Romani Americans

It is estimated that there are one million Romani people in the United States. Though the Romani population in the United States has largely assimilated into American society, the largest concentrations are in Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, Southwestern United States, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and the Northeast as well as in cities such as Chicago and St. Louis.[1][2]

Not to be confused with Romanian Americans.

Romani people in the United States
Roma Americans
Romani Americans
Total population
est. 1,000,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, and Portland as well as in rural areas in Texas and Arkansas
Languages
American English, Spanish, Romani, Angloromani, Caló
Religion
Christianity, Islam, Romani folklore
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The Romani or Roma are a nomadic ethnic group, commonly known as Gypsies, who have been in the Americas since the first Romani people reportedly arrived on Christopher Columbus’ third voyage in 1498.[3][4] The largest wave of Romani immigrants came from the Balkans, Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia region in the late 19th century following the abolition of Slavery in Romania in 1864.[5][6] Romani immigration to the United States has continued at a steady rate ever since, with an increase of Romani immigration occurring in the late 20th century following the Porajmos in Nazi Germany and its occupied European territories and then the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.[1]

The size of the Romani American population and the absence of a historical and cultural presence, such as the Romani have in Europe, make Americans largely unaware of the existence of the Romani as a people.[1] The term's lack of significance within the United States prevents many Romani from using the term around non-Romani: identifying themselves by nationality rather than heritage.[7] It seems that the United States lacks the structures and stories for Romani people to own as their heritage, something that would make their identity more visible as an individual group.[8]

There has been an increased consciousness of the existence of Romanies as an American people after the Cold War, but there remains a sense of mythology around the group.[4] An announcement made on New York television station WABC referred to Romani people as 'real live Gypsies', suggesting a question mark on their existence.[7]

Most Romani Americans live in the United States’s biggest cities, where the greatest economic opportunities exist. Romani Americans practice many different religions, usually based on the version of Christianity common in their country of origin, but fundamentalist Christian denominations have been growing in popularity among them.[9]

The Roma live in populous cities such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Seattle and Portland as well as in rural areas in Texas and Arkansas.[10] The Roma can also be found in Las Vegas and Miami.[11]

History

Voice of Roma was founded by Sani Rifati in 1996, and incorporated as a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization in 1999, in Sebastopol, California.[12]

Origin

The Romani people originate from Northern India,[13][14][15][16][17][18] presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan[17][18] and Punjab.[17]

The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a big part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines.[19]

More exactly, Romani shares the basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi. It shares many phonetic features with Marwari, while its grammar is closest to Bengali.[20]

Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani originated in northwestern India and migrated as a group.[14][15][21] According to a genetic study in 2012, the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of northern India, traditionally referred to collectively as the Ḍoma, are the likely ancestral populations of modern European Roma.[22]

In February 2016, during the International Roma Conference, the Indian Minister of External Affairs stated that the people of the Roma community were children of India. The conference ended with a recommendation to the Government of India to recognize the Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of the Indian diaspora.[23]

Migration to the US
An encampment of the Roma people on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. The photographed group faced eviction from the Portland Police (1905).

The first Roma to come to the United States arrived in Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey and Louisiana during the 1500s.[24] Romani slaves were first shipped to the Americas with Columbus in 1498.[25] Spain sent Romani slaves to their Louisiana colony between 1762 and 1800.[26] An Afro-Romani community exists in St. Martin Parish due to intermarriage of freed African American and Romani slaves.[27] The first Roma to arrive in the United States came from the British Isles. Other Roma later came from the Mediterranean, along with the general shift of immigrants from northern to southern Europe. Among these were Roma, who moved out of Romania and Moldova in the nineteenth century. They travelled through Austria-Hungary, Italy and the Balkans, to arrive in New York in 1881.[28] The Romanichal, the first Romani group to arrive in North America in large numbers, moved to America from Britain around 1850. The Rom were the second subgroup of Roma to immigrate to the United States. They came from Germany and other parts of western Europe. The third was the Ludar. They came from southern European ports beginning in 1882.[29] Iberian Gitanos and Balkan Romani, the ancestors of most of the Romani population in the United States today, began immigrating to the United States on a large scale over the latter half of the 19th century coinciding with the weakening grip of the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Wars in Europe in the 19th century, which ultimately culminated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), freeing many ethnic Eastern Europeans from Ottoman dominance and producing new waves of Romani immigrants.[30] Other Roma mainly came from Greece and Italy.[31] England and Scotland had shipped Romani slaves to Virginia.[32] The Kalderash first arrived in the United States in the 1880s. Many of them came from Austria-Hungary, Russia and Serbia, as well as from Italy, Greece, Romania and Turkey. The arrival of the Kalderash, rudari and the other subgroups of Romani at this time more or less wiped out the Roma who had arrived in United States during the colonial period. Their arrival coincided with the large wave of immigration from Eastern Europe.[33] Early Romani immigrants listed such diverse occupations as farmer, laborer, showman, animal trainer, horse trader, musician, and coppersmith, among others, to census takers. In the 19th century, Romani American men tended to pursue nomadic European occupations, while Romani American women often practiced fortune telling.[34]

