czech migration in the context of "old" and "new" migrations to the usa

Czech migration in the

context of “old“ and “new“

migrations to the USA

Conceptualising Historical Migration

Jana Slavíková 1.2.2010

Instructor: Ole J. Eide

1. 2. 2010 Jana Slavíková

Czech migration in the context of “old” and “new” migrations to the USA

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Contents

1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3

2. Atlantic Mass Migrations....................................................................................................... 3

3. “Old” Migrations ................................................................................................................... 6

4. “New” Migrations .................................................................................................................. 8

5. Czech Migration .................................................................................................................. 11

6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 14

7. Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 15



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1. Introduction

The focus of this paper is a comparison of “old” and “new” European migrations to the

United States of America in the 19th and early 20th century. I would like to sum up and

compare the characteristics of “old” and “new” migrations, with special attention paid

to Czech migration. While the migration of Slovaks, Poles and other nationalities from

central and eastern Europe (except Jews) demonstrated the characteristics of “new”

migrations, I would like to point out that Czech migration was more in accord with

“old” migrations, and try to examine in what respect.

The Czech Republic lies at the heart of Europe – or so we pride ourselves, anyway. Ever

since the East-West divide of the Cold War, it has been associated with eastern Europe.

However, it was not always the case. At the beginning of the 20th century, Czech lands

were the most prosperous industrial province of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

Therefore, we should not be surprised when we learn that Czech migration to the USA

shared its characteristics with German rather than Slovak or Polish migrations.

The sources for this paper are mainly the obligatory literature for the course

Conceptualising Historical Migration, but also “Moving Europeans” by Leslie Page

Moch and “Crossings: The Great Transatlantic Migrations, 1870 – 1914” by Walter

Nugent. Concerning Czech migration, the main sources were works of Jiří Kořalka and

Květa Kořalková (Basic tendencies of Czech emigration and Czech reemigration until

the beginning of the 1920s) and Ivan Dubovický (Czechs in America).

2. Atlantic Mass Migrations

At the beginning of the 19th century, the USA stretched from the Atlantic coast to the

river Mississippi and its population was 5.3 million. By 1920, the territory had

quadrupled, reaching the Pacific coast, and the population had exceeded 106 million.

(US Census Bureau) A significant part of the population growth can be attributed to

immigration, which grew into unprecedented numbers that have only been matched at

the turn of the new millennium (in terms of legal migration), as Figure 1 shows.

Immigration from Europe played a major role. “European emigration to America grew

from the 1830s into a historic mass movement.” (Bade, 2003: 90) The number of

Europeans who emigrated overseas between 1820 and 1920 is estimated at about 50-55



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million1. (Bade 2003: 97) At the beginning of the 20th century, immigration accounted

for about a third of the United States’ population increase. (Hatton and Williamson,

1995: 27)

Figure 1: Legal Immigration to the United States: Fiscal Years 1820 – 2007 (in millions)

Source: Migration Policy Institute

The increase was facilitated by changes in transport2: railways and steamships.

Travelling across and between continents thus became much faster and safer, and with

heightened competition between ship-owners also cheaper. The frequency of

transatlantic lines increased. At the same time, the correspondence between migrants

and their relatives in Europe improved, and increasingly, migrants were able to sent

home remittances or prepaid tickets. Their letters painted an enticing picture of the New

World: full of opportunities, free of oppression. It was the American dream, and labour

needs of the thriving American economy, that brought masses from Europe, and it was

1 Estimates differ. Moch (2003: 147) states that “about 52 million Europeans left Europe between 1860

and 1914, of whom roughly 37 million (72%) travelled to North America and 11 million to South America

(21%).” 2 Improvement of transport had also another impact that increased emigration from Europe: “The

railroad networks effectively created worldwide competition in agricultural products and punished the

inefficient, whereupon the railroad provided a way out for the young workers made redundant by it.”

