Template:Polish American

Polish Americans (Polish: Amerykanin polskiego pochodzenia (male), or Amerykanka polskiego pochodzenia (female)), are citizens or residents of the United States who are of total or partial Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the U.S. population. Polish Americans are the largest European ethnic group in the United States of Slavic origin and the eighth largest ethnic group overall.

Polish immigration began in 1608, when the first Polish settlers arrived at the Virginia Colony as skilled craftsmen. Two early immigrants, Kazimierz Pułaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, led armies in the Revolutionary War and are remembered as national heroes. Overall, more than one million Poles have immigrated to the United States, primarily during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Exact immigration numbers are unknown. Many immigrants were classified as "Russian", "German", and "Austrian" by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service because the Polish state did not exist from 1795 to 1918, and its borders had been dismantled through World War I and World War II. Complicating the U.S. Census figures further are the high proportion of Polish Americans who marry outside their ethnicity; in 1940, about 50 percent married other American ethnics, and a study in 1988 found that 54 percent of Polish Americans three generations or higher had been of mixed ancestry. The Polish American Cultural Center places a figure of Americans who have some Polish ancestry at 19-20 million.

In 2000, 667,414 Americans over 5 years old reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of the census groups who speak a language other than English or 0.25% of the U.S. population.

History

Early settlers

The first Polish immigrants came to the Jamestown colony in 1608, twelve years before the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts.^[1] These early settlers were brought as skilled artisans by the English soldier–adventurer Captain John Smith, and included a glass blower, a pitch and tar maker, a soap maker and a timberman.^[1] Famed settlers known today include Michał Łowicki, Zbigniew Stefański, Jan Bogdan, Jan Mata, and Stanisław Sadowski.^[2] An excavation done in 1948-1949 found four Hessian crucibles and large quantities of "common green glass". The glass remains of window panes, bottles, and drinking jugs were found. The Glass House and the glass manufacturing industry was started and operated exclusively by the Polish workers.^[3] The skills of these Polish colonists, were vital to the new settlement, as the House of Burgesses ultimately recognized when it met in 1619. During its deliberations, the House excluded the Polish community from voting rights. In reaction, the Poles launched the first recorded strike in the New World.^[4] In need of their industries, the House of Burgesses extended the "rights of Englishmen" to the Poles (which included some East Prussians.) Subsequently, the Poles established the first bilingual schools in the New World, teaching both Polish and English and later extending the curriculum to include Latin and German.^[4] The political and economic power of the Polish community declined, however, with the increased colonial warfare with Native Americans.^[4]

Age of Revolution

Later Polish immigrants included Jakub Sadowski, who in 1770, settled in New York with his sons—the first Europeans to penetrate as far as Kentucky. It is said that Sandusky, Ohio, was named after him.^[5] At the time, the Polish state was failing and being gradually stripped of its independence due to military partitions by foreign powers, a number of Polish patriots, among them Kazimierz Pułaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, left for America to fight for American Independence.

Kazimierz Pułaski, having led the losing side of a civil war, escaped a death sentence by leaving for America. There, he served as Brigadier-general in the Continental Army and commanded its cavalry.^[1] He saved General George Washington's army at the Battle of Brandywine and died leading a cavalry charge at the Battle of Savannah, aged 31.^[1] Pułaski later become known as the "father of American cavalry".^[1] He is also commemorated in Casimir Pulaski Day and the Pulaski Day Parade.

Kościuszko was a professional military officer who served in the Continental Army in 1776 and was instrumental in the victories at the Battle of Saratoga and West Point.^[1] After returning to Poland, he led the failed Polish insurrection against Russia which ended with the Partition of Poland in 1795.^[1] Pułaski and Kościuszko both have statues in Washington, D.C.^[1]

American Civil War

Polish Americans fought in the American Civil War for both the Union and Confederate Armies. The majority were Union soldiers, owing to geography and ideological sympathies with the abolitionists. An estimated 5,000 Polish Americans served in the Civil War, many of them in a separate battalion.^[6] Under the leadership of Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski, this 58th New York Volunteer regiment saw action fighting back and defeating the Louisiana Tigers in 1863.

First Wave of Immigration (1850s - 1914)

The largest wave of Polish immigration to America occurred in the years after the American Civil War until World War I. This wave of immigrants are referred to as Za Chlebem (For Bread) immigrants because they were primarily peasants facing starvation and poverty in occupied Poland.^[7] A study by the U.S. Immigration Commission found that in 1911, 98.8% of Polish immigrants to the United States said that they would be joining relatives or friends, leading to conclusions that letters sent back home played a major role in promoting immigration.^[8] They arrived first from the German Polish partition, and then from the Russian partition and Austrian partition. U.S. restrictions on European immigration during the 1920s and the general chaos of World War I cut off immigration significantly until World War II. Officially, more than 1.5 million Polish immigrants were processed at Ellis Island, between 1899 and 1931. In addition, many Polish immigrants arrived at the port of Baltimore. The actual numbers of ethnically Polish arrivals at that time would be difficult to estimate due to prolonged occupation of Poland by neighboring states, with total loss of its international status. Similar circumstances developed in the following decades: during the Nazi German occupation of Poland in World War II; and further, in the communist period, under the Soviet military and political dominance with re-drawn national borders.^[9] During the Partitions of Poland (1795–1918), the Polish nation was forced to define itself as a disjointed and oppressed minority within three neighboring empires: Russian, Prussian and Austrian. The Polonia community in the United States, however, was founded on a unified national culture and society. Consequently, it assumed the place and moral role of the fourth province.^[9]

Agricultural revolution

Poland was largely an agrarian society throughout the Middle Ages and into the 19th Century. Polish farmers were mostly peasants, ruled by Polish nobility that owned their land and restricted their political and economic freedoms. Peasants were disallowed from trading, and typically would have to sell their livestock to the nobility, who in turn would function as middlemen in economic life. Commercial farming did not exist, and frequent uprisings by the peasants were suppressed harshly, both by the nobility and the foreign powers occupying Poland. A number of agricultural reforms were introduced in the mid 19th Century to Poland, first in German Poland, and later eastern parts of the country. The introduction of a four-crop rotation system tripled the output of Poland's farmlands and created a surplus of agricultural labor in Poland. Prior to this, polish peasants continued Medieval Era tradition of three field rotation, losing one year of productive growing time to replenish soil nutrients. Instead of leaving a field fallow, or without any plants for a season, the introduction of turnips and especially red clover allowed Polish fields to maximize nutrients by green manure. Red clover was especially popular because it fed cattle as grazing land, giving the extra benefit of more robust livestock raising in Poland.

