Life of Armenian immigrants in US

BASED ON: Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, 2nd edition. Edited by Jeffrey Lehman. New York: Gale Group, 2000

The first wave of Armenians settled in Boston and New York, primarily because 90% of the few earlier Armenian immigrants lived there. Armenians were attracted to the factories of New England, and some other started small businesses in New York. Of the Armenians who immigrated in the 1980s, over 75% settled in Los Angeles. Since 1975, Los Angeles has had the largest Armenian community outside of Armenia- there are about 280,000 Armenians in the area. Other areas with high numbers of Armenian Americans are Michigan (10%, 70,000), Greater Boston (15%, 100,000), and Greater New York (15%, 100,000).
Early Armenian immigrants were mostly unskilled laborers who worked in wire mills, garment factories, silk mills, or vineyards. In the first wave of immigration, Armenians were often entrepreneurs who started small businesses. They also were known as rug merchants as they dominated the oriental carpet business. Second generation Armenians were primarily professional and involved in managerial occupations. Third generation Armenians and immigrants after WWII are typically educated professionals or businesspeople. They have little difficulty finding employment opportunities in the United States. Armenians are typically inclined to the sciences, technology, engineering, and medicine.
Education is very important to Armenian culture, and a survey has found that about 83% of Armenian American high schoolers plan to attend college. Higher education is valued and an emphasis is placed on professionalism.
Although learning American customs, language, and norms has been easy for Armenians, but they retain their own associations, churches, social networks, and friendships. As time goes on, newer generations have an idea of 'being Armenian' while acting fully American. Binding forces include churches, Armenian day schools, tight family structures, language, festivals, and they want to protect and remember Armenian culture, which is highly developed. Political and religious differences between Armenians, 'out of touch' cultural organization leaders, and the lack of a coordinating body among various groups pushed the Armenian community apart.
Armenian Americans are often community leaders, professionals, or business people who are well off and are contribute positively to the United States, both economically and socially. Armenian Americans are often active in government at almost every level.
It is interesting to know that Armenians were referred to as 'The Anglo-Saxons of the Middle East' by British writers in the 19 century, as they had more western values. Armenians are sometimes skeptical of American culture as they note that Armenian culture has lasted for 2,500 years while American culture has been in existence for only 400 years.Armenian immigrants are highly motivated contributors to American society, and they place a high value on education and success. Despite coming to the United States as primarily semi-skilled people, many Armenian Americans are educated business people and professionals.

Waves of Armenian Immigration

It is normal to say that Armenians are an international nation as as a nation, members of it can be found living just beside many other nations in many other countries. Here it is a short view of how Armenians came to America.
The first real wave of immigration from Armenia to the United States was in the 1890s. Before then, there were only about 70 Armenians in US, and most of these immigrants planned to return to Armenia after they finished their education. From 1890-1914, about 64,000 Turkish Armenians came to the United States before WWI. After 1920, a second wave of 30,771 Armenian refugees fled to the United States until 1924 when immigration restrictions limited the number of Armenian immigrants to 150 per year. A third wave of immigration came following WWII, when 700,000 Armenians immigrated to Europe or the United States. It is unknown exactly how many immigrants came to the U.S. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates about 60,000 Armenians came between 1980-1989.
As some push factors it can be mentioned that as the Ottoman Empire began to fall apart in the 1890s, rich Christian minorities were targeted and violently persecuted. Turkish nationalism was on the rise and Christians were treated like 'non-Muslin infidels', many of these people were Armenian, and this encouraged immigration to the United States. From 1915-1920, there was a government organized genocide of a million Armenians. After WWI, survivors of the genocide escaped to the United States, and these people made up the second wave. After WWII, increasing Arab and Turkish nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism, and socialism threatened Armenians in the Middle East.As some pull factors it can be mentioned that many Armenians came as refugees fleeing persecution. The 'pull' to the United States was far weaker than the 'push', as most Armenians came to escape violence in their home countries. Immigrants came to join the few relatives or friends who had come to the United States earlier. Immigrants had greater freedom and safety in the United States, and they would not be persecuted.