## 15. Epilogue: Historical Memory and the Identity of the Expatriate Community

"The more we know about our predecessors and ourselves, the better we can arrange our lives toward the desired good objectives. If we know nothing about ourselves, then, of course, no one else will want or need to know anything about us. If we have no means to tell Americans that we are here, that we have been here for a long time, and that we are working toward common freedom and prosperity, then who will uphold our honor? Who will speak favorably of us someday? Who will remember us?"
—from a call to write the history of American Czechs, 1874 [41]

Acculturation into American society, religious conflict, national assimilation, and other processes inherent to the Czech-American environment underwent new transformations in later decades, stemming from the different conditions of the times. I will not conclude this work with their outline, which would, after all, warrant another, undoubtedly even more extensive text. Instead, I will focus on just one element of the Czech-American community of the late 19th and 20th centuries. I will attempt to illustrate how, with the passage of time, its "founding" period was perceived and interpreted. Given that the foundation of collective memory is the awareness of a shared past, the second life of the pioneering decades was extraordinarily important for the intellectual world of expatriate America. It was here that the answers to the fundamental questions "who are we" and "where do we belong" were found.

I believe that in historical memory, at least three significant motifs can be identified that connected the expatriate community with the period of its inception. Two of them were related to its (self-)definition, and all three were characterized by (self-)idealization. The first and relatively least significant element of commemorative culture was the notion of the originally cohesive expatriate life, which we frequently encounter around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The pioneering decades appeared on the pages of memorials and memoirs as an era "when true expatriate harmony and enthusiasm prevailed among us for everything related to our nation and the dear homeland across the sea." [1424] The roots of this phenomenon lay in the natural tendency to embellish the past, in the undeniably progressing Americanization of the second and third immigrant generations, but also in the sharp religious division that reached its peak precisely in the decades around the turn of the century. [1425] Many compatriots considered the pronounced partisanship between freethinkers and traditional believers to be ruinous, and as a model to follow, they highlighted the supposedly trouble-free times of their youth. An example of this tendency was the formerly irreconcilable anticlerical Jan Borecký, who issued empty appeals in the press to overcome the religious split. The culmination of his efforts was the brochure "Chapters for the History of the Czech-Moravian People in the United States" from 1896, in which he claimed, for instance, that in the old days, the first Czech priests "lived in good harmony with all Czech citizens, whether they belonged to the church or not." [1426] "We all lived in unity like children of one nation, speaking one language and lovingly remembering the only homeland. Everywhere, everyone undertook everything together." [1427]

Although the religious conflict was initially not as omnipresent and institutionalized as it was later, such interpretations were, of course, exaggerated and simplistic. Essentially, it was nothing more than projecting a perfect model into the past. Perhaps it could be said that they were operating with the archetype of a golden age, for whose establishment one can strive, but which is, by its very nature, unattainable. [1428][1429]

The second important element of commemorative culture was connected with a very specific political event. It was related to the Civil War, specifically with Czech participation. The groundbreaking four-year conflict occupied an extraordinary position in the collective memory of the entire United States, and it is logical that the Czechs could not lag behind. The Civil War remained intensely present in the public sphere long after its conclusion, or rather, it continues to have an impact to this day. Shortly after the last shots faded, monuments began to be built and commemorative celebrations held; in 1868, the memorial holiday Decoration Day (now Memorial Day) was established. [1430] Military veterans gathered at reunions of their units and in the North formed the extraordinarily influential organization Grand Army of the Republic, to which many Czechs also belonged. Just as the assassinated Lincoln was posthumously placed on a pedestal, the military participation in the war began to be glorified. These verses celebrated the Czech veterans of the 22nd Iowa Infantry Regiment in a poem by a certain B.B.L., composed at the time of the twenty-fourth anniversary of their enlistment in the Union Army:

