Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Remembering Our Unsung Pioneer Ancestors, Jim Lewis

The Bridge

My great-grandparents, Niels Jensen Norgaard (1848-1920) and Karen Sorensen Norgaard (1852-1949) immigrated to America in 1869 and 1871, respectively. They had both been raised in the Aalborg area of northern Jutland. Niels left his family and a comfortable home at the age of twenty to travel alone to a new, yet unknown, destination. His immediate objective was Harlan, Iowa, where relatives had a farm. It was twelve hundred miles across unfamiliar land between New York City and Harlan, Iowa. Niels was alone in a strange land, didn't know the language, and had little money to sustain himself. He traveled on …

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Jorge Baron, Maria Kolby-Wolfe, Kristen Smith Dayley, Twila Bird, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Program has been around for 35 years, started in 1984 specifically to help Central American refugees during the mid-1980s, when they were fleeing civil wars. A pro-bono group of attorneys performing "direct legal representation", helping low income community members who are navigating different aspects of the immigration system. NWIRP also engages in "systemic advocacy" which attempts to change systems and policies revolving around asylum and immigration rights.

The Joss House As An Insight Into 19th Century Chinese Immigration, Joshua Bernhard

BYU Asian Studies Journal

“From the theater we went to the principal church or joss-house,” an anonymous author wrote about the San Francisco Chinatown for the Christian Recorder in September 1875. “Up three flights of stairs, rickety, worn, and uneven, and through the dark passages full of sickening odors, I reached a dismal, dreary, mysterious, and silent worship-house of this mysterious and superstitious people. Here and there in the temple a dim taper burned, but there were no lights in the halls, stairs, and passages, and the flickering flames only added to the oppressive and, if I may so call it ghostly feeling that …

Intervention And Reinvention: Rethinking Airport Amenities, Jens Vange

The Bridge

Over the past eight years, I’ve had the rare opportunity to explore in excruciating detail one of the most mundane spaces that most of us have experienced: airport restrooms. My immigration experience influenced the outcome of this exploration. My father, erik Vange, immigrated to the US from Denmark during World War II and never moved back. My mom, Lissi, and my sister, Katrine, came over about ten years later. They settled in the Chicago area, and after a few years my parents decided to adopt a child from Denmark. Fortunately, that turned out to be me. I immigrated to the …

Ethnic Preservation Or Americanization: A Study Of Language And Ethnicity In The Danish Brotherhood In America, Nick Kofod Mogensen

The Bridge

Once European mass immigration to America began in the mid-nineteenth century, roughly 400,000-450,000 Danish immigrants made their way to the United States,2 with approximately 300,000 of them arriving between 1880-1920.3 Immigrant historians agree that Danish immigrants assimilated rather quickly into American core society, i.e., the white Protestant majority population of Anglo-Saxon descent.4 One of the main reasons for this ease of assimilation was the relative scarcity of concentrated settlements of Danish immigrants compared to other immigrant groups, as Danes oft en sett led in areas in America with few other Danish immigrants.

Soil And Salvation: Danes In Montana, 1906-10. Part I: Soil, Jakob Jakobsen

The Bridge

When I discovered that my great grandfather and his fiancée had participated in the founding of the Dagmar colony in Montana in 1906, I did not expect my initial interest in this to lead to a research grant from DAHS that would enable me to dive even deeper into their adventure, for which I am very grateful. My fascination with their story follows from its connection to the collective history of Danish America. In this sense, my ancestors acted as individuals, but their “navigation” took place in a “landscape” that changed due to larger developments. As a result, they can …

Finding Sanctuary: How Danish American Churches Helped Immigrants Navigate Life In Uncharted Waters, Krister Strandskov, Russell Lackey

The Bridge

The summer before graduating from Grand View University, I set out on a journey throughout the Midwest and California to photograph Danish American churches.1 My purpose in visiting these churches was to discover what stories their architecture told. I wondered what tied them together as well as what made each unique. I also hoped to learn more about my own Danish American heritage by visiting the very places many of my relatives worshiped and even pastored. Here is what I learned.

