, as well as in many of the satellite

communities —Ensley, Bessemer, Wylam, and Pratt City in particular--oriented

toward Jefferson County's coal mines and iron and steel mills.

Reports on the number of early Greek residents in the city conflict, and

official U.S. government immigration and census statistics are inconsistent.

Growing from the 100 enumerated in the 1900 census, Greek residents in

Birmingham numbered 900 and 1,200 in Ensley by 1913.\3 /ensus data from

1920, however, reports only 485 Greeks in Birmingham.

In this early phase of the county's industrial development labor was in

short supply, and southern blacks as well as immigrants from southern and

eastern Europewere sought for the heavy, dirty, manual work. By as early as

1909 there were 500 Greeks in Ensley, many living in the Sherman Heights area,

where "nine out of one hundred stores were Greek owned," and the majority of

the Greek residents were Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company

employees.\1

27

have been little "ghetto" living, although Greek families generally lived

within the same neighborhoods. In Birmingham proper Greeks settled on the

especially on Cullom Street, and in Norwood.

Before World War I, but especially after 1920, Greeks in Birmingham, as

elsewhere, began leaving their jobs as common laborers to go into retail

businesses. A Greek-American middle class emerged fairly early in the

community's history in this country.'\ /The majority of the Greeks soon found

work in wholesaling and retailing.\ /A 1908 survey of Greek-American enterprises

in Birmingham included 125 food-related businesses: sidewalk fruit stands,

confectionaries, groceries, drink-bottling companies, bakeries, and meat

markets J 'Many of these enterprises began as sidewalk food stands which

required a small capital investment and almost no overhead. By the early 1900s

Greeks had such a monopoly on street vending that a 1902 petition to the city

council unsuccessfully tried to revoke their retail licenses.'\V1'As a profitable

sideline to their numerous restaurants, Greeks in Birmingham apparently also

comprised the majority of the city's bootleggers during the Prohibition Era,

importing "Pensacola rye" from Florida and selling it openly to a large,

heterogeneous, city-wide clientele\ Ather early Greek-owned business

included hotels, barbershops, shoeshine stands, laundries, and billiar:

r 1 r

The most recent wave at breek imm igrants to iiirmiiigiiain roilowed toe 19t

Immigration and Nationality Act. It was also precipitated by the increasing

conflicts between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus. Some 142,000 Greeks emigrated

to the United Stated during the late 1960s and early 1970s. These later

immigrants included both men and women with professional and technical

213

training. 1any came from Athens or central Greece and had no intention or

returning to their homeland Birmingham community, however, also includes

a sizeable number of recent immigrants who have been educated only through

rammar school.

History of Birmingham's Greek Orthodox Churches

The seventhJi U thodox congregation in the United States, Holy irinity

/ ri Triada)

of a lay committe

British poet who

urch, was founded in 1902 with the organization

the Lord Byron Society (named in honor of the

Greek independence). The committee's purpose was

establish a Greek Orthodox Church, also to assemble the members of the

y in one place for order and social improvement"

os Kanellas, an ethnic Greek from Constantinople, Turkey, was its first

priest. The first mass was celebrated in 1907. After a three-year, fund-raising

irive, during which the small parish met in rented halls, the society purchased

i former Methodist-Episcopal church building on 19th Street and Avenue C South

In 1909 the parish of 100 members was officially named The Greek Orthodox

Community of Holy Trinity, Birmingham, Alabama and received a state charter.

Daily afternoon Greek school classes began shortly after the organization of

the church in the "little run-down building" next door, that was also used as a

general meeting place 9 /When the Reverend Mr Kanellas left in 1912 he was

replaced by Father Germanos Smirnakis described as "a most

learned man, a good linguist, and the author of several books . . . [who also]

lectures every Sunday evening to his people on various subjects--reltgi m ,

historical, hygienic, etc. 0/A succession of, presumably, Greek-born rt -

inity parish by trie Archd iocese to L oued F itoer

Hfl H e Ve OI o SoLoi r re -\ioer cdo 1 7

numbered over 1,500. "With this expansion came inter-community [sic] tens

between factions of parishioners with differing values relating to

heritage, language, and education .1/ issent within the community b

developi

teacher.

Greek-American community between ecclesiastical and lay community authority in

church affairs. The argument continued through 1932. After unsuccessful efforts

at reconciliation the Birmingham Greek community finally split over the school

issue in 1933. Approximately one-third of the Holy Trinity parishioners

"withdrew their membership and formed another parish, that of Holy Cross,

[with] aims and purposes being of course the same, but in manner more to their

liking. 422

Not formally recognized by the Archdiocese, this group was led at first by

a ma e tria tfia ('group of three). The group advertised in the New York Greek

newspaper antis for a priest and hired Father Dionysios Dimitsanos from

Corfu in 1933. Services had previously been held in t Ce Fraternal Hall, but

t � �111 within three months the dissident parish had 150 members and had begun

extensive fund-raising efforts to build its own church. This was accomplished

in 1934, with the aid

Cross (Agi a Starvou

d other community members. The first Holy

urch was built at North 25th Street

30

between Seventh and Eighth Avenue in Birmingham. From the outset Mr.

Anagnos , one of the two teachers involved in the confrontation at Holy

Trinity, taught Greek school classes in the church building.

Competition between the two parishes continued. In 1931 Holy Trinity ("the

original church") bought the properties next door and erected a new educational

building. In 1935 the dissident parish, Holy Cross, was officially recognized

by the Archdiocese and a canonical priest, Father Milelis, was sent to replace

Father Dimitsanos, who had resigned because of a salary dispute / n 1938 Holy

Cross built a new church next door to its old one, again with AHEPA's aid, and

began using the former church as an educational building. In 1949, after some

disagreement about relocation to an area nearer the homes of one community

group, Holy Trinity built the present church (dedicated and consecrated in

1956) on its old site. In the same year Holy Cross built a new Youth Center

(dedicated in 1951) for educational and recreational purposes.

Reconciliation efforts betweem the churches began seriously in 1947. It

was the social activities of the youth groups of both parishes that finally

reunited the Greek—American community in Birmingham. The factionalism between

the two churches had divided the entire community for thirty years, during

'Which time the community's mutual aid and church—affiliated organizations,

Including the church youth groups, had also split off into separate chapters.

In the 1950s the two church youth groups —Holy Trinity's Elliniki Orthodoxy

Neolea (EON) and Holy Cross' Orthodoxy Elliniki Neolea (OEN) —began opening

their social and recreational functions to one another 2> %he Greek Orthodox

Youth of America (GOYA), a national organization aimed at the unification of

independent Greek—American youth groups across the country, was founded in

31

1950. The two local youth organizations, EON and OEN, became separate chapters

of GOYA. When Birmingham was chosen to host the third annual GOYA convention in

1953, however, members of both EON and OEN joined in its planning and the

occasion resu e reunification of Birmingham's two Greek Orthodox

parishes Jerry 0. Loran (?), the chairman of the event, recalls:

Nobody that came could forget the enthusiasm. I think one

night they raised $45,000, just off the floor from the kids. There were old gold coins. People were crying. We realized all the great things that needed to be done for the community co ld ot be done without the communities pulling together.

The first public step toward reestablishing the unity of the Greek

American community in Birmingham was taken one month after the GOYA convention

with an announcement published in the Holy Trinity Church bulletin that its

parish had been invited by Holy Cross, its "sister church," "to unite with

them" for the Divine Liturgy celebrating Holy Cross' nameday. Shortly after

this announcement local attorneys were retained to counsel both parishes and

present a proposal to unify the community. Parishioners from both churches

voted on the proposal —Holy Trinity members met in their Educational Building

and holy Cross members met in their new Youth Center. On the second vote both

committees were unanimously in favor of union 6 /

The binding legal contract named the reconciled 1,500-member parish TH

United Greek Orthodox Community of Holy Trinity-Holy Cross of Birmingham,

Alabama. It specified that a new priest would be brought in to serve the

community and outlined the usages of both parishes' new buildings. The H

Trinity Educational Building was to be used for joint Sunday school and Greek

school classes; the Holy Cross Youth Center was to be used for all parish

32

social functions. This mutual use of each parish's former property appears to

have continued until the 1970s, when the unified parish sold the property of

the old Holy Cross Church, after it had been damaged in a fire. To "satisfy the

newer generation," Holy Trinity-Holy Cross replaced the old educational

building with a modern one —the Hellenic Orthodox Christian Center--dedicated

in 1973. It contains Sunday school classrooms, the Greek language school

classroom, a parish library, social halls, a gymnasium/auditorium, meeting

rooms, and offices.

