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FROM PRAHA TO PRAGUE: ASSIMILATION AND

ETHNIC IDENTITY IN AN AMERICAN FARM TOWN,

PRAGUE, OKLAHOMA, 1891 - 1930

PHILIP D. SMITH

Bachelor of Arts in History

Northeastern State University

Tahlequah, Oklahoma

1981

Master of Arts in History

University of Tulsa

Tulsa, Oklahoma

1992

Submitted to the Faculty of the

Graduate College of the

Oklahoma State University

in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for

the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

May, 2010

FROM PRAHA TO PRAGUE: ASSIMILATION AND

ETHNIC IDENTITY IN AN AMERICAN FARM TOWN,

PRAGUE, OKLAHOMA, 1891 - 1930

Dissertation Approved:

Dr. Ronald A. Petron

Dissertation Adviser

Dr. Richard Rohrs

Dr. Joseph F. Byrnes

Dr. David D‟Andrea

Dr. Michael Taylor

Dr. A. Gordon Emslie

Dean of the Graduate College

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank those whose teaching, friendship, and encouragement have

enabled me to complete this study and graduate school at Oklahoma State University.

Without the help and advice of my committee, this work would never have reached

completion. All members read and provided valuable constructive criticism to improve

the study. The suggestions of Dr. Joseph Byrnes, Dr. David D‟Andrea, Dr. Richard

Rohrs and Dr. Michael Taylor strengthened under-developed ideas and enhanced the

overall structure of the study. I truly appreciate the many hours each spent reading and

editing this work.

I owe so much to my advisor that it is nearly impossible to express my gratitude

without sounding maudlin. Dr. Ron Petrin guided this study while still allowing me

almost total freedom in constructing my theses and arguments. He forced me to think

and rethink several propositions in the paper but never belittled or demeaned what I came

to realize was faulty reasoning. For this, I thank him and extend my deepest respect.

Like most professors, Dr. Petrin is extremely busy. However, he never made me feel that

I was wasting his time when I visited his office or called him in the evening or during

weekends, which I did frequently. I will always cherish the hours we spent together

discussing immigration and ethnic issues.

I would also like to thank other faculty whose teaching, scholarship, and

friendship aided and encouraged me during my time at Oklahoma State University.

Dr. Michael Logan was the first professor I met upon entering the doctoral program. At

the time, he was director of graduate studies and his easy-going manner disarmed me and

lessened the anxiety of attempting such a rigorous program after many years away from

school. Dr. James Cooper, Dr. James Huston, and Dr. Jason Lavery proved taskmasters

in the classroom and well prepared me for the qualifying exams and for teaching on the

college level. In Dr. Laura Belmonte‟s research seminar I wrote an early chapter of the

work. I would like to thank her for encouraging me to continue with the study, which

eventually became my dissertation. During my time at OSU, I worked one semester as a

teaching assistant for Dr. Scott Rohrer. Besides being an outstanding teacher, Dr.

Rohrer‟s advice on job-seeking helped me obtain my present position. I hope he realizes

how much he helped me. I would also like to extend my thanks and respect to Dr.

Elizabeth Williams. She is one of the finest teachers I have ever had the pleasure to study

under. I always looked forward to her seminar and discussing the weekly topic. I never

left her classroom without a deeper understanding of the complex factors and issues of

European history.

Fellow students are always important to anyone in graduate school. Deep

friendships evolve through shared experiences and close personal proximity. Kurt Lively

and Mark Popowski, my office-mates, will forever be an integral part of my pleasant

memories of doctoral study. Both are exceptional scholars and deeply humble when it

comes to their excellence. Their sense of humor proved invaluable. They never failed to

chuckle at my old-fashioned, rarely funny jokes and antics. Thank you Kurt and Mark

for being who you are. Toby Wilson, who lived directly below me at my apartment

complex, and Charles Buckner a fellow student, became my close friends during my time

in Stillwater. On many evenings we dined together while discussing history topics and

current world news. These short breaks from my studies were relaxing and kept me

involved in the world around me.

This is a great opportunity to extend my thanks to the history department‟s

secretaries, Diana Fry and Susan Oliver. They truly made my stay at OSU easier by

providing assistance and solving the myriad administrative problems associated with a

major university.

John Phillips at the Edmon Low Library at Oklahoma State University helped me

immensely with census materials and government documents. The library staff of the

University of Tulsa granted me access to their government documents and copy

privileges. I would also like to thank the staff at the Museum of Pioneer History in

Chandler, Oklahoma and the Prague Historical Museum in Prague for their assistance. I

especially would like to thank Norma Foreman and Diana Kinzey of the Prague

Historical Museum. Norma allowed me complete access to the holdings of the museum

and Diana spent the better part of three days helping me locate photographs, family

histories, and cemetery records. The churches of Prague allowed me access to their

membership and baptismal records.

A huge thank you goes to the Bohemian Hall of Prague. One of the great

pleasures of a researcher is to be led to an ancient cabinet filled with dust-covered

records, many over a hundred years old. I want to thank the members of the Bohemian

Hall for affording me this experience. Wayne Opela and Ray Reynolds met me every

morning for a week at the Hall and helped me ten hours each day sort through the

financial and membership records of the organization. It was an honor and a great

pleasure to meet and befriend these descendents of the original Czech settlers.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family. Their understanding and encouragement

were indispensible. My children, Phil and Jill, never complained when I could not attend

family gatherings because of my studies. Since our decision to pursue a doctoral degree,

my wife, Pam, has been steadfast in her commitment despite the added burdens it has

placed on her. Without her, I would never have succeeded. I owe so much to her. And it

is to her I dedicate this dissertation. Thank you Pam, for your love and support.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1

2. CZECH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES TO 1930 ..........................32

3. SETTLEMENT OF LINCOLN COUNTY AND THE FORMATION OF

PRAGUE, OKLAHOMA: 1891 - 1902 .................................................................72

4. RELIGION AND THE CZECH COMMUNITY ...................................................90

5. ECONOMIC LIFE IN A SMALL TOWN ............................................................113

6. CZECH FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS IN PRAGUE ..................................142

7. FAMILY TIES IN THE LIFE OF PRAGUE‟S CZECHS ....................................170

8. EDUCATION AND THE CZECH COMMUNITY..............................................202

9. POLITICS AND COMMUNITY LIFE IN PRAGUE ..........................................227

10. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................245

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................263

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1 Czech Foreign Born by Region (1900) ...............................................................42

2.2 Czech Foreign Born by Selected State (1900) ....................................................43

2.3 Czech Foreign Born by Selected Cities (1900) ...................................................44

2.4 Czechs to the United States by Year ...................................................................54

2.5 Czech Immigrants in the U.S.by Selected State (1910) ......................................55

2.6 Czech Immigrants by Year and Sex....................................................................58

2.7 Immigrants by Sex and Percent (1899-1910) .....................................................59

2.8 Ages of Arriving Immigrants by Percent (1899-1910) .......................................60

2.9 Occupations of Czech Immigrants by Percent ....................................................61

2.10 Yearly Earnings of Males at Least 18 Years of Age ........................................62

2.11 Yearly Earnings of Females at Least 18 Years of Age .....................................62

2.12 Foreign-Born Households by Percent ...............................................................63

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In 1902, the Ft. Smith and Western Railroad Company, seeing an opportunity for

larger profits, made plans to build tracks from Ft. Smith, Arkansas across Indian Territory

and into Oklahoma Territory to tap the exploding towns of central Oklahoma, especially

the Guthrie/Oklahoma City area. The railroad identified the southeastern part of Lincoln

County as a perfect spot for a coaling station. Initially, the railroad company wanted

Lambdin as the coaling site. But when a local native-born farmer rebuffed their offers as

too small, they looked elsewhere, specifically to the farmland of the Czech community. 1

Two Bohemian immigrants, Anton Simek and Vencl Kozak, who had purchased the

homesteads of Eva Barta and her son, Frank, agreed to sell part of their holdings and the

railroad allowed Josephine Barta, wife of Frank, to name the new town. 2 Josephine Barta

decided on the name Praha because she had grown up in Praha, Bohemia. However,

Frank R. (Squire) Vlasak, an influential merchant in the Czech community, convinced

her to Americanize the name to Prague. 3 The deal done, town lots went on sale

1 William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948,” (M.A.

Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 9-10. See also Lincoln County: Oklahoma

History, 186. Lee Watts was the farmer who turned down the railroad‟s offer. 2 Russell Willford Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma: A Comparative Study of the Stability of

a Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County Oklahoma, and the Factors Relating to its Stability,” Bulletin of

Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Stillwater, OK: Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical

College) 39, no. 13 (June 1942): 44. For additional details, see Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A.,

Prague (Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper Printing, Inc., 1978), 32. 3 Ibid.

May 20, 1902 and the brand-new town of Prague opened with the great benefit of being a

railroad town.

Frank Barta, Josephine‟s husband and one of the original settlers, took immediate

advantage of the opportunities offered by the brand-new town. In the summer of 1902,

with great difficulty and just as much excitement, Barta hoisted and moved his entire

farmhouse into the new town and reopened it as Hotel Barta. The enterprising Barta also

opened a general store and restaurant, but it was his family‟s hotel that proved lasting; the

building operated as a hotel on a continuous basis

until 1961. 4

This work hopes to elucidate a little researched

phenomenon: the dilemmas of an immigrant

group living amongst a larger primarily native-

born white population in a small, somewhat

isolated farm town. This inquiry also examines

the processes whereby this ethnic community

maintained its identity and established a presence

in the town while simultaneously joining the

larger community economically, socially, and structurally to the point of complete

incorporation. The area chosen for research is the Czech immigrant community in the

agricultural hamlet of Prague, Oklahoma from the founding of the ethnic colony in

1891until 1930, when most of the original settlers had died. By understanding this ethnic

group‟s reactions to assimilative pressures and the mechanisms they incorporated in

attempting to maintain their ethnic identity may illuminate differences in the urban/rural

4 Prague News, 24 July 1902; 17 December 1915.

matrix as well as provide a comparison with other farming towns that hosted a more

homogenous ethnic population

A primary assertion of the work is that the Czechs of Prague, Oklahoma

underwent cultural and structural assimilation more rapidly than Czechs in urban

environments and rural areas such as Milligan, Nebraska where Czechs predominated to

the point of homogeneity. This occurred for several reasons. First, soon after the creation

of the town of Prague in 1902, the Czechs found themselves in the minority. This forced

each individual to make a choice: either participate in the growing community or retreat

and isolate themselves in an ethnic enclave. The new town of Prague was a frontier

community located in Oklahoma Territory but close to Indian Territory. This “wild

west” origin of Prague offered opportunities for the immigrants and an acceptance by

non-Czechs who wished to see the new town succeed. Concomitant with this was the

relative isolation of the community, again probably causing some native-born Americans

to accept the newcomers for practical reasons. Although impossible to know with any

certainty, some of these native-born whites might not have tolerated the strange-talking

immigrants in another setting. Finally, the mere fact that Czechs were “white” helped

them with the majority population. Blacks also moved into the new town, but were not

accorded the opportunities or friendship ceded the Czechs.

Some writers argue that adherence to ethnicity is primarily a reaction to hostility. 5

These scholars argue that many immigrants clung to their ethnic roots and identity as a

defensive measure against an unwelcoming society. In other words, their group identity

served as security during a fearful time. Nevertheless, although they settled in Prague at

5 Candace Nelson and Marta Tienda, “The Structuring of Hispanic Ethnicity: Historical and

Contemporary Perspectives,” in Ethnicity and Race in the U.S.A.: Toward the Twenty-First Century,

ed. Richard D. Alba (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985), 71.

a time of heightened nativist feelings throughout the United States, there is little evidence

that this Slavic group suffered rejection or resistance from the larger community.

Furthermore, because of their special environment and history in Europe, the Czechs of

Prague adjusted quickly to the dominant culture of the United States, which continued to

be centered on Anglo-Saxon law and traditions. They chose to interact with the larger

community rather than isolate themselves into a separate element within the town and

resist any encroachment on their traditional way of life. Yet, they still battled to maintain

their heritage and identity albeit with mixed results. Although the results were probably

not exactly what the original settlers intended, today many Prague Czechs still attend St.

Wenceslaus Catholic Church while others meet regularly in the same Bohemian Hall as

their ancestors and continue to cling to their ethnic identity and recognize their heritage,

even if it is more symbolic than real.

One of the early myths regarding the experiences of immigrants to the United

States was that most ethnic groups underwent similar experiences after their arrival. 6

Since the 1980s, mounting evidence challenged this assumption. Today, most historians

and sociologists agree that ethnic groups‟ encounters with American society differed

sharply. 7 Time of arrival, occupational skill, education, and race were factors

contributing to the diverse experiences. 8 Nevertheless, regardless of group or

circumstance, ethnicity proved important to practically every arriving immigrant.

6 John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington, IN:

Indiana University Press, 1985), xvi, 51. Bodnar argues that ethnic groups faced different obstacles once in

the United States. 7 Nelson and Tienda, “The Structuring of Hispanic Ethnicity,” 49. Richard D. Alba, “The

Twilight of Ethnicity among Americans of European Ancestry: The Case of Italians,” in Ethnicity and

Race in the U.S.A.: Toward the Twenty-First Century, ed. Richard D. Alba (Boston: Routledge & Kegan

Paul, 1985), 134. Also, see Bodnar, The Transplanted, xvi. 8 Bodnar, The Transplanted, 51.

Although the words ethnic and ethnicity were seldom used before the twentieth

century, the idea of separate national, racial, or immigrant groups was common in

literature, government documents and United States census records. 9 The concept of

ethnicity is an incredibly complicated subject. Tomes such as The Harvard Encyclopedia

of Ethnic Groups (1980) list no less than fourteen possible attributes contributing to

ethnicity:

1. Common geographic origin. 2. Migratory Status. 3. Race. 4. Language or dialect. 5. Religious faith or faiths. 6. Ties that transcend kinship, neighborhood, and community boundaries. 7. Shared traditions, values, and symbols. 8. Literature, folklore, and music. 9. Food preferences. 10. Settlement and employment patterns. 11. Special interests in regard to politics in the homeland and the United States. 12. Institutions that specifically serve and maintain the group. 13. An internal sense of distinctiveness. 14. An external sense of distinctiveness.

Others, like Candace Nelson and Marta Tienda, view ethnicity as a social construct

conducive to change rather than simply a collection of ascriptive traits. 11

However,

Milton Gordon in his 1964 work, Assimilation in American Life, best summed up the

complex issue by positing that in the final analysis ethnicity referred to group feelings

about land, political government, a common culture which included a set of religious

beliefs and values, and a common racial background. He called the culmination of these

shared values, “peoplehood” and suggested the term “ethnic group” be used for groups

9 Harold J. Abramson, “Assimilation and Pluralism,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups,

eds. Stephen Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard

University Press, 1980), 151. 10

Stephen Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, Oscar Handlin, “Introduction” to Harvard Encyclopedia of

Ethnic Groups, eds. Stephen Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, and Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap

Press of Harvard University Press, 1980), vi. 11

Nelson and Tienda, “The Structuring of Hispanic Ethnicity”, 51.

with this sense of distinctive identity. 12

A simple and useful definition of ethnicity is a

people who share a common historical origin, cultural and social distinctiveness, and

similar language. An ethnic group evinces a sense of belonging that transcends kinship

bonds. 13

That Czechs consider themselves and should be referred to as a distinctive ethnic

group appears obvious. They share many attributes of ethnicity including language,

shared myths, folklore, and a common history. Furthermore, they claim a definite

homeland, the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia in Central Europe. Although many,

especially early arrivals, referred to themselves as Bohemian or Moravian rather than

Czech, over the years the linguistic term Czech became commonplace when speaking or

writing about these Slavs of Central Europe. Interestingly, in the early twentieth century,

the non-Czech residents of Prague, Oklahoma usually referred to their Czech-speaking

neighbors, whether they originated from Bohemia or Moravia, as “Bohemian.” Thus, the

terms “Czech,” and “Bohemian,” in this case are synonymous.

Regardless of where Czechs settled in the United States, they were used to being a

minority within a larger culture. Beginning in 1621 with the defeat of the Czechs at the

Battle of White Mountain, the Austrian crown controlled the areas of Bohemia and

Moravia with the result being a strong Germanizing of Czech territory. The German

language became the primary tongue of the government, military, and universities as well

as among most of the aristocracy and professional class. As a result, for several centuries

the Czech language served as nothing more than a peasant patois. Nevertheless, the

historic language of Bohemia and Moravia persisted despite repeated attempts by the

Milton M. Gordon, Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National

Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 23, 27. 13

Abramson, “Assimilation and Pluralism,” 151.

Habsburg rulers to extinguish it. 14

In addition, the Austrian lords inundated their

conquered dominions with their Germanic culture which included not only western

European ideas of governance and law but even delved into culinary tastes including

even beer making. For example, Czechs claim that pilsner beer, considered by most a

German brew, originated in the Bohemian town of Plzen, and was a joint creation of the

Czech inhabitants and a hired Bavarian brewer. 15

The Habsburg domination resulted in two seemingly contradictory mindsets

which helped Czech immigrants in the United States adjust to American culture and resist

complete assimilation or “Americanization” at the same time. The centuries-long foreign

domination empowered Czechs with the ability to sustain their heritage and identity

under harsh conditions, while their intimate contact with German culture caused a partial

adoption of German ways as their own. 16

Thus, Czechs became the most western-

oriented of all Slavic groups and although considered part of the “new immigration” of

the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Czech immigrants differed significantly

from their Slavic neighbors. Many arrived earlier than other Slavic groups and most

came as family units with every intention of staying and making the United States their

new homeland. 17

This “Germanization” or “westernization” proved valuable to most

Czechs once they were in the United States. American culture, although definitely

foreign and unfamiliar, does not appear to have daunted Czechs to the extent it did other

See Robert A. Kann, A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526-1918 (Berkeley: University of

California Press, 1974), 533-534. 15

There are conflicting stories of the origin of pilsner beer. The most accepted is that the

inhabitants of Pilsen in 1838 hired Josef Groll, a Bavarian brewer to instruct them in the German lagering

method of brewing. He included Saaz hops in the recipe resulting in the famous pilsner draft. 16

See Kann, A History of the Habsburg Empire, 533-534. German-speaking lands bordered

Bohemia in the North, West, and South. 17

Czechs speak an Indo-European language that is related to Polish, Slovak, Russian, Ukrainian,

Bulgarian, and several other southern and eastern European peoples. The family of languages is known as

Slavic.

Slavic groups like the Slovaks and Poles. Czech immigrants entered America with a

distinct advantage over other Slavic immigrants.

Although most of the original forty-eight Czech settlers of the Prague, Oklahoma

area had previously lived in another state, many were but a few years removed from the

farming villages of Central Europe. 18

These villages were community-oriented rather

than individualistic, which served the Czechs well in their new environment. 19

Czechs

stuck together. This enabled them to succeed when many native-born farmers, who were

fiercely independent, failed. Nevertheless, the story of the Prague Czechs centers on their

ardent desire to maintain their ethnicity while simultaneously diving into the culture of

their new homeland. This dual lifestyle in a town dominated by native-born whites

resulted in rapid acculturation and incorporation into the mainstream, but also resulted in

these small-town Czechs carving a permanent niche in the community as a distinct group.

