Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Pavlína Pintová Czechs in Texas: A Historical Analysis of Czech Language Maintenance among the Early Immigrants and Their Descendents Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, Ph. D. 2009 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Pavlína Pintová Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, Ph.D. for her kind help, advice and valuable suggestions. Table of Contents 1. Introduction:TheLureof“KrásnáAmerika” .......................................................1 1.1 Definitions ofImportantTerms .......................................................................3 1.2 TheSituationintheCzechLandsinthe NineteenthCentury .........................4 1.3 AProfileoftheImmigrantsandthe CharacteristicFeaturesoftheCzech Migration .........................................................................................................7 1.4 TheHarshVoyagetoAmerica ........................................................................8 1.5 TheCzechSettlementsinTexas .....................................................................9 2. LanguageandAssimilation.................................................................................11 2.1 TheGeneralSituationandtheMainFactors InfluencingTexasCzech ........11 2.2 TheCharacteristicFeaturesofTexasCzech.................................................13 2.2.1 LanguageShiftandLanguageDeath ..............................................14 2.2.2 Americanization ..............................................................................16 2.3 The WrittenCulturalHeritage .......................................................................17 2.3.1 TheCzechPressinTexas ................................................................17 2.3.2 OtherWrittenLiteraryWorks .........................................................25 2.4 Gravestones ...................................................................................................26 3. TheInfluenceofInstitutionsonLanguageMaintenance ....................................28 3.1 CzechinTexasSchools andUniversities .....................................................28 3.2 Religion .........................................................................................................32 3.3 CzechClubsandOther Organizations ..........................................................34 4. Conclusion: CzechinTexas NowandItsProspectsfortheFuture ....................40 5. Endnotes ..............................................................................................................45 6.Appendix……………………………………………………………………......48 7.WorksCited……………………………………………………………………..52 1. Introduction: The Lure of “Krásná Amerika”i Immigration has always been a broadly discussed aspect of American society. Throughout its historymanypeople from various nations have relocatedtoAmerica in order to begin a new and better life. This is also the case of Czech and Moravian immigrants whostartedtocome tothe the UnitedStates inthe 1850s (Eva Eckertová 13).Of course some people immigratedbefore this periodbut Karel Kučera refers tothe relativelysmall number of these earlyimmigrants (15).“Krásná Amerika” seemedto represent a distant paradise. Oldřich Kašpar comments on the longterm interest in America. He points out that this interest had been strongly influenced by the various travelogues since the early sixteenth century. For instance, Mikuláš Bakalář Štětina’s writing about the “New World” ii from 1506, Zikmund of Púchov’s “Czech Cosmography” iii from 1554or Daniel Adam of Veleslavín’s “Historical Calendar” iv of 1578, and later the works of enlightenment authors also concerned with America (Kašpar 912). People from Czech lands immigrated to various parts of the United States,but accordingtoEckertová the destinationof manyof them was predominantly Texas,Wisconsin,andIowa (16).I wantedtofocus myBA thesis onimmigrationand my supervisor told me about the CzechMoravian community in Texas. After the primaryresearchI began todiscover the rich worldof this CzechMoraviancommunity and its history. It seemed unbelievable how these people established themselves on Texas soil and have managed to preserve their culture for an unusually long time. However,the topic turnedout tobe verybroadandtherefore I decidedtoexplore one important feature of their culture, and that is language. It will be shown that their mother tongue played a key role in the preservation of CzechMoravian identity in Texas.The language maintenance in the communityhas beenthe most enthralling part of the Texas CzechMoravian culture. Not only did it support the cohesion of the 1 immigrant community,it alsoreflectedthe