HANAC Times: February is Black History Month

Thursday, February 5, 2009

February is Black History Month

Black History Month is a remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in most countries worldwide in the month of February, while in the UK it is held in the month of October.
The remembrance was originated in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson as "Negro History Week". Woodson chose the second week of February because it marked the birthdays of two Americans who greatly influenced the lives and social condition of African Americans: former President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Woodson also founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. [www.asalh.org]

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Where do we come from?

Information obtained from the Queens Tribune
South Asians:
According to the 2000 Census there are about 109,114 South Asians living in Queens. In camparison to other ethnic groups South Asians have settled in different parts of Queens, such as Flushing, Elmhurst, Richmond Hill, Jackson Heights, Bayside, Jamaica, Jamaica Estates. However 74th St in Jackson Heights has become a center of South Asian Queens Commerce.

South Asians came in th 1960's. Most were professionals who were fluent in English. A second wave of immigrants came in the 1980's from different classes and status.
South Asian immigrants come from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Education, Religion and Family are three important factors in the Indian culture.

The Latinos:

Latinos are an indispensable part of the borough, totaling 551,004 in Queens, according to 2000 Census figures. The four main groups within the Latino community are Mexicans, Dominicans, Ecuadorians and Colombians. There are 69,875 Dominicans; 60,298 Colombians; 57,716 Ecuadorians and 55,418 Mexicans. Each of those numbers is roughly the size of the population of Southampton, Long Island (55,000).

Different groups of Latinos are dotted throughout Queens. They hold strong ties to family, country and language. In most Latino communities, residents are very comfortable speaking among each other in their native tongue. Many Dominicans have settled in Corona and Woodside. Colombians are very easy to find in the Jackson Heights area, specifically down Roosevelt Avenue. The number of Mexicans in Queens has soared since 2000; the folks from south of the Rio Grande settle in places like Jackson Heights and Corona.

Latino immigrants are often drawn to Queens because they can get jobs easily-and because they’re turned off by high rent prices in Manhattan. The economic downturn suffered by Mexico and Colombia in the 1980s and early ‘90s lured many to the US seeking work. Colombia’s civil war, also in the ‘80s, was another big reason for migration.

Latinos in Queens are still very much in touch with homeland cultures. Just like many minorities working hard to become Americanized and gain acceptance in their communities, Latinos are becoming stronger by the year within Queens.

The Russians and the Eastern Europeans:

In the 2000 Census, 51,192 Queens residents identified themselves as being of Russian ancestry, 10,306 Ukrainian, and 4,164 people claimed Lithuanian. (Earlier censuses lumped all different Soviet republics under the heading of “Russian.”) Sections of Forest Hills and Rego Park and, to a lesser extent, Kew Gardens and the Rockaways, have evolved into mini-Moscows, with Russian language filling the air, and Cyrillic lettering widely visible on the streets. Bukharan Jews, an offshoot of Middle Eastern and Persian Jewry dating from the 6th Century A.D., consider themselves socially and culturally different from the other East European Jewish sects. During the 1990s, approximately 30,000 Bukharan Jews found homes in the area of Rego Park, Forest Hills, and Kew Gardens. Today, many Bukharan shops and synagogues—most bearing Cyrillic lettering—court residents along the length of 108th St., providing a taste of Uzbek culture to all area residents.Vast migration to the United States began in the late nineteenth century, but Russian culture began to emerge in Western Queens throughout the early 20th century. Socialist Revolutionary Leon Trotsky even spoke several times at Urban Hall in 1917, in the area then known as Winfield. Although the number of Russian immigrants in Queens increased throughout the 20th century, the explosion of Russian and former-Soviet immigration to the borough did not truly begin until the early 1970s, when hundreds of thousands of Jews fleeing Communist oppression made the borough their home.It’s important to note that all immigrants from the former Soviet Union can’t necessarily be called Russian. Many hail from other former Soviet republics, including Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Georgia, and Ukraine. Collectively, these Soviet émigrés have loaned a distinct and memorable presence to the streets of Queens.

The Greeks:
159, 876 Queensites identified themselves as being of Greek ancestry in the 2000 Census. About 30,000 Greeks live in the Astoria area. Many children of Greek parents who settled there in the 1960s have chosen to move to Whitestone, Bayside and other Eastern Queens communities. A close-knit familial community, they come home to Astoria for holidays and celebrations to stay in touch with the largest Greek community outside Athens. (Also, the area’s cultural and educational opportunities often encourage the twenty-something group to come back home.)The history of Queens’ Little Athens began in 1927, with 16 newly settled Greek immigrant families.There are now more than two dozen Greek Orthodox Churches in Queens, helping to preserve the rich culture and history of Greece for everyone living in Queens.“The Astoria Greek community is a classic New York story,” Gianaris (Michael Gianaris-1st Greek American to be elected for public office) said. “It is a story of immigrants coming to this country, working hard and making a better life for their children than they had themselves.”

http://www.queenstribune.com/guides/2005_PatchworkOfCultures/index.htm