Keith Vyvial

Czech Immigrants and the Moravian Brethren

            It seems to me that there has become a strong interest in younger people researching their family backgrounds and heritage.  Perhaps this arises from a sense of striving for some form of individuality from the dominant culture.  I have certainly obtained a growing interest in looking back at my family heritage as a fourth-generation Czech-American.  In my case I believe this sense of seeking some individuality is true.  I never knew my grandparents who did not speak English and have no direct sources of information outside of research.  Thus, I found myself wanting to research Czech immigrants coming to America.  It seems that I have had some preconceived notion that all immigrants met with terrible ordeals in the New World.  I wanted to find out just what trials Czech immigrants faced so that I could feel a sense of pity for them and be able, myself, to say, “Look what my people had to go through for freedom!”  Upon researching the Czech immigrants, I found that this was not quite the case.  Certainly, some of those coming from Czechoslovakia did have struggles.  However, what I ultimately found to be the most interesting information is how well the Czech people endured and influenced American culture.  For this research posting, I chose to pursue further information about one group seeking out religious freedom, the Moravian Brethren.  As Objective 1 reflects, they came in search of “the American Dream.”

            The Moravian Brethren, a mainline Protestant denomination, represented the first significant wave of Czech colonists.  They began arriving on the American shores in the first half of the eighteenth-century.  The Brethren were the followers of the teachings of the Czech reformer Jan Hus.  They were exiled after the defeat of the Protestants in 1620 and settled in Saxony.  Because of the worsening political and religious situation in Saxony, they ultimately decided to immigrate to North America.  Among the group of immigrants was John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, who became acquainted with their beliefs and teachings (Rechcigl 18).  The Moravian Brethren started coming to the New World in 1735, where they first settled in Savannah, Georgia, then in Pennsylvania; from there, they spread to other states after the American Revolution, particularly in Ohio (Kovtun).  They established a number of Moravian settlements, such as Bethlehem and Lititz in Pennsylvania, and Salem in North Carolina.

            These Moravian Brethren made great contributions to the growth and development of the U.S. culture.  This group became prominent educators, choosing to teach everyone, not just their own kind.  Even in these early years, the Moravian Brethren strongly supported women getting an equal education to men.  They were also noted to have spoken out for the abolition of slavery.  In 1742, they became founders of the sixth oldest college in America, the Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  In 1776, at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, more than two thousand Moravian Brethren lived in the colonies.  They established a close relationship with Thomas Jefferson, who designated special lands for them as they attempt to “civilize” the Indians and promote Christianity (“Czech Americans and Education”).  This information actually saddens me.  It brings me to the reality that these early Czech immigrants played their own part in the oppression of the Native Americans.  They were a part of the dominant culture which invaded the American Indian homeland and pushed their own culture and values on them.  This is reminiscent of the Jews displacing the Canaanites and especially of the Pilgrims coming to the homeland of the Native Americans.  The people that I wanted to identify with were actually a part of the American Nightmare of Objective 3, for the American Indians.  I think that I am partially saddened by remembering the poem “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government,” by Chrystos.  These Native Americans did not want us there.  They did not want our culture and religion pushed upon them.  From this I came to a realization that the dominant culture is nothing more than immigrants or ancestors of immigrants, themselves.  I am reminded of “The English Lesson” by Nicholasa Mahr.  Stephan Paczkowski is a Polish immigrant who greatly impressed Mrs. Hamma.  Perhaps this is in part because he is not only an immigrant, but also an educated white European; he could fit in with the dominant culture. 

My desire to feel pity for the Czech immigrants ultimately turned to a mix of both pride and disappointment.  They did not suffer quite the hardships I sought.  Rather, they assimilated into the existing dominant culture.  In many ways they also changed and improved upon that culture, while also falling into the trappings of believing that the Native Americans wanted or needed their teachings.  It seems that the dominant culture always thinks that their way is the best way.  The research altered my perception and brought new insight not only of Czech immigrants, but also of immigrants as a whole.  To continue my research, I would like to seek more information about how the religious beliefs of the Moravian Brethren have changed or adapted in modern times.  I would like to find out just what of their beliefs and teachings may still exist today.  I would also like to find out if there is any sort of link between the Moravian Brethren and Texas, which, according to Wikipedia, currently has the largest number of Czech-Americans, estimated at over 155,000 people (“Czech Immigrants”).  Although my initial goals were ultimately altered, I feel that I accomplished exactly what I did set out to find.  I gained much more understanding of my own heritage and the background of the people.

Works Cited

“Czech Americans and Education.”  Czechmatediary.com.  29 June 2007.  11 June

2008    <http://czechmatediary.com/category/czech-slovak-american-history/page/2/>.

“Czech Immigrants.”  Wikipedia.  Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.  11 June 2008

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_American>.

Kovtun, George.  European Reading Room.  Library of Congress.  11 June 2008

            <http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/imcz/ndl.html>.

Rechcigl, Miloslav, Jr.  “The Renewal and the Formation of the Moravian Church in

 America.”       Czechoslovak and Central European Journal.  9 (1990): 12-26.