Immigrants And Voting: How A Personal Relationship To Immigration Changes The Voting Behaviors Of Americans, Mandi Eatough, Jordan Johnston

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

In the last thirty years the number of immigrant voters, in the U.S. has increased from less than 5 percent of the population to more than 13 percent. With such an unprecedented increase in such a short amount of time, immigration reform has become one of the most significant and controversial issues in elections nationwide. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has faced consistently increasing levels of both legal and illegal immigration, an issue that is personally relevant to all immigrants regardless of legality (Tichenor 1994). This influx of immigrants has made immigration policy more important for politicians. Understanding the attitudes …

A Danish Lad In America, Fred Delcomyn

The Bridge

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” So said L.P. Hartley in The Go-Between (1953). Looking back on myself as a young immigrant child in Detroit at mid-century, the phrase seems especially apt. In my past I was quite literally in a foreign country.

Where We Build And Live, Ivar Kirkegaard

The Bridge

It falls outside the framework of this small dissertation to give personal historical narratives of Danes who have put down roots in the American soil, starting from the time when Jens Munk (15751628) and Vitus Bering (1681-1741) came to America’s inhospitable northernmost regions during their travels of discovery and down through the time when the actual immigration from Denmark got its start around 1850. Some names can be recognized such as Jonas Bronck (died 1643), after whom the great section of the Bronx in New York is named, Hans Christian Fibiger (1749-1796), who served as an officer under Washington, the …

Young People’S Schools And Højskoler In The United States, J. Christian Bay

The Bridge

It can be said that an organized effort to preserve Danish language and culture has existed here in America since the beginning of the seventies. The immigrants considered it essential that they develop plans to strengthen and design general education for young adults. Among the immigrants who immediately joined the Church right from the beginning, there were few academics. However, because many knew about the højskole concept in Denmark, this concept became the foundation for their church-sheltered schools.

News From The Danish Emigration Archives, Torben Tvorup Christensen

The Bridge

The Danish Emigration Archives - Denmark's national collection of letters, documents, photographs, films, audio tapes and newspapers - tells fascinating stories about Danish emigration and contains important documentation and knowledge about migration and cultural encounters.

Danish Language And The Church, Robert A. Olsen

The Bridge

The first documented account of a Danish language church service on American soil were those conducted by the Rev. Rasmus Jensen, a Danish Pastor who was part of the Jens Munk led expedition of 1619-1620 to find the Northwest Passage to the Orient. Munk's diary states "We celebrated the Holy Christmas Day solemnly, as is a Christian's duty, with a goodly sermon and a mass. After the sermon we gave the priest an offering .... "1 Unfortunately only Munk and two of his 64 men who embarked on this journey survived the winter and returned home, thus resulting in no …

A Question Of Motive: The Chris Madsen Story Revisited, Johan Windmuller

The Bridge

Upon first hearing the story of Chris Madsen, I recall the vivid intrigue I experienced when learning of a Danish immigrant who had become a famous lawman in the United States. As an immigrant from Denmark and a member of the American police brethren myself, I seemed to have discovered a kindred spirit in Madsen. I promptly began reading bits and pieces of information and soon had the basics down. Here was a real life hero who had served in three armies, surviving wars and Indian attacks and on top of that had enough gusto to join up with the …

Not For The King, But For God And Country: Scandinavians And Ethnic Identity During The American Civil War, Anders Rasmussen

The Bridge

The history of the United States is essentially a history of immigration. From the Spanish arrival in Florida in 1565 to present-day America, immigration has been a continuous factor in the history of the United States, and it has repeatedly challenged notions of what it means to be American. Among the many immigrant groups which came to the United States were the Scandinavians. The Civil War between 1861 and 1865 forced these newly arrived immigrants to make important decisions in regards to ethnicity, politics and nationality. This article explores the Scandinavian Civil War experience through the prism of ethnicity and …

Autobiographical Constructions Of Danish American Identity Between The World Wars, Julie K. Allen