Due to the frontier setting, they reacted pragmatically to the environment into which they

found themselves and despite their numerical inferiority, succeeded in establishing a

permanent presence. The outcome proved somewhat different from Horace Kallen‟s

famous cultural pluralism model, which promoted ethnic minorities preserving their

distinctive culture while simultaneously pledging loyalty to their new nation. 20

The

Czechs of Prague gradually lost much of their European culture, such as language,

religion, and holidays, but conserved their most important attribute – the preservation of

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 89. 19

Ibid., 20

For further discussion, see Horace Kallen, Culture and Democracy in the United States: Studies

in the Group Psychology of the American People (Salem, NH: Ayer Company, 1924). Also, see Kallen,

Cultural Pluralism and the American Idea: An Essay in Social Philosophy (Philadelphia: University of

Pennsylvania Press, 1956).

their ethnic identity. They stubbornly maintained an internal sense of distinctiveness, a

sense of who they were. 21

Beginning with the immigrant generation, the Czechs of Prague began losing

much of their original European ways. By 1930, most ethnic Czechs fit comfortably in

their new environment; their children attended public school, played baseball and football

with as much fervor as anyone in the community, worked for whoever paid the highest

wage regardless of ethnicity, and married outside the group with little or no

condemnation from other Czechs. The product of the Prague experience also suggests

minor differences from Herbert Gans‟s idea of “symbolic ethnicity” where ethnicity

became more a question of “feeling ethnic” which centered primarily on ethnic foods and

ethnic festivals rather than actually being a practicing member of a distinct ethnic

group. 22

Although Gan‟s research focused on later generations, the persistent and deep

ethnic distinctiveness forged by the early Czechs of Prague laid the groundwork for a

lasting and more far-reaching ethnic identity than what should be labeled “symbolic

ethnicity.” Furthermore, the experience of these small-town ethnics suggests that

Richard Alba‟s contention that the ethnic identities of European-origin groups

progressively declines is not all-encompassing. 23

Instead, the Czechs of Prague,

Oklahoma, trod a unique path on their journey towards assimilation into American

society. They quickly lost much of their European ways, but managed to hang onto their

identity as a singular group in the midst of a vast field of “American” neighbors. This

According to the Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups this internal sense of distinctiveness

is one of the defining characteristics of ethnicity. See Thernstrom, Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic

Groups, vi. 22

Herbert Gans, “Symbolic Ethnicity: The Future of Ethnic Groups and Cultures in America,”

Ethnic and Racial Studies 17, no.4 (October 1979): 9. 23

Richard D. Alba, “The Twighlight of Ethnicity,” in Ethnicity and Race in the U.S.A.: Toward

the Twenty-First Century, ed. Richard D. Alba (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985), 152.

middle path or birthright ethnicity evolved out of the strong desire by the earliest Czechs

to take a practical approach in maintaining their group‟s identity while embracing their

new home.

When writing about assimilation, there is little accord regarding the concept and it

remains a controversial subject even today. The theory of complete assimilation or

Anglo-conformity and later known as Americanization entails the idea of minority ethnic

groups completely and totally joining the all-encompassing culture, which in the United

States was based on the nation‟s English beginnings. Immigrants and their children

gradually embrace the omnipresent influence of American traditions and ways leaving

behind the language and customs of their country of birth. Over several generations, the

descendants marry outside their core group until their very identity as a member of a

specific ethnic group becomes blurred to the point of becoming nothing more than a

family memory based on their surname or the surname of a long-ago grandparent.

Eventually, all long-time residents become “American” in every way homogenizing the

culture until ethnic groups all but disappeared. Over time, the offspring lose all sense of

ethnic belonging until their concept of being Irish or German or Polish might consist of

participating in ethnic rituals like drinking green beer on St. Patrick‟s Day or attending

the local Oktoberfest celebration in their home town or proudly displaying the flag of

Poland on the wall of their work cubicle.

One of the most pervasive concepts of assimilation is, of course, the idea of

America as a melting pot. This persistent theory holds that newcomers “melt” into the

fabric of American culture and identity as quickly as possible after their arrival in the

United States. The resultant mixture forms a new race in which elements of the

newcomer culture meld with other immigrant traditions and the pervasive Anglo-Saxon

customs to produce a new creation. This is sometimes referred to as ethnogenesis and

traces its roots back to the eighteenth century and Jean de Crevecoeur‟s famous question,

“What, then is the American, this new man?” 24

The resultant American becomes a

composite of the various peoples who have lived in the United States. Today, America as

a melting pot remains a popular concept even among many newcomers who wish and

expect to submerge themselves and their family into American behavior and quickly

emerge as a “real” American. 25

A refinement of the melting pot theory holds that some individuals assimilate into

another non-dominant ethnic group. These newcomers voluntarily choose to alter or

forgo much of their ethnic characteristics and incorporate into another ethnic identity. In,

“Single or Triple Melting-Pot? Intermarriage Trends in New Haven, 1870-1940,” Ruby

Jo Reeves Kennedy popularized this idea of a “triple melting pot” in which immigrants,

through intermarriage and similar religious backgrounds, join a larger religious group.

One of the examples, she gives is Swedish, German, and English Protestants merging and

forming a larger inclusive Protestant group. However, a significant factor in this type of

assimilation is the similarity of merging ethnic backgrounds. 26

In the early twentieth century, Chicago was an important center for assimilation

theorists and one of their earliest sociologists to devise a lasting assimilation theory was

De Crevecoeur, J. Hector, Letters from an American Farmer (1782), quoted in Abramson,

“Assimilation and Pluralism,” 152. 25

Ibid., 152. The term “melting pot” entered the American lexicon with Israel Zangwill‟s popular

play of the same name written in 1908 and performed across America. 26

Ruby Jo Reeves Kennedy, “Single or Triple Melting-Pot? Intermarriage Trends in New Haven,

1870-1940,” American Journal of Sociology 49 (January 1944): 331-339.

Robert Park at the University of Chicago. Park‟s best-known work, “Racial Assimilation

in Secondary Groups with Particular Reference to the Negro” (1914) posited that two

different meanings of assimilation existed side by side and functioned on both the

individual and the ethnic group. The first is “to make like”, which could perhaps be

better described as acculturation. In this process individuals “acquire one another‟s

language, characteristic attitudes, and modes of behavior.” In other words, individuals,

either volitionally or as a matter of necessity, learn to speak, dress, and act in the fashion

of the dominant culture. Park summed up his second meaning of assimilation with the

phrase “to take up and incorporate.” Here the individual and ethnic group joins the larger

group and for all practical purposes the once separate and self-functioning ethnic group

ceases to exist. He viewed the process as involving three stages: contact,

accommodation, and assimilation. 27

In addition, Park argued that modern societies enabled more heterogeneity among

its inhabitants which led to many individuals breaking away from their homogenous

ethnic group to participate in and be included in the larger “cosmopolitan groups.” 28

expanding their social and business acquaintances members of ethnic groups became

more autonomous and thus reached a greater degree of independence. Park perceived

assimilation as the interaction between the newcomer and the dominant society‟s values.

He argued that it was reciprocal in nature and resulted in a shared national identity with a

shared language and core cultural values at the center. However, he also argued that

national identity did not preclude the presence of ethnic distinctiveness and affiliation

with an ethnic group. Park did not expect immigrants to reject their own culture; rather,

Robert Park, “Racial Assimilation in Secondary Groups with Particular Reference to the

Negro,” American Journal of Sociology 19, no. 5 (March 1914): 606. 28

Ibid., 607.

he posited that it was a process whereby newcomers cooperated with the dominant

culture to succeed. 29

In a paper presented to the Augustana Historical Society entitled, “The Problem

of the Third Generation Immigrant” (1938), Marcus Lee Hansen presented a thesis that

challenged the concept of a straight-line assimilation whereby ethnic groups slowly but

inexorably lost their unique characteristics until they became unidentifiable from the

larger society. 30

Hansen suggested that most immigrants did not so much adjust to their

new environment as reconcile themselves to their surroundings and make peace with the

dominant society. He presented the immigrant as a problem society never fully solved.

He also claimed that with time the problem disappeared when immigrants, through

accommodation, reconciled themselves to their new surroundings. 31

However, the second generation struggled with their own problems. These sons

and daughters of immigrants tussled with contradictory lifestyles. On the one hand, their

parents expected them to maintain the customs and traditions of a land most had never

seen and chastised them for exhibiting American ways that differed from their own

upbringing. Conversely, when the second generation interacted with the native-born in

public schools, local theaters, or city parks, the native-born viewed them as too foreign.

This dilemma of trying to live simultaneously in two worlds caused psychological

problems which many times resulted in the second generation ethnic member despising

his foreign roots and desperate to become as American as possible. This appeared to be

Ibid., 607-608. 30

Marcus Lee Hansen, “The Problem of the Third Generation Immigrant,” In Theories of

Ethnicity: A Classical Reader, ed. Werner Sollors (New York: New York University Press, 1996): 202-

216. 31

Marcus Lee Hansen, “The Study of Man: The Third Generation in America,” Commentary

XIV, no. 5 (November 1952): 493.

true even when immigrant families evidenced strong affection towards each other or as

Hansen put it, “[n]othing was more Yankee than a Yankeeized person of foreign

descent.” 32

Not so with the third generation. Hansen puts forward the idea that the

grandchildren of immigrants, secure in their American identity, became interested in their

past and it was they who formed historical societies to record and glorify their ethnic

history; as Hansen put it “what the son wishes to forget the grandson wishes to

remember.” This third generation no longer felt any inferiority and thus was free to look

backwards with not only curiosity, but with pride. 33

Another scholar, Will Herberg, in his book, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, examined

Hansen‟s thesis and suggested that for most immigrant groups the arrival of the third

generation usually meant the looming disbanding of the ethnic group. Beginning with the

second generation, the individuals of ethnic groups began losing the qualities that made

them different from members of the larger society. These qualities included the loss of

their parents‟ language and culture. Herberg agreed with Hansen that the second

generation was full of perplexities and conflicts in that these American-born ethnics were

“in part American, but only in part.” 34

He did note, however, that the Jewish situation

was different. The third generation did not get rid of their “Jewishness” but actually

reaffirmed their identity. What Herberg found among succeeding generations of ethnic

groups was the increasing likelihood for them to identify themselves not as hyphenated

Ibid., 494. 33

Ibid., 496. 34

Will Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew: An Essay in American Religious Sociology, rev. ed.

(Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1960), 16.

Americans but as Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish Americans. 35

Herberg argued that over

time descendents of immigrants sloughed off their ethnic languages and cultures, but held

fast to their religious roots – their family religion. This enabled their offspring to enter

the American mainstream and, at the same time, embrace something of their forefathers –

their religion. Thus, religion became the focal point of ethnicity. 36

For the Czechs, Herberg‟s theory is both true and problematic. As will be seen in

chapter eight, religion split the Czech community. Despite a strong Catholic presence,

many Czechs flocked to the free thought movement, while a small minority migrated to

Protestant sects, primarily the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. This religious

division meant, in contrast to Herberg‟s assertion, that there was no all-encompassing

focal point in the Czech population centered on religious beliefs.

One author who focused exclusively on the immigrant generation was Oscar

Handlin. In his works, Boston’s Immigrants, 1790-1880: A Study in Acculturation

Handlin looked first at the adjustment process. In his second book, The Uprooted: The

Epic Story of the Great Migrations that made the American People, Handlin dealt with

the concept of alienation when he portrayed the immigrant population as one in constant

conflict with the dominant society and experiencing immense suffering while trying to

adjust to a foreign and usually hostile environment. 37

His synthesis began by looking at

the peasant origins of most immigrants and their attachment to the communal village.

For the most part, it was these rural peasants who formed the bulk of the migration to the

United States and their leaving persuaded others such as village ministers and priests,

Ibid., 34, 39-41. 36

Ibid., 31. 37

Oscar Handlin, Boston’s Immigrants, 1790-1880: A Study in Acculturation (Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press, 1941); Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations

that made the American People (Boston: Little, Brown, 1951).

tavern keepers, smiths, and millers to follow. Handlin saw these immigrants as uprooted,

caused to flee their ancestral homes by economic and demographic forces beyond their

control. Once in the United States, they existed in a veritable sense of shock; a shock that

persisted for many years and affected not only them personally but also their offspring. It

is this alienation that Handlin focuses upon. Rather than analyzing how immigration

altered the United States, he chose to look at how the migration, loss of old solidarities,

and adjustment to a new environment altered the immigrants. 38

One of the most important works dealing with assimilation is Milton Gordon‟s

Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins.

Gordon organized his theory of assimilation into seven types or stages: 1). cultural or

behavioral assimilation (acculturation); 2). structural assimilation; 3). marital assimilation

(amalgamation); 4). identificational assimilation or the development of a sense of

peoplehood based exclusively on the host society; 5). attitude receptional assimilation as

evidenced by the absence of prejudice by the dominant society; 6). behavioral receptional

assimilation, which entails the absence of discrimination; and 7). civic assimilation,

where conflicts between the ethnic group and host society gradually disappear and are

replaced by a sense of common identity or citizenship. 39

An important aspect of

Gordon‟s work is his contention that ethnic groups are not just cultural entities but also

“subsocieties” whereby group members can live out their lives completely within an

ethnic environment. As Gordon put it:

From the cradle in the sectarian hospital, to the child‟s play group,

to the social clique in high school, the fraternity and religious

centers in college, the dating group within which he searches for a

Handlin, The Uprooted, 4, 6, 8, 31. 39

Gordon, Assimilation in American Life, 71.

spouse, the marriage partner, the neighborhood of residence, the

church affiliation and the church clubs, the men‟s and women‟s

social and service clubs, the adult clique of “marrieds,” the

vacation resort, and then as the age-cycle nears completion, the rest

home for the elderly and, finally, the sectarian cemetery – in all of

these activities and relationships which are close to the core of

personality and selfhood – the member of the ethnic group may, if

he wishes, and will in fact in many cases, follow a path which

never takes him across the boundaries of his sub societal

network. 40

Gordon admits that cultural assimilation took place fairly quickly after ethnic groups

arrived in the United States. This proved especially true of the native-born, the second

and third generations. However, he sees a perseverance of the ethnic group or

subsociety. He contends that the subsociety serves three important functions. The first

function is as “a source of group self-identification” or the locus of peoplehood.

Secondly, it provides a network of relationships within the ethnic group which enables an

individual, if he or she wishes, to function throughout his life. 41

Finally, Gordon posits

that the subsociety lessens the harshness of the national culture on the ethnic member and

allows him or her to acculturate through the prism of a comfortable and recognizable

cultural heritage. 42

Gordon saw acculturation being followed by structural assimilation.

Structural assimilation consisted of the ethnic individual changing his primary and

institutional relationships or, to put it simply, the acceptance of the new society as his

society. This occurred when ethnic members entered public schools, the work force, and

other structural organizations. Once structural assimilation occurs, all other types (civic,

Ibid., 34. 41

For the purpose of clarity and easiness of reading the generic forms of he will be used

throughout the study rather than he/she. No sexism is intended. 42

Ibid., 38.

marital, identificational) will follow. As Gordon writes, “[s]tructural assimilation, then,

rather than acculturation, is seen to be the keystone in the arch of assimilation.” 43

One of the key facets of this study, then, will be to ascertain the depth, if any, of

the assimilation of Prague‟s Czechs. This will be done by looking at specific institutional

factors in the lives of the Czech immigrants and their descendents. A starting point, after

a brief examination of their settlement patterns, will be to analyze their relationship with

their historical European religion. In this case, did they stay true to the Catholic Church

or did they accept the dominant religion of most native-born Americans, which was

overwhelmingly Protestant during this period?

A second area of study, which will be important in determining the degree of

assimilation, focuses on the economic activity of the immigrant group in Prague. Did the

Czechs isolate themselves economically and primarily do business within their ethnic

group or did they evince an attitude of adaptation and integration by participating in the

overall economy of the small town?

However, further questions emerge regarding assimilation. For example, did the

Bohemians of the small farming community culturally assimilate into the overall society?

If so, how quickly and to what degree was their acculturation? Did they attend or

participate in holidays or town events such as dances and plays? That the newcomers

created a subsociety within the community will become evident. However, did the Czech

subsociety set itself aside from the larger community or did they begin blending with the

native-born population? An assessment of acculturation within the subsociety will be

possible by first examining Czech fraternal associations within the farming community.

What influence did these ethnic organizations, such as the Bohemian Hall and Sokol

Ibid., 81.

Gymnastic Association, wield over the Czech community? Were they refuges of

isolationism or gateways to the larger society? Following this examination, the study will

delve into the family life of Prague‟s Czechs. Questions in this category include their

social activities, the degree of interaction with the non-Czech population, and the telling

factor of exogamous marriages. Did Czechs marry outside their ethnic group and when

did it occur? Did immigrants marry non-Czechs or did exogamous marriages only begin

occurring with the second generation?

Education is yet another institutional category needing exploration. Besides

instruction of the young, public schools serve as purveyors of culture and socialization.

Thus, if the Czech community accepted and sent their children through the public school

system is an important indicator of assimilation. In addition, schools employed English

as their exclusive language of instruction, which in the long term usually sounded the

death knell for ethnic dialects.

A final area of study looks at the ethnic group‟s behavior in community life. Did

the Czechs assimilate civically by participating in political parties and elections? Did the

Czechs of Prague contribute to the development of the farm town by joining the police or

fire departments? Did they serve on the any town committees? And, if they did, when

did they do so? Was it the immigrants themselves that contributed or was it future

generations, ethnic Czechs born and raised in the farming community that accepted their

roles and duties as citizens? Lastly, did Prague‟s Czechs develop a sense of peoplehood

or national identity based on the host society or did they strictly maintain their ethnic

identity? In conjunction with this area of examination, the focus must turn to the native-

born population and their attitudes towards their immigrant neighbors. Did the non-

Czechs of Prague accept the immigrants into their community or did they evince

prejudice against the newcomers? Was discrimination practiced against Prague‟s Czechs

in any way? Finally, what was the level of prejudice and discrimination of the larger

society against the newcomers? By examining these factors a clear picture of the degree

of assimilation of the Prague Czechs will became visible.

A book published at practically the same time as Gordon‟s work was Beyond the

Melting Pot (1963) by Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. 44

Glazer and

Moynihan‟s study focused on five ethnic groups in New York (Italians, Irish, Jews,

African Americans, and Puerto Ricans) and argued for the persistence of ethnicity despite

the pressures to assimilate. Other scholars followed Beyond the Melting Pot with works

celebrating the victory of ethnicity over amalgamation and incorporation. They argued

that the United States was not a melting pot or a bastion of Anglo-conformity, but,

instead, an ethnically-pluralistic society, a society where ethnicity was actually

undergoing resurgence – revival. Although this work covers the modern-day Czech

colony only fleetingly, it is still important to realize that beginning in the 1970s scholars

again took up the question of whether or not some ethnic groups had indeed

assimilated. 45

Social historians added to the dismissal of grand assimilation premises by writing

bottom-up history, focusing on individuals, the problems they faced, and the choices they

made. An important work in this genre is John Bodnar‟s, The Transplanted (1985).

Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Beyond the Melting Pot (Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press, 1963). 45

Some of the works arguing for ethnic persistence include, Peter Schrag, The Decline of the

WASP (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971); Michael Novak, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics (New

York: Macmillan, 1971); Richard Gambino, Blood of My Blood (Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1975);

and Andrew Greeley, Why Can’t They Be Like Us? America’s White Ethnic Groups (New York: E.P.

Dutton, 1971).

Bodnar‟s study examined the ethnic community in light of economic pressures and

concluded that their reactions were simply a practical reaction to the larger society‟s

dominant institutions and culture. Two of his primary foci were to show that the

immigrant experience was not a common one and that not all newcomers behaved in a

similar fashion. Bodnar found the instrument of social change to be the urban-industrial

economic system and not only for ethnic groups, but also for society as a whole. It is

always in this context that Bodnar looks at the ethnic struggle to survive in a foreign

land. 46

Bodnar did not examine a specific ethnic group. Instead, he attempted to relate a

wide-ranging narrative centered on ordinary individuals and the choices they made in

dealing with a foreign urban society. Bodnar does not view immigrants as victims but

rather as “active participants in an historical drama whose outcome is anything but

predictable.” 47

Such things as social station, familial status, and ideological orientation

conditioned the responses of the immigrants to their new situation. He argues that these

variables influenced each individual and helped decide their fate, their mobility in the

American industrial society. Furthermore, Bodnar suggests that it was these decisions –

made by all immigrants – that enabled some to fare better than others, some to decide to

return home, and many to get by in their new environment. 48

Although Bodnar‟s work focused on immigrants in an urban setting, much of his

findings translate well to the rural environment. Prague‟s Czechs also faced many

choices, especially in the social realm and even though they were not directly involved in

factories prevalent in most major cities, they contributed to the growing American

John Bodnar, The Transplanted, xvi-xviii. 47

Ibid., xx. 48

Ibid.

economy through cotton production and later oil and ranching. In the early twentieth

century, Lincoln County and the Prague area in particular were major centers for cotton

growing in Oklahoma, with several mills located in Prague.

