[61] Prof. Dennis R. Papazian of University of Michigan–Dearborn claimed that there were 1,000,000 people of Armenian ancestry living in the US. Armenians from Lebanon, Turkey, Syria and few other countries speak the Western dialect, which was spoken in Turkish (Western) Armenia, the eastern regions of Turkey with historical Armenian presence. [30] The Armenian communities in these Middle Eastern countries were well established and integrated, but not assimilated, into local populations. It holds a little less than half of all Armenians living in the US, making it one of the most populous Armenian communities outside of Armenia. [114], As of 2000, 53% of the Armenians living in the US speak the Armenian language. In 1910, the number of Armenian speakers in the US was 23,938. After the Armenian genocide, the church passed into private hands and is now up for sale to make it a cultural centre or a hotel in Bursa. [7], The Armenian Apostolic Church is the oldest national church in the world, and had a major role in protecting the Armenian identity through the centuries of foreign domination. 1 Andre Agassi. [27] According to the 2000 US Census, there were 65,280 Armenian-born people in the US: 57,482 in California, 1,981 in New York and 1,155 in Massachusetts. the German news website Spiegel Online and The New York Review of Books reported the estimate of 1,200,000,[63][64] while the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, U.S. News & World Report,[65] and Los Angeles Times[66] put the number at 1,400,000. Ivan Aivazovsky. About 30,000 Soviet Armenians entered the country from 1960 to 1984, and another 60,000 moved throughout the late 1980s, during the Perestroika era. ", This page was last edited on 24 January 2021, at 16:44. The 2000 Census reported only 2,528 Armenians in San Francisco, but Hayk The Ubiquitous Armenian, stated "the actual number is probably much higher since the census is usually lower than actuals. Shavarash Karapetyan, World Champion and Life-Saving Hero Seventeen-time world champion finswimmer and fearless savior of many lives. Vartan Gregorian, born in Iran, currently serves as president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, and was previously the President of Brown University and the New York Public Library. The New York-based Ararat Quarterly, published since 1959, has been a major venue for Armenian American writing. [185], Paul Robert Ignatius served as the US Secretary of the Navy from 1967 to 1969 in the Lyndon Johnson's administration. Over 12,000 Armenians from the Ottoman Empire went to the US throughout the 1890s. [37] The 2017 American Community Survey estimate found 485,970 Americans with full or partial Armenian ancestry. During the 1933 World's Fair, Leon Tourian, the primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, refused to give a speech because the Armenian tricolor of the 1918-1920 Republic was hanging behind him, while Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians, was in Armenia that was then part of the Soviet Union and used a different flag. Numerous Armenian musicians have been successful in American pop culture. The German ethnographer Caroline Thon puts their number at 800,000,[60] a number also offered by Dr. Harold Takooshian of Fordham University. The area between East 20th Street, Lexington Avenue and First Avenue, where a compact Armenian population lived and Armenian shops existed, was called "Little Armenia" until the 1960s. Therefore, individuals exist who are not acculturated at all to the dominant American culture, as well as those who have chosen to separate from the Armenian community and acculturate completely, and many who are in the middle of acculturation spectrum. [11] In the late 1870s, small Armenian communities existed in New York City, Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts. Andre Agassi. As English quickly becomes the second language of the new republic, Armenians in America feel closer to the homeland, suffering Armenia's tragedies and rejoicing in its successes. From 1992 to 2010 the US provided nearly $2 billion, the highest per capita amount for a post-Soviet state. Other notable weeklies include The Armenian Weekly, Armenian Mirror-Spectator, Nor Hayastan (Նոր Հայաստան, "New Armenia"), The Armenian Reporter. [43] According to the US embassy in Yerevan, about 21,000 citizens of Armenia have moved to the US for permanent residency in the period from 1995 to 2012. "Armenian Americans. ", "Illusion has thrust into the spotlight a new and fresh Armenian-American talent, Michael Goorjian", "Haig has been a performer for as long as he can remember. ", Forgotten Bread: First-Generation Armenian American Writers, ed. [125], Early Armenian immigrants were one of the most literate ethnic groups to enter the US with 76% literacy. However, the true second wave of immigration did not begin until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished national origins quotas. At that time it was very difficult to find in internet any content about Armenia and its