The Bridge

One of the most emotionally charged issues related to American immigration, past and present is the question of how quickly and completely immigrants should be expected to assimilate into mainstream American culture. Throughout the nineteenth century, the prevailing attitude in America was that assimilation of immigrants would happen naturally and gradually, but the first decades of the twentieth century saw the rise of nativism and a much more aggressive approach to the Americanization of immigrants.1 While these trends peaked during World War I, their reverberations continued to impact immigrant groups throughout America throughout the decades preceding World War II. One …

The Practical And The Sentimental: The Artifact Collection Of The Danish Immigrant Museum, Angela Stanford

The Bridge

Many of the things immigrants brought from Denmark were of practical value to them as travelers building new lives across the ocean. Trunks, blankets, tools, and clothes were obvious choices for anyone moving from one place to another. Photographs, knickknacks, toys, and other like items may not have been as practical, but held sentimental value by reminding them of the homes, families, and friends they were leaving behind.

Dealing With The "Third Enemy": English-Language Learning And Native-Language Maintenance Among Danish Immigrants In Utah, 1850-1930, Lynn Henrichsen, George Bailey, Jacob Huckaby

The Bridge

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, over 22,000 Scandinavians joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter referred to as the church or the LDS church) and migrated to Utah.1 Well over half of these Scandinavians, 12,350 (not including children age 12 and under), were Danes.2

This influx of people who spoke a language other than English and came from a cultural background different from that of the original Anglo-American settlers of Utah presented some perplexing challenges. Even Brigham Young, the territorial governor and LDS church president, found them difficult to resolve. According to local folklore, …

Danish Churches And Congregations In Indianapolis, 1868-1885, Barbara R. George

The Bridge

A look at the population make-up of Indianapolis and Indiana during the time period from the end of the Civil War (approximately 1865) until the 1880s shows that the Danes had little impact in the relatively small Indiana immigration picture. Indiana was less influenced by foreign born than any other northern state. Although ranking ninth in the number of German-born residents in 1880, Indiana ranked thirteenth in the number of foreign born, and was sixth in total population. As a state it was not particularly aggressive in promoting itself as a viable destination for immigrants, and ranked only in front …

Defining An Immigrant, Helle Mathiasen

The Bridge

Before emigrating in August 1965, I had already experienced America while a child living in Denmark. My first American memory is the smell of Wrigley's Doublement gum. I also remember the green gum package containing the thin, shiny silver paper with the jagged edge you had to remove in order to touch the delectable candy. For me, as a child, chewing gum was America. I was born in Vangede in 1940, the year the Germans invaded Denmark. During much of the five-year Nazi Occupation, our family lived in Sydhavnen, in Copenhagen, on Sjcel0r Boulevard number 3, in a onebedroom apartment. …

The Danish Emigration Archives, Birgit Flemming Larsen

The Bridge

The Danish Emigration Archives was founded in 1932 as the DanAmerica Archives.

Max Henius, a native of Aalborg and an enterprising businessman in Chicago, was the immigrant behind the Archives. It might be seen as flexibility by Danish Americans and their descendants to place their own ethnic group's source materials at a distance to themselves. It did cause some discussions at that time.

The purpose of the Archives is to preserve the history of those Danes who left Denmark to settle in foreign countries. Through the years The Danish Emigration Archives has suffered under several changes due to World War …

The Bridge Builders Of Luther Memorial, Wilber J. Williamson

The Bridge

The congregation of Luther Memorial Church in Des Moines, Iowa, celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1999, during which time there was a good deal of reflection concerning the historical roots and activities of the church during the preceding one hundred years. Much of the early history of the congregation was closely associated with Grand View College. During the first decades, the school provided worship facilities as well as the pastor services for the emerging congregation. With financial support from the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, a building was erected in 1917, which has served as the home for the congregation since …

Call For Papers

The Bridge

Marcus Lee Hansen Immigration Conference. The University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Institute for Economic History, announces a conference on immigration in August, 1992, recognizing the centennial of Hansen's birth.