Despite many scholars either dismissing the idea of assimilation or simply

ignoring it, there remained both historians and sociologists who remained steadfast in

their support of assimilation theory. These included John Higham, Herbert Gans, and

Richard Alba. In addition, in the 1990s, younger scholars such as Ewa Morawska called

for the resuscitation and further exploration of assimilation theory. 49

An especially

potent work that attacked the idea of ethnic persistence was Stephen Steinberg‟s The

Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. 50

Published in 1981, The Ethnic

Myth rejected the popular 1970s idea of an ethnic revival inundating communities all

over the United States. Instead, Steinberg argued that “the ethnic revival was actually a

„dying gasp‟ on the part of ethnic groups descended from the great waves of immigration

of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.” 51

Steinberg, along with others such as

Herbert Gans, suggested that ethnicity evolved into something little more than symbolism

whereby descendents of particular ethnic groups rejoiced in their historical tribal roots

through annual festive occasions that centered on parades, dances, and eating ethnic

food. 52

In reality, these descendents were Americans through and through with the only

Ewa Morawska, “In Defense of the Assimilation Model.” Journal of American Ethnic History

13, no. 2 (Winter 1994): 76-87. 50

Stephen Steinberg, The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America (New York:

Atheneum, 1981). 51

Ibid., 51. 52

Gans, “Symbolic Ethnicity,” 1-20.

articles of ethnicity remaining for many being a non-Anglo surname and a pride in their

ancestry. 53

State of the Question:

When studying the literature of specific ethnic groups, their assimilation

experiences, as well as their impact on where they settled, a realization immediately

confronts the researcher; it was the ethnic elites writing most of the history of the group

and they primarily focused on the elites of their ethnic group. Czech literature is no

different. However, writers such as Jan Habenicht, Emily Balch, Rose Rosicky, and

Thomas Capek also include valuable quantitative information and lists of early settlers.

Nevertheless these authors concentrate on people they believe made a considerable

impact on the Czech immigrant population and American society as a whole. 54

In 1940,

Thomas Capek published a list of American Czechs in public office. 55

In the short work,

he included Czech-American congressional representatives from Wisconsin, Ohio,

Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Nebraska; state legislators from New York, Nebraska, and

Wisconsin; and Anton Cermak, mayor of Chicago in the early 1930s and personal friend

of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 56

Nowhere does he mention Frank R. Vlasak and the

Bohemian Political Association of Prague, Oklahoma or the fact that the town of Prague

What I mean by “Americans through and through” refers to the later generations fully

identifying themselves as citizens of the United States and accepting the customs, language and culture of

the United States as their own. The country of their ancestors becomes nothing more than the origin of

some of their ancestors. 54

Jan Habenicht, A History of the Czechs in America (St. Louis: Hlas Publishing, 1919); Emily

Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York: Charities Publication Committee, 1910); Rose Rosicky, A

History of Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska (Omaha: Czech Historical Society of Nebraska, 1929); and

Thomas Capek who contributed many works concerning the Czech experience including, The Cechs

(Bohemians) in America: A Study of their National, Cultural, Political, Social, Economic, and Religious

Life (New York: Arno Press, 1920; repr., 1969). 55

Thomas Capek, American Czechs in Public Office (Omaha: Czech Historical Society of

Nebraska, 1940). 56

Ibid., 2-8.

elected three Czechs to their town council in 1906, a Czech as mayor in 1911, and a

Czech immigrant to preside over the school board in 1916. 57

Granted these men did not

have broad political influence, but the impact they wielded in their small part of the world

was significant and shows the exclusivity of writers like Capek.

Previously, four writers wrote about the community of Prague, Oklahoma. The

starting place for any study of the Czech experience in Oklahoma must begin with Karel

Bicha‟s, The Czechs in Oklahoma. Bicha‟s work details the settlement patterns of the

pioneer Czechs and highlights their cultural and social proclivities. Although his work is

not specific to Prague, he does cover the formation of the town and its distinctive Czech

flavor. 58

In 1948, William Ray Tower wrote a master‟s thesis covering the general history

of the town. Later, in the 1970s, Melva Losch Brown, a resident of Prague, updated the

history with her self-published book, Czech-Town U.S.A. 59

Both are straightforward,

informational accounts of Prague and rely almost exclusively on interviews with long-

time inhabitants of the town. Neither attempted to tie the local Czech community with

any aspect larger than what went on within the confines of the Prague area. In fact, the

two works are not ethnic studies. They considered the town of Prague as a whole and did

not focus on the Czech population per se, but only as they influenced events. A more

important study is Russell Willford Lynch‟s, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma.” Lynch

examined the Czech farming community and why it prospered while many native-born

Prague News, 10 May 1906; Prague Record, 13 July 1916; Lynch, “Czech Farmers in

Oklahoma,” 103; Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., Prague (Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman:

Hooper Printing, Inc., 1978), 137-138. 58

Karel Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980). 59

William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A.

Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948); Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A.

farmers in the same geographic area struggled. However, other than a brief summary of

the formation of Prague and snippets of how Czech farmers interacted with the

townspeople, Lynch‟s work deals with the farming community and why they were so

successful. 60

A good, fairly recent study on working-class Czech immigrants is Josef Barton‟s

short article, “Land, Labor, and Community in Nueces: Czech Farmers and Mexican

Laborers in South Texas,” comparing Czech farmers in southern Texas with Mexican

laborers in the same location during the years 1880 to 1930. 61

Barton, without going into

great detail, traced the migrations of Czechs as they searched for prime farmland on

which to settle. He concluded that in 1906 three of every five Czech families were

sharecroppers. However, as they migrated south to Nueces and acquired land they began

to prosper. 62

His study shows how many Czechs ardently desired and sought land and

once they obtained land they usually thrived. Another important conclusion Barton drew

was that “the locus of membership and alliance in the Czech community was the lineal

unit of the family. . . Czech immigrants, in short, allied themselves in families of three

generations.” 63

That the family was the basic unit of the Czech community should come

as no surprise. Furthermore, their reliance on extended families helped them endure,

cope with, and eventually overcome most economic and societal obstacles blocking their

path to success.

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma.” 61

Josef Barton, “Land, Labor, and Community in Nueces: Czech Farmers and Mexican Laborers

in South Texas, 1880-1930,” in European Immigrants in the American West: Community Histories, ed.

Frederick C. Luebke (Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1998): 147-160. 62

Ibid., 151. 63

Ibid., 152.

John Bodnar suggested that “not all newcomers behaved in a similar fashion . . .

and that not everyone faced identical experiences.” 64

This work examines an ethnic

group that appears to fit Bodnar‟s statement. To prosper in a small town where they were

the minority, the Czech residents had to adapt – and adapt quickly. Because of their

rural, isolated environment, they could not simply retreat to an ethnic neighborhood

where they constituted, if not the majority, a strong block of Bohemian ethnics.

Furthermore, unlike the rural Czech colony of Milligan, Nebraska where the immigrants

enjoyed overwhelming numbers, the Czechs of Prague had to interact daily with the

native-born whites, German immigrants, and African-American residents of the village.

Nevertheless, the Czech newcomers of Prague, Oklahoma established a permanent

presence in the small farming town on the edge of the Great Plains. They maintained

their identity as Bohemians, not in the multicultural sense whereby they steadfastly held

to their native tongue and native ways, nor in a symbolic sense in which the only

remaining vestiges are public festivals and kolache cafes, but in a much deeper,

existential sense they remained Czech; they preserved and passed on an internal sense of

distinctiveness. 65

They resisted complete assimilation and held fast to their birthright

despite societal pressure to conform. How did they do this? What were the ethnic

mechanisms whereby Czechs maintained their ethnic identity? How early did interaction

between Czechs and non-Czechs take place? What form did these early interactions

take? Finally, were the early Czechs accepted on an equal basis in the community by

non-Czechs?

Bodnar, The Transplanted, xvi. 65

Kolache are a traditional Czech pastry.

Chapter two offers a brief history of Czech immigration to the United States until

1930. Topics covered include a short summary of when the Czech exodus from Bohemia

began and why Czechs came to the United States. An examination of the general area

where they settled once in the United States and a discussion of Bohemia‟s cultural and

political interaction with the German-speaking areas is also included. One of the salient

features of chapter two centers on the idea that Czech immigrants differed from other

Slavic migrants. Although historians include Czech immigration in the period that came

to be known as the “new immigration,” many actually arrived in the United States earlier

than 1880 (the date commonly associated with the beginning of the “new immigration”).

One of the primary reasons for many Czechs arriving before 1880 was that Bohemia and

Moravia, the two primary homelands of Czech-speakers, were part of an industrializing

Austro-Hungarian Empire. The industrial revolution greatly affected the province of

Bohemia in particular and drove many villagers to seek a better way of life elsewhere,

especially The United States. In addition, as previously noted, the Czech‟s close

proximity, both culturally and politically, to the German-speaking peoples provided

Bohemians with a more western outlook than other Slavic areas.

Chapter three examines Czech settlement in Lincoln County, Oklahoma and the

formation of the town of Prague eleven years later. The chapter begins with a description

of southeast Lincoln County, which would later include Prague. This is followed by a

short summary of the Sac and Fox Land Run and resultant land acquisitions by the

earliest Czech settlers, which resulted in a tight ethnic farming community known as

Barta Post Office. Almost immediately some of the newcomers formed a benevolent

association, while others began a Catholic church. Regardless, the newcomers began

building homes and planting crops and the small Czech farming community flourished.

The chapter concludes with the formation of the brand-new town of Prague and explains

why the Czechs so quickly became a minority.

Chapter four looks at the importance of religion in the lives of the Prague Czechs.

One important division within the Czech community revolved around religion. Despite

Catholicism being the state religion of Bohemia, many Czech immigrants rejected the

church soon after arriving in the United States. Most joined free thinking societies,

which assumed an anticlerical stance if not outright hostility towards religion. These free

thinkers with their diverse doctrines, and their importance in the Czech religious

community, especially their impact on assimilation, are examined in detail. The Catholic

Church and various Protestant sects that attracted Czechs are also scrutinized in regards

to retarding or advancing assimilation.

In chapter five, the economic situation of Prague is explored. One of the basic

questions scrutinized in this chapter will be who owned what? What type of businesses

did ethnic Czechs own in comparison to non-Czechs? Who controlled the banks and

newspaper? Furthermore, can economic interaction between Czechs and non-Czechs be

determined? If so, what are the specifics? Did the economic picture change from the

formation of Prague to 1930? Finally, what do the economic circumstances of Prague tell

us about assimilation?

Chapters six and seven look at the social and cultural life of the Czechs of Prague.

Chapter six focuses on the Czech‟s benevolent societies and their importance to the

ethnic group. Chapter six also examines the immigrant community‟s strong desire to see

an independent Czech nation in Europe and how they worked to bring this about during

World War I. Chapter seven details the social situation in Prague. Family life, marriage

patterns, holidays, and sports and entertainment will provide an idea of the rapidity of

acculturation of the Czech community. A glimpse into how Czechs attempted to

maintain their ethnic identity in the midst of a cultural onslaught by the native population

will also be possible.

Education, especially the public school system, is the topic of chapter eight.

Czech involvement in Prague‟s public schools is analyzed as well as the success of Czech

students. A look at Czech schools and the ideas of the free thinkers are also examined.

The chapter concludes with an analysis of the impact of all forms of education on the

Czech community‟s progeny.

What was the community organization of Prague, Oklahoma? Were Czechs

involved? How were they involved? What civic positions did they hold? Did Czechs

continue to accept positions of responsibility in Prague from the inception of the town to

1930? These are several important questions covered in chapter nine. This chapter

examines the civic organizations of Prague and looks at positions such as fire chief, the

town‟s band leader, Czechs in the Chamber of Commerce, as well as notable clubs such

as the Masonic Lodge and Woodmen of the World. The purpose and effectiveness of

Prague‟s Bohemian Political Association is also examined along with its importance

regarding acceptance by the non-Czech population.

Chapter ten reviews the major findings of the study, specifically the idea that their

minority status and the unique environment of Prague caused ethnic Czechs to interact

immediately with the non-Czech population. The diverse farm-town population proved

different than most urban situations and definitely from rural areas almost solely

inhabited by Bohemian newcomers. In addition, Prague‟s early years as a territorial

frontier town on the edge of a “dry” territory actually aided the immigrants by presenting

them with opportunities nonexistent in many other areas. Nevertheless, the rapid

acculturation by the Czech community did not prevent them from maintaining their

ethnic identity, their sense of who they were. Over time, many Czechs became dual

citizens, totally American but still proudly clinging to their birthright identity as Czechs.

In this, the historical plight of the Czechs while in Europe was critical. Bohemia‟s long

domination by German-speaking peoples incorporated an existential sense of identity

among many Czechs. The free thought movement also served the ethnic community in

preserving a sense of ethnicity and belonging through the fraternal lodges, especially the

Sokols.

This study relied heavily on several sources. Background information and

snapshots of Prague came primarily from a book commemorating the centennial of

Prague published under the auspices of the Prague Historical Museum as well as the,

History of Lincoln County, put together by the historical society in Chandler, Oklahoma,

the county seat. Other works referenced regarding the early life of the town include

Russell Lynch‟s work on Lincoln County farmers, Ray Tower‟s thesis on the town of

Prague and Melva Losch Brown‟s 1970s general history of Prague. 66

Newspapers were essential to the study and Prague, from its inception, had at

least one newspaper and for several years, two. The newspapers were weeklies and like

many small-town papers carried news about the local population including marriages,

vacations, business enterprises (both successful and failed), parties, sporting events,

Both Russell Lynch‟s and Ray Tower‟s work used as primary sources personal interviews with

either the original settlers or their children.

entertainment, information on churches, and a plethora of advertisements. A fountain of

information for the study derived from Prague‟s Bohemian Hall. The Western Czech

Brotherhood Association kept extensive records (in Czech) including membership rolls,

minutes of monthly meetings, and account books as far back as 1896. These dust-

covered volumes proved a bonanza and gave the researcher a clear picture of the

membership and workings of the fraternal association.

Census manuscripts also provided vital information regarding Prague‟s Czech

community. By studying census records one can discover information such as family

size, occupation, home ownership, place of residence, date of immigration, and prior

residence. With this information a somewhat detailed portrait of the individuals and

families emerges. Added to this image are church records and sectarian cemeteries,

which add further illumination to the shady spots of our picture. By combining these

sources a good – if imperfect – view of the past is visible; from this view, we should be

able to see how the Czechs of Prague, Oklahoma adjusted to their new surroundings

while maintaining their ethnic identity.

CHAPTER 2

CZECH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES TO 1930

The young mother, dressed in a simple peasant skirt and blouse, ushered her

children into the small, badly lit room to see their grandmother one last time. The

children hugged and kissed the tearful lady who valiantly forced a smile to her lips as she

lovingly ran her fingers through their straw-colored locks and told them over and over

how much she loved them. When the children finally pulled free from their

grandmother‟s embrace, the suddenly tired woman rose from her wooden rocker and

stretched her arms toward her youngest daughter. The younger woman bounded across

the plank floor and squeezed her mother as if they had not seen each other for years.

Knowing it might be the last time they might ever touch, the two women held fast to each

other for well over a minute. Although neither sobbed openly, both felt the warmness of

tears seeping down their cheeks. When at last they separated, the young mother promised

yet again to write often, then turned towards the door and with children in tow marched

towards the waiting wagon that would take her to the steamship where she would journey

to America to join her husband. 1

The above vignette, loosely based on Emily Balch‟s true story of a woman saying

goodbye to her mother, depicts the heartache many emigrants felt when leaving the

village of their birth. The emotional state expressed by many emigrants included a

1 Paraphrased and expanded from a story found in Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, 58-59.

mixture of enthusiasm, apprehension, and sorrow. The sorrow of leaving one‟s home,

one‟s extended family, and one‟s life-long friends must have been traumatic. In a study

of popular immigrant songs, Victor R. Greene, in “Ethnic Confrontations with State

Universities, 1860-1920,” concluded that “immigrants generally, though not uniformly,

suffered personal discomfort from and disillusionment over their transfer.” 2 This

disillusionment did not end once the emigrant set sail. Indeed, soon after their arrival,

immigrants faced new obstacles such as an unfamiliar language, a new culture, and an

energetic, highly competitive economy, where jobs went to those willing to work long

hours in, many times, dirty and dangerous occupations. This early phase of immigration

and its sudden and drastic changes caused many to become sufficiently disillusioned to

the point of returning to their homeland. 3 Although all immigrants faced this dilemma, it

proved especially true for single, male immigrants arriving for purely economic reasons.

Many emigrated to work, save money, and then return home. These “birds of passage”

lived a frugal existence in company dormitories or row houses close to the mill or

refinery with their goal of returning home always foremost in their minds. 4 However, the

Czech experience appears different. Immigrants from Bohemia and Moravia primarily

2 Victor R. Greene, “Ethnic Confrontations with State Universities, 1860-1920,” in American

Education and the European Immigrant: 1840-1940, ed. Bernard J. Weiss (Urbana, IL: University of

Illinois Press, 1982), 153; Bernard J. Weiss, “Introduction” to American Education and the Immigrant, ed.

Bernard J. Weiss (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1982), xviii. 3 Paul H. Elovitz, “Patterns and Costs of Immigration,” in Immigrant Experiences: Personal

Narrative and Psychological Analysis, eds. Paul H. Elovitz and Charlotte Kahn (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh

Dickinson University Press, 1997), 14; Nobuko Yoshizawa Meaders, “The Transcultural Self,” in

Immigrant Experiences: Personal Narrative and Psychological Analysis, eds. Paul H. Elovitz and

Charlotte Kahn (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1997), 49. 4 An example of this phenomenon is the Slovaks. From 1908 to 1910 of the 71,172 Slovaks who

entered the United States 41,726 (59%) returned home. For an indepth discussion, see Josef Stasko,

Slovaks in the United States of America (n.p.: Dobra Kniha, 1974), 48.

came to the United States in family units with every intention of staying and their rate of

return was far less than other Slavic groups. 5

Why did Czechs leave Bohemia and Moravia? Why did they uproot their entire

family – oftentimes including grandparents – and come to a foreign land? What caused

them to take such drastic action? Was it the lure of the New World and its promise of

prosperity? Or did things become so bad in their own country that many simply lost all

hope for a better future? In many early accounts of the immigrant experience, the

traditional pull of the American economy and the vast opportunities it offered was held as

the prime motive underlying immigration. 6 The idea of the United States as a beacon of

hope and liberty and the opportunity to obtain prosperity attracted millions causing them

to leave everything behind and cross oceans to realize their dream.

However, the political and economic situation in their homeland emerges as the

primary reasons for Czechs coming to the United States and was the impetus for why

they overwhelmingly came in family groups. Both push and pull factors are important

and neither should be discounted. Nevertheless, before anyone would even consider

leaving their village or town of birth they must come to the conclusion that things simply

are not going to get better. Bernard Bailyn was on the mark when he wrote, “[a]gain and

again major issues, apparently unresolvable paradoxes in the peopling process, can be

resolved by reference to the domestic scene in the land of origin.” 7 In other words,

people normally do not simply up and leave the country of their birth. Their situation has

5 U.S. Immigration Commission, Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol.12 (Washington,

DC: GPO, 1911), 385. 6 For a brief discussion of early writing on immigrants, see John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A

History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985), 2. 7 Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America: An Introduction (New York: Alfred A.

Knopf, Inc., 1986), 29. For a further discussion, see Bodnar The Transplanted, 3.

to become desperate, discouraging; there has to be a push. What was the push? Why did

hundreds and then thousands of families sell everything, board a ship, and set sail for a

new land? Early on it appears that religious reasons caused many Bohemians and

Moravians to cross the Atlantic and settle in the United States. However, in the

nineteenth century the impetus for emigration shifted to economic factors as the

industrialization of Europe spread from West to East.