Many Poles also emigrated to America following numerous national uprisings against the three partitioners of Poland: Prussia, Russia, and Austria. One of them was a doctor of medicine and a soldier, Felix Wierzbicki, a veteran of the November Uprising. In 1849, he published in San Francisco the first English-language book printed in California,^[10] "California As It Is and As It May Be."^[11][12][13] The book is an "unvarnished" description of the culture, peoples, and climate of the area at that time. Wierzbicki described prospective settlers and included a survey of agriculture and hints on gold mining.^[14]

Between 1870 and 1914, more than 3.6 million people departed from Polish territories (of whom 2.6 arrived in the U.S.)^[15] Serfdom was abolished in Prussia in 1808, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1848 and in Czarist Russia, in 1861. In the late 19th century, the beginnings of industrialization, commercial agriculture and a population boom, that exhausted available land, transformed Polish peasant-farmers into migrant-laborers. Racial discrimination and unemployment drove them to emigrate.^[4]

German partition

The first group of Poles to emigrate to the United States were those in German-occupied Poland. The German territories advanced their agricultural technologies in 1849, creating a surplus of agricultural labor, first in Silesia, then in eastern Prussian territories. The rise in agricultural yields created the unintended effect of boosting the Polish population, as infant mortality and starvation decreased, increasing the Polish birth rate. In 1886, Bismarck gave a speech to the Lower House of the Prussian Parliament defending his policies of anti-polonism.^[16] He stated that 1 million Poles lived in Silesia, and though he was not deeply worried about a Silesian uprising, he was all for ridding the Polish population. Bismarck warned that the future of Prussia looked ominous when considering the power and spontaneity of the November Uprising of 1830-31 and stated that the Poles would fight German autonomy within 24 hours if given enough power. Bismarck showed a growing anger at the freedoms of press and political representation that Poles enjoyed within the Empire, and saw their use of these freedoms as a dangerous tool of undermining Prussian rule. His forced deportations of Poles out of German territory and a militant anti-immigration policy towards Poles entering German Poland left several Poles no choice other than emigration to the United States. Bismarck's anti-Catholic Kulturkampf policies aimed at Polish Catholics increased political unrest and interrupted Polish life, also causing emigration.

Russian partition

The Russian partition of Poland experienced considerable industrialization, particularly the textile capital of Łódź, then the Manchester of Imperial Russia. Russia's policies were pro-foreign immigration, whereas German Poland was unambiguously anti-immigrant.^[17]Polish laborers were encouraged to migrate for work in the iron-foundries of Piotrków Trybunalski and migrants were highly desired in Siberian towns.^[18] Russia also established a Peasant Bank to promote land ownership for its peasant population, and many Poles were given employment opportunities pulling them from rural areas into industrial Russian cities. Of the three partitions, the Russian one contained the most middle-class Polish workers, and the number of industrial workers overall between 1864 and 1890 increased from 80,000 to 150,000. Łódź experienced a booming economy, as the Russian Empire consumed about 70% of its textile production. In 1890, Russia introduced tariffs to protect the Russian textile industry, which began a period of economic decline and neglect towards Russian Poland. The decline of these areas after the Russo-Japanese War and the 1905 Russian Revolution, led to a mass exodus of laborers, and Russia's economic slowdown made the Polish emigration well-appreciated. Poles left first to Germany, Denmark and France, then eventually to the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Argentina. At its peak, in 1912–1913, annual emigration to the U.S., from the Polish provinces of the Russian Empire, exceeded 112,345 (including large numbers of Jews, Lithuanians and Belarusians).^[4]

Though Russian-occupied Poles enjoyed greater economic opportunity in its industrial centers, anti-Polonism and abusive Russification inspired many to leave for political reasons. After 1864, all education was mandated to be in Russian, and private education in Polish was illegal. Polish newspapers, periodicals, books, and theater plays were permitted, but were frequently censored by the Russian authorities. Russian high school exams were required for all citizens, and Poles who hoped to gain civil service positions or attend Russian universities had to pass. An added incentive for young men taking the high school exams was the consequence of a failing grade; failures were commonly forced into the Russian Army as soldiers. Polish political parties were gaining strength, and insurrectionist activity was common among Poles in Russia. The Polish nationalists who exited Russia were bemoaned by stalwarts who hoped for internal change, as they saw it as an irretrievable loss to the national cause. Nationalists who were fighting for better political representation, land reform, and industrialization in Poland combated the emigration sentiment growing in their country. In many respects, the nationalists were succeeding, creating secret Polish language schools so children could learn Polish, and undermining the Russian occupiers by siding with the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War. Polish general Józef Piłsudski organized the Polish Socialist Party, which killed 336 officials of the Russian occupying administration, and determined teachers found their way to educating nearly one-third of Polish children by 1901. When emigrants in the United States began sending back money to their poor relatives in Russia and Galicia, attitudes against emigration subsided.^[19] Polish National Party leader Roman Dmowski saw emigration in a positive light, as an "improvement of the fortunes of the masses who are leaving Europe."

Among the most famous immigrants from partitioned Poland at this time was Marcella Sembrich. She had performed in Poland as an opera singer and moved to the United States. When sharing her experience with the Kansas City Journal, she described the social discrimination affecting her in what was then The Kingdom of Poland, a puppet state of Russia:

"...children who speak Polish on the streets of Vilna are punished and performances of any kind in the Polish language are forbidden. Polish is not allowed anywhere, and the police are still as strict as ever in trying to prevent its use. The first night I sang at Vilna I was wild to sing in Polish. I spoke to the manager about it and he implored me on his knees not to think of such a thing. But I was determined to do it if I could, so at the end of the performance, when the audience kept demanding encores, I prepared for it by singing a song in Russian. Then I sang one of Chopin's songs in Polish.

When I finished there was a moment of absolute stillness. Then came such an outburst as I have never seen in my life. I seized my husband's arm and stood waiting to see...

...I had to sign a paper saying that I would never sing in Polish again in Vilna, and at my second concert I left out the Chopin songs. Every year I have come to Vilna and every time the chief of police comes to me with the same paper to sign, and every time I have to sign the promise that I will not sing in Polish."