"When first the roar of civil war began,
Every patriot seized his arms in hand;
The starry banner was unfurled,
Saluted by the Irishman, Czech, and German.
Fertile Iowa, too, moved forward,
To bury slavery, to birth freedom!" [1431]

Regarding the reason for enlisting, veterans usually remained sober in personal recollections, but in the public sphere and media, their motive was explained unequivocally patriotically and pathetically. A commentary on the biography of one veteran from 1914 stated: "Among the self-sacrificing heroes of the victorious Northern Army were many of our own, Czech immigrants. Many of them had scarcely warmed themselves in America, but when they heard the sad news that the own sons of America were shooting at the flag of their homeland, that this land of hope for oppressed people of all nations had found itself on the brink of ruin and destruction, they forgot why they had come to America, that they had actually only wanted to help themselves to property and a contented future here, but they took up arms and, leaving behind their families and everything dear and precious to them in the world, willingly offered their bodies to the bullets of rebellious slaveholders." [1432][1433] The essence of such statements was clear: the Czech minority diligently fought for the preservation of the Union and for freedom, thus proudly aligning themselves with other ethnicities inhabiting the United States. It seems to me as if, in view of the unpopularity of the "new immigration," there was still an unspoken addendum in the background: we came before its outbreak, and our participation in the war confirms it.

The expatriate minority exaggerated the ranks of Czech soldiers, even "appropriated" the massacre of pro-Union Germans on the Nueces River in Texas in 1862 by presenting its victims as "Czechs, Moravians, and Germans." [1434] Emphasizing and idealizing wartime participation anchored them on American soil and gave them confidence. This pride achieved physical embodiment in the form of a monument to Czech soldiers, unveiled in 1892 during a great celebration on the grounds of the Czech National Cemetery in Chicago. The cemetery's chairman, Josef Matoušek, on that occasion declared: "We are Americans and love our new homeland not only in words but also in deeds, as this monument proves." [1435]

The third and, in my opinion, most important subject of collective memory touched upon the very foundations of the expatriate community—the reason for its existence. As long as compatriots were American Czechs, and not Americans of Czech origin, they necessarily had to seek justification for leaving their homeland. Especially since they mythologized their homeland and proclaimed it as dear, beautiful, beloved, etc. The solution found to this paradox was elegant and allowed them to save face toward both the old and new homeland. It became the idea that the unequivocal reason for leaving their native land was the pursuit of freedom. It is of course true that freedom was an inseparable part of the image of the United States. At the same time, however, it cannot be concealed that economic reasons stood behind the mass Czech emigration, as in other countries. Reports of American freedom were, in most cases, not the primary impulse for emigration but rather a factor influencing the choice of destination. However, in the collective memory of expatriate America, since its earliest years, a different version dominated. Slowan Amerikánský (The American Slavic) stated as early as 1860 that "desiring freedom and liberty, we left our dear homeland, this delightful Czech-Slavic paradise, which our ancestors considered it the greatest punishment ever to leave." [1436][1437]

The notion of an internal conflict between love for the homeland and love for freedom, which are due to external conditions simultaneously unattainable, implied an element of sacrifice, sometimes even martyrdom.

There are numerous examples of this historical interpretation. Very succinctly, Karel Jonáš expressed this sentiment in a speech delivered on the occasion of the opening of the Czech theater hall in Manitowoc: "But just as Czechs were the first in Austria who, seized by the current of the French Revolution [in 1848], began to defend human rights, so they were again the first against whom the fury of despotism and the rage of reaction turned, and they succeeded in a short time to strangle the new national life, to trample the youthful sowing of freedom. The reaction triumphed. Of the Czech achievements, nothing remained except the liberation of the Czech peasantry from serfdom; national equality and civil freedom were again eradicated to the last trace. Sad times again befell the Czech homeland. Many patriots despaired of the future and began to look longingly... That was the beginning of Czech emigration to America. Let's look back 250 years. On White Mountain, we perished. The independent Czech state was crushed to dust. Thousands of Czech emigrants left the unfortunate homeland. At the borders, they fell to their knees, soaked that dear land [...] and wrapped a clod of it into their bundle [...]. What kind of emigrants were they? Not paupers driven out by poverty. They were the flower of the Czech nation. They left behind comfort at home, scorned earthly possessions, and what did they seek abroad? Freedom, which was strangled on the soil of the homeland. So too did the first emigrants after 1848 sail across the ocean to seek not pots of meat, but the most precious possession of an awakened person—freedom." [1438] This interpretation tenaciously persisted into the 20th century. For example, in a newspaper article about the history of Texas Czechs from 1967, we can read that the first pioneers did not come with the notion of material gain but to attain the rights guaranteed by the American Constitution: "Entire settlements in Texas were founded by Czech immigrants seeking freedom." [1439]

