The Polish Falcons of America ( pl, Sokoły Polskie Ameryki) is a nonprofit

fraternal benefit society A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, fraternal benefit order, friendly society, or mutual aid society is a society, an organization or a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief fr ...

, with a strong emphasis on

physical fitness Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of Outline of sports, sports, occupations and daily activities. Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, moderate ...

History

The "falcon" movement originated after the suppression of the

Polish uprising of 1863 The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

. Its goal was to regenerate the Polish nation through physical fitness. The first "nest" in the United States was founded in 1887 in Chicago by

Felix Pietrowicz Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

. By 1894 there were twelve nests in the country. On May 1 of that year the Alliance of Polish Turners in the United States of America was charted in Chicago as a national organization of the falcon movement in the United States. In 1914 the name was changed to Polish Falcons Alliance of America. The organization adopted its present name on March 30, 1928.

Organization

As stated, the local units of the PFA are called "Nests". There were 160 nests in 1979 and 82 in 2016. Regional structures are called "Districts", which must have at least 500 members. The national convention meets quadrennially.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

has been the headquarters of the group since 1912.

Membership

Membership is open to people of Polish or Slavic descent, or the spouses of same, who are between 16 and 60 years old, of

good moral character Good moral character is an ideal state of a person's beliefs and values that is considered most beneficial to society. In United States law, good moral character can be assessed through the requirement of virtuous acts or by principally evaluatin ...

, and mentally and physically sound. Social membership without insurance, is also available. In 1978 the Falcons had 26,346 beneficiary members and 2,867 social members. In 1994, there were 30,000 members.Axelrod p.198

Footnotes

External links

Polish Falcons of America Website
Polish-American culture Sokół Ethnic fraternal orders in the United States Organizations established in 1887 Polish-American organizations {{org-stub

History

Organization

Membership

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links