Hunky Culture

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Hunkies is an ethnic slur used in the United States to refer to a laborer from East-Central Europe. It originated in the coal regions of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where Poles and other immigrants from East-Central Europe (Hungarians (Magyar), Rusyns, Slovaks) came to perform hard manual labor on the mines. They were called hunkies by the American public which lumped them together into a category of Slavic immigrants, irrespective of their individual ethnic background. The use of the term as an ethnic slur has fallen into disuse,^[1] but the term hunky and the public image associated with it has historic relevance in the perception of Slavic immigrants in the United States. There is some usage of the term in other forms; for example, it is used to describe any mill worker in regions of Pennsylvania. The term would be Mill Hunky.^[2]

History

The term Hunky or Bohunk can be applied to various Slavic and Hungarian immigrants who moved to America from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The immigrants came en masse prior to the turn of the twentieth century (starting around 1880) seeking opportunity and religious freedom. The Hunkies' image was a departure from Hungarian prestige that peaked around Lajos Kossuth's visit in 1851-1852, aka Triumphal Tour.^[3]

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The Poles and other Slavic immigrants settled in highly industrial areas and shaped the culture of certain towns and cities. Native residents referred to them as hunkies, and in areas of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia, Slavic-Americans self-identify with the term without offense. There is a Labor Day festival in the city of Toronto, Ohio known as the "Hunky Fest". Ethnic food, prizes, and games are played during this festival.

In the summer of 1990 at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Arts Festival a 15 foot tall exterior sculpture entitled "Hunky Steelworker" caused outrage among ethnic eastern Europeans.^[5][6][7][8]

Hunky Blues - The American Dream. 100min. a film by Peter Forgács, 2009. premiere at MOMA, NY, and National Gallery Washington DC. 2009.^[9]

Péter Forgács the renown Hungarian filmmaker composed a poetic documentary exploring the fate of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian men and women who immigrated to the United States between 1890 and 1921. To tell their sagas Forgács weaved this grand epic from the early American cinema, found footage, photographs and interviews. The film reveals the difficult moments of arrival, integration and assimilation, which eventually fed the happiness of the later generations and their fulfillment of the American dream.

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