Stereotypes about three hundred years of Habsburg oppression, from which lovers of freedom fled to an overseas refuge, even penetrated the academic world. Given the religious division of Czech America into freethinking, Catholic, and Protestant camps, however, this image was not universally accepted. Each side built a somewhat different version of immigration history that corresponded to its confessional identity (and which simultaneously reinforced its identity). Opinions expressed in the previous paragraph were characteristic mainly for the freethinkers. The "push" factor driving Czechs out of the Austrian Empire, in their version, was the two-headed dragon of political and ecclesiastical oppression, or "priestcraft and the imperial whip," as expressed by a certain František Fallada. [1440] Anticlericalism retrospectively led to numerous distortions of the "great" history of the Czech lands, but also of everyday life within them. This is how one freethinker described Czech education under Austria in the mid-20th century: "In their own homeland, these descendants of Hussite warriors, who were anti-Catholic, were forced to send their children to Catholic schools under the supervision of a rotten, ruthless, arrogant, and unyielding clergy, [and therefore] no religion satisfied them." [1442]

Political and religious "rottenness" and "despotism" in the Habsburg monarchy were greatly exaggerated, sometimes to the point of being amusing. [1443] In this regard, the freethinking tradition strongly resonated with Protestants, who similarly abhorred "humbly bending the neck and doffing the cap, whether they wanted to or not, before any little official or priest arrogantly passing by with a little bell." [1444] In their collective memory, of course, the crucial element was the desire for free practice of faith, which related to the connection between the religious legacy of ancestors and "proper" Czech identity. The Protestant commemorative culture likewise tended to exaggerate and dramatize the suffering of the Czech nation under the Habsburg yoke in the 19th century. Compared to the freethinkers, biblical motifs appeared in their interpretation, casting America as the "new Canaan." [1445][1446][1447] In this respect, Czech Protestants followed in the footsteps of English Puritans of the 17th century. [1448]

"A remarkable sermon from the late 1940s on the theme 'Our Pioneer Fathers,' given in Texas by Pastor Václav Vavřina, has been preserved: 'Just as the unbearable Egyptian slavery expelled the people of Israel from Egypt and compelled them to journey to the land promised to their fathers, so the ruthless and cruel treatment by the Austrian government forced our fathers to leave their friends and their homeland, which they loved, and to build their primitive homes here on the uninhabited wilderness of Great Texas and on the wooded wilderness and prairies of the northern states, and to establish their Czech-Slovak settlements. [...] They brought with them Books as the most precious treasures from the homeland and sang the songs of Zion from the old Hymnals, which they had learned in their congregations in Bohemia and Moravia...'" [1449][1450]