— Marcella Sembrich, On Learning to Sing^[20], On Learning to Sing, Kansas City Journal, Oct. 22, 1899.

Austrian partition

Social and ethnic discrimination was widespread across Poland by its foreign occupying powers. Polish children in Austrian Galicia were largely uneducated, as the government allowed educational rights, but refused to construct or provide resources for anything more than a minimal educational system. By 1900, as much as 52 percent of all male and 59 percent of all female Galicians over six years of age were illiterates.^[21] Austrian Poles are believed to have started immigrating from the United States beginning in 1880, and records on Jewish immigration show that a significant number of Jewish immigrants began exiting Galicia at this time in high numbers. The Austrian government tightened emigration in the late 1800s, as many young Polish males were eager to leave the mandatory conscription of the Austrian government, and peasants were displeased with the lack of upward opportunities and stability from heavy, labor-intensive agricultural work. The Galician government wanted to tie peasants to contracts and legal obligations to the land they worked on, and tried to enforce legislation to keep them on the lands. Polish peasant revolts in 1902 and 1903 changed the Austrian government's policies, and emigration from Galicia increased tremendously in the early 1900-1910 period.^[22]

Galician Poles experienced among the most difficult situations in their homeland. When serfdom was outlawed in 1848, the Austrian government continued to drive a wedge between Polish peasants and their Polish landlords to detract them from a more ambitious Polish uprising. Galicia was isolated from the west geographically by the Vistula river and politically by the foreign powers, leaving Galician Poles restricted from commercial agriculture in the west of Poland.^[23] Galician Poles continued to use outdated agricultural techniques such as burning manure for fuel instead of using it for fertilizer, and the antiquated Medieval-era three-year crop rotation system, which had been long-replaced in western Poland by the use of clover as a fodder crop.^[24] Galician Poles resented the government for its apathy in handling disease; a typhus epidemic claimed 400,000 lives between 1847 and 1849, and cholera killed over 100,000 in the 1850s. Galicia suffered a potato blight between 1847 and 1849, similar to Ireland's famine at the same time, but relief was never reached because of political and geographical isolation. A railroad system connecting Poland began reaching West Galicia from 1860 to 1900,^[25] and railroad tickets cost roughly half a farmhand's salary at the time. Polish peasants were no longer the property of their landlords, but remained tied to their plots of land for subsistence and were financially indebted to the landlords and government taxmen. The plight of the Galician Poles was termed the "Galician misery", as many were deeply frustrated and depressed by their situations.^[26]

Early 20th Century

Leon Czolgosz, a Polish American born in Alpena, Michigan, changed American history in 1901 by assassinating U.S. President William McKinley. Though Czolgosz was a native-born citizen, the American public displayed high anti-Polish and anti-immigrant sentiment after the attack. William McKinley, who survived the shooting for several days, called Czolgosz a "common murderer", and did not make mention of his background. Different Slavic groups debated his ethnic origins in the days and weeks that followed the attack, and Hungarian Americans took effort to also distance themselves from him. Police who arrested him reported that Czolgosz himself identified as a Pole. The Polish American community in Buffalo was deeply ashamed and angry with the negative publicity that Czolgosz created, both for their community and the Pan-American Exposition, and canceled a Polish American parade following the attack.^[27] Polish Americans burned effigies of Czolgosz in Chicago and Polish American leaders publicly repudiated him.^[28] The Milwaukee Sentinel posted on Sept. 11, 1901 an editorial noting that Czolgosz was an anarchist acting alone, without any ties to the Polish people:

Czolgosz is not a Pole. He is an American citizen, born, bred and educated in this country. His Polish name and extraction have nothing whatever to do with his crime, or with the motives which impelled him to it. The apparent notion, therefore, of Polish-Americans that it is incumbent on them to show in some special and distinctive way their abhorrence of Czolgosz and his deed, while creditable to them as a sentiment, is not founded in reason. Responsibility for Czolgosz’ crime is a question not of race but of doctrine. Anarchism knows no country, no fatherland. It is a cancer eating into the breast of society at large.

— Not a Race Question, Not a Race Question, Milwaukee Sentinel, 11 Sept. 1901

As a result of the assassination, Polish Americans were "racially profiled" and American nativism against Poles grew.^[29] Several Polish immigrants were arrested for questioning in the police investigation, but police found that he acted independently.^[30] Theodore Roosevelt took the office of President of the United States in McKinley's place. Radical groups and anarchists were quelled nationally, and federal legislation was taken to stop future assassinations. Federal legislation made an attempted assassination of the President a capital offense and despite the fact that Czolgosz was born in the United States, the Immigration Act of 1903 was passed to stop immigrants with subversive tendencies from entering the country.

Employment

Polish immigrants were highly desired by American employers for low-level positions. In steel mills and tin mills, it was observed that foremen, even when given the choice to directly employ workers, frequently chose Poles. Steel work was undesirable for other immigrant groups, as it lasted 12 hours a day and 7 days a week, self-selecting for the most industrious and hardworking people. Polish immigrants chose to chain-market the job positions to their friends and relatives, and it was very common for a Polish frienmd with good English to negotiate wage rates for newer immigrants. Polish Americans favored steel areas and mining camps, which had a high demand for manual labor; favorite destinations included Chicago, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Buffalo, New York, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, among others. Relatively few went to New England and almost none to the South.^[31] In 1910 Polish immigrants were newly arrived and had few skills beyond manual labor. In Brooklyn, the average annual income was $721, but for the Poles, only $595.^[32]

Ethnic isolation

Anti-Polish sentiment in the early 20th Century relegated Polish immigrants to a very low status in American society. Other white ethnic groups such as the Irish and Germans had assimilated to the American language and gained powerful positions in the Catholic Church and in various government positions by this time, and Poles were seen with disdain. Poles did not share in any political or religious say in the United States until 1908, when the first American bishop of Polish descent was appointed in Chicago, Illinois - Most Rev. Father Rhode. His appointment was the result of growing pressure placed on the Illinois Archdiochese by Polish Americans eager to have a bishop of their own background. The Pope himself finally acquiesced when Chicago Archbishop James Edward Quigley finally lobbied on behalf of his Polish parishioners in Rome.^[33] Poles were viewed as powerful workers, suited for their uncommonly good physical health, endurance, and stubborn character, capable of heavy work from dawn to dusk.^[34] The majority of Polish immigrants were young men of in superior physical health, feeding well into the stereotype, and the lack of a significant immigration of intelligentsia perpetuated this perception in the United States. Polish immigrants viewed themselves as common workers and carried an inferiority complex where they saw themselves as outsiders and only wanted peace and security within their own Polish communities; many found comfort in the economic opportunities and religious freedoms that made living in the United States a less strange experience.^[35] When Poles moved into non-Polish communities, the natives moved out, forcing immigrants to live in the United States as separate communities, often near other eastern European ethnics.