Most of the Greek-Americans in Birmingham interviewed about the split

agreed that it was unfortunate, but rationalized the community factionalism by

drawing on Greek proverbial lore. As Nicholas Christu said, "I know division is

no good and all that, but, on the other side, it bring you progress, too. You

have to fight for existence, you know. . . .'\ J 4hristine Grammas recalls,

"Everybody wanted to be chiefs. Nobody wanted to be an Indian. That's the

trouble. That's the trouble with Greeks." (E582-Mc/C14)

Today Holy Trinity-Holy Cross is the third largest Greek Orthodox parish

in the South, ranking behind Atlanta and Houston. It boasts the largest

congregation and the only cathedral in the state of Alabama. Other smaller

Greek Orthodox parishes exist in Montgomery, Huntsville, and Mobile. There is a

"mission parish" as well, in Daphne, Alabama. Since the 1953 reunification the

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross parish has had five priests, including Father

Vasilakis, the current priest. A variety of church-affiliated groups continue

to fulfill important aspects of the parish's religious, educational, and social

missions. At the present time the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross roster lists 650

members, about seventy-five percent of whom, according to Father Vasilakis, are

33

"ethnic Greek." The parish includes a mix of Lebanese, Palestinian, Russian,

Ukrainian, and other non-Greek nationalities as well, however. While the

problem of marriage outside the Greek Orthodox faith, or to a member of a

non-Greek ethnic group, is still an active issue in the community, it is not as

volatile as in times past. The issue of the liturgical language, on the other

hand, is a controversial one among parishioners today. The community is

currently split between those wanting to further increase the percentage of the

liturgy that is in English (which has increased from fifty percent Greek and

fifty percent English to thirty-five percent Greek and sixty-five percent

English since Father Vasilakis's arrival eighteen months ago) and those wanting

a return to services that are entirely in Byzantine Greek.

History of Holy Trinity, Holy Cross, and Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Schools

The first language classes in Birmingham's Greek Orthodox community were

offered shortly after the founding of Holy Trinity Church. As early as 1907

daily afternoon Greek school classes, taught by Mrs. Stamatina, were held in

shack" behind the church. She was followed by Andrea ]

Mr. Andriakopoulos), who lived above the Greek school.

Trinity, early parish records indicate that his salary was higher than riat UL

the priest

The Hellenic focus of the school was made clear in its stated purpose: so

"Americanized children [would be] secure in Greek thought, legend, and

tradition, /4 e fledgling Greek Orthodox parish in Birmingham recognized the

value of both Greek language niaitenance and English language acquisition, and

34

its mutual aid organizations were instrumental in organizing and fund-raising

for language education. In 1910 the Young Greeks Progressive Society was

conducting English language classes for its membership of 150 young

businessmen. A group of Greek women attended weekly sessions at a school on

Highland Avenue 31 d in 1911 a local chapter of the Pan Hellenic Union was

organized in Birmingham, with its objective being "to plan and fund the Greek

The earliest Greek school classes were held from June to September for

three hours daily, Monday through Saturday. One room accomodated all elementary

grades and the teacher's time was divided among students of various grade

levels. As many as ninety students at one time —their desks arranged according

to age and ability —studied Greek grammar, history, geography, literature,

mythology, folksongs, drama, and dialogue. Exercise drills occurred on

Saturdays, when religion was also taught and athletics practiced. The only

available curricular materials were those imported from Greece by the teacher;

the teacher often had the only official books and students copied lessons from

the blackboard into their tetradia or notebooks 33/Iote learning, memorization,

and recitation were the standard learning methods. Strict disciplinary measures

were the rule.

Christine Grammas, who attended Greek school classes from 1917 to 1922,

describes the curricular materials and pedagogical methods used by Father

Nicholas Lambrinides, the revered, multilingual teacher

Constantinople before coming to America and who is wid

though he only spent six years in Birmingham:

We had only one book--the reader. All the rest of the su bje cts - b o ard ,l i ke fo r h i s t o r y , I

ill I in st a n c e , ' iwe would co p y i t , s t a rt scr a p p a per.

dem a n ded t ha t w e 1, • p ut it in - co m p o sit i o n b o ok in

ca lli g ra phy--and * II - . Iwithoutsmud g es,• S.

II Ii m is s p ellings S . . we ha d the p r e tty

ha ndw rit tin g, and tha t wa y we I mem o r i z e what we wrote and we 'd r em e m b e r o u r h i s t oryI! a nd r e li g io n t o pic s a nd

stresse dgeography. He g e o g r a phy, oh yeah! He would1'-the e in poetic rm nd we ut as - islands _:l_ • .,I • . ' . : - woulid p oint them out, int . ithem if we ,,:,. one little get a whack on the hand. He was

very strict, but' - - ' . hy etter than I knew the U.S. H , thh; Gmarpee. k And I

Maude Morgan, another second-generation Greek from Birmingham, recalls her

early experiences in the "Hellenic" classes from around 1922 to 1928:

It was just a little, a house actually to start with, that they

had bought and converted into the Greek school. And my mother

happened to be on the Board of Education for the Greek school,

curriculum was reading, grammar, writing, of course, and not

penmanship writing, but what they used to call orthographia,

which was the correct spelling. . . . And correct grammar.

It from the six-year-old and went on up to seventeen at

leas eek scho seemed like it was forever. . . . And our written exam time, and thenthatTT _ know, _n we had, would write S _

to be written and then, too, like I said before, orthographia, write this in class the i 5!'TWe read from our lesson. We were assigned lessons . . . that had which we were assigned —a verse or whatever. Then we had to

!IJ: • : ' .it 1:' to be correct or else -we were . did somethin g ' ' I - sent out to cut I I Ithe switches off th e

tre es a nd we were switched o n o u r ha nd s - fo r d o i n g s o mething

re ally .- a y o u k n o w. It a ll d e p e n d e d o n t h e t e ac h e r , IT

thoughtwas . terribl e

teachers. Such presentations were often highlighted at the annual graduation

exercises at the Fraternal Hall or at Birmingham's old Bijou Theatre. "And, of

course, near the end of the semester he would assign us with a poem or

dialogue, and we'd perform on stage like actresses," recalls Christine Grainmas.

Really. If we wouldn't act . . . he wanted us to learn expression. And he said, "You get out there and you're supposed to cry when you say these words." I couldn't cry. He whacked me on my legs with a ruler, and I cried, and he said, "Now say it. I said it. We loved him, we really loved him, but we were scared to death of him, too. (ES82-Mc/C-C9)

A succession of Greek-born schoolteachers followed Father Lambrinides's

tenure at the Greek school. Many teachers during this period also traveled on

certain weeknights to the steel mill towns of Ensley and Fairfield to hold

Greek school classes for the parishioners in those communities-' %'n 1926

controversy began to develop in the Birmingham Greek Orthodox community over

the hiring of teachers for the Greek school, its site, and policy-making

decisions. The argument culminated with the 1933 split of the community and the

formation of the separate Holy Cross parish. This resulted in the establishment

of a second Greek school in Birmingham, supported by the fund-raising efforts

Chapter 3 of the AHEPA and by a Holy Cross ladies' group, Pistis-Elpis-Agapis

Cross offered its own "parochial

and then, beginning afternoon school of Greek," taught first by Mr

around 1942, by the church's rector, the Reverend D. N. Sakellarides. After

1949 Christine Sepsas taught the classes, first taking pupils into her home

and later affiliating with the new Holy Cross parish. Mrs. Sepsas's mother had

also been a Greek-school teacher. Her cousin A1exandr Bonduris describes

Christine Sepsas as a "self-taught, natural-born teacher," who was prevented

from attending college because Greek custom and family finances would only

allow her brother to receive a higher education. No longer a Greek-school

teacher, Mrs. Sepsas apparently has returned to offering classes in her home,

teaching English to new immigrants in Birmingham. (ES82-Mc/C-C14)

Another teacher from the Holy Trinity parish —Irene Kampakis, who

graduated from a teachers' school in Athens —is also widely remembered today in

the Greek community in Birmingham and is described by her former students as

being .. very learned." She taught Tasia Fifles, the third-generation,

Greek-American daughter s) Christine T Grammas,

Trinity in the late 1930s and early 1940s. As Fifles recalls:

The class was divided —each row was a dif f erent grade. And,

you know, that's surprising, because every Greek child was

going to Greek just a handful, every

I Greek child in my generation, every Greek child was going

to Greek school, everyday, right after school. We'd get on

the bus, get the tickets from the Birmingham Electric Company, ecause that's what used to be the streetcar . . .