The last participant in the imaginary struggle for the memory of expatriate America was the Catholic camp. Like the Catholic "ghetto" in the old homeland, Czech-American Catholics found themselves on the defensive. The causes of emigration were usually shrouded in silence in their case. [1451] Unlike "oppressed" freethinkers and Protestants, they lacked similarly easy and attractive explanations for emigration. Leading the Catholic camp were priests, people generally conservative in political terms, and to some extent connected with Vienna's Leopoldine Society until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the Catholic camp did not emphasize the Austrian conditions too much. A certain shift occurred only as a result of the emergence of a free Czechoslovakia. With reference to the pioneer ancestors, terms like heroism or freedom were also spoken of in the Catholic environment but without closer specification. According to the book "From the Struggle for the Freedom of the Fatherland" from 1924, dedicated to the activities of the Catholic camp during the war, the impetus for the first emigrants was "unbearable conditions." However, these were not political or religious conditions but social poverty. Priest Jan Arnošt Žižka stated in his sociological work "Cultural Contributions of American Czechs" that the general reason was the expectation of a better livelihood. [1452] The absence of pronounced causes of emigration in the Catholic narrative of their own history was compensated by the fact that their priority actually lay elsewhere—in the bond to language and faith. A historical publication issued at the end of the 1930s by the National Alliance of Czech Catholics in Texas was, according to its authors, to be read "like a beautiful fairy tale that reveals moral strength and fidelity to God." [1453][1454][1455]

The existence of three confessionally conditioned versions of Czech beginnings in the New World is essentially analogous to the contention between the Catholic-conservative and Evangelical-national concepts of Czech history, which were discussed in the domestic environment within the context of the dispute over the meaning of Czech history. A similar process in Czech America was understandably far less colorful and rich. It did not transform into any great intellectual work or controversy. Instead, it modestly moved on the pages of magazines and the relatively few books, in speeches, lectures, and sermons. It might seem that relating Czech-American myths to the recent past was a sign of inferiority compared to "standard" national mythologies, but for the American environment, this is a characteristic tendency. [1456] Likewise, it is irrelevant that the constructs of the expatriate historical memory did not achieve the sophistication of, for example, historical myths related to Czech national history. What mattered was that they moved within historical memory and influenced current reality. The power of the image of the expatriate community as, in effect, a political exodus naturally manifested itself in the years 1914–1918.

## 16. Conclusions

This work aimed to explore the early decades of the Czech expatriate community in the 19th-century United States and thoroughly place them within the contemporary context of both Czech and American history. Its focus (with certain overlaps) is on the period from the early 1850s to the late 1870s. The main subject of the work is the national, cultural, and religious aspects of this issue.

The wave of migration arriving in the early 1850s was preceded by earlier, usually individual emigrants. We have little information about most of the emigrants from the pre-March era. However, there were also socially significant individuals among them, especially artists. Their typical feature was denationalization. Few of them later associated with members of the main migration wave. Three special groups can be identified among these pioneers: Bohemian and Moravian Jews, motivated by their unequal status in Austria; occasional missionaries sent to the USA by the Viennese Leopoldine Society; and military deserters. The later mass emigration stemmed primarily from unsatisfactory economic development in specific areas of the Czech lands. It was further reinforced by the reputation of America as a land of better opportunities and freedom. This image helps to understand why the largest part of emigrants headed there, and not to more accessible destinations, such as Russia from the 1860s. The United States enjoyed considerable admiration among revolutionaries, democrats, liberals, and later socialists.  The not very numerous political emigration, which played a significant role in the expatriate environment (including leading newspaper editorial offices), was recruited from these ranks. From the state's point of view, emigration meant a weakening of the country's economic potential, and therefore, initially, there were attempts to combat it, for example, by persecuting emigration agents. Anti-emigration agitation in the press, peddler songs, fiction, etc., became a permanent phenomenon, taken up by Czech society itself, which perceived emigration as a weakening of the nation.

Despite these pressures, emigration grew dynamically, albeit with certain fluctuations caused by economic recessions and the American Civil War. For potential emigrants, by far the most credible source of information about America was letters from their relatives and friends, through which individual links of chain migration were connected. In the designated period, we can observe the process of the "disenchantment" of America, which took place thanks to the media, bringing increasingly regular, detailed, and reliable information about events across the Atlantic, and personal correspondence. This development contrasted with the strong naivety regarding the USA in the pre-March era and partly still in the 1850s.