World War I (1914–1918)

World War I motivated Polish-Americans to contribute to the cause of defeating the Germans, freeing their homeland, and fighting for their new home.

Polish-born pianist Ignacy Paderewski dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the cause of the people of Poland and asked immigrants to America for help. He raised awareness of the plight and suffering in Poland before and after World War I

Paderewski lobbied for a Polish-American fighting force during World War I, pressuring Washington to allow Polonia to form such a force and support its military strength with resources and funding. President Wilson finally agreed by sanctioning recruiting of men who were ineligible for recruitment in the United States Army.^[36] The Koscuiszko Army reached roughly 22,000 men.^[37]

Interwar period (1920s and 1930s)

By 1917 there were over 7000 Polish organizations in the United States, with a membership - often overlapping - of about 800,000 people. The most prominent wire the Polish Roman Catholic Union founded in 1873, the Polish National Alliance (1880) and the gymnastic Polish Falcons (1887). The women opened separate organizations.^[38]

The first Polish politicians were now seeking major offices. In 1918 a Republican was elected to Congress from Milwaukee, the next one was elected to Congress in 1924 as a Republican from Detroit. In the 1930s, the Polish vote became a significant factor in larger industrial cities, and switched heavily into the Democratic Party. The first candidate on a national ticket was Senator Edmund S Muskie, nominated by the Democrats for vice president in 1968. He was a prominent, but unsuccessful, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972; he later served as Secretary of State. By 1967, there were nine Polish Americans in Congress including four from the Chicago area. The first appointee to the Cabinet was John Gronouski, chosen by John F. Kennedy as postmaster general 1963-5. ^[39]

Following World War I, the reborn Polish state began the process of economic recovery and some Poles tried to return. Since all the ills of life in Poland could be blamed on foreign occupation, the migrants did not resent the Polish upper classes. Their relation with the mother country was generally more positive than among migrants of other European countries. It is estimated that 30% of the Polish emigrants from lands occupied by the Russian Empire returned home. The return rate for non-Jews was closer to 50–60%. More than two-thirds of emigrants from Polish Galicia (freed from under the Austrian occupation) also returned.^[4][40]

Polish Catholic parish schools

Polish Americans generally joined local Catholic parishes, where they were encouraged to send their children to parochial schools. Polish-born nuns were often used. In 1932 about 300,000 Polish Americans were enrolled in over 600 Polish grade schools in the United States.^[44] Very few of the Polish Americans who graduated from grade school pursued high school or college at that time. High School was not required and enrollment across the United States was far lower at the time.

Polish Americans took to the Catholic schools in great numbers. In Chicago, 36,000 students (60 percent of the Polish population) attended Polish parochial schools in 1920. Nearly every Polish parish in the American Catholic Church had a school, whereas in Italian parishes, it was typically one in ten parishes. Even as late as 1960, about 60% of the Polish American students attended Catholic schools.

Milwaukee was one of the most important Polish centers, with 58,000 immigrants by 1902 and 90,000 by 1920. Most came from Germany, and became blue-collar workers in the industrial districts in Milwaukee's south side. They supported numerous civic and cultural organization and 14 newspapers and magazines. The first Polish-oriented Catholic parochial school opened in 1868 in the parish of St. Stanislaus. The children would no longer have to attend Protestant-oriented public schools, or German language Catholic schools. The Germans controlled the Catholic Church in Milwaukee, and encouraged Polish-speaking priests and Polish-oriented schools.^[45] By the early 20th century, 19 parishes were operating schools, with the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and to a lesser extent the Sisters of Saint Joseph, providing the teaching force. The Polish community rejected proposals to teach Polish in the city's public schools, fearing it would undermine their parochial schools. The Americanization movement in World War I made English the dominant language. In the 1920s, morning lessons were taught in Polish, covering the Bible, Catechism, Church history, Polish language and the history of Poland; all the other courses were taught in English in the afternoon. Efforts to create a Polish high school were unsuccessful until a small one opened in 1934. Those students who went on attended heavily Polish public high school. By 1940, the teachers students and parents preferred English. Elderly priests still taught religion classes in Polish as late as the 1940s. The last traces of Polish culture came in traditional Christmas carols, which are still sung. Enrollments fell during the Great Depression, as parents and teachers were less interested in the Polish language, and were hard-pressed to pay tuition. With the return of prosperity in World War II, enrollments increased again, peaking about 1960. After 1960, the nuns mostly left the sisterhood and were replaced by lay teachers. Increasingly, the original families have moved to the suburbs, and the schools now served black and Hispanic children. Some schools have been closed, or consolidated with historically German language parochial schools. ^[46]

The 1920s was the peak year for Polish language in the United States. A record number of respondents to the U.S. Census reported Polish as their native language in 1920, which has since been dropping as a result of assimilation. According to the 2000 United States Census, 667,000 Americans of age 5 years and older, reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than English or 0.25% of the U.S. population.

