The Greeks of Carlisle and Harrisburg: An Historical Narrative of Two Greek Families from 1940 to 1970

Immigration in early 20th century America saw a great influx of people from the southeastern European country of Greece. My maternal great-grandfather, Vasilios Ramos, emigrated from Greece to America in 1915. As the renowned historian Theodore Saloutos noted, my great-grandfather was among 500,000 other Greeks who came to America before the\ud start of World War II. Did these half a million Greek immigrants assimilate and blend into\ud American society or did they adapt to their new home by adopting some American ideas such as\ud the capitalist economic system while keeping their old Greek cultural traditions and Greek\ud Orthodox religion and thereby become part of the immigrant American dream of success? All history is about a story. I have chosen to explore the Greek American community story in post-World War II. In my thesis, I examine the Greek community experience in the\ud Carlisle/Harrisburg area of Pennsylvania. The Greek communities in America have been examined in terms of their geographic location. I chose the Carlisle/Harrisburg area of Pennsylvania because most of my Greek family settled there. The story of my Greek American\ud family begins with my great-grandfather coming to America as a baby in the arms of his mother in 1915. Part of his story as a Greek American is my story and I am reconnecting with my Greek\ud heritage as part of my exploration of the Greek American community. In my thesis, I explore how Greek Americans in the Carlisle/Harrisburg area maintained their "Greekness" in America\ud post-World War II. In this paper, I present a collective narrative of Greek American voices through the use of\ud individual oral interviews. Specifically, my paper will focus on two Greek immigrants,\ud Constantinos (Charlie) N. Mallios and Vasilios (Basil) Ramos, and two of their American-born\ud children. The oral interviews included not only extended Greek family members in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but also members of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral. In addition to the use of oral interviews, I collected information from several books including those written by Greek historian, Theodore Saloutos and Greek sociologist, Charles C. Moskos. It is my conclusion that the stereotype of the successful Greek American community in America is true. The Greek American community has maintained the values family, faith and education and these values have promoted Greek Americans into the middle and upper middle-classes in American society. This was evident in my own Greek family and their achievement of\ud the American dream. In addition, they have also maintained their spiritual identity through their Christian and Orthodox faith. Like many ethnic groups in America, most of my Greek family married non-Greeks demonstrating the integration of Greek ethnicity in pluralistic American society. For some Greek Americans, including myself as an American of Greek descent, and maintaining Greek cultural customs and sometimes practicing the historic Greek Orthodox faith is what makes one Greek in twenty-first century America