Albanian Americans

Emergence of a Modern Nation

Although Albania became an independent country in 1912, and was recognized by Europe's leading nations at the 1913 Conference of London, those ethnic Albanians living in what is modern-day [Page 165]Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Serbia, and Italy have remained outside the Albania's reconfigured borders. Further, at the Paris Peace Conference of 1920, France, Britain, and Greece agreed to divide and parcel Albania among Italy, Greece, and Yugoslavia but did so without input from the Albanians and the Americans in those negotiations.

This oversight led U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, in March 1920, to block the Paris Agreement and support Albania's independence by his recognition of an official Albanian representative to Washington, D.C.

The Albanian Diaspora in the United States

The Albanian diaspora is comprised of (1) Albanian immigrants who become citizens (such as performer Bleona Qereti), (2) U.S.-born children of Albanian immigrant parents (e.g., comedians Jim and John Belushi), and (3) U.S.-born children of one Albanian immigrant parent married to a U.S. citizen (such as Nobel laureate Ferid Murad). Most arrived in waves.

The first wave of Albanians who migrated to the United States was small compared with other European ethnic groups, for example, the Irish or Italians. The second wave arrived in the aftermath of World War II, and continued through the 1980s. At the end of World War II, Albania fell to Enver Hoxha, a communist dictator who denied Albanians the most basic of human rights. Also, many migrated from the former Yugoslavia to the United States because of the repressive regime. Furthermore, during this second wave, ethnic Albanians (also identified as Chams) were removed by force from their homes in Greece during World War II. They were stripped of their citizenship and their properties, leading some to immigrate to the United States. The third and final wave of Albanians resulted from the loss of political freedom in Kosovo and elsewhere during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and during Serbia's War on Kosovo between 1998 and 1999.

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