West
Friday, 24 December 2010 14:55
administrator
Quick Facts
- In the second half of 19th century, most Serbs in California lived in mine regions, but later settled bigger communities.The Serbs of California formed social-cultural organizations, church-schooling communities and parishes. They were initially united with Russians, Greeks and Syriacs thus part of mixed Orthodox Christian parishes. Russian clergymen supported the idea of Serbian parishes since the ethnic groups had differing customs (Language, overall traditions, Krsna slava etc.).The largest number of Californian Serbs today live in San Francisco and Los Angeles
- In the early stages of Serbian immigration, fraternal mutual aid societies and insurance companies preceded the church as the centers of Serbian American community life. These were formed for economic reasons, as the new arrivals needed to find ways to protect themselves against the hazards of dangerous and life-threatening work in mines, foundries, or factories. In the early years the Serbs readily joined other Slavic groups, such as the Slavonic Benevolent Organization founded in San Francisco in 1857, which served all South Slavs.
- In time, Serbian immigrants formed their own organizations, starting as local groups, lodges, assemblies, and societies whose goals were the preservation of culture, social welfare, and fraternal sentiment. The first such organization was the Srpsko Crnogorsko Literarno i Dobrotvorno Društvo (Serbian-Montenegrin Literary and Benevolent Society) founded in San Francisco in 1880. Other societies followed and began to form federations, such as the Srpsko Crnogorski Savez (Serbian-Montenegrin Federation) whose headquarters were in Butte, Montana, and which ceased to exist because most of its members left to fight in the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and in World War I.
- The first Serbian churches in America were established in Jackson, California, in 1893. The first American-born Serbian Orthodox priest, the Reverend Sebastian Dabovich (1863-1940), the son of a Serbian pioneer in California, was appointed head of the Serbian mission in the United States by the Patriarch in Moscow in 1905.
- Rose Ann Vuich (c.1927 - August 30, 2001) served as a member of the California State Senate from 1977 until 1993. She was the first female member of the California State Senate