Contribution to the American Labor movement

Polish Americans were active in strikes and trade union organizations during the early 20th Century. Many Polish Americans worked in industrial cities and in organized trades, and contributed to historical labor struggles in large numbers. Many Polish Americans contributed to strikes and labor uprisings, and political leaders emerged from the Polish community. Leo Krzycki, a Socialist leader known as a "torrential orator", was hired by different trade unions to educate and agitate American workers in both English and Polish during the 1910s to the 1930s. Krzycki worked closely with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers to motivate worker strikes in the Chicago-Gary steel strike of 1919 and the packing-house workers of Chicago strike in 1921. Krzycki was often used for his effectiveness in mobilizing Americans of Polish descent, and was heavily inspired by Eugene Debs and the IWW. He was associated with the sit-down strike at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio in 1936, which was the first twenty-four hour sit-down.^[47] Krzycki was one of the main speakers during the protest that later became known as the Memorial Day massacre of 1937. Krzycki's involvement in the strike of about 1,500 people against the Republic Steel plant was criticized, especially the "march" forward that the strikers took towards the plant gates. One first-hand account stated that he knew beforehand that the police captain was a "sadist" and stayed on-stage, trying in vain to dissuade the protests from going forward.^[48] Krzycki was also a key figure in organizing the 1937 strike against Ford Motor Company, and shares a historic image leading the strikers with labor leaders Richard Frankensteen and Ed Hall.^[49] Polish Americans made up 85% of the union of Detroit Cigar Workers in 1937, during the longest sitdown strike in U.S. history.^[50]

Polish Americans were drawn to Krzycki's message, and large numbers of Poles joined trade unions and strike activity by his example. In Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Krzycki reached an audience of 3,000-4,000 and in Pottsdown, he spoke to a crowd of over 5,000 workers, primarily of Polish descent.^[51] Krzycki was especially patriotic towards Poland, and in 1947, a biographer noted, "...Slavic Americans, often led and inspired by Krzycki himself, played a major role in building the American labor movement. Since Slavic Americans make up the largest single group of workers in U.S. heavy industry, they will, and must, Krzycki believes, continue to be among the front line fighters of the labor struggle."^[52]

The Great Depression

The Great Depression in the United States hurt the Polish American communities across the country as heavy industry and mining sharply cut employment. During the prosperous 1920s, the predominantly-Polish Hamtramck neighborhood suffered from an economic slowdown in the manufacturing sector of Detroit. The Hamtramck neighborhood was in disrepair, with poor public sanitation, high poverty, rampant tuberculosis, and overcrowding, and at the height of the Depression in 1932, nearly 50% of all Polish Americans were unemployed. Those who continued to work in the nearby Dodge main plant, where a majority of workers were Polish, faced intolerable conditions, poor wages, and were demanded to speed up production beyond reasonable levels.^[53] As the industrial trades Polish Americans worked in became less financially stable, an influx of Blacks and poor southern Whites into Detroit and Hamtramck exacerbated the job market and competed directly with Poles for low-paying jobs. Corporations benefited from the interracial strife and routinely hired Blacks as strikebreakers against the predominantly Polish-American trade unions. The Ford Motor Company used Black strikebreakers in 1939 and 1940 to counter strikes by the United Auto Workers, which had a predominantly Polish-American membership. The mainly Polish UAW membership and pro-Ford Black loyalists fought at the gates of the plant, often in violent clashes. Tensions with blacks in Detroit was heightened by the construction of a federally-funded housing project, the Sojourner Truth houses, near the Polish community in 1942. Polish Americans lobbied against the houses, but their political sway was ineffective. Racial tensions finally exploded in the race riot of 1943.^[54]

World War II

Polish Americans were strong supporters of Roosevelt and the Allies against Nazi Germany. Of a total 5 million, 900,000 to 1,000,000 members (20%) joined the U.S. Armed Services.^[55] Americans of Polish descent were common in all the military ranks and divisions, and were among the first to volunteer for the war effort. Unlike World War I, mobilization of a Polish battalion did not occur. The closest attempt at a Polish American-segregated force was an effort by General Władysław Sikorski of the Polish government-in-exile to unite Polish-Americans. Many were second and third-generation Americans and found no reason not to enlist in the U.S. military.^[56] Sikorski's tone towards audiences in Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, and New York raised anger towards him and the Polish government; he repeatedly said he did not want their money but wanted their young men in the military, and struck a nerve when he said Polonia was turning its back on Poland by not joining the cause.^[57] Nonetheless, a small number of Polish Americans were recruited in a small Kosciuszko Army during World War II, 700 from North America and 900 from South America.^[57] The force was far smaller than that of World War I, and joined the Polish Army in France after basic training in Canada.^[58] Polish Americans had been enthusiastic enlistees in the U.S. military in 1941. They composed 4% of the American population at the time, but over 8% of the U.S. military during World War II. They worked in war factories, tended victory gardens, and purchased large numbers of war bonds.^[55] Matt Urban was among the most decorated war heroes. Francis Gabreski won accolades during World War II for his victories in air fights, later to be named the "greatest living ace."^[59]

A small steady immigration for Poland has taken place since 1939. Political refugees arrived after the war. In the 1980s about 34,000 refugees arrived fleeing Communism in Poland, along with 29,000 regular immigrants. Most of the newcomers were well-educated professionals, artists of political activists and typically did not settle in the long-established neighborhoods.^[60][61]

Demographics

Occupations

Lopata (1976) argues that Poles differed from most ethnics in America, in several ways. First, they did not plan to remain permanently and become "Americanized". Instead, they came temporarily, to earn money, invest, and wait for the right opportunity to return. Their intention was to ensure for themselves a desirable social status in the old world. However, many of the temporary migrants had decided to become permanent Americans.

American employers considered Polish immigrants better suited than Italians, for arduous manual labor in coal-mines, slaughterhouses and steel mills, particularly in the primary stages of steel manufacture. Consequently, Polish migrants were recruited for work in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the heavy industries (steel mills, iron foundries, slaughterhouses, oil and sugar refineries), of the Great Lakes cities of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Cleveland.

U.S. Census

No distinction is made in the American census between ethnically Polish Americans and descendants of non-ethnic Poles, such as Jews or Ukrainians, who were born in the territory of Poland and considered themselves Polish nationals. Therefore, some say, of the 10 million Polish Americans, only a certain portion are of Polish ethnic descent. On the other hand, many ethnic Poles when entering the US from 1795 to 1917, when Poland did not exist, did not identify themselves as ethnic Poles and instead identified themselves as either German, Austrian or Russian (this pertained to the nations occupying Poland from 1795 to 1917). Therefore, the actual amount of Americans of at least partial Polish ancestry, could be well over 10 million. In the 2011 United States Census Bureau's Population Estimates, there are between 9,365,239 and 9,530,571 Americans of Polish descent, with over 500,000 being foreign-born.^[67]

