Fresno

From Armeniapedia.org

California is one of the few places outside of Armenia to offer public art that does not relate to the subject of Genocide. These include the statues of William Saroyan (1950) and David of Sassoun (1950) in Fresno by the artist Varaz Samuelian.

Contents 1 History 2 Timeline 3 Famous Armenians from Fresno 4 See also 5 Armenians find reason to celebrate 6 External links

[edit] History

The first Armenians to move to Fresno were the brothers Hagop and Garabed Seropian, who arrived in 1881. Their letters to their home village of Marsovan in the Ottoman Empire brought more immigrants to the San Joaquin Valley, which reminded them so much of home. By 1894 the Armenian population in Fresno was 360, a number which grew rapidly with the onset of the Hamidian Massacres in 1895-96. The massacres and persecution of the Armenians by the Turks fueled the growth until it reached about 10,000 even before the start of the Armenian Genocide. Many of the immigrants were protestant converts, the result of heavy missionary activity in Armenia by American Christians seeking converts from the Armenian Church. During and after the genocide even more Armenians came until the restrictions on immigration in 1921 and 1924 brought this to a virtual end. Los Angeles also became a focus of Armenian immigration, and some Armenians from Fresno moved there as well. The number of Armenians in LA surpassed those in Fresno in 1930 - partly because of the agricultural depression in the valley during the 1920s.

The early immigrants were primarily involved with farming and agriculture, with the ultimate goal almost always that of land ownership. By 1930 Armenians owned 40% of the raisin acreage in Fresno County. The were pioneers in the melon and fig production as well.

From the very beginning, bigotry against Armenians was common, and led many to Anglicize their names. In the 1890s Armenian Protestants were stripped of membership in local churches. Fear of Armenian land ownership caused the passage of laws restricting their rights to freely buy land. This attitude towards the tight knit Armenian community led some to try and assimilate, while having the opposite affect on others. The problem lasted for many decades, finally abating in the 1950s.

After WWII, displaced Soviet Armenians came from Germany, and a natural population flow of Armenians from east to west in the US also contributed to growth.

Today, the number of Armenians in Fresno is thought to number 25-30,000.

[edit] Timeline

*1881 - first Armenians move to Fresno

• 1894 - large influx due to Hamidian Massacres
• 1897 - First Armenian Presbyterian Church constructed
• 1900 - Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church built, which burned in 1914 and was rebuilt in a new location in the heart of "Little Armenia".
• 1901 - Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church
• 1902 - Kaghakatsi (meaning Citizen) founded, renamed Nor Or (meaning New Day) in 1923.
• 1908 - Asbarez (meaning Arena) newspaper founded.
• 1957 - California Courier, which was California's first English-language newspaper.
• 1970s - Establishment of Armenian Community School of Fresno and the Armenian Studies department at California State University Fresno.

[edit] Famous Armenians from Fresno

• William Saroyan
• Kirk Kerkorian
• Jerry Tarkanian

[edit] See also

• Armenian Churches in Fresno

[edit] Armenians find reason to celebrate

Bee staff08/30/08 22:22:27

The Musa Dagh Commemoration Committee in Fresno held its annual picnic and celebration Saturday at the Fresno Police Association's training grounds.

This year marks the 93rd year of remembrance of stand off at Musa Dagh (Mountain of Moses). The mountain is located in the Southern part of what is today Turkey, near the Syrian border on the Gulf of Iskenderun in the Medeterrean. Six Armenian villages lived along the Mountain side. When Ottoman authorities gave them orders to evacuate, they decided to stay and resist the Turkish millitary forces rather than be victims of a death march. A novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, by Franz Werfel published in 1933 depicts this resistance by these brave Armenians.

The villagers, under siege by the Turks during the Armenian genocide, fought off the soldiers for 53 days before being saved by a French ship passing by on the Mediterranean Sea. The celebration Saturday began with the cooking of the Harissa, a lamb and whole wheat stew.

The event also included traditional music and dancing.

It continues today with church services at 10:30 a.m., a blessing of the Harissa and music until 3 p.m.

The picnic began in 1978 with a few families keeping the culture alive and now attracts between 800 and 1,000 people each year from as far away as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Canada.

This article contains text from a source with a copyright. Please help us by extracting the factual information and eliminating the rest in order to keep the site in accordance to fair use standards, or by obtaining permission for reuse on this site..

[edit] External links

• Fresno Armenian Events Calendar

Whos here now:   Members 0   Guests 0   Bots & Crawlers 1