Literacy and Greek Immigrants, 1899 - 1910

The next few posts will explore literacy and education among Greek immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period corresponding to what sociologist Charles Moskos described as the first wave of Greek immigration to the United States (1890–1924).

The data in this post comes from the Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1910, published by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor in 1911. Compiled by the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, these data are based on immigrants’ responses upon arrival to the questions: “Can you read?” and “Can you write?” Although self-reported rather than based on a formal test, the data serve as an important proxy for measuring literacy among immigrant groups entering the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.

Between 1899 and 1910, approximately 8.4 million immigrants aged 14 and older were admitted to the United States, according to the report mentioned above. About 26.7% of them reported being unable to read or write. Literacy rates, however, varied widely by national origin.

Among Greek immigrants, 26.4% reported being unable to read or write. (See Figure 1 below.)

Because the total number of Greek arrivals was relatively small compared to other national groups, Greeks made up only about 2.5% of all immigrants who reported being unable to read and write in 1899 and 1910.

Figure 1

A Middle Position in the Literacy Hierarchy

The figure below, Figure 2, drawn from Figure 1, shows that the Greek immigrant literacy rate occupied a middle position in the literacy hierarchy. It was lower than that of immigrants from Northern and Western Europe but higher than that of many from Southern and Eastern Europe.

Figure 2

The next posts will present additional results using another dataset, focusing more closely on patterns of education and regional variation among early Greek immigrants.

Source:
U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. 1911. Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1910. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.