history. ), and the rest in other parts of the world. Andy - Andranik Madadian (Persian: آندرانیک مددیان‎, Armenian: Անդրանիկ Մադադյան), better known by his stage name, Andy (Persian: اندی‎, Armenian: Էնդի), (born 1959) is a famous Armenian-Iranian singer-songwriter. The identification of Armenians with those in Erevan and Karabagh has been greatly facilitated by Armenia's membership in the United Nations and the regular reporting of its problems in the American press. Armenian-American Vahan Boyajian, born in Hussenig, Kharpert, was one of these Gamavor Zinvors. [128], Armenian Americans constitute a highly educated community. The 2017 American Community Survey estimated that 485,970 Americans held full or partial Armenian ancestry. [12] After 1869, however, Armenians from the eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire were registered as "Armenian" in American records. [5][6] A few other Armenians are recorded as having come to the US in the 17th and 18th centuries, but most moved as individuals and did not establish communities. Born in 1939 in the heart of Fresno's Armenian community (his birth name is Sid Mosesian; Haig is his father's first name), he was taking dance classes at age 7. Many of them were young male students of the American Evangelical Missions spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. [127] Since the 1960s many Armenian bilingual schools have been established in communities throughout the country. [8] Turkish Armenian migration rose gradually in the first decade of the 20th century, partly due to the Adana Massacre of 1909, and the Balkan Wars in 1912–1913. [50], Armenians from Lebanon, where they had effectively established an active community, are more politicized,[51] while Turkish Armenians are mostly connected with the Armenian Apostolic Church. The dioceses maintain strong connections to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the current Supreme Patriarch, Karekin II, the 132nd Catholicos of All Armenians. 51. Takooshian, Harold. Rouben Mamoulian, a film and theater director also known as co-producer of the first feature film (Becky Sharp, 1935) to use the three-strip Technicolor process. American-born author William Saroyan, a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winner who was certainly no stranger to mainstream American culture, wrote in one of his many memoirs that “Armenians were considered inferior” and were “hated” in his hometown. [197], Major General Stephen J. Maranian of Natick, Massachusetts has served as an officer in the U.S. Army since 1988 and is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. [10], The number of Armenians rose from 20 in 1854 to around 70 by the 1870s. For instance, the number of Armenians in Nevada increased from 2,880 in 2000 to 5,845 in 2010, Florida from 9,226 to 15,856, and Texas from 4,941 to 14,459. Currently Armenian-History.com is one of the main sources of Internet from where you can find information, maps and images connecting to Armenian History, Armenia and Armenians. [78] Just eleven years later, the 2011 American Community Survey one-year estimates put the number of Armenians in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area 214,618, about 29% growth from 2000. Ararat is published in English by the AGBU and also includes works by Armenian writers around the world in translation. [23] An unprecedented number of Armenians entered the country in 1920, when the newly-established Soviet Union forcefully annexed the First Republic of Armenia,[20] but the Immigration Act of 1924 that restricted immigration from southern and eastern Europe as well as Asia barred many other Armenians from emigrating to the US. Drastamat Kanayan (Dro), the Defense Minister of Armenia from 1918 to 1919, lived in America after World War II and was shortly arrested for collaborating with the Nazis. Since the 1950s many Armenians from the Middle East (especially from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey) migrated to America as a result of political instability in the region. [121][122], According to the 2000 US Census there were 385,488 ethnic Armenians living in the US, and 202,708 people identified Armenian as 'Language Spoken at Home'. Sebouh (Steve) Tashjian, a California Armenian originally from Jerusalem, served as Minister of Energy, while Lebanese-born Gerard Libaridian, a Boston-based historian, was President Levon Ter-Petrosyan's adviser. Her grandfather, whose last name was Papazian, emigrated from Ottoman Turkey in the early 20th century, changing his name to Martin when he settled in Maine. Second generation Armenian American writers include Peter Balakian, Nancy Kricorian, Carol Edgarian, Michael J. Arlen, Arthur Nersesian, Micheline Aharonian Marcom, Hrag Vartanian, and others.