Hungarian Americans

Historical Development

Sporadic individual migrations of middle- and upper-class individuals occurred from the 1600s to the 1800s, mostly comprised of travelers of the middle and upper classes who settled sporadically in major American port cities. These phenomena made it almost impossible for a Hungarian American ethnic group to form a cohesive identity, as ethnic institutions, churches, and cultural organizations in the United States were nonexistent. The first major group migration of Hungarians to the New World occurred after the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence in 1848, comprised of those who fled the war-torn Austrian Empire. The following two years (1849–50) saw several thousand Hungarian refugees come to the United States, mostly men of the educated gentry who eventually ended up working as laborers in American factories and farms. In the 1860s, thousands of Hungarians served in the Union army during the U.S. Civil War alongside other groups of immigrants from different countries. In the crucible of war, Hungarians blended in with the larger white American population and acculturated to life in the United States, settling in occupations across the economic spectrum.

The second major group migration of Hungarians came at the turn of the 20th century, with almost 2 million Hungarians immigrating to the United States in search of improved economic prospects. These immigrants, unlike their educated gentry counterparts in the first wave of migration, were comprised mostly of the poorer classes seeking to better their lives in factories and mines across the industrialized north and midwest.

John Rosta, a first-generation Hungarian American from New Brunswick, New Jersey, remembered that his parents came to the United States in the early 20th century “for economic reasons mainly. They were peasants at the time, and they had a difficult time, and saw no future there.” Like many Hungarians who came to the United States during this period, Rosta's parents settled in an area full of jobs, relatives, and community institutions, eventually raising their children as Hungarian Americans.

World War I had a significant impact on the Hungarian American community as immigration from Hungary was effectively curtailed. Restrictive American immigration laws enacted soon thereafter placed a quota on all European immigrants, with only a minute number of Hungarians allowed to enter the United States compared to the decades prior. The Hungarian Americans and their descendants during this time simultaneously strengthened their community institutions and assimilated into American culture, answering the call to arms during World War II by serving in all branches of the U.S. military with distinction. The third wave of major Hungarian group migration occurred in the 1950s, when nearly 40,000 Hungarians arrived in the [Page 1121]United States after fleeing the forces of the Soviet Union sent to crush the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956. These political refugees became symbols of “freedom fighters” in American culture for their audacity to demand freedom in the communist system and found ready sponsors in local Hungarian communities across the nation.

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