Russians in the New York City metropolitan region
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New York City is home to the largest Russian population and Russian-speaking population in the Western Hemisphere. The largest Russian-American communities in New York City are located in Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. Brighton Beach has been nicknamed ''Little
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
'' due to its population of Russian-speaking immigrants from Ukraine and Russia.


History

The first Russian immigrants to the United States arrived in the end of the 18th century (one of the first immigrants from Russia was Demetrius Galitzen, a Russian noble who became a Catholic priest in Mount Savage, Md.). Historians differ on the number and the timing of the 'waves' of Russian immigration. The first large influx of refugees from Russia, primarily to New York City, began in the 1880s after massive pogroms and restrictions imposed upon the Jews in the Russian Empire. By the time of the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, prominent political exiles from Russia in New York included Leon Trotsky,
Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Буха́рин) ( – 15 March 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, Marxist philosopher and economist and prolific author on revolutionary theory. ...
, and
Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...
. With the start of the Revolution of February 1917 some Russian exiles moved back to Russia to participate in the Revolution; some of the radicals who stayed in the US suffered from Palmer Raids of 1919 and some were deported from the US. After the Bolshevik takeover in October 1917 and their victory in the Civil War of 1918-20, some of their opponents, including Alexander Kerensky, fled to the US (some call this the "First Wave" of Russian immigration). Many of them made their way to New York City, most of them moving to Hamilton Heights, Manhattan, and other sections of New York City. Many emigres of this wave also came to the US on the eve of WWII from Western European countries already occupied by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. The so-called "Third Wave" of Russians were largely Russian (Soviet) Jews, who came primarily as refugees during the 1970s to Brighton Beach, as well as Rego Park/Forest Hills, Washington Heights and other parts of the city, including Manhattan. Among the most prominent immigrant writers and artists of this wave in New York were
Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
,
Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; lv, Mihails Barišņikovs; born January 28, 1948) is a Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Latvian-born R ...
,
Sergei Dovlatov Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov (russian: link=no, Сергей Донатович Довлатов; 1941 1990) was a Soviet journalist and writer. Internationally, he is one of the most popular Russian writers of the late 20th century. Biography ...
and Eduard Limonov. Brighton Beach had a re-growth, after being a neglected area of Brooklyn. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the "Fourth Wave" of Russians had a larger share of ethnic Russians and Russian Christians who immigrated to the United States with the largest number going to the New York metropolitan area. Majority of the Russian Americans who considered Brighton Beach their home, began to migrate out to Suburbia tri state area during the 1990s.


Demographics

The New York Tri-State area has a population of 1.6 million Russian-Americans and 600,000 of them live in New York City. There are over 220,000 Russian-speaking Jews living in New York City. Approximately 100,000 Russian Americans in the New York metropolitan area were born in Russia. New York City also has a large population of immigrants born in Central Asia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other ex-Soviet states. Most of the Central Asian immigrants are from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and due to their Soviet influence, most of them speak the
Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
. The New York metropolitan area continues to be by far the leading metropolitan gateway for Russian immigrants into the United States. In 2013, 1,974 individuals immigrated to the New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island statistical area from Russia alone, not including immigrants from other previous Soviet bloc countries; in 2012, this number was 2,286; 1,435 in 2011; and 1,283 in 2010. These numbers do not include the remainder of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area. Brighton Beach, Brooklyn continues to be the most important demographic and cultural center for the Russian American experience. However, as Russian Americans have climbed in
socioeconomic status Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic access to resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's ...
, the
diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
from Russia and other former Soviet-bloc states has moved toward more affluent parts of the New York metropolitan area, notably
Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey. Within Bergen County, the increasing size of the Russian immigrant presence in its hub of Fair Lawn prompted a 2014 April Fool's satire titled, " Putin Moves Against Fair Lawn".


Politics

, Russians generally back the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
, leaning more towards the Republicans than most New Yorkers in general or most immigrant New Yorkers in particular. However, Russian-American voters sometimes support established Democratic politicians who have campaigned in Russian-speaking communities and who have dedicated money to Russian-American causes. Russian-speaking candidates from both political parties often enjoy support from the Russian community when running against non-Russophone candidates. Because of the importance of political primaries in majority-Democratic New York City, Russians may register as Democrats as often as Republicans, despite voting mostly Republican during general elections. The right-wing preference of many Russian-American voters is often motivated by their opposition to Communism and socialism, having an unfavorable view of the Soviet Communism they previously lived under. Left-leaning ex-Soviet immigrants are more likely to immigrate to places such as Canada or Scandinavia, while those who lean right-wing are attracted by America's capitalist values.


See also

*
Russian Dolls Matryoshka dolls ( ; rus, матрёшка, p=mɐˈtrʲɵʂkə, a=Ru-матрёшка.ogg), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside ano ...
, 2011 reality TV series about Russian-American families in Brighton Beach * Russian Tea Room, restaurant on West 57th Street, opened in 1927 * Russian Mission School in New York *
Consulate-General of Russia in New York City The Consulate-General of Russia in New York City is the diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation in New York City. Opened in 1994, the consulate is located at 9 East 91st Street in the former John Henry Hammond House in the Upper East Side of ...
*
Novy Mir ''Novy Mir'' (russian: links=no, Новый мир, , ''New World'') is a Russian-language monthly literary magazine. History ''Novy Mir'' has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet ...
, 1916/17 magazine *
Asian Americans in New York City Asian Americans in New York City represent the largest Asian American population of any city in the United States. Population New York City alone, according to the 2010 Census, has now become home to more than one million Asian Americans, gre ...
* Belarusian Americans in New York City * Bangladeshis in New York City *
Chinese people in New York City The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing all 34 provincial-level administrative units of China. The Chinese American population ...
* Demographics of New York City *
Filipinos in the New York metropolitan area Filipinos in the New York metropolitan area constitute one of the fastest growing ethnicities in the United States, and one of the largest and most prominent Filipino diasporas in the Western Hemisphere. By 2014 Census estimates, the New York C ...
* Fuzhounese in New York City * Indians in the New York City metropolitan region *
Japanese in New York City As of the 2000 United States Census, 2000 Census, over half of the 37,279 people of Japanese people, Japanese ancestry in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York lived in New York City.Robinson, Greg. "Japanese." In: Eisenstadt, Peter R. an ...
* Koreans in New York City * Taiwanese people in New York City


References


External links


The Russian Tea Room

Russian American Foundation New York
{{Russian Americans by location Belarusian-American history Kazakhstani American Kyrgyzstani American Russian-American history Soviet emigrants to the United States Russian Orthodox Christians from the United States White Russian emigrants to the United States Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Russian-Jewish culture in New York City Tajikistani American Ukrainian-Jewish culture in New York City Uzbekistani-American culture Ethnic groups in New York City