Due to the geographical dispersion of Czech emigration across a number of American states, no second "Bohemia" was created, although there were many attempts to concentrate immigrants and establish special Czech "colonies." The separation from the homeland, combined with the still strong Czech nationalism, led to a linguistic-cultural concept of the new homeland, which was similar to older National Revival ideas. In the years 1861-1863 and 1867-1869, there were attempts to implement two ambitious transmigration projects related to Slavic, or rather Russophile, sentiments in Czech society. These were plans to resettle American Czechs to the Amur and the Caucasus. Extensive discussions took place around both projects, and committed individuals devoted much effort to them. In the first case, two expatriate emissaries were even sent to Russia. Nevertheless, it seems that skepticism prevailed among most compatriots regarding the resettlement plans, supported by highlighting the USA as a haven of freedom in contrast to Russia as a symbol of despotism. The first plan was ended by the Polish January Uprising, the second gradually fizzled out.

In the first half of the 1860s, the United States went through the bloodiest military conflict in its history. Despite later interpretations by the compatriots themselves, Czechs were not unconditional supporters of Abraham Lincoln. Especially in St. Louis, radical Republicans, for whom the president's policy was too compromising, had a strong position. We can also encounter supporters of the Democratic Party. Hundreds of Czechs fought in the war, overwhelmingly on the side of the North. Unlike other minorities, however, they were unable to form their own ethnic unit. Despite various political orientations, siding with the South was exceptional, even in Texas, the only Confederate state populated by a larger number of compatriots. The cardinal issue related to the war and post-war reconstruction was the question of slavery and the status of blacks. Czech society in Europe perceived it as a disgrace to the USA. Czech immigrants came across the Atlantic with this opinion and mostly retained it. However, this was not true of everyone. The fact that the attitude towards blacks became problematized and diversified on American soil can be considered evidence of deepening acculturation.

Compatriots brought the roots of another conflict with them from their homeland. As the case of the St. John of Nepomuk settlement in St. Louis, the oldest Czech parish in the USA, shows, religious controversies soon began to grow among them, dividing them into mutually competing Catholic, freethinking, and a small Protestant camp. The most prominent role was played by freethinking, a movement based on anti-clericalism, rationalism, and progressivism. It stemmed from similar roots as the Young Czechs, but American conditions made it more aggressive and widespread. Members of traditional churches, on the other hand, found themselves in a weakened position in the American environment. They lacked financial resources and, above all, clergy. This was especially true for Protestant congregations, which, unlike Catholics, lacked foreign support and patronage in the form of a nationwide church organization. The religious conflict stemmed not only from different ideological viewpoints, but also from property disputes between Catholic parishioners and the church hierarchy. However, it should be emphasized that despite the occasional sharp escalation of this conflict, we encounter examples of its overcoming.

The freethinking movement was not ideologically exceptional. Compatriots themselves drew on the works of foreign authors and also had their counterparts among the German *Freidenker* and American Freethinkers. Compared to other ethnic groups, their numerical growth is striking. In terms of content, it was a diverse conglomerate, which included even believers who had fallen out with their priest. The most distinctive form of the movement was represented by František Matouš (Ladimír) Klácel, who brought deeper philosophical and utopian ideals to it. Although he did not find many followers during his lifetime, after his death he became an icon of expatriate freethinking. In comparing American Czechs with the second largest Czech emigrant group of that time, Czechs in Volhynia, the problematic position of the Catholic Church in the context of Czech nationalism is confirmed.

