Historical Czech Lecture with Dr. Martin Nekola

Join us for a lecture about the “History of Czech Communities in the USA.”

Thousands of people dreamed of leaving poor Bohemian lands, crossing the ocean and entering the country of endless hope. Around 1506, the first news about America in the Czech language had spread across Bohemia and was received with great interest.

In 1585, the alchemist and metallurgist Joachim Gans from Prague arrived, as part of an English expedition, on the shores of today´s North Carolina and was probably the first Czech who ever set foot on American soil.

In the following two centuries, more individuals or small groups of pioneers went through the dangerous journey to find happiness on a mysterious continent in the West. Only after the middle of the 19th century was there a massive wave of migration.

The lecture will focus on the development of Czech neighborhoods in Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and St. Louis and other big cities where the Czechs showed an extraordinary desire to associate, and founded a number of compatriot associations, businesses, schools and churches, as well as publishing numerous periodicals.