The first known Czech to settle permanently in America was Augustine Hermen

who came to the New World sometime during the 1650s. 8 Hermen first settled in New

Amsterdam, present-day New York, but eventually migrated to Maryland where, after

publishing a detailed map of the colony, Lord Baltimore awarded him twenty thousand

acres. Hermen established his home on this tract of land and christened it Bohemia

Manor. There can be little doubt that Hermen, although living in a British colony, was

proud of his heritage. Besides naming his estate Bohemia Manor, he dubbed the two

rivers running through his property the “Big Bohemia River” and the “Little Bohemia

River.” When the well-to-do farmer died in 1692 the inscription on his tombstone read,

“Augustine Hermen, Bohemian.” 9

Due to the religious conflict, the Thirty Years War then ravaging Bohemia, other

Czechs soon followed Hermen. Approximately five hundred fled Bohemia searching for

a more tolerant place to live. These small numbers of Czech Protestants settled primarily

in Pennsylvania alongside the more numerous German immigrants and quickly lost their

8 Thomas Capek, The Cechs (Bohemians) in America: A Study of their National, Cultural,

Political, Social, Economic, and Religious Life (New York: Arno press, 1920; repr., 1969), 9; Also see Jan

Habenicht, A History of the Czechs in America (St. Louis: Hlas Publishing, 1910), 11. Chroniclers spell

the name several different ways: Herman, Herrman, Harman, Heerman, Hermans. 9 Habenicht, History of Czechs in America, 12-14.

cultural identity and native tongue. 10

These early immigrants from Bohemia seeking

religious and political freedom continued to trickle into North America usually settling

near German communities until around 1850 when a new type of Czech immigrant began

arriving – one leaving the homeland primarily due to economic factors. 11

Due to

Bohemia and Moravia containing rich natural resources, the Habsburg rulers of Austria-

Hungary rapidly industrialized the areas resulting in a deterioration of the way of life in

many villages. By 1914, 70 percent of Habsburg industrial capacity was in the Czech

lands with Bohemia alone containing about one-third of all the industrial workers in the

empire. Agriculture changed from primarily self-sufficiency to an emphasis on the

market, which changed forever many European communities. 12

Although unintended by

the imperial government, this disruption of village life resulted in a destabilizing of

peasant culture and caused a rural to urban migration and ultimately an exodus to other

parts of Europe and the world, especially the United States. 13

Interestingly, the first to

leave were usually craftsmen, artisans, and small independent farmers (cottagers) who

felt threatened by the new market-based economic order that emphasized large estates

and the production of cash crops. 14

The industrializing forces especially hurt the middle

level of the Czech peasantry in southern Bohemia and eastern Moravia and it is mainly

these areas that supplied most of the mid-nineteenth-century immigrants to the United

Karen Johnson Freeze, “Czechs” in The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, eds.

Stephan Thernstrom, Ann Orlov and Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard

University Press, 1980), 262. 11

An exception to this would be a small group of Moravian Protestant missionaries who

immigrated to Georgia for evangelistic reasons. See Capek, Cechs in America, 23. 12

Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 12, 366; Karel Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma

(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980), 7 13

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 10. 14

A cottager usually owned between five and twenty-five acres and existed primarily as a

subsistence farmer. See Russell Willford Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma: A Comparative Study of

the Stability of a Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County Oklahoma, and the Factors Relating to its

Stability,” Bulleting of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Stillwater, OK: Oklahoma

Agricultural and Mechanical College) 39, no. 13 (June 1942), 89.

States. 15

Thus, despite Bohemia being the chief industrial center of Austria, the future

appeared bleak to many Czechs as thousands left their relatives and friends to seek a

better life. When asked by United States Immigration Commission agents sent to

Bohemia in the early twentieth century as to why so many desired to leave their

motherland, “[i]n practically every instance . . . was . . . the answer „to earn greater wages

in America.‟” 16

Another important motive that added to the economic woes emerged in the form

of a European population explosion. Between 1800 and 1910 Austria-Hungary more

than doubled its population. 17

Increased family size and the new economic order many

times led to hunger and want resulting in an almost fanatical effort to find a way to

relieve the misery. Robert Kutak, in his study of the Nebraska town of Milligan,

questioned 117 Czech immigrants as to why they left Bohemia. Of the 117 questioned,

92 gave “poverty and large families” as the primary reason for emigrating. 18

In addition, in the 1840s, central Europe experienced terrible droughts which

decimated harvests and all but destroyed potato crops. As a result, many Czechs began

believing that it simply had to be better in the United States. Thus, the loss of hope in the

land of their birth catapulted many Czechs across the ocean. As already noted, many of

these newer immigrants were of the cottager class from small villages in Bohemia and

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 55-56; Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York:

Charities Publication Committee, 1910), 75. Many of the mid-nineteenth Century Bohemian immigrants

came from the areas of Plsen, Budweis, Tabor, Pisek, Kuttenberg, and Caslau. 16

Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 12, 361. 17

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 34, 37; Richard A. Easterlin, “Immigration: Economic and Social

Characteristics,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, eds. Stephan Thernstrom, Ann

Orlov, Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980), 484. 18

Robert Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village: A Study of Social Persistence and

Change (New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1933, repr. ed., 1970), 11. The other reasons

given for coming to America were: political (3); religious (2); to escape military service (5); and to join

relatives or friends already in the United States (15).

Moravia. Once in the United States, they sought a similar lifestyle. Therefore when they

arrived, rather than migrating to the established German/Czech communities of

Pennsylvania, many sought out inexpensive land in the West, thus becoming the only

Slavic group to farm extensively. 19

These Czech families established themselves in

Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota and, despite battling a harsher

climate than they were accustomed to in Bohemia and Moravia, became successful

husbandmen growing wheat, rye, oats, and corn. 20

According to Russell Lynch, the

cooperation and community-mindedness of many of these farming areas closely

resembled the European villages the Czechs had just left. It was in these north-central

states that many Czechs broke away from the German-American influence and flourished

on their own. This proved especially true in the rural states of Nebraska and Iowa. 21

Although Lynch paints a somewhat rosy picture of the plight of Czech immigrant

farmers, his work chiefly dealt with Oklahoma Czechs at the turn of the twentieth

century, many of whom had already lived elsewhere in the United States. Most pioneer

farmers of the mid-nineteenth century found life in the relatively treeless plains region

harsh and often times lonely. Many farmsteads were miles from the nearest village and

despite the Czechs‟s cooperative spirit, they spent many days alone and isolated from

their ethnic kinsmen. This is true not only regarding the Czech experience but of most

pioneers, regardless of ethnicity, who settled on the Great Plains. 22

Freeze, “Czechs,” 261. 20

Rose Rosicky, A History of Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska (Omaha: Czech Historical Society

of Nebraska, 1929), 26; Also see Capek, Cechs in America, 36-48. 21

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 89, 105. 22

For an excellent narrative of the difficulties encountered by settlers on the Great Plains, see Ole

Edvart Rolvaag, Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1927, repr.,

New York: First Perennial Classics, 1999).

From 1850 to 1890, emigration from Bohemia and Moravia continued and most

of these newcomers to the United States bypassed the eastern destinations so dear to other

Slavic groups and headed for the Midwestern farming communities. As decades passed

and the cheap western land filled up, Czechs were forced to look elsewhere for a new

start. Some chose to settle in New York and Cleveland, but many continued west settling

in cities like Chicago, Omaha, and Racine. 23

St. Louis, in 1854, was home of the first

sizeable urban Czech community. However, Chicago soon stripped St. Louis of this

honor and by the turn of the century became the veritable, if unofficial, capital of

America‟s Czechs.

By 1890, over 170,000 foreign-born Czechs lived in the United States. 24

However, this does not take into account second and third generation native-born Czechs,

many of whom lived in rural Czech colonies or in urban ethnic neighborhoods. The

sparsely-populated state of Nebraska alone contained over fifty thousand people claiming

Czech ancestry. 25

Nevertheless, the farming villages and Midwestern urban centers were

not the only places ethnic Czechs chose to live. New York contained over forty-seven

thousand residents claiming a Czech background and Texas, the destination for many

Moravians, held just over forty-one thousand ethnic Czechs. 26

However, Czechs

increasingly chose to live in the northern states of Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin,

Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakotas. At the turn of the twentieth century, these areas held

Capek, Cechs in America, 36-47. 24

Freeze, “Czechs,” 262. 25

Henry W. Casper, History of the Catholic Church in Nebraska (Milwaukee: The Bruce

Publishing Company, 1966), vol.4, Catholic Chapters in Nebraska Immigration: 1870-1900, 101. For a

further discussion, see Capek, Cechs in America, 60. 26

The Moravian immigrants to the Lone Star State embarked from Liverpool and landed in the

United States in Galveston rather than New York. See Habenicht, History of Czechs in America, 63; Also

see Capek, Cechs in America, 60. Capek gathered his quantitative information from the Thirteenth Census

of the United States, 1910: Mother Tongue of the Foreign White Stock, Table 17, 985-986.

over three hundred thousand Czech ethnics, more than any other geographical section of

the country. 27

So the Czechs came. In addition, they came with their families to stay. 28

Americans considered them part of the “new” immigration – those whose country of birth

was in southern or eastern Europe even though Czechs had been coming to North

America since the early seventeenth century. Nevertheless, Czechs differed from other

“new” immigrants such as the Poles, Slovaks, Croats, and Hungarians in many areas.

To begin with, Czechs had not culturally associated much in the past with their

northern Slavic neighbors, the Poles, or their close linguistic relatives, the Slovaks.

Historically, the Hungarians dominated the Slovaks resulting in Slovakia becoming a

land of uneducated peasants rather than a western-oriented, industrial society. To add to

this separation, most Slovaks, upon arrival in the United States, settled almost exclusively

in the industrial cities of the Northeast, particularly Pennsylvania, rather than traveling to

the Midwest as many Czechs did. 29

These men sweated long hours in the mines and

mills saving as much of their paychecks as possible with every intention of returning

home. 30

As previously mentioned, many were known as “birds of passage,” and rarely

attempted to assimilate into the larger community. Instead, they were content living in

company housing close to the workplace unlike the Czechs, who came to stay. 31

Nevertheless, those Slovaks who decided to remain in the United States established

Capek, Cechs in America, 60-61. 28

Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 12, 385. 29

Stasko, Slovaks in the United States of America, 35. 30

Of the 71,172 Slovaks who entered the United States from 1908 to 1910 41,726 (59%) returned

home. For an excellent discussion, see Stasko, Slovaks in the United States, 48. See also M. Mark

Stolarik, “Slovaks” in The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, eds. Stephan Thernstrom,

Ann Orlov and Oscar Handlin, (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980),

928. 31

Alan M. Kraut, The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921

(Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1986), 106.

close-knit neighborhoods complete with churches, Slovak-speaking businesses, and

community associations much like other immigrant groups.

However, Czechs, due to centuries of interaction with the German-speaking

peoples to their north and west, shared more in the areas of customs and mode of life with

the non-Slavic Germans than they did with either the Poles or Slovaks. Thomas Capek

summed it up well when he wrote, “[Czechs] felt pretty much at home among the

Germans.” 32

Although Czechs felt somewhat at ease with western culture, they did not

sail across the Atlantic Ocean, as the Germans had done, in appreciable numbers until

after 1880. Thus, despite having much in common with their German neighbors, most

Czechs definitely were part of the new immigration.

The population of America in 1900 stood at 75,568,686. 33

Of this total, there

were 10,460,085 residents born outside the United States and of these, 156,991 were

Czechs. 34

Looking at these large numbers, it is obvious that Czech immigrants did not

make up a large portion of the whole. Thus, regarding the overall portrait of American

immigration during this time period, Czech influence and visibility pales in comparison

with groups such as the Italians, Greeks, and Jews. And if we compare the American

Czech influx with the Poles, another Slavic group we see that in the previous decade

many more Poles arrived in the United States than their Czech counterparts. 35

In the ten

years after 1890, the Czech foreign-born population in America increased 32 percent,

Capek, Cechs in America, 112. 33

Department of Commerce, United States Bureau of the Census. Census Reports: 1900, vol. 1,

Population (Washington, DC: GPO, 1904), xix. 34

Ibid., clxx. 35

It is impossible to compare the Czechs with the Slovaks during this time period as the Census

Bureau did not list the Slovaks as a separate people. They were not listed separately, but included as part

of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

while the Polish community zoomed from 147,440 people in 1890 to 383,510 at the

beginning of the twentieth century, a 160 percent rise. 36

Consequently, although a viable

part of immigration history, the Czechs cannot compare numerically with many of the

other European newcomers.

In general, these newly arriving Czechs migrated west to the North Central region

of the United States and joined their countrymen. The 1900 census suggests that this

was, indeed, the case. Table 2.1 shows that Czechs overwhelmingly chose the North

Central Region of the United States to settle where inexpensive farmland was still

available.

Table 2.1

Czech Foreign-Born by Region (1900)

North Atlantic 22,176

South Atlantic 3,187

North Central 118,883

South Central 10,819

West 1,826

Total 156,891

Source: Census Reports: 1900, vol. 1, Population, Table lxxxii, clxxiii.

A more specific look at where Czechs in the United States lived in 1900 further validates

that many traveled to the ethnic communities of their forebears. Table 2.2 illustrates that

North Central states like Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and Iowa

contained comparatively large numbers of Czech immigrants. New York was the only

North Atlantic state with any appreciable numbers of Czechs and because it was the

primary port of arrival, it is difficult to ascertain how many immigrants chose the state as

their permanent home or were merely passing through. Maryland was the top South

Census Reports: 1900, vol. 1, Population, clxxi.

Atlantic state with 2,813 Czechs. However, its total was lower than most North Atlantic

states. The state of Texas, which included the port of Galveston, contained a sizeable

Czech population with over nine thousand foreign-born, with Oklahoma Territory the

only other South Central area hosting more than a thousand Czech residents. The

Oklahoma Czechs came primarily due to the land runs and, in most cases, represented a

second migration. 37

The Czechs who settled in Oklahoma Territory consisted mainly of

farmers from places such as Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa looking for a new start.

Alongside Czech immigrants making their way to Oklahoma Territory were some native-

born Czechs who had already spent many years in the United States thus giving the new

state a relatively significant number of Czech residents. 38

Finally, the far western states

contained only few Czech immigrants at the beginning of the century.

Table 2.2

Czech Foreign-Born by Selected State (1900) North Atlantic New York 16,347

Pennsylvania 3,368

South Atlantic Maryland 2,813

North Central Illinois 38,570

Nebraska 16,138

Ohio 15,131

Wisconsin 14,145

Minnesota 11,147

Iowa 10,809

South Central Texas 9,204

Oklahoma 1,168

Total: 138,840

Source: Census Reports: 1900, vol.1, Population, Table lxxxii, clxxiii.

Although many Czechs, especially those arriving before 1880, chose to live in

small farming communities in the North Central part of the United States, a sizeable

Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma, 15-21. 38

Ibid., 18.

number also migrated to cities. Table 2.3 shows the major urban destination points for

Czech immigrants in 1900. After examining the data it is immediately apparent that a

huge number of Czechs settled in Chicago. The largest city in Illinois contained over

thirty-six thousand (foreign-born) Czechs out of a state total of less than thirty-nine

thousand. A thriving Czech community existed in the windy city at the turn of the

century with only a smattering of Czechs elsewhere in the state. Two other cities with

sizeable Czech populations in 1900 were New York and Cleveland. 39

If nothing else, the

lack of significant numbers of Czech immigrants in most cities shows that they were

more spread out than many other ethnic groups.

Table 2.3

Czech Foreign-Born by Selected Cities (1900)

Chicago 36,362

New York 15,055

Cleveland 13,599

St. Louis 2,590

Milwaukee 1,719

St. Paul 1,343

Minneapolis 385

Total 71,053

Source: Census Reports: 1900, vol.1, Population, Table lxxxii, clxxiii.

The 1900 census included extensive data for persons claiming foreign birth, but

contained little information on native-born individuals claiming a specific ancestry – in

other words descendants of immigrants who still claimed their parents or grandparents

ethnicity. Usually by the third generation, ethnics lose most or all of their foreign

distinctiveness except during Old World festivals and holidays, which they readily

embrace. However, these events represent symbolic memory rather than a lifestyle. The

Again, it is impossible to ascertain how many New York Czechs were permanent residents or

transients on their way to other destinations.

descendents of immigrants having been born and raised in the United States were citizens

by birth. They attended American schools and, with few exceptions, became immersed

in the dominant culture. Additionally, during this period American society made a

conscious effort to absorb them. 40

Thus, most ethnic children, if they had not totally lost

the language of their parents and grandparents, regarded it primarily as something to use

on holidays and family gatherings when visiting with their extended family. Generally

speaking, Czechs appear no different. Their progeny eagerly accepted American culture

and, even though they still proudly proclaimed their Czech ancestry, became

Americanized through and through. 41

Nevertheless, the numerically-small Czech

immigrants carved out space for themselves wherever they settled. And, because many

bypassed the populous northeastern cities and headed west to less-populous farming

communities they wielded influence well beyond the strength of their overall numbers,

especially had they chosen more densely-inhabited urban areas. In several farming

villages across the Great Plains, Czechs either numerically dominated or constituted a

significant majority. This enabled them to influence their community economically,

socially, and politically. An influence their numbers did not command in urban areas.

In a 1983 article advocating immigration restriction, Peter Brimelow argues that

opposition to immigrants has been around since the inception of the United States. He

wrote: “The first naturalization law in 1790 stipulated that an applicant must be a „free,

white person.‟ In addition, Blacks became full citizens only after the Civil War while

restrictions on Asian newcomers gaining citizenship were not dropped until after World

Thomas J. Archdeacon, Becoming American: An Ethnic History (New York: The Free Press,

1983), 184. 41

Capek, Cechs in America, 101-104.

War II.” 42

Brimelow, a British immigrant to the United States, asserts that the United

States was historically a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant nation and when Catholic

immigrants, Slavs, and Asians began arriving, nativists tried to protect the culture and

heritage of their forefathers. Whether or not his summation is accurate is beyond the

scope of this work. However, he is correct about the response of many native-born

citizens regarding the wave after wave of eastern and southern Europeans arriving on the

shores of the United States. As more and more immigrants arrived in the last decades of

the nineteenth century, the outcry against them increased in frequency and volume.

The 1880s marked a turning point in American immigration and the attitudes

towards it. 43

In 1882, 87 percent of arriving immigrants were from western and northern

Europe. Twenty-five years later, in 1907, the picture looked vastly different. Of the

almost 1.3 million arrivals that year, 80.7 percent emigrated from countries in the

southern and eastern part of the European continent. 44

During the early 1880s, nativists

ignored the racial aspects of the rising immigration, preferring to focus their energies on

economic competition and religious conflict. 45

When people discussed immigrants and

their “negative” aspects, the newcomers‟ “race enjoyed the least support.” 46

Nativism reappeared in the United States with the labor upheaval beginning

roughly around 1886. 47

With the Haymarket Square bombing and the resultant panic

over anarchism and foreign radicals, more and more people began to listen to and be

Peter Brimelow, “Looking Back at America's History of Immigration: United States's Ethnic

Foundation was White, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant” in Opposing Viewpoints in World History:

Immigration, ed. Tamara L. Roleff (Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2004), 199. 43

Dennis Wepman, Immigration: From the Founding of Virginia to the Closing of Ellis Island

(New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2002), 160. 44

Ibid. Also see Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. I, 13. 45

John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925, 2 nd

ed. (New

Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1988), 67. 46

Ibid., 53. 47

Ibid.

persuaded by the anti-immigrant message. Nativist literature reminded Americans about

the “Molly Maguires” and the violent episodes in the Pennsylvania coal mines. Nativists

also railed against the Socialist Party, formed a decade earlier and which many believed

contained an enormous immigrant membership. In 1877, a series of violent railroad

strikes occurred which further enraged the anti-immigrant faction. This fear of radicals

genuinely frightened average Americans and many began to look at the newcomers

differently. 48

Besides the purported radicalism, native-born Americans did not like the popish

faith of many new immigrants. Anti-Catholicism was nothing new in the United States. 49

The Irish, when they arrived prior to the Civil War, suffered myriad slights,

disparagements, and out-right hostility over their religion. With the new immigration,

nativism resurfaced. In the 1870s, the Republican Party attacked Catholics over the issue

of public schools and religion with the result that some newcomers, like the Irish before

them, left the public institutions and formed their own private sectarian schools. 50

The

United States, because of its Protestant heritage, had always evinced a mistrust of

Catholics and with the new immigration it again bubbled to the surface.

Working Americans also became worried about the possible effect the new

arrivals could have on the economy. The working class, always apprehensive when it

came to the subject of job security, saw these newcomers as a threat to their positions or,

at the least, driving their wages down. Early in the debate, the President of the American

Robert F. Zeidel, Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics: The Dillingham

Commission, 1900-1927 (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2004), 104. 49

Higham, Strangers in the Land, 28. 50

Ibid., 28-29.

Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers, came out against immigration. 51

Although later

he and most unions modified their stance, many of the rank and file members remained

staunchly opposed to the flow of humanity arriving from Europe. With the advent of

World War I and a noticeable lessening of new arrivals, the economic argument against

immigration softened. However, after the war these economic concerns returned when

the American financial situation took a downturn in 1919. 52

Many immigrants crowded into the great cities of the United States where they

formed ethnic enclaves and lived in crowded, dirty neighborhoods, always hoping and

working for a better life in their adopted homeland. 53

Joseph Lee, a Bostonian, viewed

the immigrant problem as mainly one of urbanization. 54

He believed that if immigrants,

especially the youth, were not so restricted, they would lead better lives and thus, not be

such a problem to authorities. He advocated the building of playgrounds and open areas

where the children could play. 55

Others believed that if the newcomers could spread out

across the continent, the situation in the cities would improve. However, for the most

part, most new immigrants remained in the cities. They found employment in factories

and sweatshops and found comfort living among the expatriates of their homeland. The

rapid increase of population overtaxed the infrastructure of most cities. The resultant

overcrowding inevitably led to social decay as filthy, congested conditions increased

crime and health problems. 56

In addition, with the passage of the Volstead Act, banning

the sale or transportation of alcohol, many immigrants, whose culture and upbringing

Wepman, Immigration, 178. 52

Higham, Strangers in the Land, 267. 53

Zeidel, Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics, 9. 54

Barbara Miller Solomon, Ancestors and Immigrants: A Changing New England Tradition

(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956), 137-138. 55

Ibid., 138. 56

Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol.7, 34-35.

included alcohol consumption, found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Immigrants soon became associated with anti-prohibition criminal activities, which

further hurt their image throughout America. 57

Lastly, there was a deep-rooted racism that fostered a fear that these Slavs,

Italians, Hungarians, Greeks, and Jews would pollute the blood of the American people. 58

These race-centered nativists included intellectuals who believed in a form of Social

Darwinism. It was their contention that the laws of evolution guaranteed that the “fittest”

races would triumph over the inferior groups and they believed that the most evolved race

was the Nordic populations of western and northern Europe. 59

Therefore, the new

immigrants were not only socially unacceptable, but also genetically inferior. This

pseudo-scientific belief flourished before the war. It faded from the public conscious

during the war, returning full-force in the early 1920s, just when Congress began

considering restrictive legislation. 60

Americans became concerned and worried about the effects of the large influx of

newcomers on their country. According to newspapers and vocal politicians American

civilization teetered on the verge of collapse or, at the least, was about to change

completely – and not for the better. The huge numbers of immigrants combined with

their racial differences, strange languages, the perceived connection between aliens and

radicalism, and the social decay of the cities swayed many Americans into believing that

their quality of life was in peril. 61

Highham, Strangers in the Land, 267. 58

Wepman, Immigration, 182. 59

Higham, Strangers in the Land, 135, 266. 60

Ibid., 271. 61

Zeidel, Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics, 8.

Czechs, as part of this newest immigration, became targets of the restriction

lobby. They joined the Italians, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Slovaks, and several other

groups to be labeled as “unwanted.” When the nativists won the national debate in 1921

and 1924, Czechs felt the full-force of the new legislation.

Before delving into the minutiae of Czech characteristics and comparing them

with other immigrant groups, a brief look at their overall numbers will give us an idea of

their numerical place in the United States. In 1900 there were 156,991 Czech immigrants

residing in the various states. 62

The number of Czech newcomers rose dramatically in the

next decade to 239,357. However, this would be the apex as their population decreased

slightly, no doubt because of World War I, to 235,198 in 1920. The Czech foreign-born

community then began its inexorable decline in 1930, dipping to 201,138. 63

The

succeeding years witnessed nothing but a gradual decrease in the numbers of Czech

immigrants in the United States. 64

The immigration laws enacted during the 1920s

caused the inevitable decline. There simply were not enough arriving Czechs to replenish

the dying first generation.

Besides the Czechs, another Slavic group, the Poles, also began migrating to the

North Central region of the United States, albeit mainly choosing to live in urban areas.

Polish immigrants especially favored Chicago and the state of Illinois, but settled in the

cities of surrounding states as well. 65

Census Reports: 1900, vol. 1, Population, clxxi. 63

Department of Commerce, U.S. Bureau of the Census. U.S. Census of Population: 1960, vol.1,

Characteristics of the Population (Washington, DC: GPO, 1963), Table 41. 64

Philip D. Smith, “The Decline of Czechoslovak America: An Examination of Czechoslovak

Immigration and Adjustment to the United States since 1960” (M.A. Thesis, University of Tulsa, 1992),

214-215. 65

Department of Commerce, United States Bureau of the Census. Census Reports: 1920, vol. 2,

Population (Washington, DC: GPO, 1924), Table 11, 375. Also see Department of Commerce, United

The city of Chicago served as the hub for American Czechs. As noted earlier, in

1900 there were over thirty-six thousand Czech immigrants in the windy city. Despite

World War I, the next twenty years saw the Chicago Czech community rise dramatically

to 43,676. The new restrictive immigration laws passed by Congress in 1921 and 1924

apparently affected the Czech population immediately because their numbers plunged to

32,451 in 1930. 66

A noteworthy city where Czech immigrants congregated was Omaha. In 1920,

the city of Omaha, with a population under two hundred thousand contained almost five

thousand Czech immigrants and over six thousand second-generation Czechs. 67

This

number dropped to a little under four thousand by 1930, but the Czech impact on this

medium-sized city must have been significant. 68

In fact, Omaha contained more Czechs

than any other foreign-born group. 69

Of course, newcomers born in Bohemia were not the only ingredients comprising

Czech communities; ethnic Czechs were also important. Born in the United States, these

second- and third-generation Czechs remained a vital component of many enclaves.

These sons and daughters and grandchildren of Czech immigrants would have learned

much about their parent‟s birthplace including knowledge of the language, customs, and

folklore. In 1910, the census recorded 531,193 Czech ethnics throughout the United

States. Their numbers swelled to 622,796 ten years later. 70

Compared to other ethnic

groups like the Poles, Italians, and Germans this number is miniscule. However, when

States Bureau of the Census, Census Reports: 1930, (Washington, DC: GPO, 1931), vol. 2, Population,

758. This Polish immigration centered on the city of Chicago, which had a large ethnic community. 66

Census Reports: 1930, vol.2, Population, 11, 375. 67

Census Reports: 1920, vol.II, Population, 55, 312-313, 1006-1008. 68

Census Reports: 1930, vol.2, Population, 11, 375. The exact numbers for Omaha were 4,717 in

1920 and 3,860 in 1930. 69

Census Reports: 1920, vol.2, Population, 750. 70

Ibid., 973.

we look at the numbers closer we see that several of the North Central states contained

relatively large numbers of Czechs. For example, the rural state of Nebraska held over

fifty-four thousand people claiming Czech heritage in 1920 and neighboring Wisconsin,

over forty-six thousand. Illinois counted the most with 140,000 with Ohio placing

second with slightly under 60,000. 71

Thus, the Czech community‟s influence in certain

states or regions within a state where they were heavily concentrated was greater than

their overall numbers suggest. However, as stated earlier, Austrian domination of the

Czech lands caused an osmosis-type seepage of German culture and ways into Bohemia

and Moravia resulting in a somewhat different way of life compared to their Polish and

Slovak neighbors. Were the Czechs truly more western than other Slavic group?

In 1907, at President Theodore Roosevelt‟s urging, Congress established a

commission on immigration headed by Senator Charles Dillingham to study the

immigrant problem and submit recommendations for possible action. The United States

Immigration Commission or the Dillingham Commission, as it came to be known, spent

the next three years examining the immigrants themselves. The commission looked at

how many came, detailed characteristics of the newcomers, their living conditions in the

United States; even traveling to Europe to find out why the immigrants left their home

country. It was a detailed, exhaustive study and from it we can learn much about the

Czechs who came to the United States.

By analyzing the findings of the Dillingham reports, a good picture of the Czech-

immigrant population should reveal itself. We will also be able to look at the data the

United States Congress had at their disposal when they voted to change the immigration

Ibid., 983. The exact numbers for Nebraska were 54,024; for Wisconsin, 46,425; Illinois,

140,011; Ohio, 59,206.

laws during the 1920s. Lastly, we can direct our attention to specific characteristics of

Czech immigrants and compare them to other groups to see if they truly were different.

The three groups we will compare to the Czechs, when possible, will be the Poles,

Slovaks, and Germans. Reasons for choosing these three groups include the fact that

Czechs lived in close proximity to all three in Europe. Furthermore, Czechs linguistically

belong to the Slavic branch of nations, as do their neighbors, the Poles and Slovaks. In

addition, the Czechs lived adjacent to the German-speaking people of Western Europe

and, as stated earlier, appeared to interact with them every bit as much, or more, than they

did their Slavic neighbors. It must be noted that the Dillingham Commission did not

survey every single immigrant in the United States when they examined certain

characteristics. 72

They relied on a sampling of the immigrant population, so the results

were not totally definitive. However, they do reveal a good snapshot of the

characteristics of the immigrant that was in America during this time period.

A total of 100,189 Czechs came to the United States from 1899 to 1910. 73

The

zenith was 1907 with 13,554, while the year with the least amount was 1899 with 2,526.

One question is: Does the data show that the majority of these newly-arriving

immigrants migrated to the North Central region as their nineteenth-century predecessors

had done or did they elect to live elsewhere?

The characteristics they sampled comprised things such as living conditions, children in school,

immigrants seeking charity, etc. The samplings did not include the number of immigrants, ages, or sex,

which were exhaustive. 73

Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 20, Table 10, 45.

Table 2.4

Czechs to the United States by Year

1899 2,526 1905 11,757

1900 3,060 1906 12,958

1901 3,766 1907 13,554

1902 5,590 1908 10,164

1903 9,591 1909 6,850

1904 11,911 1910 8,462

Total: 100,189

Source: Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 20, Table 10, 45.

The census records (see Table 2.2) show that the North Central region remained

the popular choice for Czech immigrants. This cluster of states contained more Czech

foreign-born than the rest of the country combined. Illinois continued as the most heavily

settled with the North Atlantic state of New York second. A new phenomenon, and one

that would continue throughout the twentieth century, is the gradual movement of Czechs

further west. 74

Like their predecessors, most Czechs first touched the shores of the

United States in New York. 75

And like their precursors, they continued searching for

land and opportunity. In 1900, there had been almost no Czech immigrants in the

western states. By 1910 three states (California, Colorado, and Washington) each

contained over one thousand. Although these totals are small, it does show that some

Czechs chose to venture into different areas of the United States.

Smith, “Decline of Czechoslovak America,” 216-218. 75

Some Czechs disembarked after their long journey by steam ship at Galveston. However, most

came through the immigration portal at New York City.

Table 2.5

Czech Immigrants in the U.S. by Selected State (1910)

Northeast New York 24,493

New Jersey 13,668

Total: 48,985 North Central Illinois 56,448

Ohio 22,701

Nebraska 19,004

Wisconsin 16,301

Minnesota 11,655

Iowa 11,080

Total: 141,952 South Atlantic Maryland 4,149

Total: 5,352 South Central Texas 15,074

Oklahoma 2,332

Total: 24,817 West California 1,838

Colorado 1,703

Washington 1,499

Total: 7,852 Source: U.S. Census Report, 1960. vol. 1, Table 41.

The Dillingham Commission reports also included 1910 city maps showing the

approximate location of immigrant communities. These maps showed that Czech city-

dwellers did not settle next to their close-kinsmen, the Slovaks, nor did they reside near

the Poles. Instead, in every instance, they moved in close proximity to German

neighborhoods. 76

This reinforces Thomas Capek‟s assertion that Czechs, despite their

historic differences with the Germans, were comfortable living near them. Although, for

reasons not discernable, the other immigrant group Czechs seemed to have congregated

towards were the Jewish neighborhoods. 77

The reports do not contain any maps or data

Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 26, pp. 158, 248, 510, 680. The reports studied in

detail and provided maps for seven cities: New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Boston, Buffalo,

and Philadelphia. However, only the first four mentioned show the settlement patterns of Bohemians and

Moravians which are included in this study. 77

Ibid.

showing exactly where rural Czechs lived. However, if states mirrored Nebraska, it

appears safe to assume that most lived in Czech farming communities or in ethnic zones

in medium-sized towns like Omaha and Racine. 78

Rosicky, A History of Czechs in Nebraska, 84-85. Also see Census Reports, 1920, vol. II,

Population, 982-984.

Table 2.6 shows Czech immigrants by year of arrival and sex. Looking at the

totals we find that 57,111 males and 43,078 females came to the United States during this

time period, a ratio of 57 percent male to 43 percent female. Although men

preponderated over female newcomers by a considerable margin, the data suggests that,

in addition to single men, family units heavily infused the Czech immigrant population.

Compared with the target groups, Czechs had a much higher proportion of females to

males. The German foreign-born were the closest with 59.4 percent males and 40.6

percent females; Slovaks and Poles were practically the same with 70.5 percent males

and 29.5 percent females for the Slovaks and the Poles with a male percentage of 69.5

and the females at 30.5 percent (Table 2.7). These statistics suggest that the Czech flow

to the United States included more family units than either the Poles or Slovaks. The

percentages equated much closer to the Germans than either of their Slavic European

neighbors, whose numbers included a large quantity of single men. How many of these

men were “birds of passage,” who had every intention of returning home once they had

earned enough money to help their left-behind families cannot be ascertained. However,

the simple fact that the Polish and Slovak immigrant community was 70 percent male

seems to hint that there were some. 79

Table 2.6

Czech Immigrants,

by Year and Sex

Year Male Female Total

1899 1,262 1,264 2,526

1900 1,562 1,498 3,060

1901 1,943 1,823 3,766

1902 3,278 2,312 5,590

1903 5,820 3,771 9,591

1904 6,657 5,254 11,911

1905 6,662 5,095 11,757

1906 7,418 5,540 12,958

1907 8,142 5,412 13,554

1908 5,495 4,669 10,164

1909 3,998 2,852 6,850

1910 4,874 3,588 8,462

Total 57,111 43,078 100,189 Source: Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 20, 49-51.

For an analysis of these sojourners see Archdeacon, Becoming American, 112.

Table 2.7

Immigrants by Sex and Percent

(1899-1910)

Male Female Total

Czechs 57.0 43.0 100.0

Germans 59.4 40.6 100.0

Poles 69.5 30.5 100.0

Slovaks 70.5 29.5 100.0

Source: Percentages derived by calculating information from Reports of the Immigration

Commission, vol. 20, 47, 49-51.

Another telling statistic, which further reinforces that many Czech families came

to the United States together, is found by examining their ages at the time they

disembarked (Table 2.8). Over 20 percent of Czech arrivals were under the age of

fourteen. Again, the Germans were the closest with 17 percent under fourteen years of

age, with the Poles and Slovaks trailing at 9 percent each. Surmising that children under

the age of fourteen for the most part did not sail across the Atlantic Ocean

unaccompanied (although some did) would strengthen the hypothesis that a large

percentage of Czech immigrants during this time came in family units. Further, less than

10 percent of Polish and Slovak arrivals were children, while both of these groups

consisted of overwhelming numbers of people aged fourteen to forty four. If we review

Tables 2.6 and 2.7 and take into consideration that most Polish and Slovak immigrants

were male, we cannot but conclude that many of them were young, single males when

they came to the United States.

The Czech and German newcomers included about twice as many middle-aged

and elderly immigrants than did the Poles and Slovaks. Why this occurred is uncertain.

Why would a man or woman leave their homeland at such an advanced age? Many

immigrants probably were accompanying younger relatives on the trans-Atlantic journey.

Others made the arduous trip to join family already in the United States. Both of the

preceding scenarios are good and probable explanations. However, with only numbers to

look at, it is impossible to give a definitive answer.

Table 2.8

Ages of Arriving Immigrants

by Percent (1899-1910)

Under 14 14-44 45 & Over Czechs 20.4 73.8 5.8

Germans 17.0 76.2 6.8

Poles 9.3 88.3 2.4

Slovaks 9.3 87.6 3.1

Source: Calculated from information in Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol.

20, 89-94.

Once in the United States, Czechs seemed determined for their children to

succeed in their new home. The Czech people have always had a love of education and it

manifested itself in the United States as over 92 percent of Czech school-aged children

attended school. This was only slightly lower than the German population and well

ahead of the 82 percent of Polish children and 79 percent of Slovak youth in school. 80

Czechs also had an advantage in literacy. Inspecting agents at Ellis Island and

other American ports listed only 1.7 percent of arriving Czechs as illiterate, compared

with 5.2 percent of Germans; 24.0 percent of Slovaks; and 35.4 percent of Poles. 81

1909, after Dillingham Commission agents investigated Czech communities they found

that 66 percent of the foreign-born could speak English. 82

Then, when they looked at the

Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol.10, 66-68. The exact percentages were Czechs,

92.3; Poles, 83.4; and Slovaks, 78.9. 81

Ibid., vol. 20, 84. Illiteracy was determined if an immigrant could neither read nor write in any

language. 82

Ibid., vol.10, 177.

second-generation, they discovered that 99.7 percent could speak English. 83

Most Czechs

promoted or at the least tolerated their children learning the language of their new home.

What kind of employment did the Czech foreign-born population have? (Table

2.9). The single most popular occupation of Czech immigrants was farming. This should

come as no surprise as the North Central section of the United States was home to many

such immigrants. Czech communities also contained a significant number of skilled

workers. It is impossible to state with any certainty, but this could have been a result of

Bohemia being the industrial center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The only other

scenario is that these newcomers learned a skill after arriving in the United States.

Although certainly possible, it is not as likely. Czech occupation statistics included less

than 13 percent laborers, most of which would have been employed by factories. This

seems low. However, the total number of farm workers probably included common

laborers in addition to farm owners.

Table 2.9

Occupations of Czech Immigrants

by Percent

Professional Occupation 1.3

Skilled Occupation 40.8

Farm Workers 15.9

Laborers 12.6

Other Occupations 84

29.4

Total: 100.0

Source: Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol.12, 377.

The American economy apparently liked Czech workers; relatively speaking, they

paid them well. (Table 2.10) The yearly earnings of Czech adult men were $538, well

Ibid., 75. 84

Other occupations would include jobs such as sales work and clerical, but would not be factory

employment.

ahead of the $384 for Slovaks and the $365 earned by the Poles. German immigrants

topped the Czechs in yearly wages with $613, but overall, Czechs were prosperous. 85

Czech women too, enjoyed success, outdoing not only the Polish and Slovak

women, but also the Germans. (Table 2.11) Of course, an important caveat to remember

is that some women stayed at home with their children rather than work. Thus, the data

for the women is probably not as representative as that of the men.

Table 2.10 Table 2.11

Yearly Earnings of Males Yearly Earnings of Females

at Least 18 Years of Age at Least 18 Years of Age Czechs $538 Czechs $300

Germans $613 Germans $204

Poles $365 Poles $168

Slovaks $384 Slovaks $208

Source: Reports of the Immigration Source: Reports of the Immigration

Commission, vol.26, 136-137. Commission, vol. 26, 138.

An area the Dillingham Commission examined extensively was the living

conditions of immigrant communities. Congress wished to determine the congestion of

ethnic enclaves, which they believed would answer questions regarding immigrant

pauperism, crime, health problems, and the social decay of American cities.

Throughout the United States, Czech immigrant families averaged 4.4 persons per

household. This was slightly higher than German families, who averaged 4.3. Polish

households contained 5.5 people and Slovaks, 5.2. 86

Table 2.12 shows that, in general,

Czech and German families were similar, while Polish and Slovak families were larger.

Thirty-four percent of Polish households consisted of seven or more persons living

Of all foreign-born males, only the Germans and Swedes ($692) eclipsed the earnings of

Czechs. See Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol.26, 136-137. 86

Ibid., 36.

together – by far the highest percentage of the four groups. A logical follow-up would

be: What percentage of these households were single-family units? How many included

extended family such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, or even paying

boarders? The Commission‟s agents also examined that aspect of immigrant living

conditions and found that 83.5 percent of Czech families lived as a single unit in their

dwelling. German immigrants registered an even higher percentage at 86.4.

Approximately 63.0 percent of Polish families lived alone, while only 55.5 percent of

Slovak households did not have either relatives or boarders living with them. 87

Thus,

only 37.0 percent of these large Polish households consisted of people not in their family

unit – the Poles had large families.

Table 2.12

Foreign-Born Households

By Percent

Not more than 7 or more

3 persons 4-6 persons persons Total Czechs 38.4 47.8 13.8 100.0

Germans 40.7 44.7 14.6 100.0

Poles 22.9 42.9 34.2 100.0

Slovaks 23.7 52.8 23.5 100.0

Source: Calculated from information in Reports of Immigration Commission, vol. 26, 37.