Historically, Polish-Americans have assimilated very quickly to American society. Between 1940 and 1960, only 20 percent of the children of Polish-American ethnic leaders spoke Polish regularly, compared to 50 percent for Ukrainians.^[68] In the early 1960s, 3,000 of Detroit's 300,000 Polish-Americans changed their names each year. Language proficiency in Polish is rare in Polish-Americans, as 91.3% speak "English only".^[67] In 1979, the 8 million respondents of Polish ancestry reported that only 41.5 percent had single ancestry, whereas 57.3% of Greeks, 52% of Italians and Sicilians, and 44% of Ukrainians had done so. Polish-Americans tended to marry exogamously in the postwar era in high numbers, and tended to marry within the Catholic population, often to persons of German (17%), Italian (10%), East European (8%), Irish (5%), French-Canadian (4%), Spanish-speaking (2%), Lithuanian (2%), and English (1%) ancestry.^[69]

Income

By educational attainment, the U.S. Census estimates that 37.6% have Bachelors degrees or higher, whereas the American population as a whole is 28.5%.^[70] The median household income for Americans of Polish descent is estimated by the U.S. Census as $61,846, with no statistically significant differences from other Slavic-American groups, Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian. The median household income for those of Russian ancestry has been reported as higher on the U.S. Census, at $70,310.^[67]

Communities

The vast majority of Polish immigrants settled in urban areas, attracted by jobs in industry. The minority, by some estimates, only ten percent, settled in rural areas.

Historian John Bukowczyk noted that Polish immigrants in America were highly mobile, and 40 to 60 percent were likely to move from any given urban neighborhood within 10 years.^[71] The reasons for this are very individualistic; Bukowczyk's theory is that many immigrants with agricultural backgrounds were eager to migrate because they were finally freed from local plots of land as they had been in Poland. Others ventured into business and entrepreneurship, and the majority of them opened small retail shops such as bakeries, butcher shops, saloons, and print shops.^[72]

Chicago

One of the most notable in size of the urban Polish American communities is in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. The Almanac of American Politics 2004 states that "Even today, in Archer Heights (a neighborhood of Chicago), you can scarcely go a block without hearing someone speaking Polish."

Chicago bills itself as the largest Polish city outside of Poland, with approximately 185,000 Polish language speakers,^[74] making Polish the third most spoken language in Chicago. The influence of Chicago's Polish community is demonstrated by the numerous Polish-American organizations: the Polish Museum of America, Polish American Association, Polish American Congress, Polish National Alliance, Polish Falcons and the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America. In addition, Illinois has more than one million people that are of Polish descent, the third largest ethnic group after the German and Irish Americans.

Chicago's Polish community is concentrated along the city's Northwest and Southwest Sides, along Milwaukee and Archer Avenues, respectively. Chicago's Taste of Polonia festival is celebrated at the Copernicus Foundation, in Jefferson Park, every Labor Day weekend. Nearly 3 million people of Polish descent live in the area between Chicago and Detroit, including Northern Indiana, a part of the Chicago metropolitan area.

New York City Metropolitan Area / Northern New Jersey

The New York City Metropolitan Area, including the borough of Brooklyn in New York City as well as Northern New Jersey, is home to the second largest community of Polish Americans^[75] and is now closely behind the Chicago area's Polish population. Greenpoint, New York in Brooklyn is home to the Little Poland of New York City, while Williamsburg is another Brooklyn neighborhood with a rapidly growing Polish community.

In Hudson County, New Jersey, Bayonne houses New Jersey's largest Polish American community, while Wallington in Bergen County, New Jersey contains the state's highest percentage of Polish Americans and one of the highest percentages in the United States, at over 40%. However, within New Jersey, Polish populations are additionally increasing rapidly in Clifton, Passaic County as well as in Garfield, Bergen County.

Riverhead, New York, located on eastern Long Island, contains a neighborhood known as Polish Town, where many Polish immigrants have continued to settle since the World War II era; the town has Polish architecture, stores, and St. Isidore's R.C. Church, and Polish Town hosts an annual summer Polish Fair. LOT Polish Airlines provides non-stop flight service between JFK International Airport in the Queens borough of New York City and Warsaw.^[76]

Wisconsin

Along Lake Michigan's coast, Milwaukee's Polish population has always been overshadowed by the city's more prominent German inhabitants. Nevertheless, the city's once numerous Polish community built a number of magnificent Polish Cathedrals, among them the magnificent Basilica of St. Josaphat and St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. Many Polish residents and businesses are still located in the Lincoln Village neighborhood. The city is also home to Polish Fest, the largest Polish festival in the United States, where Polish Americans from all over Wisconsin and nearby Chicago, come to celebrate Polish Culture, through music, food and entertainment.^[77]

Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska represent a different type of settlement with significant Polish communities, having been established in rural areas. Historian John Radzilowski estimates that up to a third of Poles in Minnesota settled in rural areas, where they established 40 communities, that were often centered around a Catholic church.^[78] Most of these settlers came from the Polish lands that had been taken by Prussia during the Partitions, with a sub-group coming from Silesia. The Kaszub minority, from Poland's Baltic coast, was also strongly represented among Polish immigrants to Minnesota, most notably in Winona.

Michigan

Michigan's Polish population of more than 850,000, is third, behind that of New York and Illinois. Polish Americans make up 8.6% of Michigan's total population. The city of Detroit had a very large Polish community, which historically settled in Poletown and Hamtramck. Poletown was cleared of residents, to make way for the General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant. Much of Hamtramck's Polish population moved on to the suburbs and have been replaced by Arab American and African American citizens, in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Polish influence is still felt throughout the entire Metro Detroit area, especially the suburb of Wyandotte, which is slowly emerging as the major center of Polish American activities in the state. An increase in new immigration from Poland is helping to bolster the parish community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a host of Polish American civic organizations, located within the city of Wyandotte. Also, the Detroit suburb of Troy is home to the American Polish Cultural Center, where the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame has over 200 artifacts on display from over 100 inductees, including Stan Musial and Mike Krzyzewski.^[79] St. Mary's Preparatory, a high school in Orchard Lake with historically Polish roots, sponsors a popular annual Polish County Fair that bills itself as "America's Largest High School Fair."

