1. Showing: Documentary film (in 3 parts) by Maria Iliou: "The Journey" - Duration: 1 hr.27'.
With interviews and historical references.
A film on Greek immigrants from Greece to the USA in three consecutive
periods of time: approximately, 1880s-1920s; 1920s-1950s; 1950s-1970s.
- Arrival: New York, Ellis Island - Greeks, Italians, Jews, and other immigrants
who left their country. Greeks left due to extreme poverty.
- N.Y.C. (New York City), Chicago (Jane Addams)
Professions: shoe-shine parlours; small shops, etc. - the 'padrone'.
- Colorado (1914): miners, some of whom are Greek in origin. Strike in the mines
with Louis Tikas from Crete being one of the leaders of that strike.
- Florida: Greek fishing fleet with diving suits (diving for sponges). They were
better equipped than the Americans, and experts at this profession. Fights
ensued.
- Ku-Klux-Klan - etc.
1912 - Balkan wars
1914-1918: 1st World War
1929: economic crash (Κραχ)
1939-1945: 2nd World War
The Greek immigrants' involvement
ΠΑΙΔΕΙΑ / Education and its importance in the lives of the immigrants,
esp. 2nd generation, onwards.
Brides - families - two greek newspapers: the 'Atlantis' and 'National Herald' (Εθνικός Κήρυξ)
Churches were built for baptisms and weddings
Rising to recognition, etc.
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2. Vocabulary
displaced persons: refugees
immigrants - emigrants - migrants
acclimate
shoe-shine parlours
do a range of jobs
textile industry
geographical spread:
diaspora
americanised greek names: for example, 'Kostas' or 'Costas' would be called 'Gus'.
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3. Discussion - Comments regarding the film.
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AMT