Czech immigrant families living in cities averaged 3.65 rooms in their place of

residence. This is more space than either the Poles or Slovaks, who averaged 3.58 and

3.21 respectively. German dwellings were the largest at 4.30 rooms. 88

The commission examined two other indicators of living conditions in immigrant

housing: number of persons per bedroom and number of adults per room. In both areas,

Ibid., 79. 88

Ibid., 31.

Czechs fared better than Poles and Slovaks and slightly below the German immigrant

community. 89

By examining the data regarding rooms per family, it is only possible to

ascertain the average number of rooms immigrant families occupied. It is not known

how large the rooms were. Were the Slovak and Polish rooms more spacious than those

of the Germans or Czechs? In all probability, they were not. Most likely, both German

and Czech immigrant families lived more comfortably than their Slovak and Polish

counterparts.

German households paid the highest rent for their living quarters with a national

average of $2.38 per person per month. Czech families gave $2.09 per person per month

for their dwellings while Slovaks paid $1.37 and Poles, $1.34. 90

One reason for this rent

disparity is the fact that there were fewer people living in Czech and German households

than in Polish and Slovak homes. However, many Czechs and Germans lived in the

North Central region of the United States, where according to the immigration

commission, newcomers paid comparatively lower rents. 91

Furthermore, the Dillingham

Commission found that Poles and Slovaks generally paid “relatively low rents per room

in all the cities where they [were] studied.” 92

Thus, it appears that Czechs and Germans

may have lived in relatively better housing than their Polish and Slovak counterparts.

A final note on living conditions and one that definitely shows a desire to remain

in the United States rather than return to their country of birth is home ownership. It

indicates thrift and responsibility and signifies payment of property tax, a coveted sign of

Ibid., 54, 61. The actual averages for persons per bedroom were: Czechs, 2.31 per sleeping

room; Germans, 2.03; Poles, 2.72; Slovaks, 2.63. The average number of adults per room was: Czechs,

1.05; Germans, 0.89; Poles, 1.32; and Slovaks, 1.28. 90

Ibid., 118. 91

Ibid., 6. 92

Ibid.

citizenship in the early twentieth century. Here German immigrants outdistanced the

other three groups as almost 26 percent of families owned their home. The Czechs again

come in second at almost 18 percent, but close behind them were the Poles at 17 percent.

Only 9.9 percent of Slovak families owned their home in America. 93

Only 1.4 percent of

Czechs living in New York owned their home. This implies that either they had only

recently arrived in the United States or they were planning to settle elsewhere. The

answer to low Czech home ownership in New York is probably a combination of both.

By all accounts, it appears that Czechs adjusted fairly well to their new way of life

in the United States. Many arrived in family units with every intention of staying. In

large numbers, they migrated to the North Central area of the United States where they

settled in close proximity to German ethnic neighborhoods. Czech newcomers included

significant numbers of women and children, more than either the Poles or Slovaks, and

their literacy rate was among the highest of any immigrant arrivals. Compared to other

Slavic groups, they earned a better than average wage and their overall living conditions

exceeded both Poles and Slovaks and compared favorably with the German immigrant

community. Czechs, by practically every indicator of success, were doing fine.

Nevertheless, the forces that wanted to keep Italians, Jews, Greeks, Albanians,

Turks, Romanians, and the various Slavic groups, including Czechs, out of the United

States continued to gain influence and political power during the first two decades of the

twentieth century. It is to this battle we now turn our attention.

The crusade to restrict the flow of new immigrants into the United States gained

momentum during “The Progressive Age,” a time of great change in both attitudes and

Ibid., 103.

laws. Not a unified movement centered on specific goals, progressives coalesced into

special interest groups committed to changing a specific sector of society. Some

progressives battled for better working and living conditions for the poor, others for

political change such as the direct election of senators. One group of New England

patricians, who thought of themselves as progressive, led the restriction movement. In

1894, these Ivy-League educated men formed the Immigration Restriction League.

During the next thirty years, through pamphlets, newspaper articles, and public discourse

the group convinced both poor and wealthy, including many politicians, that the

unrestricted flow of humanity must be stopped. Conversely, American presidents since

the 1890s had consistently vetoed literacy bills that would have curbed the influx of

immigrants. Yet, it was Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive president, who authorized the

Dillingham Commission to study the immigrant problem and recommend solutions.

One of the basic tenets of early twentieth-century progressive thinking was the

belief that the country‟s troubles were solvable by identifying each problem, gathering all

available facts, and then deciding on remedial action. 94

Progressives exhibited complete

faith in solving problems through investigation by experts. They also placed unwavering

trust in government intervention which they saw as the only way to cure society‟s ills. 95

However, most progressives simply could not believe that the newcomers might be

hurting American society. 96

Thus, progressivism was torn. The principles of the

progressive movement rejected the idea that immigrants harmed the country. Yet within

Otis L. Graham, Unguarded Gates: A History of America’s Crisis (Lanham, MD: Rowan &

Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2004), 57. Also see Zeidel, Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics,

21. 95

Zeidel, Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics, 3. 96

Higham, Strangers in the Land, 119.

their ranks were nativists. 97

Consequently, many progressives took a wait-and-see

attitude when President Roosevelt called for a commission to study the issue.

The nine-member United States Immigration Commission, better known as the

Dillingham Commission, contained all the trappings of a progressive inquiry. The

members included former professors, economists, statisticians, as well as senators and

congressmen. 98

However, during their careers, most of the politicians on the commission

previously had espoused restriction as the answer to urban poverty and social tribulations.

Congressman John Burnett of Alabama (1854-1919) had long been an advocate of

stemming the flow of newcomers. 99

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924) was also

an avowed restrictionist who, although not a member, stayed in close contact with

members of the Immigration Restriction League. The chair of the commission, Senator

William P. Dillingaham (1843-1923), the quintessential patrician, entered the study with

an ambiguous record on immigration. 100

At most, he was a moderate restrictionist. 101

Benjamin Howell of New Jersey (1844-1933) provided the restrictionist cause with still

another voice. Although not as strident as Lodge or Burnett, the anti-immigrant camp

considered Congressman Howell a loyal friend. The anti-restriction viewpoint found a

champion in William S. Bennett (1870-1962), Republican congressman from New York.

Bennett represented New York City and, because of his many personal contacts with

immigrants who formed a large part of his constituency, believed them good people and

Ibid., 117. 98

For a complete list and analysis of commission members, see Zeidel, 37-50. 99

Burnett promoted deporting all “dangerous” aliens. See New York Times, 14 May 1919. 100

Ibid., 41 101

Higham, Strangers in the Land, 310.

desirable as citizens. 102

The commission began work on April 22, 1907. They sent hundreds of agents

into the field, some traveling to various ports in Europe to search for answers. The

commission gathered reams of statistics on every immigrant group residing in the United

States. As information reached their desks, commissioners and their staff studied the data

for answers in typical progressive fashion almost completely relying on the myriad

immigrant responses and statistical analyses. In 1911, the commission published their

findings in 42 volumes of detailed statistics, much of it dealing with living conditions and

the immigrant experience in the workplace. The Dillingham Commission greatly

influenced immigration policy, but not immediately. World War I interrupted everything.

During the Great War, despite no change in federal policy towards Europeans,

immigration slowed and the public outcry lessened. 103

People throughout the country

focused on the European slaughter and paid only cursory attention to the swarthy faces

and unintelligible speech of factory workers and seamstresses. Nevertheless, the

movement to restrict immigration did not entirely go away. In fact, the pseudoscientific

theory of eugenics gained momentum among educated patrician elites when in 1916,

Madison Grant published his book on race suicide, The Passing of the Great Race.

Grant, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt and a member of the Immigration Restriction

League, claimed that stopping the influx of immigrants was the only way to maintain the

“Nordic” race that had made the United States so great. This scientific racism slowly,

102

The final senator changed periodically due to deaths. Thus, I have discussed only two. The

presidential appointees were professor Jeremiah Jenks (1856-1929), economist Charles P. Neill (1865-

1942), and William Wheeler, a businessman. Of the three, only Neill, before joining the commission,

openly professed a desire to see immigration restricted. 103

Congress did pass the Immigration Act of 1917, which excluded Asian Indians from coming to

the United States.

inexorably, spread downward from New England‟s elites to the native-born, white

workingman, especially in the South and West and incited the average person against the

newcomers. 104

In 1917, Congress instituted a literacy test for all arriving immigrants.

Nevertheless, nativists voiced dissatisfaction. They claimed the literacy test was not

enough to discourage immigration despite a downward trend in the number of arrivals.

Following the end of the war, as soldiers returned from Europe, the old fears returned,

this time more energetic and virulent than ever. The highly-motivated nativists, through

pen and voice, threatened that the next wave of immigrants might very well dilute the

native stock, the real Americans, to the point of mongrelization unless Congress enacted

further legislation. Emotions spiraled when A. Mitchell Palmer, Attorney General of the

United States, jolted everyone when he authorized police raids to arrest radicals,

communists, and fellow travelers with many of his targets being foreign-born or second-

generation members of ethnic groups. In the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan resurfaced

with almost as much hate towards the new immigrants as against the black population.

The Klan warned of a fast-approaching time when Jews and blacks and the strange-

speaking immigrants would numerically dominate the “rightful owners” of the United

States and extolled the theories of Grant and other eugenicists as the solution to the

nation‟s troubles. 105

Soon after the passage of the Volstead Act making the liquor industry illegal

crime increased in practically every city. Highly-organized gangs materialized

seemingly overnight and cities such as Chicago and New York transformed into urban

104

Higham, Strangers in the Land, 277. 105

Wepman, Immigration, 225.

shooting galleries as mobsters jostled for control of the now-illegal liquor trade.

Newspapers and politicians attacked the foreign born, especially the Italians, as nothing

more than criminals determined to foil the great experiment of Prohibition. Then finally,

the coup de grace for the immigrant population: in 1920, the economy faltered and

Americans despaired. They demanded to know what had gone wrong! World War I was

over. They were the victors! The nativists smirked and pointed an accusing finger at the

“strangers in the land.” 106

Referring to the work of the Dillingham Commission, in 1921, the Congress of

the United States passed the first of two immigrant bills. Called the Emergency Quota

Act, the first act set immigration quotas at 3 percent for each country as represented in

the 1910 census with a total yearly limit of 357,803. 107

Shouting it was still not enough,

nativists pressed for tougher laws.

Three years later nativists got their wish. Congress, with the Johnson-Reed Act,

amended the 1921 law and limited immigration to 2 percent of the number of people

from each country fixing a maximum of 357,000 yearly arrivals. This quota ceiling

continued until 1927 when Congress lowered it to 150,000 per year. The new lower level

became law in 1929 and effectively shut out most aspiring immigrants, Czechs included.

No longer would the United States judge men and women by their individual

qualifications, but instead, by where they were born.

The new restrictive laws affected Czechs as they did all immigrants. Throughout

the 1930s and succeeding decades the numbers of Czechs coming to the United States

106

Title of John Higham‟s seminal work on nativism, Strangers in the Land. 107

The Emergency Quota Act was also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 and the

Johnson Quota Act of 1921.

plummeted. 108

The immigrant population aged and slowly died off. Despite the

Dillingham Commission data showing that Czechs succeeded in their new home, the

United States turned them away. Even though Czechs scored almost on par with

German newcomers, Congress counted these most western of Slavs with the southern and

eastern European nationalities and forbade them from entering in large numbers.

However, immigrants such as the Poles and Slovaks, Italians and Russian Jews also

adapted to their new environment, albeit apparently slower than Czechs. As shown

earlier, home ownership by Poles compared favorably with Czech levels. Nevertheless,

in almost every category studied Czechs performed better than their Slavic cousins.

Because of their historical interaction with their German neighbors, Czechs appeared

better equipped to adapt to America.

Czech immigrants, along with Italians, Jews, Greeks, Poles, and others from the

southern and eastern areas of Europe, suffered as scapegoats of a nervous, frightened

country. They were victims of archaic racial ideas, but they were also victims of

something even more significant, even more powerful. The United States, in the early

decades of the twentieth century, was transforming from a rural, traditional society into a

modern, urban, industrial giant.

Nevertheless, during the years of unrestricted immigration Czechs established a

presence throughout the United States in urban and rural areas. Many chose farming as

their occupation and when good land in the Midwest became harder to acquire, some

looked elsewhere. Learning that the American government planned “land runs” on

Indian reservations in the Territory of Oklahoma Czechs joined thousands of others in a

quest to obtain land of their own.

108

For a statistical summary, see Smith, “Decline of Czechoslovak America,” 18, 57.

CHAPTER 3

SETTLEMENT OF LINCOLN COUNTY AND THE FORMATION OF PRAGUE

OKLAHOMA: 1891 - 1902

Frantisek Vlasak, his wife, and young children after years of struggle and

disappointment, years of grinding poverty and want, finally decided to leave the land of

their birth – the land of their parents, grandparents, and forebears. The family sold most

of what they owned and bought one-way tickets to the United States and the promise of a

better life. In 1866, the Vlasaks left the tiny village of Bykosi, Bohemia, then a part of

the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and arrived in New York City several weeks later. Here,

they set up a new home in the bustling financial capital of the United States. However,

their time in the huge city proved short. They decided to move inland to Ohio and later

to Nebraska, joining the many Czechs already living in that state. After several years in

Nebraska the family relocated to South Dakota. With cheap land in short supply,

Frantisek‟s two now grown sons, Frantisek Jr. (called Frank) and Vincent, and

Frantisek‟s daughter, Fannie Koutnik, along with her husband, Frank, migrated to

Waterloo, Iowa, early in 1891 in search of their own land. Shortly after arriving in Iowa

they learned of a land run to be held on the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation in distant

Oklahoma Territory.

Jumping at the opportunity for land ownership, the three young families quickly decided

they wanted to participate in the run. The Vlasak brothers and their sister‟s family

immediately packed their few belongings and left for the booming town of Oklahoma

City. Once in Oklahoma City they discovered that the land run was six months away.

Still determined to joust for the valuable land, the three siblings and their families waited

for their opportunity. Although conversant in English, their native tongue drew them into

contact with other ethnic Bohemians also waiting for the opportunity for cheap land.

This group of Czechs resolved to try and claim land close to one another. When the gun

sounded for the start of the land run, the Czechs galloped and drove their wagons as fast

as possible in hopes of acquiring prime farmland. Unfortunately for Frank Koutnik,

brother-in-law to Frank and Vincent Vlasak, his horse died only four miles into the run.

A frustrated Koutnik claimed the area under his dead horse which lay slightly south and

several miles west of his hoped for destination. Although saddened by the mishap of

their brother-in-law, the Vlasak brothers strove forward and found desirable plots in the

southeast corner of what later became Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Other Czechs joined

the Vlasaks in the area and almost overnight a small community of Bohemian farmers

sprang into being. 1

As the above narrative displays, no single person or group arranged in advance

the Czech settlement in the southeastern corner of what is now Lincoln County. There

was not a planned migration from Bohemia to Oklahoma or from any other state

containing a large population of ethnic Czechs. Instead, prior to the 1891 land run,

several Czech families and individuals happened upon each other while waiting in

1 Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County: Oklahoma History (Saline, MI:

McNaughton & Gunn, 1988), 1362; See also Prague Record, 12 September 1929. The 1929 newspaper

account was written as part of an article about Frank Vlasak‟s accidental death.

Oklahoma City for the run. Although most had previously never met, their common

tongue drew them together and they agreed to try and settle in the same area of the Sac

and Fox Reservation. 2 These families, with names such as Barta, Hrdy, Sestak, Bontty,

and Provaznik, successfully staked out homesteads in the southeast corner of Lincoln

County in the townships of North Creek and South Creek. 3 Most of these particular

Czech immigrants came to Oklahoma after first migrating to Midwestern farming

communities. Russell Lynch, in his work on Czech farmers in Oklahoma, interviewed

the original forty-eight settlers of the two townships or their children. He found that

twenty-four claimed Nebraska as their preceding residence while fourteen said they

previously lived in Kansas. Three migrating families declared Iowa as their prior home

and two claimed Wisconsin. The following states contributed one immigrant family:

Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and Colorado. Only one settler asserted he came

directly from Bohemia to Oklahoma. 4 Nevertheless, many participating in the 1891 land

run were but a few years removed from the farming villages of Central Europe. 5

Furthermore, as the opening anecdote shows, some of the settlers had previously lived in

several different states before making their way to Oklahoma.

2 Russell Willford Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma: A Comparative Study of the Stability of

a Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County Oklahoma, and Factors Relating to its Stability,” Bulletin of

Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Stillwater, OK: Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical

College) 39, no. 13 (June 1942): 14. See also Lincoln County: Oklahoma History, 1362. 3 The Davenport, Oklahoma newspaper, The Monthly New Era, in 2000 published maps of the first

persons to file for homesteads in 1891 in South Creek Township, Lincoln County. There were twenty-one

original filings by Czechs and included the following families: Bontty, Bruza, Vlasak, Barta, Eret,

Beranek, Provaznik, Sestak, Suva, Muisack, Hruska, Hrdy, and Bartosh. For a complete listing of

homestead filings see The Monthly New Era, (Davenport, OK: April 26 and June 28, 2000), 3, 3. See

William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A. Thesis,

Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 8. Also see Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town

U.S.A., Prague,(Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper Printing, Inc., 1978), 25. 4 Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 15, 91.

5 Ibid., 89.

While this band of Czechs strove to claim land in Lincoln County, others also

raced to the area. A smaller group of German immigrants settled in North Creek

Township, directly north of the Czechs whose homesteads lay primarily in South Creek

Township. However, despite the efforts of both Czechs and Germans, white native-born

Americans comprised the bulk of those involved in the land run. Even with the Czechs‟

attempt to settle together many times someone quicker to the spot interrupted their

claims. 6 For example, the 1891 land run claims of Czechs Frank Barta, Frantisek

Mastena, Frantisek Souva, and Vincent Martinek surrounded the holding of J.W.

Harshaw, a non-Czech. 7 Furthermore, native-born settlers dominated the northeast

corner of South Creek Township while most Czech homesteads lay primarily in the

southern and western sections of the area. 8

Most of the original Czech settlers came in small family units with each adult

male securing a homestead. 9 They paid $1.25 per acre for the former lands of the Sac

and Fox tribe and immediately began building and preparing the land for cultivation. 10

Shortly after the land run, the United States government established mail service on the

southeast corner of the homestead of Frank Barta and the area soon became known as

Barta Post Office. 11

However, the Lincoln County Czech farming community was not

the only area in Oklahoma Territory containing ethnic Bohemians. Oklahoma City,

directly west of Barta Post Office, held over 1,100 ethnic Czechs and a considerable

6 The Davenport, Oklahoma newspaper in 2000 reproduced maps from the Federal Tract Books

showing the names of the first persons to file for a homestead in North and South Creek Townships. See

The Monthly New Era, Davenport, OK, April 26 and June 28, 2000, 3. 7 The Monthly New Era, Davenport, OK, June 28, 2000, 3.

8 Ibid.

9 Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 15.

10 Ibid., 91. See also Tower, “A General History,” 5.

11 Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., 28.

Bohemian presence existed in other Oklahoma towns. 12

Yukon, a small town west of

Oklahoma City, contained a large number of Czechs and designated itself as the Czech

“capital” of Oklahoma. 13

Within two years after the land run of 1891, there were about fifty Czech

homesteads in the Barta Post Office area, bunched closely together. 14

These ethnic

farmers prospered and although preferring to form an isolated Czech colony, experienced

good relations with the non-Czech population including the ethnic German settlement

located to the north of the Czech. There was little or no hostility between the diverse

groups in the new land, probably because the Czech farmers associated almost

exclusively with their European kinsmen as did the Germans and white native-born

population. 15

Soon after the land run, several small settlements sprang up. Two of the larger

were Lambdin, located two miles east of the future town of Prague, and Arlington which

boasted at its peak two general stores, a post office, a blacksmith shop, a Methodist

church, and three doctors. 16

By the turn of the twentieth century other small settlements

dotted the rolling hills of Lincoln County including Keokuk Falls, a popular swimming

and fishing hole for Czechs, Bellemont, the birthplace of the great Sac and Fox athlete,

Jim Thorpe, and tiny Dent, the smallest and closest community to the future town of

William Earl Martin, “The Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak in Oklahoma City: A

Study of Culture Contrasts” (M.A. Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1935), 118. Oklahoma towns

containing ethnic Czechs and foreign-born included Yukon, Hennessey, Kingfisher, Perry, and Garber. See

Paul M. Nemecek, Historical and Cultural Essays on Czechs in America, (n.p.: 2005), 98. See also

Census of Population: 1920, 1034. 13

Vera Laska, ed., The Czechs in America: 1633-1977: A Chronology & Fact Book (Dobbs

Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1978), 35. 14

Lynch, “Czech Farmers of Oklahoma,” 14. 15

Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., 26. Bohemians harbored a historical animosity towards German-

speaking Austria, which dominated them politically. Nevertheless, Czechs frequently lived near German

immigrants in America. See Capek, The Cechs (Bohemians) in America, 19. 16

Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., 16, 23. The three doctors (Frank Isles, F.N. Norwood, and S.A.