(Nugent, 1995: 84)



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transatlantic migration networks that provided new migrants with support before and

after their arrival, and thus eased their transition. (Bade, 2003)

Four waves can be identified in European overseas migrations in the 19th and early 20th

century: 1. 1846-56, 2. 1866-75, 3. 1880-90, 4. 1900-15. Each of these waves was

stronger than the previous one and while an average annual volume of emigrants in the

first third of the 19th century was about 50,000 (gross), it exceeded 1,300,000 before

World War I. Bade (2003) points out that this description of migration patterns might be

misleading, as there were no direct “migration causes” for individual waves. On the

other hand, the faltering between them may be ascribed to economic crisis in the USA

or wars in Europe.

Also the structure of transatlantic migration changed over the period in question. The

main changes were (Bade, 2003: 101):

- A geographical shift in the source countries – from western, central and northern

Europe to southern, south-eastern, east central and eastern Europe

o This shift overshadowed another trend observed by Hatton and

Williamson (1998: 11) in the old emigrant countries, e.g. Britain: “In the

late nineteenth century, while many still had rural roots, the emigrants

from any given country were increasingly drawn from urban areas and

nonagricultural occupations.”

- A shift in motivation and form – from religiously and socially motivated group

migration to family rural settlement migration (land seekers) and then to

individual (predominantly male) industrial labour migration (wage seekers)

- A shift in (intended) duration – from definitive to temporary or even shuttle

migration (with increasing rates of return migration)

- A rise in the share of unskilled labour migration (of relatively poorer migrants)

o The reason for this was not just migrants’ origin in rural areas, limited

schooling and lack of training, but also their youth. (Hatton, Williamson,

1998: 11)



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3. “Old” Migrations

Countries in western, northern and central Europe had a “head start along the path

towards industrial age [and therefore also in transatlantic migrations] until the late

1880s”. The only exception was France, whose rate of emigration was low, probably as

a result of low fertility rate3. However, differences existed not just among countries, but

also within them. The “classic” home regions of nineteenth-century overseas emigration

were peripheral (rural) areas of western, northern and central Europe. (Bade, 2003: 92)

They were mostly mountainous regions or small islands. “These geographical locations

enjoyed few resources and little employment because they were relatively isolated from

the urban and industrial jobs that would increase over the century; their people, then,

were less likely than others to join the currents to the nation’s cities and towns.” (Moch,

2003: 149). Nugent (1995: 83-94) also observes that people from the surroundings of

capitals or big industrial cities had a lower rate of emigration.

The chief reason for transatlantic migration in the 19th and early 20th century was

economic, although political or religious migrants could still be found. “A number of

studies have suggested that access to land, the availability of other rural employment

opportunities, and population growth all interacted to determine emigration.” While

“the intensity of emigration can be traced to economic forces in the local origin,

settlement patterns in the United States were driven largely by the existence of

previously established communities.” Thus, the most important forces in the settlement

formation were “diffusion and path dependence”, i.e. the role of migrant networks and

traditions. (Hatton, Williamson, 1998: 16-17)

At first, the main incentives for increased migration were “the harvest failures and

economic dislocations that followed the Napoleonic wars”. However, mass migrations

began in the 1840s, with two important trends: demand for labour in North American

farms and cities and in Latin American plantations, and suffering and unemployment in

3 Moch (2003: 10) explains it was a consequence of high taxation of peasantry in France, which inhibited

the consolidation of landholdings and prolonged the existence of smallholders, giving the peasant

population an incentive to control births.



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Europe, exacerbated by “hungry forties”, the potato famine, and political struggles.

(Moch, 2003: 147)

While English4 and Scottish mechanics and skilled artisans moved to America hoping

for better business opportunities in industry (Moch, 2003: 149), most of the

Scandinavians, Germans and Austrians5 arrived to the USA to acquire cheap land and

settle. They were enabled to do that by the Homestead Act of 1862, which promised up

to 160 acres of unoccupied public land to anybody who would reside there and cultivate

it for five years. (King, 2008) “For the most part, these farmer migrants were welcomed

with open arms. They were seen as a civilizing influence. They were white, often

respectable and, except for some German Catholics, were Protestant in denomination.”