degree of assimilationof Texas Czechs.My thesis will trace this gradual assimilationandwill tackle the present situationregarding the Czech language in Texas. “Language and social interaction have been generally consideredtobeindicatorsofacculturation,”asitisclaimedbyKevinM.Chun,Pamela Balls Organista andGerardoMarín(71).AlthoughTexas Czechs triedto maintaintheir language and culture, they could not resist the majority American culture. Sean S. Gallup notes “a strong institutional base of support: fraternals, mutual aid societies, vernacular press andradio,andnow ethnic heritage societies” (107) that have helped to preserve the language.However,a gradual weakeningof language use amongCzechs in Texas has beeninevitable despite the recently renewedinterest in ethnic matters.Apart from language itself, I also focus on the possible influences affecting the language maintenance: that is the press,educational support includingschools anduniversities, andreligion,whichhave playedanimportant role inthe preservationof language.As far as my sources are concerned, I would like to thank Lida Dutkova-Cope and Eva Eckert for providing me with their articles on the topic and ClintonMachann for his advice.Together,theyenabledme toget aninsight intothe problematics of language and helped me explore the development and decline of Czech in Texas from the beginningof the mainwave of CzechMoravianimmigrationuntil today.The works of Eva Eckert and Lida Dutkova-Cope are not paginated because I studied the authors’ versions in the text editor. My main sources include Krásná Amerika by Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl, which is also a comprehensive history of Czech immigration to Texas, Kameny na prérii and the above mentioned articles by Eva Eckert andLida Dutkova-Cope’s materials on the topic.Moreover,the structure of my work is similar to some parts of Machann and Mendl’s Krásná Amerika : it includes manyareasanditwasdifficulttoavoidcertainsimilaritiesintheoutline althoughItried tofigure it out onmyown.I decidedtofocus onlanguage andthe basis for mywork 2 became the chapter named“Czechlanguage,Journalism,andLiterature.” Besides these sources I alsousedsome informationconcerningtheissue from the Svoboda newspaper, eitherdrawingonmyownnotesor onthematerials byEva Eckert. All in all,Czechhas beentransplantedintoTexanenvironment andhas partly survived until today.The language has beenmaintaineddue to the immigrant press such as Svoboda , anunusuallylongterm attempt topreserve Czechineducational facilities, religionand various Czechclubs andorganizations concerningCzechissues.Although the communities ceasedtobe coherent after WorldWar II andthe most important piece of Czechjournalism inTexas, Svoboda ,discontinued,Czechseems tobe still surviving andis activelyusedamongthe descendents of the immigrants.However,its future is questionable, but when taking into consideration the activities of numerous organizations and individual people as well, and the possibility of teaching Czech at highschools, it is probable that CzechinTexas will be preservedand usedfor some time. 1.1 Definitions of Important Terms There are some potentially confusing terms that I use throughout the thesis, therefore I will explain their meaning.I oftenuse ‘Czech’ althoughit includes Texas Czechs who predominantly came from Moravia. As it would be awkward to employ phrases suchas MoravianTexas Czechetc,I have borrowedthe definitionof Machann and Mendl that “The term ‘Czech’ will be used to refer to a native of the traditional Czech regions or homelands: Bohemia, Moravia, and portions of Czech speaking Silesia” (6). Similarly, Gallup examines this problem and concludes that “the more accurate” expression would be “Texas CzechMoravian” (xi). Presupposing that the reader is now aware of the predominantlynortheasternMoravianorigin of the Czech immigrants inTexas,I will alsorefer to‘Texas Czechs’ v andthe ‘Czechlanguage in 3 Texas’ or ‘Texas Czech’ inthe same sense. vi MachannandMendl alsocomment onthe problematics of the different use of spelling and using capital letters in Czech and English. I mostly use Czech forms of names (e.g. ‘Haidušek’ instead of the americanized form ‘Haidusek’, ‘Mořkovský’ instead of ‘Morkovsky’). Again, when citingCzech names of books andother sources (e.g. Kameny naprérii ), vii I use onlythe initial capitalletterinthetitle,unlike inEnglishtitles. 1.2 The Situation in the Czech Lands in the Nineteenth Century KevinHannan viii reports that “The earliest immigrants arrivedinthe 1830s and 1840s.” He adds that “at least 80percent of the total SlavimmigrationtoTexas from Bohemia,Moravia andAustrian Silesia originatedin Moravia.” Dutkova-Cope