• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Winter 1989 Volume XI, Number 1 THE ORIGIN OF POLISH SATURDAY SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO By Margy McClain The following article is taken from " Eth­ nic Heritage and Language Schools in America, }} a new book from the American Folklife Center. " Information on how to order appears on pages 3 and 4. At the beginning of the twentieth century, when great waves of im­ migration brought thousands of Poles to the Chicago area, Poland did not exist as a nation. Poland had been par­ titioned in 1795, into areas controlled by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and ethnic Poles referred to themselves as "Russian Poles" or "Austrian Poles." Language and the Roman Catholic religion, rather than nation­ ality, marked the Polish people. Early Polish immigrants to the United States defined themselves in much the same way, by language, eth­ nicity, regional origin, and religion. They were mostly peasants with little formal education. They came for eco- Continued on page 2 Jozef Zurczak, principal of the Pulaski School in Chicago, Illinois, at the time of the Folklife Center's 1982 Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project. Mr. Zurczak is shown here as a guest teacher for the combined first and second grade class. (ES82-AF88416-1-35A) Photo by Margy McClain POLISH SATURDAY dialects spoken by their parents and AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER teachers. Immigrants arriving after THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SCHOOLS World War II were surprised to find Continued from page 1 Alan J abbour, Director many archaic words and grammatical Ray Dockstader, Deputy Director constructions preserved in the speech nomic reasons and worked hard so of the established Polish-American Carl Fleischhauer that their children might make it up community. Mary Hufford David A. Taylor the ladder of success in America. Edu­ After World War II, thousands of Folklife Specialists cation was an important rung on that new immigrants flooded the country ladder, and education for many of the from the refugee camps of Europe. Peter T. Bartis, Folklife Researcher children began in Roman Catholic The new arrivals were to have a pro­ parochial schools. Gerald E. Parsons, Reference Librarian found effect on the nature of Chicago's J ames Hardin, Editor Polish immigrants sought to estab­ Polish-American community. Coming lish Catholic parishes that were Pol­ from a Poland briefly reunited be­ Magdalena Gilinsky, ish in character. They built many tween the world wars, they had been Public Events Coordinator churches and established schools along raised with a strong sense of Polish na­ Li sa O shins, Program Specialist J ennifer A. C utting, Program Coordinator with them. Most of the students in the tional identity. Now they were refu­ parish schools came from Polish­ gees who could not return to Doris Craig, Administrative Secretary speaking homes, and the teaching Communist Poland. Their strong love nuns also spoke Polish. Since each of country, fueled by a sense of being Tel: 202 707-6590 school was free to determine its own disinherited, gave rise to a deep need use of the Polish language, the curric­ to keep alive things Polish and to pass Archive of Folk Culture ula varied greatly; depending on the on to their children raised in the school, or even the individual teacher, United States a pride and knowledge Joseph C. Hickerson, Head students might study either religious of what it means to be Polish. subjects or most of the curriculum in Marsha Maguire, Archivist Chicago's Polish schools have their Polish. The Polish instruction in the roots in the upheavals of World War Sebastian LoCurto, Program Specialist parish schools of Chicago, therefore, II. The founders of the Polish Aldona M. Kamantauskas Joseph, seems to have arisen more from the Teachers Association in America, Inc. StaJ! Assistant fact that teachers and students shared (PTAA) and a great many of the T el: 202 707-5510 a common language than from an ex­ teachers and parents currently active plicit desire to impart to students a in the Polish schools were adults or mastery of the Polish language or a young children in Poland during Federal Cylinder Project need to instill values related to the tra­ World War II. After the war, many Judith A. Gray ditions of Poland. Poles found themselves in either Dis­ Ethnomusicologist Language instruction in Chicago's placed Persons camps (also known as Polish parochial schools began to DP or refugee camps) in Germany or T el: 202 707-9022 decline in the 1930s, although some in­ in temporary camps in England for struction continued for another twenty those associated with the Polish Army. BOARD OF TRUSTEES years. During the Depression, pres­ Friendships made in the camps were sures from the Archdiocese (historical­ often long-lasting, carrying over to the Bruce J ackson, Chairman, New York ly dominated by Irish and German immigrants' new homes. Polish Barre Toelken , Vice Chairman, Utah clerics hostile to parishes that clung to teachers who set up schools in the Johnnetta Cole, Georgia camps later helped