(Cohen, 1995: 78)

The view on the Irish was different, just as was the character of their migration. Some

suggest that it might be seen as a forced movement, because the potato plague and

famine in Ireland in the 1840s put people into a situation where a decision to emigrate

was a matter of life and death. Later on, famine migration was followed by typical

“new” labour migration of single men, which was facilitated by existing migrant

networks. It was probably the great numbers and poor state of the immigrants that

contributed to the negative opinion about the Irish. (Scally in Cohen, 1995: 80-3)

“The Irish were stereotyped as uncivilized, unskilled and impoverished and were forced

to work at the least desired occupations and live in crowded ethnic ghettoes. Irish

immigrants often found that they were not welcome in America; many ads for

employment were accompanied by the order “NO IRISH NEED APPLY.”” (Haug)

Most of them stayed in cities and towns along the east coast or the Great Lakes. In New

York, for example, the Irish were concentrated in the Lower East Side for most of the

4 Moch (2003: 150) notes that “the English were very likely to be from towns and cities”, while in

general, “most emigrants were rural people”. 5 Nugent (in Cohen, 1995: 103) compares migration from the German and Austro-Hungarian empires to

North America: German migration – declined after 1886 and provided more of a farm-family migration;

Austro-Hungarian migration – mainly after 1880 and provided more of a proletarian labour migration.

Both empires “contributed roughly similar numbers – over 4.5 million people – to the transatlantic

flow”.



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19th century (only replaced by the Russian Jews at the end of it – King, 2008). Another

reason for the animosities against the Irish was their Catholicism.

Figure 2: The Stereotyping of the Irish Immigrant in 19th Century Periodicals: 1867 Cartoon

Cartoons for magazines such as Harper's Weekly featured cartoons by Thomas Nast and depicted Irish immigrants

as ape-like barbarians prone to lawlessness, laziness and drunkenness. "St. Patrick's Day, 1867...Rum, Blood, The

Day We Celebrate" shows a riot with policemen and ape-like Irishmen.

Source: http://www.victoriana.com/Irish/mail6.htm

The Irish migration had the most balanced sex ratio. (Nugent in Cohen, 1995: 107-8)

“Women formed a substantial minority among migrants from western Europe to North

America. In the 1820-1928 period, they were 40 percent or more of the English,

Scottish, Swedish, and German migrants to the United States – and nearly half of the

Jewish migrants from eastern Europe and the Irish. Women figured less large in the

late-century migration groups from Italy and southeastern Europe because a large

proportion of those groups were men who came to work in North America for only a

short time.” (Moch, 2003: 149-50)

4. “New” Migrations

“New immigration” to the United States originated in southern, south-eastern and

eastern Europe and it emerged in the 1880s. The reason why these regions were affected



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by mass migrations later than western, northern and central Europe may be several and

are interconnected:

- Greater distance from the Atlantic, which meant greater cost and time needed for

travelling – an obstacle that was only effectively overcome with the invention

and spread of railways. (Nugent, 1995)

- Later abolishment of serfdom – in Prussia in 1807, in Austria in 1848, in Russia

in 1861. (Moch, 2003: 104)

- Later beginning of industrialization. (Hatton, Williamson, 1998)

- Certain “diffusion process” in the spread of migration, driven largely by

noneconomic social forces. (Hatton, Williamson, 1998)

In the last decades of the 19th century, southern and eastern Europeans constituted

increasingly significant “proportions of immigrants to America: from 5 per cent in the

decade 1870 to 1880, to 33 per cent between 1891 and 1900. By 1914, they made up

close to 70 per cent of all arrivals.” (Morawska in Cohen, 1995: 99) “In all, more than

four million6 people journeyed from eastern Europe to the Americas between 1880 and

1914. Nearly nine-tenths of this number migrated to North America, of whom about the

same proportion went to the USA.” (Morawska in Cohen, 1995: 97) A significant group

were Russian Jews, whose migration was of a different nature: whole families were

fleeing for political reasons (restrictive laws and numerous pogroms), a great majority

of them not coming back.