A Mormon Melting Pot: Ethnicity Acculturation In Cedar City, Utah, 1880-1915, Vida Leigh

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the ethnicity of the five ethnic groups found in Cedar City, Utah, during the 1880-to-1915 period. Those five groups were originally sent by Brigham Young to found the Iron Mission, as a two-fold project: (1) developing the iron mining industry, and (2) building a united community of Latter-day Saints.

The demographics, kinship, ties, marriage patterns, occupations, wealth, and elites in church government and society have been examined in detail through US censuses, Iron county assessment records, marriage records, Cedar City municipal records, LDS church records, diaries, histories, and personal histories. By comparing all the ethnic groups within …

Peter Larson -- Danish Immigrant Entrepreneur, Henry Jorgensen

The Bridge

Eighty years ago, on July 13, 1907, Helena residents picked up their newspaper, the Helena Independent and read these front-page headlines:

"PETER LARSON DIES AT HIS HOME IN HELENA."

"A CALAMITY TO THE WHOLE NORTHWEST."

"The Man Who at the Age of Twenty Was Still a Danish Peasant is Remembered by Thousands for His Benefactions" . . ."Contractor and Master Business Man."

A Demographic Examination Of Household Heads In Salt Lake City, Utah, 1850-1870, Larry W. Draper

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the demographic characteristics of household heads in Salt Lake City, Utah at three points in its history: 1850, 1860, and 1870. Data was compiled on population growth, nativity, sex, age, occupation, wealth, and persistence from the United States Census for those years.

The data shows that between 1850 and 1870 the makeup of Salt Lake City household heads changed dramatically from predominately American-born to predominately foreign-born. This change in the nativity of household heads over time significantly influenced several demographic characteristics including the location of immigrant settlement, occupational tendencies, and a high level of stratification of real …

Danish Methodists In America, Arlow W. Andersen

The Bridge

The separate histories of foreign-language missions present a special challenge to students of American church history. Descendants of the immigrants, more and more of mixed ancestry, lack the ability to read and translate material published in the language of their forebears. To make matters more difficult, the children and grandchildren of the pioneers often shun the tedious work of research and writing. Their handicaps apply to the offspring of all foreignspeaking peoples in America. Of the nineteenth-century immigrants, the Danes come to mind.

The Danish Community Of Chicago, Philip S. Friedman

The Bridge

Although millions accepted the challenge of immigrating to America, that choice required extraordinary courage. Even the initial task of leaving the homeland and traveling to America often took on mythical proportions. Prior to the journey, the immigrant needed to settle his affairs, selling for cash the possessions which could be sold. Having decided to emigrate to the New World, he did not expect to make the long return trip for many years. 1 After gathering a few essential provisions and saying goodbye to his old home, the immigrant and his family boarded a ship for the two-week voyage. Every ship …

Chapter Ii: Chicago And The Danish Settlement

The Bridge

If two words characterized Chicago in its first halfcentury, they were "growth" and "change." In 1840 Chicago was a small prairie town of 4,500 inhabitants. But the forces that brought immigrants to the Midwest had already begun to transform Chicago. With the development of trade and commerce between the Midwest and the East, better transportation over land and water became essential. In the 1840s, the State of Illinois constructed the Illinois and Michigan Canal, connecting the Mississippi River with Lake Michigan by way of Chicago. For the first time, Midwestern produce could go to market through the Great Lakes, as …

Attitudes And Attained Esl Proficiency Among First Generation Swedish Mormon Immigrants, Cecilia Nihlen

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis project, the relationship between attitudes toward target and native culture groups and attained ESL proficiency among immigrants was evaluated. The subjects were thirty adult native Swedes, all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who had spent an average of 29 years in the United States. Fourteen were members of a Swedish-speaking branch, while sixteen were members of English-speaking wards. Significant differences were found in immigrants' attitudes toward the culture groups. High English proficiency related positively with a more positive attitude toward the target culture group. Those demonstrating high proficiency viewed the general native …