Uzbek American
| ||||||
| Total population | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
4,842 (Uzbek ancestry or ethnic origin, US census in the year 2000)[1] 43,312 (Uzbek-born, 2007-2011)[2] | ||||||
| Regions with significant populations | ||||||
| States East Coast (from New York to Florida), States West Coast (Washington and California), Chicago, Indiana | ||||||
| Languages | ||||||
| English · Uzbek · Russian | ||||||
| Religion | ||||||
| Islam · Russian Orthodoxy · Judaism | ||||||
| Related ethnic groups | ||||||
| others Turkic peoples, Russians, Mongolian peoples | ||||||
Uzbek Americans or Uzbekistani Americans are Americans of Uzbek descent or Uzbek immigrants with American citizenship.
History
According to unofficial data, since the late 50's migrated over 1,000 Uzbek families to United States. The firsts of them came from Europe, but from the mid-60s they came, mainly, from Turkey and, lesser extent, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. So, between the 60´s and 70´s migrated to United States more than a thousand Uzbeks.
However, the biggest wave of Uzbek immigrants to the United States settled in this country in the 80s, from Afghanistan, because of the invasion of the Soviet army there. Since the early 90s to the present day, most of the Uzbeks of Uzbekistan who migrate to the U.S. settle here under the so-called Green Card Lottery".[3]
Demography
During the last 5-6 years, every year, around 1000-1800 Uzbeks win the lottery "green card" and settle in United States. Thus, more than 20,000 ethnic Uzbeks are citizens of the United States today.[4] Uzbeks live mainly in States East Coast (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida), States West Coast (Washington and California), Illinois (Chicago) and Indiana.
Most Uzbek migrants are engaged in business and science, working in various institutions and companies. Part of the Uzbek diaspora is involved in government offices, schools and colleges of the country, in areas like defense, aviation and medicine. Some representatives of the Uzbek diaspora in senior executive positions in a number of American states. In the United States, according to officials of law enforcement, representatives of the Uzbek diaspora are the most law-abiding and rarely violate the law. Among them are many families of models.[3]
Organizations
As with other ethnic groups in the United States, Uzbek Americans also have several cultural associations. One of the most important is the Uzbek American Association of Chicago (UAAC), established in January 2009. This association is a non-profit organization, whose goals are to assist the members of the Uzbek community in Chicago with any economic and "moral" troubles they may have; to favor the maintenance of the Uzbek language, culture, and traditions of Uzbek people in Chicago; to help the Uzbeks, whether they are children or adults, feel proud of their roots; and to help newly arrived Uzbeks in the Chicago area to adapt to U.S. life. This Uzbek association also organizes gatherings during the holidays.[5]
By other way, from December 13, 1958, Uzbeks of USA was formed the "Turkestan -America" (ATA) Association in Philadelphia (PA), which joined the citizens of the former Soviet Turkestan living in United States, taking advantage the growing number of immigrants in the United States of Central Asian origin. Under federal law the U.S. first registered Association in Philadelphia and, later (in 1961), it was recorded in New York.
The " Turkestan -America " Association is a non -profit organization that represents the interests of the community of Central Asia in the U.S. organization and help their integration into American society. Company activities intended to provide assistance and support of the peoples of Central Asia (AC ) in the United States, through the preservation of cultural and educational organizations and charitable activities of their native language, identity, cultural heritage and national traditions.
In the structure of society has a council homes and offices it comes to issues of women and youth. Comprehensive strengthening and intensifying the relationship between members of society, both within their organizations and with representatives of other U.S. and foreign communities, Turkestan society promotes awareness worldwide about the association " Turkestan America " about the history and culture of the peoples of Central Asia, to foster mutual understanding, trust and friendship between the peoples of Central Asia and America supports and strengthens the links with other similar organizations such as the Federation of American Turkey.
In order to improve their situation and protect the interests of the ATA provides its members a number of privileges and benefits. In particular, the Turkestan Association membership provides access to many resources and programs of society, inclusion on the mailing list of the organization; privileges in the election, the possibility to obtain special discounts on family and personal matters, space guarantees for burial on favorable terms; subscribe to newspapers, the ability to publish news and announcements on the website and ATA.
Currently the company is one of the largest NGOs in the U.S. and is highly respected. The association has a rather narrow and multilateral ties with the U.S. government, is active in the political life of the country. One of the main activities of the ATA was most recently anticommunist propaganda. Members of the public have used all Congress sessions, international conferences, festivals and other events in order to inform the world about the problems of Soviet Turkestan, tried to articulate what the nations of Central Asia are not able to say in conditions of strict censorship and lack of transparency. So they were in charge of the world about Stalin Bans buried without shroud fellow Uzbek people reprisals against Gorbachev.
At the same time, members of the ATA organized rallies and demonstrations outside the UN, wrote memoranda on the release of the Uzbek people . Faced with criticism of the Soviet system and protect the interests of the citizens of CA members of the association were active against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Besides the above, the Association of Turkestan participated annually in the activities with the "Captive Nations Week". "Captive Nations Week", which refers to Lithuania, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Estonia, "White Ruthenia" (Belarus), "Idel-Ural" (Volga region), "Cossacks" ("land of the Cossacks "), Turkestan, etc., which is held annually in the U.S. in the third week of July, according to Act of Congress "captive nations", № 86-90, adopted in 1958.[3]
Notable Uzbek-Americans
See also
- Uzbekistan-United States relations
References
- ↑ "Table 1. First, Second, and Total Responses to the Ancestry Question by Detailed Ancestry Code: 2000". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
- ↑ "PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES, Universe: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea, 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Этнические узбеки в США (in Russian: New Study: U.S. Uzbeks)
- ↑ Новое исследование: Американские узбеки (in Russian: ethnic Uzbeks in the U.S.)
- ↑ Uzbek American Association of Chicago (UAAC)