Ill -' ' - - - I I - wo uld n't

takei: i was packe d. str __i'II were ;. . . . . . S st a nd , • everything,

you know.1 Iwouldn 1 I rs. In fact, we sit around the tab le 'e a 1: : • schoo about Greek l.

1 - heard these stori e s .

It seems that there were no formal Greek school classes in Birmingham

during the war years, and by 1953 the two Birmingham Greek Orthodox parishes

had reunited. Dr wng the lateI VJ,1SI and early 1960s, third-generation

Greek-American parents like Tasia Fifles were reluctant to make the same kind

r;T co mm itment 1

38

Cross Cathedral illustrates the prevailing post-war attitudes as well as

generational differences and similarities toward their children's ethnic

language education:

dorgan: Well, why do you not send your children to Greek School? Or have they ever gone?

Fifles: They didn't want to go.

Morgan: Have your children ever gone to Greek school?

Fifles: Never gone to Greek school. I'll tell you why not. I would have to do all the transporting. They had so many other things to and I would have to take them. And I guess it was

just, their interest wasn't that big for me to sacrifice that time at that time. Now, oh yeah, now they want it. . . . Now they're learning it. Now they want to know Greek. But I couldn't tell them that, you know, ten years ago.

Morgan: They blame the parents for not making them.

Fifles: And then they would have blamed you for making them

go. I used to blame by mother.

Morgan: When he [my son] went to college, I never will forget, when he came home, on his first trip back home . . . he

turns around to me and he says, "I'll never forgive you for not making me go to Greek school."

Fifles: I feel I've failed my kids, 'cause when they were Little, if I had spoke Greek, spoken Greek to them as they grew u p , they would know something, and I didn't. And I thought, just bringing them down here [from the suburbs] for one hour a day, for once a week, what are they going to learn in that short Little time? . . . But, I thought, well gosh, they don't even know how to count to ten, they're going to have to learn all that, and one hour a week is nothing. (This and interview quotes above - ES82-Mc/C-C9)

By the mid-1960s and through the early 1970s Greek school classes at the

united Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Church had decreased to once-a-week evening

classes, with a very high attrition rate by the end of each school year. Two of

our informants (Georgia Kampakis and Janice Mastoras) had school-aged children

during this period, but in each case their children only attended Greek school

for a few months and the experience was "not very beneficial" for them. The

L LAIC L . CtUU I IL L iiL, po L LOU LS ILL L L DUL O J\ 11UL i

oUrLousLy to the church's downtown location and the parishioners' dispersement

to the the suburbs, to competition over their children's free time between

parish-related schools and clubs and the extra-curricular activities of the

parochial or public schools, to their children's increasing interaction and

identification with their peers in "American" school, and, perhaps most

importantly, to decreasing parental authority and increasing maternal leniency,

for which these mothers assume a great deal of responsibility, even guilt.

Although it was not directly discussed by any of our American-born

informants, part of the problem during this period appears to have been

staffing difficulties. In the late 1960s the one teacher at the Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross Greek school was an elderly woman from Greece whose teaching

style was not well received by her students, accustomed to the ways of the

American schools. Nichi Jovaras called her a "strict, discipline [sic], classic

Greek schoolteacher" in the old country fashion. She was followed in the early

to mid-1970s by Dr. Michaels, an immigrant from Cyprus and speaker of the

Cypriot dialect, who was also unpopular here. Nichi Jovaras, who immigrated to

the United States in the 1950s, describes his pedagogical methods and how she

herself took over some of his students in 1978 or 1979, becoming a teacher at

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross:

He was not for children. He [should have taught] adults. He was really tough on the children, you know. He

thought he was back in Greece, in the old school in Greece, and, you know, children would resent it . . . and nobody

wanted to go to Greek school. So then one day they asked me if I wanted to teach . . . because I had children, you know. . . . Well, I'll tell you how it started. There was

these three little girls —intermarriage, you know —so they were going to this Greek school with Mr. [sic] Michaels. Well, one day he made a mistake. In Greek [he said], "Look at all these American kids come to Greek school." Well naturally . . . they didn't want to go back. And Donna

40

[Nichi Jovaras' youngest daughter] says, "If they're not going to go, then I'm not going to go." So I said, "If you're going to sit at home, then I'm going to teach you.'

• . • And the little girls say, "Well, can we come too?" And I say, "Yeah." And that was good, because that was one time Donna really learned her Greek because, see, the four of them together, I had them two days a week, and I make them do things. I make them learn, and they [learned], like, "I want to go outside and play" and "Here's a beautiful tree," children's conversation." (ES82-Mc/C-C12)

Nichi Jovaras has now taught Greek language classes at Holy Trinity-holy

Cross on one or two weekday evenings for the past four years. This past

semester she taught a two-hour Tuesday evening class to a mixed group of

students, but their attendance was irregular and attrition rates were high.

During the same period, and apparently up through this year, Theodor (Ted)

Lafakis also a native Greek speaker, taught some afternoon and evening GreeK

èii5ol classes, experiencing many of the same problems.34 In her class of older

students last semester, in which everyone knew the Greek alphabet, Jovaras used

Methods of English, which her father employed when he taught her brother Greek.

It is printed in Greek, English "phonetics," and English translation, and

focuses on exercises for social and business conversation as well as story and

letter writing. Her students included fourth-generation Greek-American children

and spouses converted to Greek Orthodoxy through intermarriage. She describes

their mixed attitudes toward language acquisition as follows:

Now I do have students in that class that would rather not use the English phonetics, but read it in Greek, and they do. But I did find out one thing--the non-Greeks that

within a marriage, that [are] within the Greek faith [through intermarriage], they're more receptive to learn than the ones that actually are Greek, because they apply themselves because that's what they're there for. They have an aim within themselves to do something, so they are the ones that are really my best students. They are learning, because that's what they are applying themselves to do. •

• No, we don't have history, all we're doing is strictly conversation, but, like I said, they do know the alphabet.

31

it in j.'r iin Greek if they dothem will read in rnriirrr

Themis Kannellopoulos, born in 1949 into a trilingual (Greek, French,

English) home and educated as an engineer, came to Birmingham in 1979. During

his first year in the Greek Orthodox parish he team-taught Greek school with

Mrs. Jovaras on weekday evenings., n 1979 or 1980 they split the classes in

Themis now teaches a Saturday morning Greek school class at Holy

Tr1nit7 =-o y Cross for adults only. This past semester he had six students in

this class: his wife Sheree, a third-generation Greek-American who came to

Birmingham from Florida in 1980 when they were married; a student who has not

been attending regularly because she has a new baby; an "American" woman who

married a first-generation Greek; Terri Grammas, an ethnic Irish and recent

convert from Roman Catholicism, married to a second-generation Greek-American

from Birmingham who is twenty years her senior; and the Grammas's two

daughters. Terri Grammas describes her daughters' ethnic identification, and

their attitudes toward Greek School:

[They] are very close to their background. The Greek is definitely prevalent. My children are so Greek-oriented

that when they filled our applications for school [a special public school, gifted-child program]--they're

twelve and fourteen--and they asked for nationality, they

put down Greek. . . . And I was in a state of shock. It

didn't occur to me that they would ever consider anything

but American, but, you know, the Greek is really ingrained

in them.- . . . (But] one of them is rebelling against it

[Greek School class] - . . the younger one. Where the older

one comes and enjoys it —she has more of a knack for

languages than the other one. (ES82-Mc/C-C6)

Kanellopoulos describes the books he uses in the Saturday class:

I went through a lot of books from there [Greece] and fou ­

ones that, in my opinion, are good books so I . . . tak ,,

the history of the 1821 revolution, Iliad and Odyssey, i::::

some history of that era also, and, uh, since I know what

they know, what I do is I read a chapter and rewrite in a way that would be understood by the people . . . . I was

42

writing little things, little essays, I guess, in English or in Greek, and they would have to translate it to the other language. And I teach them some grammar and syntax —syntax is very important. It's very simple. There were very few rules. . . . What we do is basically, my plan was to try to teach the people, uh, every time we meet a number of new words and that's how we started out. And then

after some time, you know, enough words, presumably, have been learned from both phrases [sic], and [they] make little essays using those words. . . . (ES82-Mc/C-C9)

Kanellopoulos's classes, which will resume after a hiatus for his

students' and his own vacations, are expected to continue in the fall with many

of the same students, some beginning their third and fourth years. Jovaras also

plans to teach again in the fall. Taking into account the commitment of the

teachers and the attitude of the priest toward Greek school classes at Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross, there is no reason to believe that the level of language

education activity will diminish in the foreseeable future.