Vast numbers of new immigrants were received in the USA with growing rejection,

especially after an economic crisis in the 1890s. But the reasons were not just economic

and social fears (most of the newcomers were unskilled), they were combined with

xenophobia and racist prejudice, religious, political and ideological differences. (Bade,

2003) The influx of migrants gave rise to the American eugenics movement, which

“campaigned vigorously for the intelligence testing of immigrants ... and for anti-

immigration legislation”. (Cohen, 1995: 78) Some Americans feared that immigrants

6 Nugent (1995: 88) quotes Ferenczi and Willcox, stating that in 1899-1924, more than 6 million people

from East Central Europe migrated overseas.



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posed a threat to their morals, others pointed out at the low literacy of immigrants,

accused them of being criminals and increasing the numbers of the unemployed. Face to

face with the diversity of newcomers, Americans began to worry about their identity.

(Gjerde, 1998: 307-322)

However, it was not just Americans; old migrants were hostile towards to the new ones

as well. “The thoroughly acclimated American Jew stands apart from the seething mass

of Jewish immigrants and looks upon them as in a stage of development pitifully low.

He has no religious, social or intellectual sympathies with them. He is closer to the

Christian sentiment around him than to the Judaism of these miserable darkened

Hebrews.” (The Hebrew Standard, 15.6.1894) The well assimilated German Jews feared

that everything they had managed to achieve would be ruined and all Jews in America

will become subject of hostility and anti-Semitism. (King, 2008: 147)

As far as assimilation of immigrants is concerned, Hatton and Williamson (1998: 23-5)

point out that despite the contemporary opinion that “new migrants” were assimilated

poorly, “[a] new view has emerged in the last 30 years that paints a more benign picture.

It argues that immigrants were able to adapt to America and that the clash of cultures

was not nearly so great or as detrimental as earlier writers had suggested.” They suggest

that ethnic communities, social and kinship networks provided support and aid, and had

beneficial influence. They point out that the argument of higher unemployment of

immigrants is supported by weak evidence. There was a difference between the wages

of native and immigrant workers. However, it can be explained by lower skill

endowments of immigrants, i.e. literacy, the ability to speak English, and work

experience in the USA. What also played an important role in the performance of

immigrants at the labour market was the fact that they “often changed country and

occupation at the same time, especially as young adults.” Nevertheless, some empirical

studies examining the rates of (earnings) catch-up and assimilation have brought

puzzling results. “They suggest that the “old” immigrants who were supposed to have

assimilated so well did much worse that many of the relatively disadvantaged

immigrant groups in the late twentieth century.”



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Obviously, earnings gaps were “in part due to differences in occupational attainment

and slower upward mobility”. (Hatton, Williamson, 1998: 24) Just as immigrants

concentrated geographically, they also tended to concentrate in the same occupations –

either because of their specialties originated at home, or simply because of their

acquaintances who could find them a job. Thus, Slovaks, for example, could be found in

mines, foundries, and steel mills in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois (Nugent 1995: 89),

while Jews worked as tailors or tradesmen. (King, 2008: 142-7)

5. Czech Migration

The first historically recorded Czech to settle in the United States was Augustin Heřman

(1605?-1686), first mentioned in 1633. (Dubovický, 2003). In 1920, there were 623

thousand Czechs (and 620 thousand Slovaks) in the USA. (Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993)

In 2000, the share of Czechs (persons with at least one Czech parent) on the US

population was 0.8%, with most of them in the Midwest region (Illinois, Ohio,

Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota). However, the biggest

Czech population was in Texas. (Dubovický, 2003: 59)

Czech emigration to the USA in the 19th and early 20th century had several peaks:

1. 1853-7, 2. 1867-74, 3. 1891-4, 4. 1903-8 (renewed in 1911). Obviously, these periods

correspond with the general trends in European overseas migration (see chapter

“Atlantic Mass Migrations”), with the only exception of the third wave, which came a

little late to the Czech lands. During the first thirty years, Czech migration represented

