Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Special to Hye Sharzhoom
Misak Ohanian
Chief Executive Officer
Centre for Armenian Information & Advice
Hayashen, London
Photo: ASP Archive
On Sunday, July 7, 2013, Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program and Director of the Center for Armenian Studies at Fresno State gave an illustrated public lecture in Hayashen entitled “From Armenia to California: The Odyssey of the Fresno Armenians (1881-2013).”
Professor Der Mugrdechian, a native of Fresno, initially gave an overview of Armenian emigration to the United States and later focused on the Armenians who settled in the San Joaquin Valley, where from humble beginnings, during which time they were discriminated against, they gradually integrated and prospered.
The first Armenians to move to Fresno were the brothers Hagop, Garabed, and Simon 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 that grew rapidly with the onset of the Hamidian Massacres in 1895-96. 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.
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. Armenians were also pioneers in the melon and fig production in the region.
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 to assimilate, while having the opposite effect on others.
The problem lasted for many decades, finally abating in the 1950s.
Some of the most famous American Armenians originated from the region such as William Saroyan, Cher, Kirk Kerkorian, Monte Melkonian and others.
In 1908, Asbarez (meaning Arena) Armenian newspaper was first published in Fresno. The lecture was organized jointly by CAIA and the Gomidas Institute.