Ethnic Maintenance: Greek Institutionalized Education

The factionalism over the Greek school in the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross

parish that split the community for thirty years no longer dominates this

community; it is now thought of as a remote event. Vestigial factors underlying

the controversy are manifested in parishioners' attitudes toward community

identity and the value of, rationale for, and problems in sustaining effective

ethnic heritage and language education programs. Community opinions about the

Greek school —its past history, present status, and prospects for the

future —often correlate with factors such as time of immigration, age group,

occupation, class status, education, place of residence, native and home

language, and ethnic and religious traditionalism or assimilationism, all

43

which were important elements in the controversy. Terri Grammas, a relative

newcomer to the Birmingham Greek Orthodox community through intermarriage,

characterizes its composition with reference to several of these factors:

In the Greek community, to me, there's two factions. The Greeks from the old country ["Greek Greeks," as she calls themj that, I don't even know if they've ever become American citizens. . . . Most of the Greeks here still have family in Greece or in Cyprus, and I think that has a lot

to do with it. They do really keep up with the news there. It's surprising. We don't, you know, because we don't have

family there. . . . I don't really know how the split has come. . . . There will always be a lot of conflict. They won't change. They won't change their attitudes, ever. There is still a group here that is fighting, every inch of the way. . . . I would say [the other group: "American Greeks" has very educated people —lawyers, doctors, teachers. The others [first group] are restaurant owners, people that have maybe a high school education, not necessarily in this country, but, you know, some of them do; but who have been raised very strictly Greek--you know, spoke Greek in the home. (ES82-Mc/C-C7)

In addition to Terri Gratninas's polarized "Greek Greeks" and "American Greeks,"

a third, mediating position rounds our the Greek parishioners' own picture of

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross ethnic identity. As Christine Grammas explains:

See, it's what you learn at home. You've got to go [with] what you learn at home. You see, when my daddy used to see,

when we used to see the Greek flag--well, we marched and we see that Greek flag waving and the American flag right next

to it. Why, you know, you'd just have all that patriotism in you for both countries. Because they're right there, side by side. (ES82-Mc/C-C14)

Her sister, Alexandra Bonduris, agrees, "Papa always said, 'You're an American.

Don't ever forget you're an American, but never forget your Greek heritage.' He

instilled that in us. (ES82-Mc/C-C9)

44

Clearly, the strong Greek immigrant imperatives for educational and

occupational advancement into the American middle class are critical in the

study of language and ethnic heritage education among Greeks in Birmingham

and are viewed as paradoxical by members of the community themselves. Maude

Morgan comments on the Greek "entrepreneurial tradition" that coalesces with

its American counterpart, the work ethic:

The Greek people are hardworking people and they're always trying to better themselves, trying to progress in whatever they're doing, and they want something better for their children . . . . And, for example, my husband was an established produce man, not from the very beginning. When he first came here--he came here as an orphan when he was fourteen and, of course, he went

into the restaurant business like so many others have. But when he really went into business for himself, went into the wholesale produce business, and, eve

though my children were in high school and went on college while he was still in this business, he dio want this for them. He didn't like the hours of the business. He didn't like not being able to do things because of the hours, to participate in other things socially. And now, what is so funny, my older son is graduate of Vanderbilt University. And he was an Eng major, and he'd gotten part of his master's degree f English and history and then went off to Korea. When

came back [he went] in the restaurant business. [Laughs. He's the one who owns the restaurant. . . . But, it was so funny. . . . Like I said, we wajired something better for them. (ES82-Mc/C-C8)

C. W. Jovaras characterizes the community's sense of cultural necessity for

the preservation and perpetuation of the Greek heritage:

To me, without traditions it's nothing; that's the way I feel. And I hope I can instill this to my children. Without traditions we are nothing. You are blank. Well, really —that's the key. And traditions have got to be

maintained, not only within the church, but at least within the home, the family. And, ok, so we change and we, uh, you know, look the other way, you know, when we

start raping our various other traditions in the name of liberalism, and modification, and understanding. But certain traditions, if we eliminate that, why we're back to nothing, we're nobody. (ES82-Mc/C-CIO)

45

The current status and future direction of the Greek language school in

Birmingham must be examined in relationship to its effectiveness in

maintaining this cultural imperative and in reinforcing shared community

values. But there is a considerable range of opinion among the parishioners

we interviewed about their own ethnic identification and how it has changed

over time, as well as about the importance and functions of the language and

cultural components in this maintenance effort. For the Greek Orthodox

community in Birmingham we have a relatively large sample of informa nt,

representing a variety of opinions about the history and degrees

commitment to the continuation of Greek school classes. It is

possible to abstract a small generational sample, both by age and }v

of United States residency, to isolate and analyze the critica

sociocultural factors that interact in shaping the evolution 0!

community's attitudes toward mother-tongue education.

Since the first generation of Greek immigrants in Birmingham are now

deceased, the city's second generation of "whitehairs," as Father Vasilakis

calls them, represented in this study by Christine Grammas, Maude Morgan,

and Alexandra Bonduris, are the baseline from which to examine generational

changes in attitudes toward ethnic and language education. This group of

informants is perhaps the most ethnically retentive, although those cultural

elements they choose to preserve are often archaic relics and survivals from

Greece as it was at the time of their parents' immigration to this country.

Father Vasilakis sees them as having "a fantasy notion" about their

Hellenistic roots. These women received a grammar school, or at best, high

school education. Since they grew up during the post-World War I period,

46

rampant with nativism (particularly in the Deep South), their memories of

experiences outside the Greek Orthodox community and of "American [public]

school" are often unpleasant. Their memories of attending ten ye

mandatory Greek school classes on a daily basis are, on the whol

pleasant

customs

pronunciation and grammar. It also taught them to read and write .

colloquial language spoken within the rapidly growing Greek 0rthod

community in Birmingham. Christine Graimnas and Alexandra Bonduris stres

that learning

Greek school,

the children at that time did, because the parent , couldn't speak English at all. And if they did, th :

wouldn't speak to us because they wanted us to 1e:ir: Greek. 2- 1cjC-Gi )

On the whole, this group of second-generation Greek Americans were

upwardly mobile. These women's husbands, who began working in Birmingham is

street vendors, became wholesalers, retailers, and restaurant owners, and

their children achieved a better public school education than they had. They

are proud of and secure in their cultural preservation and transmission

activities. This is manifested in their unselfconscious continuation of home

and external ethnic customs, their children's attendance of Greek school,

and their own activities as members and officers of the Greek school board

and its PTA. Further evidence of their sense of Greek identity includes

their firm allegiance to Holy Trinity during the period of divisiveness,

their activity throughout the years in Greek community social organizations

like the Philoptochos Society and the neighborhood Knit-Chat-Chew group, and

their parish work as Sunday school teachers, choir teachers, and library

They describe their own sense of ethnic ident-ity as "Americans born of

Greek descent," and their faith in Orthodoxy is so strong and their

knowledge of its ritual so long-standing that they tend to be rather liberal

on the issue of the choice of language for the liturgy. Christine Grammas

does not seem to care which language is used. Her sister Alexandra Bonduris

prefers that it be exclusively in the original Greek. Maude Morgan analyzes

the historical relationship between the liturgical language and

institutionalized language education efforts as follows:

No w S II• S. generation] . important

that I I I I I kn o w t h e Gre ek language. • I' there Ii -

p e r i o d S ii . whe r e the I. [s e cond gen e r a t i on] wa n t ed the ir c h ildren S b e a p a rt , m o r e - p a r t o f t h e

" worked •

, I think, because the nd pare n ts I community.i ' . - b e t ter education

fo• r the ir childrenI th a t it I • uppermos t in their Ii i .

