Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…
Those are the verses of Emma Lazarus inscribed on the pedestal of New York's Statue of Liberty. The USA is a country founded by people who immigrated from every corner of the globe. Though it is little known, immigrants also came from the Ottoman Empire when it was collapsing. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, both Muslim and non-Muslim Turks went to try their luck in the New World. The political, economic, and social disasters created in the empire by the Balkan Wars and the First World War; the fear of being drafted into the army; letters portraying America as a land of opportunity whose streets were paved with gold; the introduction of steamships and the telegraph…these were all factors that stimulated immigration to the USA. The non-Muslims, and especially the Armenians, had no intention of going back and joined their communities there. The Muslims, on the other hand, dreamed of making money and going back home, and most of them did in fact go back. Drawing upon eyewitness testimony, Rıfat N. Bali tells the story of a century of Turkish immigrants to the USA.
İçindekiler
ABBREVIATIONS
FOREWORD .
INTRODUCTION
TURKISH PRONUNCIATION.
A WORD ABOUT FORMS OF ADDRESS
CHAPTER ONE
THE IRRESISTIBLE ATTRACTION OF "IMMIGRATING TO AMERICA"
Causes-America's Policy of Admitting Immigrants-Returnees.
General Causes of Immigration and Those Peculiar to Turkey
America's Policy of Admitting Immigrants.
Ottoman Subjects Who Returned Home After Becoming American Citizens.
The Voyage: Oceanic Travel and Ship Conditions.
Arrival at Ellis Island
Conditions on Ellis Island.
Ida Mouradjian from Cilicia Remembers Escaping from the
1915 Armenian Genocide to Ellis Island.
Working Conditions .
The Number of Turkish Immigrants
CHAPTER TWO
NON-MUSLIM TURKISH IMMIGRATION
JEWISH IMMIGRANTS
The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the First Ottoman Immigrants
The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and Ottoman Immigrants
The Story of Lahana Bey from Izmir,
Who Participated in the St. Louis World's Fair.
The Story of Ahmet Abdullah from Harput
Who Worked at the St. Louis World's Fair
The Causes of Emigration
Compulsory Military Service .
America: The Land Where Dreams Come True.
Other Causes .
The Number of Immigrants
The Immigrants' First Months in the New World .
The First Days
The Language Barrier and Relations with Ashkenazim
Coffeehouses and Restaurants
Connection to Turkey
Organizations.
Places of Settlement.
Turkish Immigrants in Seattle
Turkish Immigrants in California:
The Story of Hollywood Rabbi Isaac Varon from Istanbul
The Turkish Jews in Hollywood.
The Turkish Jews in New York.
Turkish Jews in Cincinnati.
Life Stories
The Story of Milas Native Albert Amateau
The Story of Istanbul Native Albert Morin, a Character Actor
in the Films Gone with the Wind and Casablanca
The Story of Oud Virtuoso Sadaka Efendi
The Story of Tekirdağ Native Leon Moscatel, the California Flower King.
The Story of Isadore Hattem, Millionaire from Kuzguncuk.
Izmir Native Rita Cohen's Story
The Story of Izmir Native Eli Levi, Director of Public Relations, Columbia Studios.
The Story of Izmir Native Chelebi Cardoso, Manufacturer of Ladies' Lingerie.
The Story of Hasköy Native Nessim, The Simit Maker of Kansas City
The Story of Ankara Native Sara Asher Crespi.
Israel Edvar Ojalvo's Story.
The Story of Moisés and Elie from Izmir.
Musa (Moris) Schinasi's Life Story
THE ARMENIAN IMMIGRATION
Reasons for Immigration and Number of Immigrants.
Where They Settled .
The Paths of Immigration
The Armenian Leaders' Stance on Immigration .
Professions and Working Conditions.
Oriental Rug Merchants.
Anatolian Armenians in California
Life Stories
The Story of George Mardikian, Proprietor of the Omar Khayyam Restaurant.