80 per cent7 of the whole Austrian migration. (Dubovický, 2003: 15)

The most important incentives for migration were the same as elsewhere: population

growth, changes in agriculture, bad harvests, competition of cheap American wheat,

starting industrialization, the revolution and abolition of serfdom. However, the

7 Kořalka and Kořalková (1993) state that the emigration rate in the Czech lands was never lower than

75% of the non-Hungarian parts of the Habsburg monarchy in 1853-1871. Starting 1880s, this share

gradually decreased, so that it was mostly lower than 5% after 1895. They also observe that a similar

discrepancy appeared between the Czech lands and Slovakia in the inter-war period: the number of

Slovak emigrants was two or three times higher than the number of Czechs, even though the population

of Slovakia was more than three times smaller.



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situation was worsened by political uncertainty caused by the Crimean War in 1853-6

and the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. (Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993)

In the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th century, emigration from the Austrian

monarchy was forbidden and only rare exceptions were allowed. The patent issued by

Joseph II. in 1784 for the first time described as an emigrant as a person departing

abroad “with the intention of not coming back”. In 1832, a new patent was issued by

Francis I. which revoked the general prohibition of emigration. Only those eligible for

military service were not allowed to emigrate freely. In any case, emigration was

associated with a loss of Austrian state citizenship8. (Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993)

The first emigrants were middle classes of peasants that were relatively better off and

could afford to pay for the travel. Among the poorer, only one family member would

often leave to earn and save enough money for the rest of the family to join him. A

significant number of (illegal) Czech emigrants were young men who wanted to avoid

military service. (Dubovický, 2003: 15; Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993)

The character of the main source regions was the same as elsewhere in Europe:

nonindustrial rural areas distant from industrial centres. In the Czech lands, it was the

case of the south and south-west, which were the main emigrant regions from 1850s

until World War II. Not only was any industrial production missing there, but

conditions for intensive agriculture were also unfavourable, not to mention the division

of land: among large landowners and insufficient smallholdings. When the railroads

reached these areas, they did not bring development as much as they facilitated

emigration. Later, many emigrants originated also from southern Moravia and some de-

industrialized areas. (Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993)

With a small delay, Czech migration went in the footsteps of western Europe, while the

eastern parts of the Habsburg monarchy followed after a couple of decades. At the end

of the 19th century, the trend began to change. The birth rate in the Czech lands (and

8 With the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, many Czechs reemigrated from the USA. As a matter of

fact, migration of Czechs from the USA exceeded emigration to the USA for two consequent years.

(Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993)



13

most countries of western and central Europe) fell and so did the emigration rate.

(Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993) Nugent (1995: 86-7) quotes numbers indicating the ethnic

distribution of East European migrants between 1899 and 1924. It is clear from the

overview that the share of Czechs was the lowest (together with Romanians): only 2.3

per cent, while the share of Slovaks or Hungarians was over 8 per cent, the highest

percentages being 27.1 for “Hebrews” and 22.1 for Poles. He clarifies that Czech

emigration was slight after 1900 because its peak had been in the 1870s and 1880s,

similarly to the German one.

In his comparison of German and Austro-Hungarian migration, Nugent also points out

that Czech migration to the USA differed from the general trend in the Austro-

Hungarian empire. “In most respects, language apart, they shared the characteristics of

the south and south-west German landseeking, family migration that predominated in

the 1850s to 1870s.” He explains that the Czechs were subject “to much the same

pressures as south-western Germans – uncertain harvests, diminishing markets for home

industry, gradually less competitive grain prices, and the prospect of smallholdings

subdivided beyond the point at which their children would have acceptable life

chances.” Family migration was characterized by an extremely balanced sex ratio (54

per cent male and 46 per cent female between 1820 and 19289) and a low return

migration rate. (Nugent in Cohen, 1995: 107-108)