• their scho o l i n g t h e p u blic 55 o rAmerican !school, or that they :• to college,

whate v e r , - m o r e • • - t han to Greek

school. And I think this is why this change [in co m m u nity i a t t i t u d es to w a r d - s cho ol] H a b out.

only t made them hold on to the Greek school, I

think, was the fact that urch is, ur religion is

a on to • langua ge .

in the Greek : -:- 1 hi o f this they try to •

Their children, represented here by Tasia Fifles (daughter of Chrisrine

Grammas), were raised in I U UTis!tI,' during age in the early 1950s. They were better educated as a group then their

parents, upwardly mobile , and upper-middle there was little or no new immigration from Greece into the Orthe

co mmunity in Birmingham, although out-migration was beginning to occur and

Greek Orthodox spouses came into the Birmingham community from elsewhere in

the country. Non- ethnic Greek wives, such as Janice Mastoras, also

converted to the Greek Orthodox faith during this time and joined in local

community activities. Greek-American communities all across the country were

Iundergoing ri

mainstream. These third-generation immigrants, and their peers by

extra-community and interfaith marriage, appear to be the least ethnically

retentive and most ethnically ambivalent of the Greeks studied. They have

been highly selective about the elements of their ethnic heritage they

choose to preserve, have felt the most guilt about their passivity in

transmitting it to their children, and have rejected many of the traditions

their parents saw as essential components of their own ethnic education,

both at home and in more institutionalized and public settings. Not

surprisingly, however, it is this group that has been most active in public

I really don't [have them]. The ties that I have are

because my children (adopted as infants] were born

there, and, of course, my mother and father. I think I'm

just a real American. 1, 1 love my heritage. I'm very,

very proud of it. But I really don't have [a Greek

identity], and I don't think my children have either.

Greek women from the 1950s generation did not push their children

learn the language or to go to Greek school, and their lack of

with regard to ethnic heritage and language maintenance is a sore

spot with them even today. The problems of their move to the suburbs,

increasing interaction with and influence of their children's American

public/ parochial school peers, and conflicts with extra-curricular

activities are most often used as a rationale for their leniency regarding

cultural transmission. They too, however, like their mothers before them,

draw a strong correlation between native home language and the

effectiveness of Greek school classes. Tasia Fifles discussed the

decreasing incidence of conversational Greek at home:

The only difference in the kids that go to school today I - . I Gr e ek •- II - , gr a nd m o t he r,

my !grandf a ther m e a n,

- i_i we re - living . II _ J_ - from Gr e ece .

father was from Greece, but he I I

not well, but. he spoke Eng lish sp oke i : . Course I . to learn Greek because ,

g randparents; spok ewe in Gr e ek. _ n we j we nt I . I knew

- teacher - I - telling I sch oo lmean, ! I ! .1 ii. I

she told us to shut th e •., A- • • • . clos e I I -

These kids going to Greek sc hooldon't even r • R how to c o u n t to te n m o s t of

cold , the y're cold. It • b e - you walking • Greek school class and learning Greek. . . that's the II d I think

g re ate st thin g - I S - •. - g randmother and I I gr a ndf a ther

- - - ' gotten worse, I - • . me an, it's got I I ii

a n a cc e nt , a n A m e ric a n a cc e n t I

Our group interview session at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross cathedral also

stressed the interrelationships between language education at home and its

institutionalized component in the parish language classes. Those

interviewed agreed that the mother's role in language acquisition was as

c entral of J SI- e x t e nded family elder s , -a n d I Dl : T. their

Kampakis: They've lost a lot by

Like Janice [Mastoras] and I were

children say, "I don't want to do

"Well, that's A." Whenever maybe

not doing that. saying, when our

that," we tend to say, we should say, "That's

50

Morgan: Now, as a mother--my children are grown--my tendency and Daddy's [her husband, James] is to go where we want to be, you know, with our friends. Whereas then it was more of a togetherness. The mothers were in charge. The mothers came with us, and--not all the mothers but mothers were appointed almost like what became the PTA in grammar school.

Kampakis: I think that the mother's role in the in the Greek home is very, very important. (This and above interview quotes - ES82-Mc/C-C8)

The Birmingham Greek Orthodox community's fourth generation, who grew

up in the late 1960s and 1970s, during the era of increased ethnic awareness

and ethnic revivalism, clearly defines itself as Greek-American. While

they perceive their ethnic identity as dualistic, they recognize that this

is not necessarily negative. They are in no sense ambivalent about or

unwilling to use elements of both cultures and transform them into a

synthesized whole that can revivify the community's sense of self-identity.

This fourth-generation group is represented by Terri Gra mas, a recent

convert through interfaith marriage, and Sheree Kannepoulos, an Orthodox

Greek who grew up in Florida outside any Greek Orthodox community and came

to Birmingham with her Greek-born husband Themis. These women are ethnically

self conscious and aware. They care a great deal about the revival, renewal,

and transmission of Greek ethnic heritage and language traditions. Both are

learning about the community's foodways, music, and dance from older women

by participating in parish social organizations, and seem to be making every

effort to reinterpret them in a meaningful way within their own home

cultures. This selfeonscious effort at ethnic education in the private

domain carries over into the community arena: Grau as' children are active

members of JOY (Junior Orthodox Youth) and participants in the parish's

semi-institutionalized dance classes.

51

Their efforts at ethnic education have further correspondences with

their activities regarding institutionalized language education. Tern

Gra as attends the Saturday classes with her two daughters and her husband

Nick, a native of Birmingham who is on the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Parish

Council. They are strong advocates of the Greek School:

It was not even publicized at that time [c. 1977 when

they moved to Birminghaml that there was a Greek school. We felt it was necessary for the kids to learn Greek. We still do. It's helped them a great deal at school. And they'll continue taking it as long as it's offered, no matter how proficient they get, you know. My husband speaks two other languages and English and, you know, we feel it's very important to speak different languages.

(ES82-Mc/C-C7)

Crucial to the success or failure of the Greek School at Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross are differences of opinion within the community over

definition of the problems of institutionalized language education in the

parish today and the best means to resolve them. The future prospects for

such education must be assessed both in light of the perceptions of t

parishioners and of the parish priest, as well as in view of recent

centralization efforts by the Department of Education of the Greek Orthodox

Diocese of North and South America. It is principally over the issue of the

two Greek school teachers, whom Father Vasilakis says he "inherited," that

there appears to be some ecclesiastical/ lay disagreement. The disagreement

reflects ongoing tension in the community generated by the length of United

States residency, class, educational background, and pedagogical approach

of the two teachers —Nichi Jovaras and Themis Kannepoulos —both post-World

War II, first-generation immigrants. Jovaras, who came to the United States

in the 1950s and to Birmingham in 1980, is a working-class woman, educated

pragmatic, conversational approach may be well suited for elementary-aged

)opular with all of her students or their

personal and political differences" with the

)riest, by his account. Kannepoulos, on the other hand, is highly praised

by Father Vasilakis, principally for his advanced education (as an

engineer), "both in the United States and in Greece," for his "detached

political and intellectual approach," as well as for his emphasis on the

classics.

While the parish priest highlights the crux of the Greek school matter

as personality differences and dislike of particular individuals, his

analysis of some of the school's problems also concurs with that of his

parishioners, discussed earlier in this report. The geographic spread of the

parish members and their difficulties in transporting their children to the

school, which is in downtown Birmingham, have already been noted. In a

recent Parish Council meeting over this problem, Father Vasilakis told us

that "satellites" —smaller language schools out in the suburban

communities--had been considered. The problem for students of choosing

between their Greek Orthodox friends and activities and those at the

American public/parochial school has likewise been mentioned by several

parents. Father Vasilakis also told us that some of the textbooks are

outdated and that the curriculum is seriously lacking, a statement with

which we agree. The Archdiocese, however, announced in 1980 a long-range

plan to centralize and standardize the operation of Greek schools throughout

the United States into an eight-year, afternoon program of Greek language

- !d -T. Tt I n1 'nihi I ()fl crh dil fr

53

complete series of Greek language texts to supplement those currently

available from the Archdiocese. Problems over teacher training and financing

must also be resolved if this national program of institutionalized language

education is to be successfully implemented nonetheless. Additionally, the

Holy Trinity-Holy Cross parish, as well as the Archdiocese at large, must

address the special needs of converts (non-Greeks) to Orthodoxy, as well as

those of new immigrants, in developing Greek school curricula that will

serve the varying constituencies that now comprise most Greek Orthodox

parishes in this country. Finally, as discussed earlier in this report, the

lack of parental and student commitment, with the flagging attendance which

results, must also be addressed. Parents of fourth- and fifth-generation

Greek-Americans in Birmingham must become committed to the idea of Greek

school classes for their children, as are the parish's converts and more

recent immigrants.

Other Forms of Education

The Holy Trinity-Cross GrLK i o u ,,: iv . t L.i.- .\rjh

most public and formalized ex

by their communities. Althoug

institutionalized, they rest upon educational traditions which are

integrated into the ordinary lives of the Birmingham Greek and Lebanese

communities. The schools are a supplement to the informal learning that

takes place in the home and community on a daily basis. Parish and community

organizations represent a middle ground between institutionalized education

and unselfconscious enculturation of children by family and community.