Ohio

Ohio, home to more than 440,000 Poles and there presences is still felt most strongly in the Greater Cleveland area, where half of Ohio's Polish population resides.^[80] The city of Cleveland, Ohio has a large Polish community, especially in historic Slavic Village, as part of its Warszawa Section. Poles from this part of Cleveland migrated to the suburbs, such as Garfield Heights, Parma and Seven Hills. Parma has even recently designated a Polish Village commercial district.^[81] Farther out, other members of Cleveland's Polish community live in Brecksville, Independence and Broadview Heights. Many of these Poles return to their Polish roots, by attending masses at St. Stanislaus Church, on East 65th Street and Baxter Avenue. Poles in Cleveland celebrate the annual Harvest Festival, which is usually held at the end of August. It features polka music, Polish food and all things Polish. Cleveland's other Polish section is in Tremont, located on Cleveland's west side. The home parishs are St. John Cantius and St. John Kanty. They also host Polish celebratory events in Cleveland.^[82]

Poles, in Cleveland, were instrumental in forming the Third Federal Savings and Loan, in 1938. After seeing fellow Poles discriminated against by Cleveland's banks, Ben Stefanski formed Third Federal. Today the Stefanski family still controls the bank. Unlike Cleveland's KeyBank and National City Corp., which have their headquarters in Downtown Cleveland, Third Federal is on Broadway Avenue in the Slavic Village neighborhood. Third Federal Savings and Loan is in the top 25 saving and loan institutions in the United States. In 2003, they acquired a Florida banking company and have branches in Florida and Ohio.

Others

Other industrial cities, with major Polish communities, include: Buffalo, New York; Boston; Baltimore; New Britain, Connecticut; Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Columbus, Ohio; Rochester, New York; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Pittsburgh; and Duluth, Minnesota.

Luzerne County, in northeastern Pennsylvania, is the only county in the United States, where a plurality of residents state their ancestry as Polish. (See: Maps of American ancestries) This includes the cities of Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazelton, and Nanticoke. Many of the immigrants were drawn to this area, because of the mining of Anthracite coal in the region. Polish influences are still common today, in the form of church bazaars, polka music, and Polish cuisine. It is widely believed that Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, has one of the fastest growing Polish communities in the United States.

In 2007, at the urging of Attorney Adrian Baron and the Polonia Business Association in New Britain, Connecticut, officially designated its Broad Street neighborhood as Little Poland, where an estimated 30,000 residents claim Polish heritage. Visitors can do an entire day's business completely in Polish including banking, shopping, dining, legal consultations, and even dance lessons. The area has retained its Polish character since 1890.

Religion

As in Poland, the majority of Polish immigrants were Catholic. Historically, less than 5% of Americans who identified as Polish would state any other religion but Catholic. Jewish immigrants from Poland, largely without exception, identified as "Jewish" or "Russian Jewish" when inside the United States, and faced a historical trajectory far different from that of the ethnic Poles.^[83] Polish Americans built dozens of Polish Cathedrals in the Great Lakes and New England regions and in the Mid-Atlantic States. Chicago's Poles founded the following churches: St. Stanislaus Kostka, Holy Trinity, St. John Cantius, Holy Innocents, St. Helen, St. Fidelis, St. Mary of the Angels, St. Hedwig, St. Josaphat, St. Francis of Assisi (Humboldt Park), St. Hyacinth Basilica, St. Wenceslaus, Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Stanislaus B&M, St. James (Cragin), St. Ladislaus, St. Constance, St. Mary of Perpetual Help, St. Barbara, SS. Peter & Paul, St. Joseph (Back of the Yards), Five Holy Martyrs, St. Pancratius, St. Bruno, St. Camillus, St. Michael (South Chicago), Immaculate Conception (South Chicago), St. Mary Magdalene, St. Bronislava, St. Thecla, St. Florian, St. Mary of Częstochowa (Cicero), St. Simeon (Bellwood), St. Blase (Summit), St. Glowienke (Downers Grove), St. John the Fisherman (Lisle), St. Isidore the Farmer (Blue Island), St. Andrew the Apostle (Calumet City) and St. John the Baptist (Harvey), as well as St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital, on the Near West Side.

Poles established approximately 50 Roman Catholic parishes in Minnesota. Among them: St. Wojciech (Adalbert) and St. Kazimierz (Casimir) in St. Paul; Holy Cross, St. Philip, St. Hedwig (Jadwiga Slaska) and All Saints, in Minneapolis; Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. Casimir's in Duluth; and St. Kazimierz (Casimir) and St. Stanislaw Kostka in Winona. A few of the parishes of particular note, founded by Poles elsewhere in Minnesota, include: St. John Cantius in Wilno; St. Jozef (Joseph) in Browerville; St. John the Baptist in Virginia; St. Mary in Częstochowa; St. Wojciech (Adalbert) in Silver Lake; Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Opole; Our Lady of Lourdes in Little Falls; St. Stanislaus B&M in Sobieski; St. Stanislaus Kostka in Bowlus; St. Hedwig in Holdingford; Sacred Heart in Flensburg; Holy Cross in North Prairie; Holy Cross in Harding; and St. Isadore in Moran Township.

Poles in Cleveland established St. Hyacinth's (now closed), Saint Stanislaus Church (1873), Sacred Heart (1888–2010) Immaculate Heart of Mary (1894), St. John Cantius (Westside Poles), St. Barbara (closed), Sts Peter and Paul Church (1927) in Garfield Heights, Saint Therese (1927) Garfield Heights, Marymount Hospital (1948) Garfield Heights, and Saint Monica Church (1952) Garfield Heights. Also, the Polish Community created the Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine on the campus of Marymount Hospital.^[84]

Poles in South Bend, Indiana founded four parishes: St. Hedwig Parish (1877), St. Casimir Parish (1898), St. Stanislaus Parish (1907), and St. Adalbert Parish, South Bend (1910).

Circa 1897, in Pittsburgh's Polish Hill, Immaculate Heart of Mary, modeled on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was founded.^[85]

Polish Americans preserved the longstanding tradition of venerating the Lady of Czestochowa in the United States. Replicas of the painting are common in Polish American churches and parishes, and many churches and parishes are named in her honor.