That wave of Romani immigration comprised Romani-speaking peoples like the Kalderash, Machvaya, Lovari and Churari, and ethnically Romani groups that had integrated more within the Central and Eastern European societies, such as the Boyash (Ludari) of Romania and the Bashalde of Slovakia.[35]

Many of the Vlach Romani headed for the United States took an indirect means of travelling to America; this involved travelling by ship to South American countries such as Mexico, or arrive at Canada to retry entry or cross the border.[36] This was due to the fact that, at the time, U.S. legislation prevented entry to "Gypsies", making it problematic for those who were perceived to be easily identifiable as Romani by their appearance.[36]

In 1999, the United States pledged to take up to 20,000 Kosovan refugees, many of them were Roma.[37]

By the 2000s, there has been some acknowledgement of the growing presence of Romani peoples within America as the Census forms of 2000 were disseminated for the first time in Romani language, furthermore, as of 2010, five sessions in Congress have been held to address the growing increase of Romani asylum seekers to the US, due to the anti-Romani sentiment of Europe.[38]

Settlements

Romani Americans are concentrated in large cities such Chicago and Los Angeles and states such as New York, Virginia, Illinois, Texas and Massachusetts.[39]

Romani Americans live mainly in major urban areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, and Portland. Romani Americans today still migrate across the United States from the Midwest to Nevada, California, Texas, and elsewhere to live close to family and friends or for jobs. Some of the Roma who had once lived in Delay and then in the Dearborn area in Michigan moved to Las Vegas Valley to work or retire.[40]

Chicago

The Roma first came to Chicago during the large waves of Southern and Eastern European immigration to the United States in the 1880s until World War I. Two separate Romani subgroups settled in Chicago, the Machwaya and the Kalderash. The Machwaya came from Serbia and parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They settled on the Southeast Side of Chicago.[41]

Texas

There are about 20,000 Roma in Texas. In Texas, the two main Roma populations are Vlax and Romanichal. Romani Americans are concentrated in Houston and Fort Worth.[42]

New York City

Many Romani moved to New York City from other parts of the United States after relief programs were put into effect in the 1930s. Romanies from Hungary went to New York after the revolution in 1956.[43]

Arkansas

There is a Romanichal community in Arkansas. They trace their lineage to England and Ireland.[44]

California

Approximately 200,000 Roma live in California and 50,000 live in Los Angeles.[45]

Michigan

There is a Hungarian-Slovak Romani community in Michigan.[46]

Oregon

Romani have resided in Oregon since the early twentieth century. There is a Romani community in Portland.[47]

West Virginia

A group of Roma settled in Stumpy Bottom in Princeton.[48]

Cleveland

The Roma began began settling on Cleveland's near west side in the 1880s.[49]