The Story of Nazlı from Yozgat
The Story of Pırlanta from Yozgat
Harput Native Artin Shamshoian's Story
The Story of Civan, Who Sent to Istanbul for a Bride
The Story of "Two-Wheel" Keork
The Story of Istanbulite Kirkor Arakelian
The Story of Manok Efendi and Shamram Hanım
The Singer Hadji Hanım's Story
The Story of the Phony Wrestler Parmaksızoğlu Agop, Also Known as Ali Baba
The Story of Ida Mouradjian From the Village of Hadjin in Cilicia.
The Story of Jeanne, Molly, and Miriam Assidian, Who Fled from the Deportation
The Story of Donik "Haji Bey" Yessaian
Armenians in Turkish Memoirs
GREEK IMMIGRATION
The Number of Greek Immigrants
The Greeks in the Memoirs of Turkish Immigrants .
Zekeriya Sertel
The Journalist Tarık Binat
Ahmet Emin Yalman, Editor of the Newspaper Vatan
Mehmet Çınarlı's Michigan Memories.
Fuad Gedik's New York Memories
Life Stories.
From the Pen of Sara Korle
From the Pen of Hikmet Feridun Es.
Istanbul Native Yordan Lefter's Story.
Istanbulite Maurides Alyanakoğlu's Story
The Story of the Grocer Panayot Gamlıoğlu from Kuledibi
The Story of San Francisco Florist Grigor, Otherwise Known as Dayı Bey
The Story of Hadji Harry from Bozcaada Island
The Story of the Singer Amalia Hanım and Her Daughter Diamond.
The Story of Hadjapoulos from Istanbul.
The Story of Vasil, the Baklava Maker.
The Story of Andon Merdjimekoğlu from Aydın
The Story of Yianni Baresoğlu from Antalya
The Story of Michael Pappas from Istanbul.
The Story of Doukenie Papandreos from Kırklareli.
The Story of Stephen D. Stephanides, Owner of the Prudential Lines Company
The Story of Charles G. Taylor, Owner of the St. Moritz Hotel
The Impressions of Attorney Süreyya Ağaoğlu.
CHAPTER THREE
THE IMMIGRATION OF MUSLIM TURKS
The First Turkish Immigrant: Hadji Ali, the Camel Driver.
Early Twentieth Century Immigration.
The Tour of Dr. Fuad Mehmed Bey, General Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Children
From the Pen of Dr. Fuad Mehmed Bey: His Visit to Peabody
The Immigrants in Turkish Memoirs
Views of Immigrants in the 1910s and the 1920s
Sabiha Sertel's Observations.
Ahmet Emin Yalman's Observations
An "American Adventure" as Told by A Grain Merchant from Uzunköprü
Views of Immigrants in the 1930s
Views of Immigrants in the 1940s
Life Stories
The Story of Harput Native Hüseyin Kayma, As Told by His Son
The Story of Hasan from Erzincan
The Story of Detroit's Nuri Ahmet Yardımcı
The Story of Detroit's Mehmed Malik
The Story of Salonican Native Fazıl Ismail,
Known in Los Angeles as Fred Martin.
The Story of Ahmet Abdullah from Harput .
The Story of Handan Hanım from Istanbul
The Story of Jack Mehmet, As Written by his Grandniece Ayşe Önal.
The Story of How Hüseyin Bektaş Emigrated
From His Village of Yağlıdere in Giresun to Philadelphia
The Story of Ahmet Robinson of Galatasaray from the Pen of Sara Korle
The Story of Hamdi Efendi, the First Turkish Chauffeur,
Written by Cevat Fehmi Başkurt
The First Generation of Immigrants, as Written by Doğan Uluç
The Story of the Immigrants in the 1940s, as Written by Doğan Uluç.
The Story of Kiğı Native Rumi Bey
Stories of Those Who Came from America to Retire
The Story of Ali Haydar İbrahim from Elazığ
Halil Zekeriya Coşkun's Story.
Businessman Mustafa Birol's Story
CHAPTER FOUR
EPILOGUE
Where the Longing Was Expressed: The 1939 New York World's Fair