Buercklin) moved to Prague soon after it organized.

Prague, Oklahoma. 17

The area quickly filled up. Although the original Czech settlers

derived from Midwestern states, after 1900 and especially following the formation of

Prague, Czechs from Texas trekked north looking for opportunities in the thriving farm

town. These newer residents differed from the first settlers in that some were Moravian

rather than Bohemian with more Protestants included in their number. 18

As previously mentioned, the locale of the Czech settlement lay in the southeast

corner of Lincoln County. 19

Rolling, timbered hills dominated the landscape with

numerous streams lacing the area. Most of the region‟s brooks were nothing more than

narrow, shallow trickles, but a few flowed wide and deep. These, together with the hills,

created a terrain that, for the most part, was uneven and rough which caused farming to

be difficult at first. Rainfall, which could be heavy in the spring, many times all but

disappeared in the hot months of summer. However, only a few miles west of the Czech

homesteads a vast expanse of flat prairie grassland emerged, part of the Great Plains

region. 20

Oklahoma Territory in 1891 was overwhelmingly a rural, agricultural region.

After the 1889 land run, economic activity centered on the Guthrie/Oklahoma City area

with much of the rest of the territory sparsely settled and still belonging to various tribes.

It was the promise of farmland that drew Czech settlers to the new territory. Unlike the

poor Bohemian sharecroppers in Texas described by Josef Barton, most Oklahoma

Czechs appear to have been more prosperous and, although not “brand-new” to the

Ibid., 17, 19-20, 30-31. Also see Tower, “A General History,” 6. Dent lay one mile south and

one mile east of Prague. 18

Karel Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980), 21. 19

The county officially received its name after the November 8, 1892 election. The three

proposed county names voted on were: Lincoln, Sac and Fox, and Springer. 20

Oklahoma Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 19: Petroleum and Natural Gas in Oklahoma, Part

II: A Discussion of the Oil and Gas Fields, and Undeveloped Areas of the State by Counties (Norman:

Oklahoma Geological Survey, 1917), 297.

United States, were not that far removed from a middling peasant farming background in

Bohemia and Moravia. 21

In central Europe, people referred to these energetic

husbandmen as the cottager class and the Czech arrivals to Oklahoma Territory definitely

fit this description. 22

In 1920, over two-thirds of Oklahoma‟s Czech immigrants still lived in a rural

setting and the proportion remained at this level in the 1930 census. 23

Cheap land served

as a primary cause for most Czechs to leave Nebraska and other Midwestern states. They

simply wished to own land and live in a rural setting. For example, although still an

agricultural rural state, Nebraska, by 1930 counted 13,839 Czech immigrants among their

population. However, over five thousand of them lived in an urban environment. 24

Lincoln County eventually attracted so many Czech immigrants that it became one of the

most attractive destinations in Oklahoma. Only Oklahoma County, which included

Oklahoma City, the largest town in Oklahoma, and Garfield County, contained more

Czechs (during the decade of the 1920s). 25

At the turn of the twentieth century,

Oklahoma Territory contained more Czech immigrants claiming another state as their

previous residence than any other United States territory or state. 26

Upon arrival, Czech farmers began clearing the land and transforming it into

productive agricultural fields. Not surprisingly, they modeled their farms on the central

European pattern most had only recently left behind. 27

The Czech farming community

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 89. 22

Ibid. 23

Census of Population: 1920, 371; Census of Population: 1930, 306. 24

Census of Population: 1930, 371. 25

Census of Population: 1920, 827; Census of Population: 1930, 573-574. Lincoln County

contained more Czech immigrants than Garfield County until the 1930 census. 26

Bruce Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers on the Great Plains, 1871-1914,” in Ethnicity on

the Great Plains, ed. Frederick C. Luebke (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1980), 147-169. 27

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 89, 105.

prospered and quickly, along with the area‟s German immigrants, became the leading

farmers in the area. As part of his study, Russell Lynch toured Czech farms and found

that the families lived in large houses, kept them in good condition, and took excellent

care of their out buildings and land. 28

The hardiness and productivity of the Czechs could

have been predicted. When the Immigration Commission examined Czech farmers, they

concluded that wherever they settled, “Czechs [were] regarded by their neighbors in the

same light as the German and Scandinavian farmers.” 29

One advantage Czech farmers

appeared to enjoy over native-born farmers was their communal attitude. Czechs formed

a tight community and helped each other. This group-mindedness many times took the

form of simple encouragement liberally sprinkled on a struggling neighbor but also on

occasion resulted in the more prosperous individuals helping the straining ones. 30

Unlike

most native farmers, who tended to be extremely individualistic, the group-mindedness of

the Czechs boosted their chances of prosperity in the early days of settlement. 31

This

cultural difference showed up later in their ties with the village of Prague when many

Czechs sought opportunities in the new town, some even moving there on a permanent

basis.

Nevertheless, it should not be misconstrued that the Czech farming community

was merely a transplant from Bohemia. It was not. Peasant villages in Bohemia and

Moravia usually consisted of one long street with houses on each side. The men of the

village arose early, ate breakfast with their families, then walked to work in the outlying

Ibid., 63-65. 29

Ibid., 91. 30

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 54-58. 31

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 93.

fields. The isolated farmhouses of the United States did not exist in the Czech lands. 32

Even after the formation of Prague, the majority of Czech farmers spent most of their

time on their homesteads traveling to town only to buy, sell, attend church, or participate

in social activities. None lived in town and commuted to their fields on a daily basis as

was common in the Czech lands of Europe.

Although living on fairly remote farms, the early Czech farmers of southeast

Lincoln County established social and religious ties with each other. In 1892, five

immigrants living in the Dent area – about one mile south of the future Prague – formed a

chapter of the Bohemian Slavonian Benevolent Society headquartered in St. Louis.

Before the end of 1892, twelve others joined the organization boosting the membership to

seventeen. 33

Five years later they left the St. Louis organization and established a charter

lodge of the Western Czech Brotherhood Association headquartered in Omaha. 34

These

benevolent societies provided Protestant and secular (usually freethinking) immigrant

farmers with not only fellowship and relief from difficult, back-breaking work but also

provided a sense of community. Once established the societies built a permanent

building usually called Bohemian Hall or Czech Hall. The halls afforded Czech

newcomers a place where farmers could meet and discuss the tough job of producing a

crop from the virgin soil, a place where both men and their wives could socialize with

Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village, 10. 33

Western Czech Brotherhood Association (Zapadni Ceske Bratrska Jednota), Bohemian Hall,

Membership Rolls; Central Book (Hlavni Kniha), Lodge 46, Prague, Oklahoma. 34

Bohemian Hall, Membership Rolls; See also Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., 134-135. According

to Brown, the five original members included Frank R. Vlasak, V. Ladra, Jiri Walla, and John Sefcik.

Brown included Jan Vobornik as an original member. However, the membership rolls list him as joining

the society in 1900. There are thirteen others listed as becoming members in 1897. However, the rolls do

not list the month in which they joined thus it is impossible to discern who was the final charter member.

The other 1897 members were: Josef Bruza, Vaclav Bruza, Anton Cerny, Josef Cerny, Maximilian Hruska,

Jan Kaiser, Josef Leder, Frantisek Sekavec, Antonin Smika, Frank Stasta, Frantisek Terfler, Vaclav Ulrich,

and Hynes Vojtech.

others who spoke their language and shared a common past and culture; a place where

everyone could just relax and enjoy a few hours of respite. Although the new Lincoln

County Czech benevolent organization included no female members the first year of

operation, during the next two years twelve women joined the society. Thus, almost from

the very beginning, and unlike many native-American organizations, the Czech‟s

fraternal association welcomed both men and women. 35

However, not all Czechs in the area joined the society. The 1900 census

manuscripts of South Creek Township where the association held regular meetings and

comparing it with the Bohemian Hall‟s membership rolls shows that the society included

only nineteen of the eighty-three Czech adult males listed in the census manuscripts. 36

most cases both husband and wife were members of the fraternal lodge. However one

Czech, Frank Sestak provides an interesting case. His name does not appear on the

membership rolls from 1897 to 1904 but his wife, Terezie, is listed as joining in 1899.

Perhaps the exclusion of Frank from the rolls resulted from a simple clerical mistake. In

addition, his name does not appear in the Bohemian Hall‟s membership books through

1913. 37

Thus, without more evidence Sestak cannot be considered a member of the

benevolent association during this period. Apparently, for whatever reason, the wife

joined the organization while the husband did not.

Not all Czech immigrants joined Bohemian Hall. Catholics rejected the secular

freethought tenets of the organization and stayed away. Instead, they formed a parish

which besides fulfilling the Czech community‟s spiritual needs, also offered

Ibid. 36

Department of Commerce, Census of the Population, 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for

South Creek Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma; Bohemian Hall, Membership Rolls; Central Book:

1897-1904. By the 1920s the membership of the Bohemian Hall exceeded two hundred. 37

Bohemian Hall, Membership Rolls, Central Book: 1911-1913.

opportunities for social interaction. Eleven of the forty-eight original Bohemian settlers

became members of the new church, including the Barta and Simek families, who

originally owned the land that became the town of Prague. 38

Later, the parish church

moved to the new town of Prague. Hearkening back to their collective history, Prague‟s

Czechs christened the church St. Wenceslas after the famous medieval Czech king.

Regardless of whether the Czech immigrant was Catholic, Protestant, or a freethinker,

most in the farming community prospered.

South Creek Township included many families of non-Czech origin. The 1900

census counted 341 total families in the area of which, 42 claimed Czech ethnicity. 39

these 42 Czech families, 37 heads of household listed their birthplace as Bohemia. In

other words, the primary wage earner in most Czech families was an immigrant.

Furthermore, in 1900, Czech families constituted a little over 12 percent of the total

population of South Creek Township. Thus, from the very beginning the non-Czech

population in the township dwarfed the Czech immigrant community.

A closer look at the Czech community in the 1900 census two years before the

creation of Prague reveals that of the forty-two families living in the township, twenty-

eight definitely lived in another state before migrating to Oklahoma Territory. This can

be ascertained by means of the census manuscripts for 1900 that lists the birthplace of

each child. Although it is impossible to tell exactly when the family arrived or left by

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 96; Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 118-119; The Barta

and Simek families are buried in the Catholic cemetery. Source: author‟s personal tour of cemetery

grounds. 39

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. Of the

341 total families, 269 were native-born white, forty-two were Czech, thirteen were African-American,

with the remaining seventeen claiming foreign-birth from someplace other than Bohemia or Moravia. One

of the Austrian-born immigrants, Joseph Custas, may in fact have been Czech. However, Joseph Custas is

listed nowhere in any Czech organization and he fails to appear in the 1910 census. Thus, it is impossible

to ascertain whether he was Czech or German.

looking at the state of their child‟s birth, we can determine that they were living in a

specific state at the time of the birth or at the very least the mother lived there during this

period. By using this method we can ascertain with some degree of confidence their

previous state of residence and, of course, the fact that they did not come directly to

Oklahoma Territory from Europe.

Census records prove correct Russell Lynch‟s assertion that most pioneer Czechs

came to Oklahoma Territory from the Midwest. By an overwhelming number most

Czech families appear to have come to Lincoln County from Nebraska with Kansas

coming in second as the previous place of residence. Other states listed in the 1900

census where Czechs lived before moving to Oklahoma Territory included Texas, Iowa,

South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 40

With the creation of the farm town of

Prague, the numbers of Czech residents in the area rose on the 1910 census. Again, as in

1900, most previously lived in Nebraska with the main difference in the ethnic

community being an increase in the number of second-generation Czechs. 41

However, an

examination of the 1920 census manuscripts reveals that the situation changed. From

1910 to 1920, Prague witnessed an influx of Czechs from other states, especially

newcomers from Texas claiming Moravia as either their birthplace or the birthplace of

their parents. Still, Prague‟s Bohemian population more than doubled the numbers of

Moravians. Nevertheless, there was a substantial number of Moravian Czechs arriving

during the second decade of the twentieth century. 42

This later migration to Lincoln

County is interesting and appears to undermine the claim of Karel Bicha who wrote that

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 41

Department of Commerce, Census of the Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for

South Creek Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. 42

Department of Commerce, Census of the Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for

South Creek Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma.

“Czech settlement in Oklahoma occurred almost entirely in the territorial period” and “by

the time of statehood in 1907 the movement was complete, and future increases in the

number of Oklahomans of Czech extraction resulted from the excess of births over deaths

rather than a continued migration of people.” 43

There was, at least in the Prague area,

continued migration – albeit from other states, primarily Texas from 1910 to 1920.

Despite the town‟s Czech beginning and Czech name, non-Czechs showed no

hesitation in buying lots. Quickly, they outnumbered the immigrant population in the

new town. Nevertheless, Czechs flocked in large numbers to the bustling village where

construction of wood and brick buildings seemed endless. A comparison of South Creek

Township in 1900 and 1910 shows the heavy influx of Czechs to the area. The 1910

census recorded 448 families in Prague. One hundred forty-eight (31 percent) of them

were Czech including 108 heads of household born in either Bohemia or Moravia. 44

noted earlier in the chapter, the Czech component of South Creek Township in 1900 was

12 percent. The 1910 numbers show that the Czech portion of the total population

jumped from 12 percent to 31 percent, a hefty increase. The lure of this small farming

town named after the beloved Bohemian capital city obviously proved great for many

ambitious Czechs.

Besides Czechs and native-born whites, other immigrants migrated to the new

settlement to take advantage of the perceived opportunities in the railroad town. In 1910,

nine heads of household reported their birthplace in Germany with another eight

American-born heads listing either one or both of their parents‟ country of birth as

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 21. 44

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

Germany. 45

Another four families claimed a Canadian background (one declared

themselves French-Canadian, the other three English-Canadian), and two immigrant

merchants were Russian Jews. The final five foreign-born heads of household in the

town listed their birthplace as Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, Belgium, and Poland. 46

Besides an increase in the white population, the 1910 census also showed an

increase in the African-American presence in the community. In 1900, thirteen black

families lived in the area. This more than doubled to twenty-eight on the 1910

enumeration. An interesting variation from 1900 to 1910 deals with the arrival of

African-Americans and the states from where they came. In 1900, six of the thirteen

African-American heads of household living in South Creek Township listed their

birthplace as Tennessee. Three heads declared Alabama as their state of origin, two listed

Arkansas with one each from Mississippi and Georgia. 47

However, in 1910 almost half

of the twenty-eight heads (thirteen) listed their birthplace as Texas. Tennessee remained

second with five of the same families recorded in 1900 remaining in the Prague area. An

additional black family from Arkansas found their way to southeast Lincoln County

while the two African-American families from Mississippi and Georgia were again listed

on the 1910 census. A further addition to Prague‟s African-American community was

two families from Kentucky and one from Louisiana. 48

The bulk of the German community lived in North Creek Township. According to the 1920

census there were twenty-two families headed by a German immigrant or second-generation ethnic. See

Department of Commerce, Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for North Creek

Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. 46

Ibid. 47

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township, Lincoln

“County, Oklahoma. 48

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township, Lincoln

County, Oklahoma.

The white, non-immigrant population of South Creek Township in 1900 consisted

of 269 families. One in four of the heads of these families declared the neighboring state

of Missouri as their birthplace. Arkansas, Tennessee, and Illinois also contributed

significant families to the newly-opened farmland. 49

However, an inspection of the 1900

manuscript census shows extensive and repeated movement of families throughout the

United States. The William Harris family is a good example. William, the father, was

born in Texas. However, he listed his father‟s birthplace as Illinois with his mother‟s

being North Carolina. Georgie Harris, William‟s wife, claimed Mississippi as her place

of birth with her parents born in Alabama. It is impossible with only census records to

discern where the couple met or married. However, by following the births of their

children we can trace, albeit roughly, their migration to Lincoln County, Oklahoma. For

example, we know that from 1885 to 1887 the Harrises lived in Texas because their two

eldest children were born there. We can also state that sometime before or during 1889

the family moved to Indian Territory and delivered another child. Then, in 1892 they

were living in Oklahoma Territory, but returned to Indian Territory where they had a son

in 1894. For whatever reason, the Harrises had moved back to Texas by 1896 but their

stay proved relatively short because they listed the birth of still another child in

Oklahoma Territory in 1898. Finally, the census taker counted the Harris family‟s

residence as Oklahoma Territory on the 1900 census. Thus, just from the birthplaces of

their children as listed on the census manuscript records we can trace the movement of

the Harris family from the state of Texas to Indian Territory, then to Oklahoma Territory,

back to Indian Territory, a short return to Texas and finally back to Oklahoma Territory.

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township, Lincoln

County, Oklahoma.

These movements took place within a fifteen year period. 50

Moreover, the Harris family

experience was not an anomaly; they were not unusual. Of the 269 white, non-immigrant

families living in the South Creek area in 1900, only 29 appear to have moved directly

from their state of birth to Oklahoma Territory. 51

A quick glance at the birthplaces of non-Czech heads of households in 1910

shows that Missouri again led the way with Arkansas registering the second most.

However, Kansas replaced Tennessee with the third largest numbers followed by

Illinois. 52

Thus, most people coming to Oklahoma came from neighboring states.

As can be seen from the above demographic portrait, from the inception of the

farming community of Prague, the Czech community found themselves at a numerical

disadvantage. Unlike some farming towns in the Midwest such as Milligan or Wilbur,

Nebraska, or ethnic Czech neighborhoods in Chicago, Cleveland or New York which

many times contained a majority of people of Bohemian stock, the Czechs of Prague,

constituted a minority group from the very beginning. 53

As a result, the experiences of

these Oklahoma Czechs differed significantly from urban areas where ethnic groups,

despite living amongst a diverse population, many times isolated themselves culturally

and also differed from rural settlements such as Milligan, Nebraska where the population

was overwhelmingly Czech and one could go days without even hearing the English

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township, Lincoln

County, Oklahoma. For a good analysis of tracking the movement of families see Richard C. Rohrs,

"Settlement and Migration Patterns of Immigrants and their Children: A Research Note," Immigration

History Newsletter, 19 (November 1987): 6-8. 51

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township, Lincoln

County, Oklahoma. 52

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township, Lincoln

County, Oklahoma. 53

Urban areas seldom contained many blocks inhabited exclusively by a single ethnic group.

Usually only limited sections held a fifty per cent or higher concentration of a single group. See Humbert

S. Nelli, Italians in Chicago: 1800-1930, A Study in Ethnic Mobility (New York: Oxford University Press,

1970), 25, 90. See also Herbert J. Gans, The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-

Americans (New York: The Free Press, 1962), 11.

language spoken. 54

In fact, it is this singular environment which sets apart the Prague

Czechs from many urban and rural ethnic communities where cultural and social isolation

and, in some instances, even economic seclusion proved easy to obtain. Furthermore, it

is the diversity of this small Oklahoma farm town and the interactions of the individuals

within the Czech community with the larger population that is so interesting and

important.

From the creation of the town, their minority status forced these rural Czech

settlers to confront and cooperate with the larger and to them foreign society if they were

to succeed in their new home. Unlike the Czechs of Chicago who, after a long day‟s

work retreated to a crowded neighborhood filled with the sounds and smells of their

beloved Bohemia. Or unlike the residents of Milligan, Nebraska, who successfully, if

only temporarily, created a Czech oasis on the Great Plains where English need never be

spoken unless a stranger happened to pass through. The town of Prague daily challenged

the Czech newcomers with obstacles in language, social interactions, customs, and

economic realities that their kinsmen in other parts of the country faced only at irregular

intervals or, at the least, could escape. This is not to say the pressure to acculturate,

especially in the cities, was not great. However, the second generation, not the

immigrants, usually fulfilled the task of acculturation in urban areas. Having been born

and reared in the United States, gone to public schools, and speaking English as well as

the descendants of Franklin or Lincoln these sons and daughters of immigrants crossed

the cultural bridge and mingled freely with the dominant society. In contrast, the diverse

population of the Oklahoma farming community forced most Prague Czechs including

Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village, 85.

immigrant adults to live a dual lifestyle embracing the new American ways while toiling

to maintain, not only their European customs and memories, but their identity as Czechs.