W

Planned and casual community social events are one and two steps further

removed from explicit teaching/ learning situations in the language school

setting. Even in family life the element of selfconscious teaching of

cultural heritage is often very strong. Many of the activities, and

sometimes the actual physical environments of Birmingham Greek and Lebanese

homes, are calculated demonstrations of ethnic culture.

The following dialogue between two Greek informants, Georgia Kampakis and

Maude Morgan, illustrates their view of community education. The Greeks,

they say are:

Morgan: Very traditional people, who, ah, church,

religion and family traditions carried out in the

different ages. I think that's one of the main reasons

[for cultural retention], because our family traditions

are so intertwined with our religious traditions--even

though, within our church, we have holy traditions,

which is altogether different from family traditions, and sometimes people mistake our family traditions for holy traditions.

Kampakis: I think it begins with the family, really.

And then from there it sort of branches out to the Greek

school, and then the church and organizations and things like this. But it all begins with the parents, with the mother and the father. It did with us.

Morgan: I think now it kind of works more through

organizations a little more than it did in our first

years [as a community]. And when I was a little girl, of

course, the Greek school was very important. (This and

above interview quotes - ES82-Mc/C-C8)

Both women experience an inseparable relationship between the various

settings in which community life and learning take place. For Morgan, the

religious and secular cultures are "intertwined." Kampakis sees t-he

activities of home, Greek school, and parish organizations as "brarich(�

the same effort. Interestingly, Morgan notes that, while the component

55

remain the same as in her girlhood, the emphasis has shifted--the

organizations bear more of the burden now; the Greek school less. The

learning continuum is unaltered, but the aspects of culture that are most

important are somewhat different as the community becomes a culture of

Americans of Greek descent rather than a community of immigrant Greeks.

The high points of the Greek and Lebanese year are ethno-religious

holidays. It is during the high holidays such as Easter and saints' days

that the mother tongue is employed most extensively in the liturgy. In

addition, secular songs are revived and a host of expressions relating to

the festivals are used by members otherwise monolingual. The holidays bring

forth feasts of ethnic food, native costumes, banks of flowers, home

decorations, and ritual objects such as Greek Easter eggs, Catholic and

Orthodox. Lenten palms, and the Epiphany holy water for the Greek home

altars. Special rituals are performed, both in the church and within

extended families and social networks.

These holidays are celebrations and simultaneously intragroup

exhibitions of ethnic culture. Our informants report an intense level of

activity preceding the important holidays. Woman cook, prepare the family

home, and decorate the church. Greek men set up the lamb pits. Lebanese men

prepare their backyard grilling areas. The choir rehearses. Children

finalize their dance routines, pageant lines, and dress.

Both the Maronite and Greek Orthodox communities also put on more

public ethno-cultural events. The annual Greek Bazaar attracts participant-s

from the entire Birmingham area. Last year 7,000 meals were served and

external

Uncountable pastries sold. Young people are trained to lead tours of the

cathedral, for which they must memorize the Greek terms for all the parts of

rhe building and furnishings. While this event is calculated to raise money

for the church and to introduce the Greek community to greater Birmingham,

ir is also an important expression of the Greek community's external ethnic

customs, as well as its deeper values. Georgia Kampakis, president of the

Philoptochos Society, the women's organization that works three days a week

for six months to prepare the food for the bazaar says:

i think that is one way we keep the Greek customs alive,

through that, even though we don't like to admit that-people kind of know us for our food . . . . Why fight it

anymore? It's really something to be proud of. And our

customs, our dances, too, because our children always do dances . . . . They [non-Greeks] tell us that. they like

to come because it's a family-oriented festival. And it

really is —the kids are all working, the grandmothers, the mothers, some grandfathers that are there, fathers,

everybody. It's a community project. really, but it's

sponsored by the ladies' group. (ES82-Mc/C-C8)

The centrality of family and community life is made visible to outsiders,

which in turn reaffirms the community's sense of ethnic integrity.

57

weekly bingo luncheon. It is open to the public and at least 300 people of

all ages —mostly women, some Lebanese, and many non- Lebanese--played bingo

and consumed a lunch of Lebanese meat pies, tabouli salad (made from bulgur

wheat, and vegetables), Lebanese spice cookies, coffee, and iced tea. The

Women's Auxiliary of the Cedars Club prepared the lunch and hosted the

affair.

Greek and Lebanese community members also participate in a variety of

casual and social activities that are culturally related. There are dance

clubs at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, and both Greeks and Lebanese regularly

enjoy ethnic music and dance at weddings, festivals, and private parties.

Until recently there was a Greek music band of young boys from Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross who played for all sorts of events. The St. Elias

parishioners hire Arabic musicians from New York or elsewhere for major

parish events, sometimes even for weddings. One of the Greek Orthodox men's

organizations sponsored a tour to New Orleans this summer to see the

traveling art exhibit "In Search of Alexander." Last year a women's group

visited the first Greek school in the United States in St. Augustine,

Florida. The parish is participating in a national fund-raising drive to

restore the school building to its original state and to erect a memorial

chapel.

All such quasi -organized activities reinforce the cultural

heritage that these ethnic communities wish to maintain and transmit. They

form the background to the interest in Greek and Arabic school courses and

indicate a continuing curiousity about and awareness of their ethnic

heritage.

Ail of our informants can readily provide a long list of examples of

y practices stemming from their ethnic background. Not only are they

conscious of the many aspects of their cultures which they are passing down

through family life, but they also can describe the ways in which they are

teaching them. Every informant mentions ethnic music and dancing. All the

women mention cooking instruction. Josephine Sharbel tells of teaching the

Lebanese national anthem and other Arabic songs to her children and

grandchildren. James Mezrano explains how he employs all the Arabic terms at

his command with his children, and Terri Grammas describes the strategies

her husband uses to get his girls to use their rudimentary Greek. The

Jovaras and Derzis sisters show

I T E home altars palm-frond crosses, and vials of holy water and incense. Nichi Jovaras

Sever aproudly displays a clollection of Greek dolls, including her own dolls, her

mother's dolls, and new dolls she has brought back from Greece, which she

has given her eldest daughter. She also shows us the mounted display case

containing artifacts from her wedding and explains why it hangs over the

marriage bed. inform ants uti l

th eistories about the old country, the early days in the United States, and r

Greek or Arabic school, which they often find themselves retelling at _ _ _ _

children's request. C. W. Jovaras says he has repeated the stories his

grandmother ri ,

were the great Greek classics when he studied ancient Greek in college.

To visit their homes is to enter an environment designed to express

ethnic identity. Sharbel's living room is decorated with paintings and

photos of family members, small knick-knacks distinctly Arabic in design,

59

and oriental rugs. She and Boohaker wear heavy gold jewelry, especially hoop

bracelets. Boohaker's home contains oriental rugs, Lebanese lace

tablecloths, and photos of Lebanon and h- family in Birmingham and in

Zahle. In her basement is a specia cooker 7or Lebanese bread; in the

backyard, a permanently installed, triple, gas-fueled grill.

Every surface and every wall in the Jovaras home displays Greek

artifacts. They range from replicas of ancient vases to postcards of

costumed Greek dancers, Aegean seascapes rendered in oil, and homeland

statuary. The walls are blue, and even the furniture is upholstered in the

Greek national colors. The apartments of Christine Grai as and Alexandra

Bonduris are similar repositories for family and Greek memorabilia. Every

home we visited had a large album of photos from trips to the old country

conveniently at hand, which was quickly brought forth for our examination.

All of these practices reflect conscious statements of ethnic identity

and strategies for its maintenance. In the more middle-class homes the

objects are carefully chosen, consisting largely of artistic artifacts of

old country, high culture. In the more working-class homes fine art and

crafts are intermixed with mass-produced replicas designed for tourist

consumption. Looking beyond the artifacts to less obvious forms of ethnic

expression, it is important to analyze ways of "being" Greek or Lebanese,

not- jist exhfhi ing er1in c idetiriffers.

Ui L CU UL eI1t Uy is SoiflU idrig uag e us e • In dli

homes we visited, except Father Saad's rectory which is a semi-public space,

Greek or Arabic was in regular use, at least among the residents themselves.

English augmented with Greek when speaking to their daughters. Boohaker

and Sharbel both use Arabic with family and friends of their generation, but

increasingly make use of English with the younger generation, practically to

the exclusion of Lebanese.