[171]. He is also known for Reagan's characterization of 1915 events as "genocide" in 1981. Raffi Hovannisian, a Fresno-born third-generation Armenian American lawyer, moved to Armenia in 1991 and soon was appointed the first Foreign Minister of Armenia, where he remained until 1992. [41][42] According to the 2011 American Community Survey, there were 85,150 Armenian-born people in the US, about 20,000 more than in 2000. Diasporan history has been transformed by the Republic: nowhere is this more strongly felt than in America. [74] Fresno and the Central Valley in general were the center of California Armenian community, but in the later decades, especially since the 1960s, when significant number of Middle Eastern Armenians arrived in the US, Southern California attracted more and more Armenians. In the US he pursued a career as a dentist and worked as … Armenians in Lebanon and Iran are even represented in the parliaments as ethnic minorities. [143], Homenetmen, an Armenian Revolutionary Federation-affiliated sports organization, is very active in the United States, also engaged in scouting. The first Armenian to hold a high position office was Republican Steven Derounian, a Bulgarian-born Armenian, represented New York from 1953 to 1965 in the House of Representatives. Immigrants were asked to indicate which state they were going to settle in; for Armenians, the most popular answers were New York (17,391), Massachusetts (14,192), Rhode Island (4,923), Illinois (3,313), California (2,564), New Jersey (2,115), Pennsylvania (2,002), Michigan (1,371). Charles Aznavour was an Armenian-French … [177][178], Christina Maranci is the Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Professor of Armenian Art and Architecture at Tufts University. Ambassadors 'Decipher' Armenian American Diaspora", "Teotig: The First Historian of Armenian Printing", "Քաղաքական պատերազմը Ամերիկայում հայ պարբերական մամուլի լուսաբանությամբ [The American Civil War as Illuminated in the Armenian Periodical Press]", "The Civil War's only Armenian soldier to be honored", "Immigrant Aliens Admitted to the United States by ethnicity, 1899-1931", "Rank of States for Selected Ancestry Groups with 100,00 or more persons: 1980", "1990 Census of Population Detailed Ancestry Groups for States", "Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates", "Region and Country or Area of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population: 2000", "Region and Country or Area of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population: 2000 by state", "Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates", "Playing the Odds: End to US 'Green Card' Lottery comes as disappointment for thousands of hopefuls in Armenia", Sabagh, Bozorgmehr & Der-Martirosian 1990, "Echoes From Armenia in Southern California", "A brotherhood is bolstered by food and friendship", "Nearly 100 charged, dozens arrested in operation targeting Armenian organized crime", "U.S. Cracks Down on Armenian Crime Syndicate", "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges 44 Members and Associates of an Armenian-American Organized Crime Enterprise with $100 Million Medicare Fraud", "Armenian American's Immigration to California", "Commentary: A Million Person March on Washington", "Armenian Lobby's Triumph: Genocide Resolution Risks Shattering Relations with Turkey", "Arab and other Middle Eastern Americans", "Barack Obama on the Importance of US-Armenia Relations", "Kim Kardashian Urges Support for Telethon", "Armenian-American clout buys genocide breakthrough", "The Armenian Community in the Los Angeles area", "Los Angeles County, California Ancestry: 2000", "Los Angeles-Long Beach-SantaAna, CA Metro Area Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates", "Ancestry: 2000 All places within California", "Armenians in Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, North Hills, and Northridge", "Council File: 00-1958 Title Little Armenia", "Armenian population up Valley, Glendale and Burbank show big percentage hikes", "Top 101 cities with the most residents born in Armenia (population 500+)", "Ancestry 2000: Fresno County, California", "Armenians in the San Francisco Bay Area", "Armenian Genocide Survivor lived in Northern California", "Mass. Armenian Americans are people born or raised in the United States, or who reside there, with origins in the country known as Armenia, which ranges from the Caucasian mountain range to the Armenian plateau. [71], 467,890 people have reported Armenian ancestry for American Community Survey. and North Hollywood. [191], During World War II, about 18,500 Armenians served in the armed forces of the United States. Sizeable populations are found outside Armenia as well. [123], A 2007 study showed that 16% of Armenians born in Lebanon, 29% in Armenia (including Soviet Armenia), 31% in Iran and 36% in Turkey are not proficient in English. "[93][94][95], Since the 19th century the first Armenians appeared in New York. Avedis Guidanian Lebanese minister of Tourism Joe Hockey, Treasurer of Australia, member of the parliament, and Australian ambassador to the US. [129], Most Armenian Americans are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the largest Oriental Orthodox church in the US. Jordan, Robert Paul and Harry Naltchayan. The multi-award winner has