Romanian Americans

History of Romanian Immigration

Although there were immigrants from Romania before the 1870s, they were few and not well documented. However, two Romanians in particular were recognized for their service in the Civil War: Captain Nicolae Dunca, who fought for the Ninth New York Volunteers, and General Gheorghe Pomutz, who fought with the Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Regiment and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general (the only Romanian in this rank to date). Between 1870 and 1900, approximately 18, 000 immigrants listed Romania as their country of origin. Before 1895, most immigrants from Romania to the United States and Canada were Romanian Jews from occupied provinces, such as Bessarabia (under Russian occupation) and Bukovina (under Austrian occupation). By 1924, when Congress enacted a new a immigration act, about one-third of all European Jews had resettled in America; it is estimated that approximately 50,000 Romanian Jews had immigrated to the United States before 1929. Besides Jews, other Romanian nationals who immigrated included Hungarians, Germans, Armenians, and Gypsies.

The reasons for immigration ranged from religious and ethnic persecution, to economic hardship and the search for new economic, social, and political opportunities. Before 1895, many of the Romanian immigrants were tradesmen, who tended to immigrate with their families. After 1895, unskilled workers and peasants started to immigrate to the United States, especially from Transylvania, although Macedonian Romanians from Turkey, northern Greece, and Albania soon joined in. However, about two-thirds of the Romanian immigrants returned home during the first two decades of the 20th century. After World War II, the Displaced Persons Act made possible the immigration of Romanian refugees, and an estimated 10,000 people came to the United States.

Between World War II and 1989, immigration from Romania was caused by political circumstances, such as the occupation of Romania by Soviet troops, the Hungarian Revolution, and the heightening of restrictions during Nicolae Ceausescu's last decade of dictatorship in the 1980s. Political persecution and dissidence also motivated the immigration of political refugees and intellectuals. After 1989, the Immigration Act of 1990 and its Diversity Visa program also facilitated the immigration of Romanians to the United States. In addition to social and economic opportunities, educational opportunities have motivated the immigration of Romanians in recent decades.

Romanian American Culture

The social, economic, and political life of Romanian Americans has oscillated between reliance on local and regional organizations (like the boardinghouse or the mutual aid society) and the entrepreneurial spirit. Small entrepreneurs of Romanian origin owned immigrant banks, restaurants, saloons, and pool houses; after 1920, many Romanians joined the skilled labor market and upward mobility followed economic success. Various levels of assimilation into the host country marked several generations of Romanians in the United States, from an early-20th-century reliance on community and religious organizations, to subsequent migrations to urban and suburban areas, to nearly complete assimilation of the third and fourth generations. Besides the boardinghouse and the mutual benefit society, the Romanian Orthodox Church in the United States offered spiritual and material support. In addition to the Romanian Orthodox faith, religious [Page 1852]allegiance was divided between Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism.

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