Groups
  • Boyash[50]
  • Kalderash: The Kalderash are concentrated in New York City, Chicago, and Forth Worth, Texas.[51]
  • Machwaya: The Machwaya came from Mačva, Serbia. Most Machwaya settled in California.[52] Machwaya are concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles.[53]
  • Rom: They number around 20,000. The Rom have spread across North America in large family groups and tend to stay together. The Rom have tried to continue in fortune telling, but they soon have moved on to roofing and car sales, traveling in trailers and mobile homes. Metal work is one of the preferred activities of the Rom men in car body repairs, scrap collecting, car sales and occasional coppersmithing, but more often do roofing, paving and home improvements. The women do fortune telling and sell cheap goods around the houses.[54]
  • Ludar: Hailing from North of the Balkans, Hungary, and the Banat, the Ludari, also known as Rudari, Boyash, or Banyash, are a subculture of Romani who arrived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[55]
  • Hungarian-Slovak Romani: The Romani of Northern Hungary largely settled in industrial cities of the Northern United States near the turn of the century. Among Romani from these areas were Olah, Romungre, and Bashalde immigrants. They were noted for their musical traditions and popularized Romani music in the United States by performing in cafes, night clubs and restaurants. Their prevalence in show business made Hungarian-Slovak Romani the most visible of the Romani groups arriving in America at the turn of the century and helped to shape the modern American idea of a Romani.[55] The Bashalde reside principally in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Chicago and Las Vegas.[56]
  • Romanichal: The ancestral home of the Romanichals is the British Isles.[57] Members of this group are found across the U.S., with concentrations in Arkansas, Texas and the Southeast.
  • Black Dutch (genealogy): Sinte Romani from Germany, whom de Wendler-Funaro refers to as Chikkeners (Pennsylvania German, from the German Zigeuner), sometimes refer to themselves as "Black Dutch." They are few in number and claim to have largely assimilated into Romnichel culture. They are represented in de Wendler-Funaro's photographs by a few portraits of one old man and briefly referred to in the manuscript "In Search of the Last Caravan."[35]
  • Cale: Spanish Roma are found primarily in the metropolitan areas of the East Coast and the West Coast.[58]
  • Xoraxane Roma: Established mainly in the Bronx, New York where they have established mosques, the Xoraxane are a Muslim population originating in Macedonia and surrounding areas of the Balkans, several hundred families that came to the United States beginning in the late 1960s. Several thousand other Xoraxane came later as part of a Bosnian refugee program initiated St. Louis, Missouri, and are settled there.[59]
  • Lovari: Some 2,000 or more Lovari live in the Chicago metropolitan area. They descend from the Russian Roma who fled to Yugoslavia during the First World War, travelling back and forth into Hungary and intermarrying with Hungarian Lovari. After deciding to leave Europe a group of Lovari families arrived in Montreal, Canada on a Russian ship from France but were targeted for deportation. They then moved to St. Louis in 1973 and then on to Chicago to find relatives.[60]

