ABSTRACT
The Greek experience in the United States has been a blend of ethnic pride and resourceful participation in American society. In its early years it is the story of immigrants who suffered incredible hardships, many of whom, nevertheless, eventually became secure members of the middle class. The Greek experience in the United States also has a darker side: immigrants whose lives drained away in poverty and loneliness after serving the demands of an expanding industrial economy, exploitation of Greek by Greek, conflicts across generations, and misunderstandings between older and newer immigrants. Leaving aside the tenuous and self-serving belief that Columbus was descended from Byzantine nobility, one may ask who was the first Greek to arrive in America. Passing out of the mists of Greek-American antiquity we come to a remarkable episode of Greek-American relations. The Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Turks had gained the sympathy of many American and European philhellenes.
