The early Greek immigration experience offers an opportunity for addressing the relative absence of Greeks in the mainstream literature by situating them within the broader American historical context. How did Greeks navigate new boundaries of race, religion, and education? In what ways do these experiences enrich the scholarship of this period? Who were the stakeholders who emerged to define these ideas, and impact the growing Greek American communities throughout the United States? Each of the panelists offers a range of perspectives that redefines the Greek immigration narrative of that time.

In this session, the imaginary of the “illiterate immigrant” is challenged through an exploration of a particular genre of Greek-produced literature that emerged during the early period—informational guides. These texts, which demonstrate the flow of knowledge through social networks, offered Greek immigrants arriving to America and Canada advice on how to navigate their new environment. The leading figure of this genre was Seraphim Canoutas, a Greek-born lawyer, who published and updated the Greek American Guide from 1908-1915. These guides offer a counternarrative to the early paternalistic studies about Greeks produced by Protestant missionaries such as Henry Pratt Fairchild, Thomas Burgess, and Thomas James Lacey.

The Greek American Guide communicated valuable information on American habits and ways to help orient Greek immigrants in their new homeland, however, it could not prepare or safeguard them from the discrimination and violence many of them would encounter. While the Ludlow Massacre of Colorado (1914) was one of the more well documented miners strikes that involved large numbers of Greeks, acts of violence and discrimination against Greeks occurred throughout the United States. One panelist interrogates the extent to which Greeks embraced the racial hierarchies embedded within American society before World War II.

The stereotype of success of the early Greek immigrants overshadows the severe poverty that many families experienced upon arrival and throughout their settlement. Another panelist reveals the extent to which this poverty is revealed in community organizations’ efforts to care for and educate Greek children whose parents were deceased or simply could no longer care for them. These efforts began as early as 1912 with the founding of the Greek American Institute (GAI), New York’s first Greek Orthodox orphanage and parochial school established in the Bronx. However, it was only after the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America consolidated its power that efforts to support an orphanage became a sustained reality. These efforts incorporated women’s philanthropic organizations that cut across class lines and enabled Greek American women to promote education and to leverage their social and intellectual networks in support of their communities.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America played a vital role in the lives of Greek Americans. The final panelist underscores the Church’s substantial influence on immigrant life, with a particular focus on political, cultural and philanthropic oversight. The analysis highlights the Archbishop’s impact on national identity and community cohesion, drawing from Alexander Kitroeff’s recent historical work on the subject (2020).