Beyond simple language choice, we were aware of conversational

strategies that were derived from the mother-tongue culture. The Jovarases,

like other Greeks we interviewed at the cathedral, tended to speak rapidly,

respond quickly to queries, and to interrupt and overlap each other, as well

as the fieldworkers to a lesser extent. There are scattered remarks about

the contentious "nature" of the Greeks, e.g., "Everybody wanted to be

chiefs. . . . That's the trouble with the Greeks" [Christine Grammas];

"There will always be a lot of conflict" [Terri Grammas]; "If the Greeks

don't have an enemy outside to fight, they just fight with each other" tC.

W. Jovarasi. The somewhat loud, quick, and assertive style of discourse we

encountered indicates that Greek-language conversational norms unconsciously

pervade the community's English as well.

By contrast, our talks with Lebanese-Americans were far slower in pace.

There were long pauses between our questions and their responses. Answers

seemed to be careful and deliberate, often clarified with illustrative

stories. There were few interruptions, either of us or of each other. While

we are not familiar with the discourse styles typical of Arabic conversation

among Lebanese, the differences from our own Anglo-English were pronounced

enough to elicit our comments on the Lebanese sense of timing and

deliberation.

61

Perhaps the clearest indicator of family life as an expression of

culturally appropriate behavior and cultural values is the extreme

hospitality with which we were met in these two communities. Father

Vasilakjs took it upon himself to carefully question us about the nature and

goals of the research project, selecting those we would interview based on

our initial interview with him. Much to our surprise, his secretary called

one day and informed us that a series of interviews had been arranged and we

were to come to Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, where the parish members would

report to meet with us. Thus our Greek interviews were clearly conducted

under the auspices of the parish priest. The interviewees were prompt,

interested, and open. Subsequently the Jovarases took it upon themselves to

introduce us to "real" Greek life by inviting us to their home for an

evening of food, music, and conversation, so that they could share their

photo albums, Greek artifacts, and hospitality.

In the Lebanese homes we were plied with ethnic specialties. Our most

serious interview problem was bringing the meetings to an end. Father Saad,

the most apparently de-ethnicized of our Lebanese informants, concluded our

interview by remarking that while he does not like St. Elias to be called an

ethnic community, and while he does not favor a parish school, he does see

certain aspects of Lebanese life as part of Maritonism and intrinsic to

parish life. "Well, the way of life, and the feeling that we have for each

other, and the hospitality. There's always been Lebanese hospitality, always

been. Always proud of that, and family life."

62

The Southern Experience

Birmingham's Greek and Lebanese communities have several commonalit-

Both are practitioners of Eastern rites of Christianity, '-

very ritualistic and "high church" by American Christi

standards —especially for the Deep South, where E'rotesrw : -

and Pentecostals are in the overwhelming majority.

The Greek Orthodox cathedral, like the Maronite church, functions as

something of an outpost for the faith. Holy Trinity-Holy Cross is the

oldest, largest Greek Orthodox community in Alabama, and still the third

largest in the South. St. Elias remains one of only three Maronite

communities in the entire Southeast. The two parishes were founded within

three years of one another.

Immigration began for both communities in the 1880s, typical for

populations from countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. Both the Lebanese

and the Greeks emigrated because of declining income from their tiny farms.

They were uneducated, with the exception of a few individuals who became key

leaders in the parishes and the parish schools. Because of the history of

federal immigration and naturalization law, they also grew in parallel ways.

Attitudes toward education in both communities are derived from a great

sense of pride in their long literary traditions, and both value "the

learned man" as teacher and leader. Nicholas Lambrinides, the most admired

Greek schoolteacher, and Father Abi-Chedid of St. Elias are characterized by

63

this term. The Lebanese described themselves as direct descendents of the

Phoenicians and the great Arabic cultures preceding Turkish domination. The

Greeks look back to the classical Hellenistic tradition.

These traditions have implications for language, ethnic school

curricula, and pedagogy, as well as for the imperative for cultural

preservation and transmission felt by many community members. Elizabeth

Boohaker explains why the St. Elias parish was united behind Father

Abi-Chedid's plan for a Maronite parochial school:

They were very interested in helping the pastor get the school started because that's the only way you're going to preserve anything. You'll preserve your heritage and teach your children who they are. And of course, we have the proudest heritage there is. We started civilization. We started learning. We started navigation. We started accounting. Just name it and it was started by the

Phoenicians. (ESS2-Mc/C-C4)

SC L; I tI11I Il L

forefathers' contributions to world culture with at least some brief remark,

the Greeks were more confident that their Hellenic culture is well known and

respected, at least by educated Americans. Their remarks were intended to

show how the classical culture taught as a scholarly subject in America is

part of everyday life for Greeks.

The Birmingham Greeks and Lebanese also shared a long struggle against

overt racism. Greeks and Lebanese were considered non-white in the

segregated South. Our interviews contain frequent references to

discrimination in employment, housing, and schools. Here are some

representative remarks on the early years:

In the South, there weren't too many ethnic groups. The only [ones were] Italians, Greeks--very few Greeks,

very few Italians--and the Jewish people. And we were

looked down, in fact they called us "dagos" in those

days [group laughter]. They did! They called the

Italians and the Greeks "dagos." And everybody would

murmur if they wanted to speak to somebody in their native tongue, they would go secretly to speak so they

won't be ridiculed. (Christine Grammas - ES82-Mc/C-CIO)

[For the first Lebanese] it was a very hazardous life

because they went out into country and sold to these

people who, back in those days aliens were nil, you know. They were persecuted. And they didn't know the

language and might say the wrong word. . . . [The St. Elias communit y re m ained committed S each

] well, I think in citie

• there - - - was not that It discrimination. - Northern p e o ple 1: • ere we r e even afraid to i_I they !J_ - Ca tholic

a t o ne

I. • • s S B a p tis t S y ou II I I I I I

• . y o u w e r e Ca tho l i c , w hy yo u got it. My fa th e r h a d t o

go to c o u r t o ne tim e . We ha d a c o w in the ya rd • I

womans ,omehow the cow —I don't think it ' • a nything; : _ . _ b- o ' there d : -

•

• ll he - se e • cro s s - 's wearing on his la p el

[p oin tin g S I• - - la wy er to l d II t o put that

cr o ss aw ay beca use the y, the y'r e going • it m ight m a k e

ca sehim lose the . : u buddy, • : ,, • • - - case, ::

ay no going • 1_I_ : enoug h he '' ' (Elizabet h the case. :

Alexandra Bonduris says that the discrimination eased after World Wdr il:

It made a lot of our American boys aware, especially

here in the South, because we have a lot of what you

would call "redneck" people that didn't know anything beyond their own little area . . . and when they were

exposed to the farmlands of Italy, England, Italy,

Belgium; and so forth and so on, they realized, "Hey, this is what I do. These are people, too." I think it

Maude Morgan, although she prefers to think things are far better ,

[The Greek community at first tried to maintain its own

separate culture and education because] I think at first

it was because of this anti- immigrant. I felt this way

65

when I was in grammar school. And I think the war [World War II] changed everything. . . . Now let me say this. You know C. J., my younger son, because of the prejudices and because it seemed at a certain time, even after the war, that high school children of different nationalities were not helped into getting into, ah, not better positions, and to hold office in some of the clubs and these areas in the high school life. And, ah, they were discriminated against. Not the Greek people only, but, like I said before, the different groups. And he would always say when they'd ask him, or he'd say to

me, "I'm an American." Or if anybody asked him he'd say, "Well, I'm an American. My mother was born in America." You know, he was kind of defensive. (ES82-Mc/C-C9)

James Mezrano attributes his aggressive stance toward ethnic heritage and

language education to discrimination he and his wife suffered as children

n Mississippi growing up [apart from an organized Lebanese community]. . . . I know my mother and father did, in this area . . . I think they got so tired of defending, having people not understand. Me, I consider it ignorance if they do not understand. I just feel like they should look at their own background, you know, who are they to judge me? . . . And that's what I tell my children. And I tell them if anyone calls you anything bad--and I tell them what the words are that I think are bad —you have my permission to pick up a brick and hit them. I don't like violence, but they do [have permission]. And we're in 1982 now and those days are gone, you know, where you have to defend your religion, and your heritage, and your background.(ES82-Mc/C C16)

Petrou reports on the harassment of the Birmingham Greeks, including being

asked to sit in the black sections of segregated restaurants, being unable

to buy houses in desirable residential sections, and a 1902 Suit brought

against Greek street vendors in which it was argued that their fruit stands

were "nuisances" and that they themselves were "abominable and filthy. "35 The

Birmingham Greeks responded both by turning inward, i.e., creating

employment in their own businesses and supporting each other in various

66

services, and by turning outward, trying to enhance the image of the Greeks

to the larger public and actively combating discrimination. In 1922 several

men from Holy Trinity travelled to Atlanta to meet with other southern

Greeks and decide on a response to discriminatory practices and attacks by

the Ku Klux Klan. They returned to found Chapter 3 of AHEPA, following the

lead of the communities in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Lebanese also took care of their own under adverse conditions and

struggled to alter the racist attitudes and behaviors of those they lived

among. In 1907 they responded to Alabama Congressman John Burnett's

proposals made at a Birmingham civic club that "non-whites" be excluded from

immigration. Dr. H. A. Elkourie, a local Lebanese spokesman, wrote a series

of articles to local newspapers in which he argued that the Lebanese were

"law-abiding, 'thoroughly Americanized' members of the white race." The

Birmingfind study reports that Dr. Elkourie became a national spokesman

against the English literacy requirements that were proposed as a basis for

excluding Mediterranean immigrants:

In 1911 Dr. Elkourie testified before the United States

Congress on behalf of immigrants from Greece and Lebanon. These two nations had given Western

Civilization the beginnings of its culture, he said, and

it would be a terrible irony for America, the West's most civilized nation, to refuse Greeks and Lebanese a home because they could not read English. "You owe it to them for no other reason but that of paying a debt."