establish Polish William L. Kinney, Jr. , South Carolina an ethnic interpretation of Catholi­ Judith McCull oh, Illinois cism) to rid the parishes of" foreign" Saturday schools in the countries Marta Weigle, New Mexico associations, combined with a gener­ where they finally settled: the United al pressure on immigrants to assimi­ States, England, and Canada. And late, contributed to the decline in Polish teachers' organizations that Ex Officio Members language use. formed in the camps were models for J ames H. Bi llington, Librarian oj Congrm Polish immigratiull to the United later groups. Robert McCormick Adams, States came to a halt in the 1920s, due Thousands of Polish refugees came Secretary oj the Smithsonian Institution to restrictive immigration laws. Thirty to the United States in the late 1940s Francis S. M. H odsoll , Jr. , Chairman, years passed before another significant and 1950s under the Displaced Per­ National Endowment jar the Arts Lynne V. Cheney, Chairman, wave of immigration occurred. Isolat­ sons Act. Existing Polish-American in­ National Endowment Jar the Humanities ed from Poland, the Polish communi­ stitutions met many needs of the new Alan Jabbour, Director, ty evolved distinctive Polish-American arrivals, but the parochial schools, American Folklife Center traditions. A unique "Chicago Pol­ where the heritage of Poland's turn­ ish" dialect arose as American-born of-the-century rural traditions children learned to speak the Polish predominated, could not. For Poles language based on the various regional educated in a united Poland between 2 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS ETHNIC HERITAGE AND LANGUAGE SCHOOLS PROJECT REPORT PUBLISHED The eighth grade Sunday school class at the Hellenic Orthodox Church in Buffalo, New York, with teacher, Betty Pavlakis. The Greek School at the church is described in a new collection of reports from the Center's ethnic schools project. (ES82-197823-5-36) Photo by Lydia Fish the two world wars, knowledge of the The Library of Congress has just pub­ munities as a supplement to the stan­ contemporary, standard Polish lan­ lished Ethnic Heritage and Language dard educational requirements met by guage was an important attribute of Schools in America, the report of a public and private schools, and espe­ being Polish. They wanted their chil­ project conducted by the American cially to preserve and perpetuate eth­ dren to speak the language well and Folklife Center in 1982. The collection nic culture and traditions. There are to learn Polish history and national of articles on thirteen different schools probably more than five thousand eth­ traditions in a more structured way from around the country, illustrated nic schools around the country, but than the home could provide. The with photographs, was developed by virtually no awareness of them as a na­ parochial schools could neither teach project director Elena Bradunas and tional phenomenon. modern Polish nor instill a contem­ edited by Brett Topping. Such topics Over the past two decades, as porary sense of Polish national as history, school administration, par­ educationists and the public were identity. ents, teachers, classes and curriculum, drawn into a long, fractious , and still So, while many new immigrants and the purposes of the school are dis­ unresolved debate about bilingual sent their children to parochial schools cussed in each article. education, no one referred to the for their regular education, they also "Ethnic schools " may be a mystify­ widespread and longstanding use of began to create special Polish schools . ing classification for most Americans. ethnic schools by hundreds of Ameri­ In the 1950s, as Polish cultural Yet nearly everyone knows of after­ can ethnic communities, and there has education in parochial schools noon, weekend, or all-day programs been little scholarly investigation of the declined, the Polish Saturday schools called " Hebrew School," "Lithuani­ subject. In 1982, the American Folk­ emerged. 0 an School, " "Polish School," life Center launched the Ethnic "J apanese School," or the like. Such Heritage and Language Schools schools are organized by ethnic com­ Project to begin to remedy that inat­ WINTER 1989 3 tention. The project secured the ser­ vices of a number of researchers around the country to visit , document, and analyze an ethnic school in their vicinity. Twenty research locations were chosen to give a diverse sam­ pling: different ethnic groups, differ­ ent regions of the country, and different kinds of schools. The thirteen schools described in the published report are: The Cambo­ dian School, Houston, Texas; The Is­ lamic School of Seattle, Seattle, Washington; The Official Portuguese School of the T aunton Sports Club, Taunton, Massachusetts; The First Korean School, Silver Spring, Maryland; Ataturk School , New York, New York; Polish Saturday School, Chicago, Illinois; The Senshin Gakuin and the Dharma School of the Senshin Buddhist Church of Los An­ geles, Los Angeles, California; German-Russian Ethnic Studies at Emmons Central High School , Stras­ burg, North Dakota; Lebanese Arabic School at St.

Load more

  16

Copy Link