See also

References
  1. Webley, Kayla (October 13, 2010). "Hounded in Europe, Roma in the U.S. Keep a Low Profile". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010.
  2. Berry, Lynn (February 19, 1995). "Business - Gypsies Trying To Change Stereotyped Image -- Some Practice Their Ancient Culture Secretly". Seattle Times.
  3. "Romani Realities in The United States" (PDF). Harvard University. November 24, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  4. Deutsch, James (April 8, 2022). "Romani Rights and the Roosevelts: The Case of Steve Kaslov". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  5. "Roma slavery in Romania - a history". July 7, 2021.
  6. Wallachia and Moldavia
  7. Kates, Glenn; Gergely, Valer (April 7, 2011). "For Roma, Life in US Has Challenges: People commonly known as 'Gypsies' face stereotyping, discrimination". Voice of America.
  8. Ostendorf, Ann (March 16, 2022). "Romani History is American History". Early American Studies Miscellany. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  9. Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. p. 1850.
  10. "Roma literature in USA and Canada".
  11. Dregni, Michael (April 4, 2008). Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-531192-1.
  12. "The Roma Civil Rights Movement in Canada and the USA".
  13. Hancock, Ian F. (2005) [2002]. We are the Romani People. Univ of Hertfordshire Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-902806-19-8: ‘While a nine century removal from India has diluted Indian biological connection to the extent that for some Romani groups, it may be hardly representative today, Sarren (1976:72) concluded that we still remain together, genetically, Asian rather than European’{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  14. Mendizabal, Isabel; et al. (December 6, 2012). "Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data". Current Biology. 22 (24): 2342–9. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.039. PMID 23219723.
  15. Sindya N. Bhanoo (December 11, 2012). "Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India". New York Times.
  16. Current Biology.
  17. K. Meira Goldberg; Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum; Michelle Heffner Hayes (September 28, 2015). Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical and Theoretical Perspectives. McFarland. p. 50. ISBN 9780786494705. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  18. Simon Broughton; Mark Ellingham; Richard Trillo (1999). World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Rough Guides. p. 147. ISBN 9781858286358. Retrieved April 28, 2016. Roma Rajastan Penjab.
  19. Šebková, Hana; Žlnayová, Edita (1998), Nástin mluvnice slovenské romštiny (pro pedagogické účely) (PDF), Ústí nad Labem: Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity J. E. Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem, p. 4, ISBN 978-80-7044-205-0, archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016
  20. Hübschmannová, Milena (1995). "Romaňi čhib – romština: Několik základních informací o romském jazyku". Bulletin Muzea Romské Kultury. Brno: Muzeum romské kultury (4/1995). Zatímco romská lexika je bližší hindštině, marvárštině, pandžábštině atd., v gramatické sféře nacházíme mnoho shod s východoindickým jazykem, s bengálštinou.
  21. "5 Intriguing Facts About the Roma". Live Science. October 23, 2013.
  22. Rai, N; Chaubey, G; Tamang, R; Pathak, AK; Singh, VK (2012), "The Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup H1a1a-M82 Reveals the Likely Indian Origin of the European Romani Populations", PLOS ONE, 7 (11): e48477, Bibcode:2012PLoSO...748477R, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048477, PMC 3509117, PMID 23209554
  23. "Can Romas be part of Indian diaspora?". khaleejtimes.com. February 29, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  24. Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles, Ninth Edition.
  25. Peter Boyd-Bowman (ed.), Indice geobiográfico de cuarenta mil pobladores españoles de América en el siglo XVI, vol. 1: 1493–1519 (Bogota: Instituto Caro y Cuervo, 1964), 171.
  26. The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Volume 1; Volume 7 By Junius P. Rodriguez
  27. We are the Romani People. p. 27.
  28. Phillips, David J. (August 31, 2023). Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World. William Carey Library. ISBN 9780878083527.
  29. Daniels, Roger (May 10, 2001). American Immigration: A Student Companion. Oxford University Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-19-998895-2.
  30. Karpat, Kemal (1985). "The Ottoman Emigration to America, 1860-1914". Cambridge University Press. 17 (2): 175–209. JSTOR 163603. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  31. Ling, Huping (2008). Emerging Voices: Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813543420.
  32. We are the Romani People. p. 28.
  33. Achim, Viorel (January 2004). The Roma in Romanian History. Central European University Press. p. 125. ISBN 9789639241848.
  34. Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. p. 1850.
  35. "Gypsies in the United States". Migrations in History. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved August 26, 2007.
  36. "Romani Realities in the United States: Breaking the Silence, Challenging the Stereotypes" (PDF). November 20, 2020. p. 12. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  37. John Powell (August 31, 2023). Encyclopedia of North American Immigration. Infobase. p. 115. ISBN 9781438110127.
  38. Hancock, Ian (2010). Danger! Educated Gypsy!. University of Hertfordshire Press. pp. 195–196.
  39. Emerging Voices: Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans. p. 116.
  40. Bloomfield, Martha Aladjem (July 2019). Romanies in Michigan. MSU Press. ISBN 9781628953794.
  41. "Gypsies". Encyclopedia of Chicago.
  42. "Romani Americans (Roma)". Texas State Historical Association.
  43. Jackson, Kenneth T.; Keller, Lisa; Flood, Nancy (December 2010). The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press. p. 563. ISBN 978-0300114652.
  44. "Romani".
  45. Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles, Ninth Edition. p. 9.
  46. Bloomfield, Martha Aladjem (2019). Romanies in Michigan. Michigan State University Press. ISBN 9781611863406.
  47. Oregon Roma (Gypsies)
  48. "Romani People".
  49. "GYPSIES". May 16, 2023.
  50. Sutherland, Anne H. (May 25, 2016). Roma: Modern American Gypsies. Waveland Press. p. 9. ISBN 9781478633792.
  51. Dimitrova, Radosveta; Sam, David Lackland; Wreder, Laura Ferrer (September 7, 2021). Roma Minority Youth Across Cultural Contexts. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-065408-5.
  52. Long, Lucy M. (July 17, 2015). Ethnic American Food Today: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 249. ISBN 9781442227316.
  53. Roma Minority Youth Across Cultural Contexts: Taking a Positive Approach to Research, Policy, and Practice.
  54. Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World. p. 419.
  55. "Gypsy and Traveler Culture in America". Gypsy Lore Society.
  56. Teaching Tolerance Magazine - Issues 15-21. p. 34.
  57. Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Culture. p. 27.
  58. "Gypsy and Traveler Culture in America".
  59. Danger! Educated Gypsy: Selected Essays. p. 130.
  60. Danger! Educated Gypsy: Selected Essays. p. 131.

Further reading
  • Gropper, Rena C., and Carol Miller. “Exploring New Worlds in American Romani Studies: Social and Cultural Attitudes among the American Macvaia.” Romani Studies 11, no. 2 (2001): 81–110.
  • Heimlich, Evan. "Romani Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2014), pp. 1–13. Online
  • Marafioti, Oksana. American Gypsy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012).
  • Sinclair, Albert Thomas (1917). George Fraser Black (ed.). American Gypsies. New York Public Library. Retrieved April 24, 2014. New York Public Library.
  • Sinclair, Albert Thomas (1915). George Fraser Black (ed.). An American-Romani Vocabulary (reprint ed.). New York public library. Retrieved April 24, 2014. New York Public Library.
  • Sutherland, Anne. “The American Rom: A Case of Economic Adaptation.” in Gypsies, Tinkers and Other Travellers, edited by Farnham Rehfisch, (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975). pp 1–40.
  • Sutherland, Anne. Gypsies: The Hidden Americans (Tavistock Publications, 1975).
  • Sway, Marlene. Familiar Strangers: Gypsy Life in America (University of Illinois Press, 1988).
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