Up until the 1960s, when the Civil Rights Movement brought a de jure

end to segregation, dark-complexioned Greeks and Lebanese might have been

challenged when using "white only" services or facilities. Ku Klux Klan •I:

other racist activists continue to use the narrow definitions of "whit

Americans that include these peoples among their targets. And the ster r,

67

of a monolithic black/white South has yet to be overcome, both within the

region and nationally. There is little public consciousness of the variety

of peoples who make up the American South outside of the particular locales

where European ethnics, Asians, or Native Americans are settled.

According to our findings, the Birmingham Greek and Lebanese

communities have been remarkably culturally retentive and continue to

express strong ethnic identity. Immigrants to the Birmingham communities

have observed this as well and, like us, believe that this may be due in

part to the unusual social and cultural context in which they make their

homes:

I think [an important reason] was this community being isolated from the other Greek communities. Because when you go into the Carolinas, Virginia, start moving up north, you can go five miles and meet another Greek community, ten or fifteen miles, you're in another Greek community. So you're not an isolated portion. You're really not isolated in those areas. Here in Birmingham it's very isolated. And I can see that within the

people, becoming more clannish, I guess, and it's because of the isolation, and because of your different groups. I think that in other communities that were not

isolated, I think it became a lot more cosmopolitan, and also more social, and not so much clannish. (C. W. Jovaras - ES82-Mc/C-C12)

I think the Birmingham community has always been very aware of itself. I really believe that. And I've heard compliments about them, nationally, you know, throughout my time-as a priest. . . . They've always stayed close to their traditions, and their identity, and their church; haven't gone too far away and had to pull them back. I mean, they know, they have had that awareness. And I think that's due to the churches which promote

that and to the [Cedarsj Club. (Father Saad -

ES82-Mc/C-C1)

68

Recommendations

Our fieldwork among the Greeks and Lebanese has been very exciting and

informative, yet leaves us feeling that we have just begun to scratch the

surface of two extremely interesting histories and experiences.

classroom education in the context training and maintenance activitie

2. An approach more informed by t i u

other disciplines, particularly with regard to rese methodologies and perspectives which can account fo

evolution in both the schools and attitudes towar: education as the communities chan

3. A longer, more flexible timelii:

schedules of ethnic community classes and cultural events and to permit thoughtful analysis of the dat:i

before report writing.

Some of the components of ethnic identity lend themselves to r.eachin

on an institutionalized basis. This is especially true of language. Others

can be learned and reinforced in less formal ways--in the home or in casual

or directed community activities. Thus formal and informal education cannot

be ranked as more and less serious or important. Their intents--even their

intensities--may be the same. The method used is determined by the nature of

the content. Third-generation Greek- and Lebanese-American women can teach

their children to cook ethnic foods, so they do so. They cannot teach them

the Greek or Arabic language, so they look to the parish for this service.

b9

To study the scope and effectiveness of institutionalized ethnic education,

we must first know what institutionalized education is intended to

supplement.

The question of language maintenance has rarely been treated to the careful

and thoughtful analysis with which other forms of cultural expression have

been approached. Whereas folklorists are very much aware of all the forms

and levels of cultural transmission, most linguistic analysis has been one

dimensional: a community practices language maintenance if its young people

grow up bilingual and it does not if they become monolingual in the

mainstream tongue. Language, however, should be seen, as are other

components of culture, as an elusive, complex, and sometimes partial

phenomenon, expressed in both direct and indirect ways.

Although we could only do a rather quick review of the vast literature on

ethnicity in the United States, it became clear that the research required

more complex definition of ethnic maintenance and identity than suggested

the brief project guidelines, if we were to understand the history an'i

current attitudes of the Holy Trinity—Holy Cross and St. Elias Communities.

In particular, a situational approach based on viable, current definitions

of "assimilation" and "integration" would strengthen the conceptualization

of the project. The notions of varying rates of assimilation in different

aspects of culture, as developed by anthropologists in Africa and as

articulated with respect to United States immigration by Mary Sengstoc

and of the evolution of ethnicity, ethnic identity, and practice, as

70

proposed in Faire -37, would contribute significantly to our analysis of

cultural maintenance and language retention, and especially to changing

community attitudes toward them.

The short duration of the project was a severe problem for us. Most

obviously —because of the parishes' language school calendars and the late

start-up date of the project--it prohibited our visiting actual language

class sessions. We were not able to conduct interviews with a number of

informants whom we had contacted and who would have provided a fuller

picture of the evolution of the schools. There are large gaps in our

information about the Greek schools in particular. Prospective additional

informants include young people who attended the classes held in the 1970s,

younger adults who were enrolled in the 1960s, and several middle-aged

people who attended Holy Trinity and Holy Cross schools during the time of

their separation.

We were also unable to attend the major community cultural events at Holy

Trinity-Holy Cross and St. Elias because the principle holidays fell

outside the research period. Even during our brief period of interviewing we

developed sufficient rapport with our informants that we were invited to

public and private gatherings. The fieldwork phase was so short, however,

that we could not -participate in many of them.

In general, our findings substantiate the hypotheses set out in the

project guidelines. Our suggestions here serve as refinements of

those guidelines, based on this initial research. We wish to strongly urge

the continuation of the project, on a longer term and more broadly conceive

71

basis. By understanding the "fit" between school structures, content, and

pedagogies, and the cultures which create them, and by studying schools in

relation to other culturally supportive community and family activities, we

will come to understand the woridview which communities share and are

attempting to transmit.

'Philip H. Kayal, "Religion in the Christian 'Syrian-American Community,'" in Arabic-Speaking Communities in American Cities, ed. Barbara C. Aswad (Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies of New York, 1974), p. 111. 2Kayal 1974, p. 125. 1979 Official Catholic Directory.

4Petrou 5Charles C. Moskos, Jr., Greek Americans: Struggle and Success (Englewood

Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1980), p. 13. 6From transcripts of a tape-recorded interview of Nicholas Chrisru by Sofia Petrou for the Oral History Research Office of the University of

Alabama in Birmingham, February 3, 1977; pp. 1-2. 7Theodore Saloutos, The Greeks in the United States (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964), P. 20. 8James G. Patterson, The Greeks of Vancouver: A Study in the Preservation of Ethnicity (Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1976),

7.

Patterson, p. 8. '0Petrou, p. 19. "Petrou, p. 14. '2Moskos, p. 17. 13 Christu transcripts, 14Petrou, pp. 11-13. 15Petrou, p. 9. 16Christu transcripts, 17Moskos,

18"Holy Trinity-Holy Cross," The United Greek Orthodox Commui Birmingham, Alabama, 1956, n.p. and Petrou, p. 7. 19 Christu transcripts, p. 12. 20 Thomas Burgess, Greeks in America, 1913. Reprint (San Francisco: R 'nd E Research Associates, 1970), pp. 173-174. 'Petrou, pp. 29-30.

22 "lioly Trinity-Holy Cross, n.p. 23 Christu transcripts, p. 30. 24 Petrou, P. 35 . 25Petrou, p. 36. 26Petrou, p. 39. 27 Christu transcripts, p. 34. 28Petrou, p. 25.

M edication Book, Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Hellenic Orthodox Chrisitian

P. 9.

P. 10.

p. 17.

ent er, Bir m i n g h a m, • •.II .

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