As to the settlement in the USA, important destination of Czech migrants was the

Midwest, but after 1852, a strong wave of predominantly Moravian migrants headed

also for Texas. However, Dubovický points out that despite a relatively high share of

land seekers among Czech migrants, most of them actually stayed in towns or cities,

such as New York, Chicago, etc. For most of them, especially those in the industrial

areas, coming to the US was a culture shock, but their adaptation was eased by

expatriate associations. (Dubovický, 2003: 18-19)

When migrants arrived to America, they often had to change their occupation. Many of

those who settled in farms had often come from small towns, while most of the Czech

9 Nugent notes that this balance was surpassed only by the Irish.



14

(and especially Slovak) labour migrants at the end of 19th century were originally from

rural areas but headed for mines and steel mills. (Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993) Dubovický

(2003: 22) notes that Czech migrants were literate above average (together with Jews

and Scandinavians), and also Kořalka and Kořalková observe that most emigrants were

hardworking, initiative and energetic. Emigration of such people annoyed the supporters

of the Czech national movement (taking place in the same period as mass migrations),

who tried to maintain relations with the emigrants in the USA and even pondered how

to prevent their assimilation, but the latter was to no avail. The first generation of Czech

immigrants already felt more like Americans, possibly American Czechs, as soon as

they were naturalized. (Kořalka, Kořalková, 1993)

6. Conclusion

The aim of this paper was to point out that the character of Czech migration in the 19th

and early 20th century was closer to “old” rather than “new” European overseas

migrations to the United States. I have shown that Czech migration differed from the

migrations of Slovaks, Poles or Hungarians in the following features:

- Timing: In the 1880s, when “new” migrations began, Czech migration to the

USA had already been slowing down.

- Form and sex ratio: Even though Czech migration was not exclusively land

seeking, the proportion of land seekers (and therefore families) was high and the

sex ratio was extremely balanced.

- Duration: The rates of return migration of Czechs were very low.

- Skills: Czech migrants were literate above average.

In other respects, Czech emigration followed the patterns evident in other parts of

Europe: its main source regions were peripheral rural areas in southern (and south-

western) Bohemia and Moravia; the first emigrants were from middle peasant classes,

followed by poorer rural proletariat when travel became affordable. In the USA, just

like other nationalities, Czechs concentrated in certain areas (Midwest and Texas),

where numerous communities of Czech origin can still be find today.



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7. Bibliography

Bade, Klaus. Migration in European History. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003.

Cohen, Robin. The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Cambridge University Press,

1995.

Dubovický, Ivan. Češi v Americe / Czechs in America. Pražská edice, 2003.

Gjerde, Jon. Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History. 1st ed.

Wadsworth Publishing, 1998.

Hatton, Timothy J., and Jeffrey G. Williamson. The Age of Mass Migration: Causes and

Economic Impact. Oxford University Press, USA, 1998.

Haug, Christine. The Stereotyping of the Irish Immigrant in 19th Century Periodicals.

http://www.victoriana.com/Irish/IrishPoliticalCartoons.htm. [available online 29

January 2010]

King, Russell. Atlas lidské migrace. Mladá fronta. 2008

Kořalka, Jiří, and Květa Kořalková. Základní tendence českého vystěhovalectví a české

reemigrace do počátku 20. let 20. století. in Češi v cizině, 7, Praha 1993.

Migration Policy Institute. Legal Immigration to the United States: Fiscal Years 1820 –

2007. MPI Data Hub.

http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/charts/historic.1.shtml. [available

online 27 January 2010]

Moch, Leslie Page. Moving Europeans, Second Edition: Migration in Western Europe

since 1650. Second Edition. Indiana University Press, 2003.

Nugent, Walter. Crossings: The Great Transatlantic Migrations, 1870--1914. Indiana

University Press, 1995.

Polišenský, Josef, and Lumír Nesvadbík. Úvod do studia dějin vystěhovalectví do

Ameriky II. Češi a Amerika. Karolinum, 1996.

US Census Bureau Systems Support Division, and Population Division. Population,

Housing Units, Area Measurements, and Density.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/table-2.pdf. [available

online 27 January 2010]

czech migration in the context of "old" and "new" migrations to the usa

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