American awareness of the Czech ethnicity was limited by several negative circumstances. Primarily, it was its small number and the absence of an independent Czech state. Although we can find thousands of mentions of Czechs and the Czech lands in the contemporary press, they represent a negligible fraction of the total output. In everyday life, Americans often assigned Czechs to other ethnic groups, mostly Germans. Most of them imagined a Gypsy or a bohemian under the term "Bohemian," which was used for Czechs in English at that time. Only the population of cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, and others, where a significant number of Czechs lived, or the neighbors of Czech settlers in the countryside, became more generally acquainted with the Czech ethnicity. American interest in events in the Czech lands was marginal. Protestant churches and missionary societies showed some interest, although even this cannot be overestimated. For these reasons, no American stereotype of the Czech immigrant emerged, and the view of compatriots stemmed from the overall image of immigration to the USA. From the mid-19th century, American nativism used biological arguments against immigrants. However, its main objections traditionally lay in hostility towards Catholics and the belief in the alleged incompetence of immigrants to participate in the running of the republic. It is true that among American Czechs, especially at first, we witness a difficult adaptation to American institutions, elections, etc.

Gradually, the situation improved. There were attempts to unite Czechs into a voting bloc, and American politicians also began to court them.

Czechs proudly embraced American values (freedom, republicanism). On the other hand, they strongly opposed the Habsburg monarchy, perceived as an oppressor of the Czech nation, which corresponded to Austria's bad reputation in the USA. They felt nostalgia for the Czech lands themselves, and due to their still short stay across the ocean, they were still closely connected with the efforts of the Czech emancipation movement at home. For these reasons, we find a considerable response to the press trial of Julius Grégr, the declaration of Austro-Hungarian dualism, etc. At the end of the 1860s, there was an attempt to create a large National Fund to support the homeland. Much more successful than this grandiose initiative were spontaneous actions, such as supporting the victims of the floods in Bohemia in 1872. The Czech-American community in this period had a certain duality, manifested, for example, by the parallel use of both Czech and American national symbols. Despite repeated proofs of patriotism, the view of emigration as national treason prevailed in the old country. We encounter this attitude in the press, in fiction, in economic treatises, etc. It stemmed from the belief that emigrants were lost to their nation, which was confirmed by the rapidly progressing Americanization of children. Even many leading compatriots failed to raise them bilingually.

The early period played a significant role in the historical memory of expatriate America. We encounter three elements in it above all: 1) an embellished image of an originally harmonious community, 2) idealization of Czech participation in the Civil War, which was proof of American patriotism, 3) the narrative about the motives for emigration, which significantly shaped expatriate identity.  In the last point, there were actually several narratives, influenced by religious affiliation. Protestants emphasized the search for religious freedom, freethinkers emphasized escape from Austrian despotism and the alliance of throne and altar. The Catholic camp failed to find a similarly compelling justification and most typically cited the effort to escape from poor material conditions. Due to the strength of the freethinkers, their vision prevailed, which also corresponded to the values emphasized in American society.

The conclusions of this work refine the results of previous research on American Czechs in the 19th century. Unlike older studies, usually focused on a much longer period, the issue was captured here in more detail. Thanks to this, previously neglected actors appear, as well as broader factors that in Czech history, ethnology, and other fields have mostly been too one-sidedly overshadowed by the question of ethnicity, simplistically perceived as an oscillation between the distinct poles of Czechness and Americanization. Primarily, this concerns the area of religion, in which Czech compatriots differed from other European minorities, but also relations with other ethnic minorities. On a general scale, religious conflict became the most prominent specific feature of expatriate America in the 19th century. The early Czech-American community thus emerges in a broader perspective and with greater plasticity.

## 17. Summary

Between the Old Country and America. Beginnings of the Czech-American Community in the 19th Century in Transatlantic Perspective

The dissertation aims at Czech immigrant community in the United States of America between 1850 and 1880 (with certain overlaps). The main topics of the study are its national, cultural and religious aspects.

The mass emigration wave was preceded by pioneers of the Vormärz period. These also included Czech and Moravian Jews, who were legally underprivileged in Austria, and missionaries from the Leopoldstiftung society. Subsequent massive emigration stemmed from dissatisfactory economic development in specific regions of Bohemia and Moravia, being reinforced by the image of America as a land of freedom and opportunity. That explains why the largest portion of Czech emigrants headed overseas.

