"A Study of the Greeks in Chicago" article by Grace Abbott, published 1909

In 1909 Grace Abbott wrote "A Study of the Greeks in Chicago".  It was published in the American Journal of Sociology, v. 15 (1909):  373-393.  


Personal Note:  This article is about the Greeks in Chicago but, in my opinion, would apply to Greeks anywhere in the United States during the early 1900s.  The basis for this article was a study done by Hull House and includes some statistics, but is definitely worth reading for the comments and observations of the non-Greek author.


"It is only since 1900 that the Greeks have regarded the United States as a good field for settlement. At that time there were, according to the census of 1900, only 8,655 Greeks in the country. Since then they have come in increasingly large numbers until during the year 1907 alone there were 46,283 Greek immigrants admitted.  In 1908, because of the financial stringency which caused the general decline in immigration, there were only 28,808 admitted,  but with the return to normal business conditions more are coming and there can be little doubt that the next ten years will see an enormous increase in our Greek population. Appreciating that its immediate neighborhood was becoming Hellenic, an investigation of the Greeks in Chicago was made by Hull House in order that with reliable information about their housing conditions, their occupations, their family life, and their ambitions, the resources of the House could be made more useful to its new neighbors. For this purpose, in a preliminary investigation made last summer, 350 Greek residences were visited and 1,467 Greeks counted on the schedules. These were not confined to any one neighborhood but were representative of the city's entire Greek population, the wealthier as well as the poorer. During the winter and spring a Greek-speaking woman was employed by Hull House to do systematic visiting among the Greek families of its neighborhood and among the Greek boys of the downtown district. Upon the information thus secured by Hull House this study is almost entirely based."  . . . . READ MORE