Page:The Czechs of Cleveland (1919).pdf/7



This pamphlet is intended as a method of Americanizing the American. Those who have had long experience in the work of Americanization testify that if Americans in general would more readily recognize the value of what the immigrant brings to us it would be much easier to teach that immigrant the culture of America. Sympathy begets sympathy and a generous appreciation of the value of the newcomer is the best way to make him feel at home. And so in order to give to the native born citizens of Cleveland a knowledge of their foreign born neighbors a serics of booklets has been prepared and published. This is the sixth of the series.

The Czechs (more commonly known as Bohemians) constitute one of the largest and oldest groups of immigrants which has made Cleveland its home. More than a generation ago the Czechs started to settle in Cleveland and in the course of time have become a permanent and more stable element in the life of the city. The following pages describe how the Czechs first settled in the Croton Street section of the East Side when that marked the extreme limit of urban life and with the growth of the city moved steadily east and south. Bohemians have been leaders in the development of the great city in which they theythey [sic] found homes. Men and women of Bohemian birth have found their way into places of distinction in all of the varied activities of the city.

Only within the past three years, however, have Americans been brought to the realization of the splendid background of the Bohemian immigrant. The land of the Czechs, beautiful and productive beyond measure, has like Ireland been a place where liberty became the passionate quest of a people. Before the American Revolution the Czechs had fought without success for the right to govern themselves. That fight bore no fruit at home until that splendid event of the recent war, the signing of the Czecho-Slovak Declaration of Independence in our own Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And so the Czechs of Cleveland even before they left their native land were united with America in that aspiration for the right of self-expression which after all is the best and most precious American heritage. As Americans, the Czechs have been worthy of all the opportunities which they found in their adopted home. Their story should make every American a better and more generous citizen.