Though the majority of Polish Americans remained loyal to the Catholic Church, a breakaway Catholic church was founded in 1897 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Polish parishioners founded the church to assert independence from the Catholic Church in America. The split was in rebellion from the church leadership, then dominated by Irish bishops and priests, and lacking in Polish language speakers and Polish church leaders. It exists today with 25,000 parishioners and remains independent from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Poland is also home to followers of Protestantism and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Small groups of both of these groups also immigrated to the United States. One of the most celebrated painters of religious icons in North America today is a Polish American Eastern Orthodox priest, Fr. Theodore Jurewicz, who singlehandedly painted New Gračanica Monastery in Third Lake, Illinois, over the span of three years.^[86]

A small group of Lipka Tatars, originating from the Białystok region, helped co-found the first Muslim organization in Brooklyn, New York, in 1907 and later, a mosque, which is still in use.^[87]

Polish American culture

Cultural contributions of Polish Americans cover a broad spectrum including media, publishing industry, religious presence, artistic life, cuisine and museums as well as festivals.

Media

Among the most notable Polish American media groups are: the Hippocrene Books (founded by Polish American George Blagowidow); TVP Polonia; Polsat 2 International; TVN International; Polvision; TV4U New York; WPNA Radio Chicago; Polish Radio External Service (formerly Radio Polonia); Polonia Today and the Warsaw Voice. There are also Polish American newspapers and magazines, such as the Dziennik Związkowy, PL magazine,^[88] Polish Weekly Chicago, the Super Express USA and Nowy Dziennik in New York and Tygodnik Polski and The Polish Times in Detroit, not to mention the Ohio University Press Series in Polish American Studies,^[89] Przeglad Polski Online, Polish American Journal,^[90] the Polish News Online,^[91] and Progress for Poland,^[92] among others.

Cultural identity

Even in long-integrated communities, remnants of Polish culture and vocabulary remain. Roman Catholic churches built by Polish American communities often serve as a vehicle for cultural retention.

During the 1950s–1970s, the Polish wedding was often an all-day event. Traditional Polish weddings in Chicago metropolitan area, in areas such as the southeast side of Chicago, inner suburbs like Calumet City and Hegewisch, and Northwest Indiana suburbs, such as Whiting, Hammond and East Chicago, always occurred on Saturdays. The receptions were typically held in a large hall, such as a VFW Hall. A polka band of drums, a singer, accordion, and trumpet, entertained the people, as they danced traditional dances, such as the oberek, "Polish Hop" and the waltz. Always an important part of Slavic culture, food played a very important role. The musicians, as well as the guests, were expected to enjoy ample amounts of both food and drink. Foods, such as Polish sausage, sauerkraut, pierogi and kluski were common. Common drinks were beer, screwdrivers and highballs. Many popular Polish foods became a fixture in the American cuisine of today, including kiełbasa (Polish sausage), babka cake, kaszanka (kasanzka) and pierogi.

Polish American cultural groups include the White Eagle Lodge, Polish American Arts Association and the Polish Falcons.

Among the many Polish American writers are a number of poets, such as Phil Boiarski, Hedwig Gorski, John Guzlowski, John Minczeski, Linda Nemec Foster, Leonard Kress (poet and translator), Cecilia Woloch, Kim Kikel and Mark Pawlak (poet and editor), along with novelists Leslie Pietrzyk, Thad Rutkowski, Suzanne Strempek Shea^[93] and others.

Anti-Polonism

The Polish community was long the subject of anti-Polish sentiment in America. The word, Polack, has become a racial slur. Much of this prejudice was associated with anti-Catholicism and early 20th century worries, about being overrun by Eastern European immigrants.

Museums

Among the best known Polish American museums are the Polish Museum of America in Chicago's old Polish Downtown; founded in 1935, the largest ethnic museum in the U.S. sponsored by the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America. The Museum Library ranks as one of the best, outside of Poland. Equally ambitious is the Polish American Museum located in Port Washington, New York, founded in 1977. It features displays of folk art, costumes, historical artifacts and paintings, as well as bilingual research library with particular focus on achievements of the people of Polish heritage in America.^[94][95] There is also the Polish Museum of Winona, known as the Polish Cultural Institute of Winona, Minnesota.

Festivals

There are a number of unique festivals, street parties and parades held by the Polish American community. The Polish Fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is a popular annual festival, takes place at the Henry Maier Festival Park. It is also the largest Polish festival in the United States. It attracts Polish Americans from all over Wisconsin and nearby Chicago, who come to celebrate Polish culture through music, food and entertainment. New York City is home to the New York Polish Film Festival, an annual film festival showcasing current and past films of Polish cinema. NYPFF is the only annual presentation of Polish films in New York City and the largest festival promoting and presenting Polish films on the East Coast.^[96] The Polish Festival in Syracuse's Clinton Square has become the largest cultural event in the history of the Polish community in Central New York. There's also the Taste of Polonia festival held in Chicago every Labor Day weekend since 1979 at the Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center in the Jefferson Park area. The Polish Festival in Portland, Oregon is reported to be the largest in the Western United States.^[97] One of the newest and most ambitious festivals is the Seattle Polish Film Festival organized in conjunction with the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, Poland. And last, but not least, there's the Pierogi Fest in Whiting, Indiana with many more attractions other than Polish pierogi, and the Wisconsin Dells Polish Fest.^[93]

The Polish and Polish-American contribution to American culture

Polish-Americans have influenced American culture in many ways. Most prominent among these is that Jefferson drafting the Constitution of the United States was inspired by religious tolerance of the Warsaw Confederation^[98], which guaranteed freedom of conscience.

The Polish culture left also culinary marks in the USA - the inclusion of traditional Polish cuisine such as pierogi, kielbasa, golabki. Some of these Polish foods were tweaked and reinvented in the new American environment such as Chicago's Maxwell Street Polish Sausage.

Polish Americans have also contributed to altering the physical landscape of the cities they have inhabited, erecting monuments to Polish-American heroes such as Kościuszko and Pulaski. Distinctive cultural phenomena such as Polish flats or the Polish Cathedral style of architecture became part and parcel of the areas where Polish settlement occurred.

Poles cultural ties to Roman Catholicism has also influenced the adoption of such distinctive rites like the blessing of the baskets before Easter in many areas of the United States by fellow Roman Catholics.

Polish American communities

Polish-Americans comprise a multigenerational ethnic community. Names listed in this category include: Polish-American enclaves with cultural organizations; media outlets; and broadly defined community resources.^[99][100]

Polish Americans by state totals

According to the 2000 United States Census, the U.S. states with the largest numbers of self-reported Poles and Americans of Polish ancestry are:

Polish Americans by percentage of the total population

The more red the state, the higher the percentage of Polish Americans.

Notable Polish Americans