The United States enjoyed extensive attention amongst revolutionaries, democrats, liberals and later socialists. It is from these groups that a innumerous but important political emigration was recruited. At first, the state apparatus tried to fight emigration in different ways. The anti-emigration agitation in press, imaginative literature etc., was soon taken over by Czech national society. In spite of this pressure, chain migration grew dynamically. In the period in scope, we can watch the process of “disenchantment" of America. It was brought along by personal correspondences, improved quality of press information, etc.

In a number of cases, American Czechs unsuccessfully attempted to create Czech "colonies" in the USA. Separation from the old country eventuated in cultural-lingual concept of motherland, which was an analogy of older ideas common in the era of Czech National Revival. As a result of Russophile tendencies in the Czech society, two ambitious plans of transmigration of American Czechs to Amur and Caucasus occurred in the 1860's. Despite strong agitation, Czech immigrants were mostly skeptical to these plans making them fail very soon.

Contrary to later interpretations, the Czechs were not all supporting Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. There is evidence of both Radical Republicans and some Democratic Party supporters. Hundreds of Czechs took part in the war, large majority of them on the Union side. Unlike many other ethnic minorities, they were unable to form their own ethnic units even on the level of a company. Siding with Confederacy was rare even among Texan Czechs. The Czech society in Europe perceived slavery as a disgrace of the United States. However, the attitude of Czechs living in America towards African-Americans grew delicate, which can be considered a sign of deepening acculturation.

A continuous element of Czech immigrant community was the religious conflict between Catholics, Freethinkers and small Protestant group. Czech-American Freethought was based on anticlericalism, rationalism and progressivism. It stemmed from similar roots as the anticlericalism of the Young Czech Party in homeland, but growing more aggressive and popular in American conditions. On the other side, traditional churchmen were weakened in the new environment, especially the Protestant congregations. The religious conflict resulted not only from ideological standpoints, but also from property disputes between Catholic parishioners and Church hierarchy.

American awareness of the Czech ethnic group was very limited. For most of them, the contemporary word for Czech (Bohemian) envisioned Gipsy or "Bohemian of arts". Home affairs of Bohemia and Moravia were of little interest to Americans, perhaps with partial exception of missionary societies. For these reasons, American stereotype of a Czech immigrant hasn't emerged and the image of Czechs depended on the general image of European immigration. Especially at the beginning, we can trace difficulties of Czechs getting accustomed to American institutions, elections etc. The situation improved gradually, bringing efforts for unification of Czechs within election and American politicians currying favor with them.

The Habsburg monarchy was perceived as an oppressor of Czech nation by American Czechs, who reminisced about their motherland with nostalgia. Due to only short period spent overseas, they were still closely tied to Czech emancipation at home. At the end of the 1860's, there was an attempt to create a sizable National Fund to support the fellow countrymen in Bohemia and Moravia. Nevertheless, smaller and spontaneous initiatives had more success than this megalomaniac one. One of the characteristics of the Czech immigrant community was certain duality of loyalties symbolized by parallel usage of Czech and American national symbols. Despite of recurring proofs of their Czech patriotism, emigrants were mostly perceived as national traitors in their homeland. The perception rooted from the conviction that emigrants are irretrievably lost for Czech nation. The notion was supported by progressive Americanization of their children. Even some of the leading figures among emigrants were unable to raise their children bilingually.

The early stage of the history of Czech-American community played an important role in its historical memory. Particularly important were the following elements: 1) embroidered image of initially harmonious community as a contrast to the escalated religious conflict in the late 19th and early 20th century, 2) idealization of Czech participation in the American Civil War, which served as a proof of American patriotism, and 3) narratives about push and pull factors of the pioneer migration, which had strong influence on the formation of Czech- American identity. As a matter of fact, several narratives defined by the confession existed. The most common soon became the Freethinking interpretation of emigration as a breakaway from Austrian despotism and the alliance of throne and altar.