revealed that for much of … First, from 1890-1914, 64,000 Turkish Armenians fled to America before World War I. Ivan Aivazovsky. In these neighborhoods, an Armenian can live a very active social and occupational life and receive many services without speaking a word of English and interacting only with Armenians. [187] Ken Khachigian was the chief speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan. He served in the Air Force. [53], Armenian American criminal organizations have received widespread media attention, such as during the 2010 Medicaid fraud. Cultural output reached its height in the 14th century, though a resurgence in literary output led to a national awakening in the 19th century. "[106] Other towns in the area with significant Armenian populations are Worcester (1,306), Belmont (1,165), Waltham (1,091) and the city of Boston (1,080). By the late 1880s, their number reached 1,500. About 40% came from the Province of Kharpert. The highest concentrations of Americans of Armenian ancestry are in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. For instance, Armenians from Armenia or the rest of the former Soviet Union might know Russian, those from Lebanon and Syria may know Arabic and French, almost all Iranian Armenians speak Persian and Istanbul Armenians speak Turkish. Like other Armenian communities in America, Armenian communities in these cities have their roots in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Several official US documents describe the events as "genocide" (1975,[150][151] 1984,[152] 1996);[153] President Ronald Reagan also described the events as "genocide" in a speech on 22 April 1981. He was born in the Ottoman Empire and came to the US to escape the Armenian Genocide. Nobar Pasha, first prime minister of Egypt. If you look at their moral values then I think no matter of their ethnicity there is nothing to be proud of. https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › List_of_Armenian_Americans Gov. Dr. Moses Housepian, an Armenian-American physician born in the Armenian village of Kessab in Syria, was a medical relief worker in Russian Armenia during the Armenian genocide. [134], After the Soviets took over Armenia in 1920, the Armenian American community was divided into two camps: one supporting Soviet Armenia (mostly members of the Hunchak and Ramgavar parties), another one against it (mostly made up of ARF members). [53] A group of Armenian Americans from Istanbul founded the Organization of Istanbul Armenians (OIA) in 1976,[54] which claimed over 1,000 members in Southern California as of 2011. [2] The first major wave of Armenian immigration to the United States took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [8] Both are affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. The first Armenian-language newspaper in the US, named Aregak (Արեգակ, "Sun"), was published in Jersey City in 1888. [172] Syria-born Hrag Vartanian is the founder and editor-in-chief of the art journal Hyperallergic.[173]. Activist groups, some lawmakers and arguably the most famous Armenian-American – reality TV star Kim Kardashian West – have been calling for the United States to take a stronger stance by blaming Azerbaijan for the hostilities and cutting U.S. military assistance to the country. Queens is home to some 50,000 Armenian Americans, Manhattan has 10,000 Armenian population centered in Gramercy Park, Kips Bay and Murray Hill, where St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral is. [126] As of 2007, 41% of US-born Armenians had at least a 4-year college degree. The unifying force of the Genocide has been superseded by that of the Republic, while religious freedom in Armenia has revitalized the church in America and given it a mission. A naturalized citizen from Rodosto, Garabedian served aboard the blockade ships USS Geranium and USS Grand Gulf as a Third Assistant Engineer and later an officer from 1864 until his honorable discharge from the Navy in August 1865. Their number is estimated to be around 25,000. This upset the Dashnak members present in the ceremony. [189][190], Monte Melkonian, a native of California, was a prominent leader of Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. [6] Mashdots College in Glendale, founded in 1992, is the only Armenian higher education institution in the country. Some of the world’s most famous people of Armenian descent include the reality television star and professional selfie-taker Kim Kardashian, singer and actor Cher (born as Cherilyn Sarkisian), eight Grand slam title holder Andre Agassi, singer and public figure Charles Aznavour, business magnate Kirk Kerkonian, actor Andy Serkis and television presenter David Dickinson. [161] Composer Alan Hovhaness, born to an Armenian father and a Scottish-American mother, "wrote more than 400 pieces, among them 67 symphonies of varying quality. [94] As of 2003 more than 8,000 Armenian Americans lived in Washington, DC. [46] The main subgroups of foreign-born Armenian Americans are Hayastantsis (Armenians from Armenia), Parskayes (Armenians from Iran) and Beirutsis (Armenians from Beirut, Lebanon). [175][176], Raymond Damadian, a recipient of the National Medal of Technology, had a significant contribution to the invention of the MRI. In 1959, at the First Grammys he won 2 awards: Best Recording for Children and Best Comedy Performance. [104] Worcester, Massachusetts was also a major center for Armenian immigrants in the early part of the twentieth century. [34], Immediately before and continuing into the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, waves of Armenians from Armenia and other former Soviet republics arrived for political reasons and economic opportunities, settling in older established Armenian communities across the country. Dr. Seta Kazandjian described the community in her 2006 dissertation as follows: Waves of immigration into the Los Angeles area have resulted in the formation of strong communities in neighborhoods and cities such as Hollywood, Glendale. [154] On 4 March 2010, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs recognized the massacres of 1915 as "genocide. [67] The Armenian National Committee of America,[68] The Armenian Weekly,[69] The Armenian Reporter,[70] and Reuters offer the highest number, at around 1,500,000 Armenian Americans. [213], Other notable Armenian Americans include astronaut James P. Bagian, who became the first Armenian to travel into space in 1989. A spirit of renewed vigor was embodied by Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, who governed the diocese as primate from 1966 to 1990. [139] The period saw a large influx of Armenian immigrants. Has won the Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open, and an Olympic Gold Medal. Daron Acemoglu, a Turkish-born economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of the most cited economists in the world. [119] According to the 1980 US Census 100,634 people in the nation spoke Armenian, 69,995 of them were foreign-born. Activist groups, some lawmakers and arguably the most famous Armenian-American - reality TV star Kim Kardashian West - have been calling for the United States to take a stronger stance by blaming Azerbaijan for the hostilities and cutting U.S. military assistance to the country. Famous for his seascapes. The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is known for its financial support and promotion of Armenian culture and Armenian language schools. [99] Chicago's Armenians also first settled in the city in the late 19th century in small numbers, but it increased through the 20th century,[112] reaching about 25,000 by today. [204], Some notable Armenian Americans in business include the founder of Masco Alex Manoogian,[206] the Mugar family (owner of Star Market chain of supermarkets in New England),[207] Kevork Hovnanian, founder of Hovnanian Enterprises, Avedis Zildjian, the founder of Zildjian Company (the world's largest cymbal manufacturer), Gerard Cafesjian, and Alexis Ohanian (founder of the internet service Reddit). Since the turn of the century there been a trend towards an increase in number of Armenians living outside of traditional settlement areas. "[149] Fund for Armenian Relief is a humanitarian organization providing long-term programs focusing on human development. This was followed in 1915-1920 by the government-orchestrated genocide of a million more Armenians during World War I. Armenian Evangelical form the second largest denomination among Armenian Americans, with 1 out of 10 being a follower. Ferrahian Armenian School, founded in 1964, is the oldest Armenian daily school in America. His father, Levon, was born in the village of Passen, near Erzurum, and his mother, Satenig, was born in the village of Govdun, near Sivas.[184]. [188] Diplomat Edward Djerejian was the US ambassador in Syria then Israel in the 1990s. [104], Other major northeastern cities with significant Armenian populations include Philadelphia and Providence. [214][215] It is claimed that he took the Armenian tricolor flag to space with him.[216]. Singer and actor Cherilyn Sarkisian (known as Cher) is the child of an Armenian-American father and an American mother. [44] Meanwhile, Armenian immigration from the Middle East continues, contributing to California's distinction of having, by far, the highest Armenian American population of any state. [202] The US women's national water polo team won 2010 World Cup and 2012 Olympics under the coaching of Adam Krikorian. His funeral ceremony was held in Trinity Church in the City of Boston in 1956. Many Armenians think that the US has the ability to force Turkey to recognize the past and pay Armenians and Armenia their reparations, that includes (for some) the return of the so-called Wilsonian Armenia to the Republic of Armenia. [146] The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) have as their main lobbying agenda the pressing of Congress and the US president for the reduction of economic and military assistance to Turkey and efforts to include reaffirmation of a genocide by Ottoman Turkey in 1915.