Nevertheless, the Czechs of Prague proved hearty both in numbers and purpose in

maintaining a thriving ethnic presence within the larger population of native-born whites

and the small but strong German community located a short distance north of Prague.

Most settlers quickly accepted the fact that they were a minority and adjusted. They

merged a determination to maintain their ethnicity with an equal resolve to participate in

every facet of community life resulting in a duality that enabled them to succeed

economically and adapt to the larger community quicker and without some of the

tensions and conflicts other ethnic groups encountered while living in large cities or in

isolated, ethnically homogenous settlements throughout the Plains region. The Prague

Czechs plowed a haven of success and held onto their ethnic identity, their internal

distinctiveness, within the larger native-born society while fully participating in every

social, cultural, economic, and political activity the small southeastern Oklahoma farming

town had to offer. However, the religious situation of Czech immigrants differed

drastically from other ethnic groups. Rather than a primary ingredient of their culture,

religion many times served as a source of disagreement if not downright enmity. It is to

this we turn.

CHAPTER 4

RELIGION AND THE CZECH COMMUNITY

On that fateful spring day in 1918, several men and women approached the field

of devastation with dreadful anxiety bordering on terror. Splintered white-washed

lumber, twisted deformed shingles, and shards of glass sparkling in the late-afternoon

brightness littered most of the four acres. Barely visible in the tall spring grass rested

shattered planks of various lengths with jagged edges and long sharp nails protruding as

if purposely and chaotically placed to injure any inattentive trespasser. Heaps of ruined

wood embedded with tiny splinters to dagger-like chunks of glass rested next to serene

tombstones of loved ones gone to be with the Lord. Alongside the irregular scenes of

destruction lay a few seemingly unharmed boards already painted, complete with shiny

spikes ready for the powerful blows of the carpenter to hammer them into place.

Juxtaposed with the vast carnage, the intact lumber appeared out of place like a joke

played by someone with a sick sense of humor. Thankfully, no one was in the building

when the tornado roared from the sky and smashed into the church. As if not content

with crushing the roof, it appeared the twister hoisted their precious sanctuary from the

ground and slung it back towards the foundation exploding on impact and scattering the

debris among the graves of deceased parishioners. The tornado completely destroyed the

church; little remained that a competent carpenter might salvage. Where once stood St.

Wenceslaus Church, the center of activity for Prague‟s Catholics, lay nothing

more than four acres of rubble. 1

Over the next few weeks the parishioners carefully removed the ruined vestiges of

their church. They raked and swept glass from the burials sites of their departed kinfolks

and friends. At special meetings the church members discussed what to do next? Of

course, not rebuilding was out of the question. They needed a place to meet and worship.

However, the two chief issues centered on where to build and how to fund the new

construction. Some wanted to recreate the former church on the same ground near the

cemetery. Others wished to see an even bigger church built within the environs of the

growing town. After much discussion and locating a piece of available land, Prague‟s

Catholic parish opted to relocate their church closer to the central business district. The

next chore, raising funds and actually erecting the edifice, took over a year. Josef Lanik,

a devout Catholic from the immigrant Czech community, volunteered to head the drive

for donations of money and labor. Lanik and his helpers visited every Catholic

household in the area, not begging, but counseling fellow Catholics of their duty to

support the parish through financial gifts and contributions of labor. The community

responded, especially the prosperous Czech farmers living in the countryside outside of

town. Raising over $2,500 for materials, Prague‟s Catholics constructed a much larger

church on Main Street. The finish carpenters worked long hours to complete the

intricate woodwork of the chancel and nave allowing St. Wenceslaus Church to hold its

first service in the new building right before the Christmas of 1919. 2

1 Paraphrased from the depiction given in, Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., Prague

(Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper Printing, Inc., 1978), 119-120. 2 Ibid.

On their arrival, most immigrants clung to the religion of their past. Confronted

with new laws, foreign customs, and a strange, usually urban, environment the

newcomers tenaciously embraced their church and their beliefs. Uprooted from a simpler

way of life, these rural cottagers and village artisans arrived in the United States with a

sense of excitement and hope, but also an overwhelming apprehension bordering on

dread. The psychological trauma experienced by many must have been great as they

gathered their belongings, underwent the mandatory physical examination, and

experienced their first noisy, crowded street. If a relative or friend met them when they

disembarked from the ship, it helped relieve some of the anxiety, but not all. Beginning

with their first step, the city bombarded the immigrants with all things new. Young,

forceful boys stood on the crowded sidewalks and hawked newspapers written in the

perplexing language of the United States. Thick men in peculiar clothing and rounded

hats jostled the new arrivals as they hurried past them on the heaving avenues. Wagons,

pushcarts, hacks, and carriages squeezed together on narrow streets gestured as their

drivers bawled at one another for any perceived illegality or social misconduct. And, the

immigrants took it all in. Although most newcomers throughout American history

experienced similar sensory shocks, immigrants from southern and eastern Europe

arriving after 1880 underwent an enormous transition. Strapped with a vastly different

culture, religion, and language than the majority of the native population, is it any wonder

so many newcomers inwardly smiled when they beheld the spires of the Church. 3

3 For examples of arrival experiences and the obstacles confronting newcomers from southern and

eastern Europe, see Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that made the

American People (Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown Books, 1951), 135-139; See also Alan Kraut, The

Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921 (Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan

Davidson, Inc., 1986), 67-73, 109; Thomas J. Archdeacon, Becoming American: An Ethnic History (New

York: The Free Press, 1983), 72-73.

The Catholic Church welcomed the new arrivals. Priests sympathized with and

encouraged the immigrants. In eastern cities such as Boston and New York, the earlier

arriving Irish dominated clerical positions to the point where many native born equated

Catholicism with being Irish. 4 By the end of the nineteenth century because of their

numbers, Italians demanded and received their own priests and parishes and soon

competed with the Irish in number of churches. Other groups such as the Poles and

Slovaks migrated west and formed ethnic churches in the neighborhoods of St. Louis,

Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Wherever they settled, most southern and eastern European

immigrants looked to the Catholic Church for reassurance and oftentimes provisional

assistance while they struggled to adjust in their new surroundings. Indeed, regardless of

their belief system, religion offered the dislocated a system of coping and a means of

support, comfort, and reconciliation during difficult periods. 5

Once an ethnic group gathered enough members, religious leaders within the

group appealed to the Catholic hierarchy for their own church with their own clergy.

Much of the initial impetus toward church formation focused not only on a shared

doctrinal ethos but also on a desire to preserve the old ways: the traditions of home. 6

Churches were meeting places for various social needs and became refuges for

newcomers confused and uncertain of their place in American society. Many times in

these churches religion morphed into a form of ethnicity reinforcing specific customs

4 Jay P. Dolan, In Search of an American Catholicism: A History of Religion and Culture in

Tension (London: Oxford University Press, 2002), 63. 5 Harold J. Abramson, “Religion,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups, eds. Stephen

Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,

1980), 873. 6 John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington, IN:

Indiana University Press, 1985), 146.

peculiar to the members‟ region or nation. 7 Although the religious zeal was authentic,

often the magnificent cathedrals constructed by the early settlers were sometimes

troubled places. 8 The ethnic membership and religious leaders grew incompatible and

divisions formed between factions of clergy themselves over the ideals of religious

devotion and ethnic identity. Religion and ethnic identity became an issue in the 1890s,

especially among Catholics. Leaders in the Catholic Church worried that the Church

might develop into a church of the foreign-born rather than an American church. 9 This

placed clergy at odds with their parishioners who enjoyed and took comfort in the

cultural distinctiveness of their services and fellowship. Lay leaders spoke out. John

Bodnar summed up the problem occurring in some urban churches. “Within the

immigrant group itself secular leaders became simultaneously more threatening and more

aggressive, as they now agitated for increased ethnic rather than religious awareness in

order to foster homeland nationalism.” 10

In other words, laypersons within the immigrant

community resisted replacing the ethnic focus of their local congregation with a solely

religious one. At this period of their life in the United States, many immigrants refused

to become only a Catholic American. To them, ethnic identity still held great

importance.

Regardless of tensions between laity and clergy, immigrant churches aided

individuals‟ and families‟ adjustment to their new surroundings. Religious institutions

provided psychological relief from the strains of factory work and dismal, crowded living

conditions. Catholic Churches supplied material relief through emigrant aid societies that

7 Abramson, “Religion,” 872, 875.

8 Bodnar, The Transplanted, 144.

9 Dolan, American Catholicism, 92-93.

10 Bodnar, The Transplanted, 167-168.

focused on helping women and children. These programs provided struggling mothers

with staples such as bread, salt, sugar, and, sometimes, meat. Similar to secular agencies

like Jane Addams‟s Hull House, the Church also educated mothers in practical matters

and offered a sympathetic ear, many times in the immigrant‟s native language.

Additionally, ethnic churches created organizations and offered fellowship activities that

allowed immigrant families a place to congregate, make friends, and feel accepted. 11

Overall, immigrant churches softened the cultural and economic blows of the dominant

society. Over time, these churches introduced a more American form of worship, usually

less formal, including the usage of English rather than Latin in part or all of the corporate

service. As incongruous as it may appear ethnic churches provided immigrants a way of

holding to things past, at least psychologically, while innocuously advancing modernism

and Americanism. 12

According to John Bodnar, “No institution in immigrant America exhibited more

discord and division than the church.” 13

This is clearly seen in the situation of the

Czechs. As briefly discussed in chapter seven, Czechs were the only immigrant group in

which a majority abandoned the Church. Many Czechs cut all ties with organized

religion and a majority of arrivals became known as liberals, rationalists, freethinkers 14

Freethought (svobodomysleni) is the name of a movement that evolved from

many different sources. The exact origins of the term are uncertain, however, by the late

seventeenth century a few writers including Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) began using

Peter D. Salins, Assimilation, American Style (New York: Basic Books, 1997), 36-37. 12

Maldwyn Allen Jones, American Immigration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960),

317-318. 13

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 167. 14

Bruce Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers on the Great Plains, 1871-1914,” in Ethnicity on

the Great Plains, ed. Frederick C. Luebke (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1980), xxvi, 148.

the word in its present meaning. 15

In the United States, some scholars consider the period

from about 1875 to World War I as the high-water mark of freethought in American

society. 16

Freethought is the philosophy that man rules his own destiny, rejecting the

ideas of miracles and divine intervention in an individual‟s or world affairs. Belief

centers on the idea that nature and natural law guide mankind and that the use of reason

and science are the means by which one should judge everything. Freethinkers argue that

truth should derive from the application of observation and experiment without the

cumbersome influences of tradition and superstition. 17

This rationalist philosophy asserts

that “all beliefs should be subjected to critical examination by exactly the same

standards.” 18

When examined, the differing ideas concerning the origin of freethought in the

Czech community form a muddy pool, but one that highlights the complexities of not

only rationalism itself but Czech acceptance. Emily Balch in Our Slavic Fellow Citizens

argues that the writings of radical thinkers such as the iconoclastic agnostic, Robert

Ingersol and English philosopher, Herbert Spencer, heavily influenced early Czech

freethinkers. 19

Bruce Garver pinpoints the origins of freethought in the European

Enlightenment. Garver also credits French Positivism, German Materialism, and

Darwinian theories with influencing European freethought ideas. 20

Another Czech

chronicler, Rose Rosicky, posits that the Czech movement gradually developed out of

Gordon Stein, ed., The Encyclopedia of Unbelief (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1985), 247. 16

Susan Jacoby, Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (New York: Metropolitan

Books, 2004), 151. 17

Ibid., 4-5. 18

Stein, Encyclopedia of Unbelief, 531. 19

Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York: Charitites Publication Committee, 1910),

390-391. 20

Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 149.

Hussitism and the questioning of the Church as the final arbiter of everything. 21

Czech

intellectuals absorbed the ideas of freethought through their close proximity and long

association with the German-speaking peoples. Again, the dichotomy of Czech/German

history comes into play. On the one hand, Czechs despised German power and their

historic ascendancy over the Czech lands. On the other hand, Czechs borrowed heavily

from their Germanic neighbors in areas from food to philosophy. Freethought gained a

foothold among Czech intellectuals through the writings of Hegel (1770-1831),

Feuerbach (1804-1872)), Nietzsche (1844-1900), and others. Rationalists like Johannes

Ronge (1813-1887) and Robert Blum (1807-1848) and the ideas of the ill-fated 1848

uprisings gained further traction among Czech thinkers. However, the ideas of

freethought gained acceptance with the masses primarily out of rebellion against the

authoritarian Habsburg government and the state religion, the Catholic Church. Many

Czechs viewed both the political and religious sectors as children of the same mother –

tyranny. Among many Czech liberals anti-Catholicism, especially enmity towards

clerics, elicited strong emotions. Militant Czech freethinkers carried this anti-clericalism

with them when they crossed the Atlantic. 22

Rationalists dominated the Czech-language press in the United States. By the end

of 1910, over three hundred Czech-language serial publications stemmed from American

presses. 23

With the exception of the major Catholic weekly, Hlas, most Czech-language

newspapers leaned heavily towards freethought or at least attempted to remain neutral. 24

Joseph Chada in The Czechs in the United States placed the ratio of progressive to

Rose Rosicky, A History of the Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska (Omaha: Czech Historical

Society of Nebraska, 1929), 286. 22

Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 164; Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, 391. 23

Karel Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980), 34. 24

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 286. Hlas translates “The Voice.”

conservative periodicals at six to one. 25

One of the more strident liberal publications

came out of Omaha. Edward Rosewater‟s Pokrok Zapadu (Progress of the West)

consistently advocated an anti-clerical and anti-organized religion stance. Rosewater and

fellow Czech and Omaha publisher, John Rosicky were the first to publish thought-

provoking rationalist articles throughout the Plains region reaching immigrant

communities as far south as Texas. 26

Nevertheless, Chicago, containing the largest

number of Czech immigrants, became the axis of liberal publication and activity. The

Windy City, in 1883, contained fifty-two freethought societies but only three Catholic

parishes. By 1920, membership in freethought associations across the United States

doubled those in Catholic organizations. 27

If number of newspapers and periodicals is

any indicator, from roughly 1860 to the end of World War I Czech rationalists dominated

and controlled Czech-American society and culture.

Even so, not all freethinkers believed alike. Their views ranged from outspoken,

atheistic Free Congregations (Svobodne Obce) and benevolent agnostics to those who

believed in a supreme being but not in miracles or divine intervention (deists). 28

Despite

profound differences, a spirit of theological questioning and physical separation from

organized religion provided common threads binding all rationalists. Their trust in

science and empirical evidence trumped the faith of their fathers and placed them

philosophically within the progressive matrix. Freethinkers believed in the progress of

man in the here and now. They embraced the principle of the goodness of man and

Joseph Chada, The Czechs in the United States (Chicago: Czechoslovak Society of Art and

Sciences, 1981), 92-93. 26

Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 148; Chada, Czechs in the United States, 17. 27

Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 150, 156; Clinton Machann, “Religious Attitudes in

Early Immigrant Autobiographies Written by Czechs in Texas,” MELUS 22 (Winter 1997):168-169. 28

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 279; Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 155.

confidence in the future of society. These universal ideas echoed middle-class

aspirations in the early twentieth century and served to attract converts, especially those

not holding extreme views on matters religious. 29

Czech freethinkers differed from their fellow European rationalists in one

important matter: Czech freethinkers incorporated an anti-German attitude into their

beliefs. Czech rationalism expanded beyond simply questioning Church authority and

teaching, a fiery finish of nationalism covered the entire movement. In Europe, the

nineteenth century witnessed the birth of modern Italy (1861), and Germany (1871), as

ideas of nationhood and citizenship gained acceptance and flourished, first among

intellectuals then filtering down to the masses. Because of the budding nation-state

movement, the medieval martyr, Jan Hus, took on added importance. Hus‟s defiance of

authority and spirit of independence more than his theological arguments appealed to

Czech liberals. Freethinkers held Hus in high esteem, although not as a martyred cleric

but as an independent thinker and aspiring nationalist. 30

Rose Rosicky, in her 1929 work

on the Czechs in Nebraska, relates the patented rationalist answer when asked why

liberals revere the memory of a defrocked Catholic priest: “If Hus were living today, he

would be a liberal.” 31

The early freethought press in the United States promoted Hus, not so much as an

enemy of the Church, but as an embodiment of Czech resistance to domination and as

someone searching for ultimate truth. Hus, executed at the Council of Constance in

Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, 69; Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 151; Ernest

Zizka, Czech Cultural Contributions (Chicago: Benedictine Abbey Press, 1942), 70. 30

Henry W. Casper, History of the Catholic Church in Nebraska (Milwaukee: The Bruce

Publishing Company, 1966), vol. 4, Catholic Chapters in Nebraska Immigration: 1870-1900, 103;

Machann, “Religious Attitudes,” 164. 31

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 285.

100

1415, became a symbol of rationalist inquiry and Czech nationalist impulses. In the

United States, Saline City, Nebraska held the earliest known commemoration of the

burning of Jan Hus on July 6, 1873. The featured speaker at the ceremony was Vaclav

Snajdr, then editor of the Omaha-based Pokrok Zapadu, one of the leading freethought

weeklies of the Great Plains. 32

Czech communities throughout the United States read

about the festivities honoring Hus and began hosting their own event every sixth of July.

These yearly commemorations took on a more defiant tone with the advent of the Great

War. The 500 th

anniversary of Hus‟s death in 1915 was particularly emotional and used

by the anti-Habsburg press to rally support for the nascent independence movement

forming in London, New York, and Chicago among Czech émigrés and American

Czechs. With reports of Austrian atrocities filling the pages of American and Czech-

language newspapers, the commemorative events doubled as fund-raisers for the

Bohemian National Alliance. Once the Allies secured victory in Europe and created the

new Slavic nation of Czechoslovakia, emphasis on Hus gradually faded in Czech-

American communities. 33

It appears that Jan Hus, the martyred Catholic priest, hailed as

a proto-freethinker by many in the press, was actually more important to the typical

Czech American as a symbol of nationalist desires and independence from Austrian

domination than as an icon of epistemology.

Freethinkers controlled the early fraternal associations. 34

Fraternal lodges

such as the Slavic Benevolent Society and Western Bohemian Fraternal Association,

along with the liberal press effectively persuaded many Czechs to leave the Catholic

Ibid., 80. 33

Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 163. 34

Ibid., 158; Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 37; Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 287.

101

Church. 35

Bruce Garver estimated that before 1914 about 55 percent of Czech

immigrants in the United States were freethinkers with the rest maintaining loyalty to the

Catholic Church or switching to a Protestant sect. 36

Some freethought intellectuals,

especially journalists, viewed their mission as a sort of crusade against the Catholic

Church and all organized religion. 37

Without apology, these writers denounced

traditional churches and through the printed word spread their message throughout

American Czech communities. Reading only their articles and editorials would leave one

with the impression that the freethought movement among Czechs in the United States

was passionate and uncompromising. However, zealous journalists constituted only a

small fraction of Czech Americans and perhaps garnered too much attention when

examining the philosophical boundaries of Czech rationalism. That a division existed

between liberal and Catholic Czechs is clear. In Prague, practically no Catholics joined

the local Bohemian Hall during the first thirty years; their membership at St. Wenceslaus

sufficed. Although the 1918 tornado destroyed the member rolls of Prague‟s Catholic

Church, a comparison of Catholic cemetery records with Z.C.B.J. membership rolls to

1930 reveals only a couple of possible dual memberships. Jan and Anna Babek and Anna

Wostrcil, members of the Western Bohemian Fraternal Association, are buried in the

Catholic cemetery. 38

Furthermore, and although not totally conclusive, it appears that in

Prague the division between Catholic and secular immigrant was not based on economic

status. For example, four early immigrant leaders of the new town were Joseph Lanik

Casper, Catholic Church in Nebraska, 103. 36

Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 148. 37

Machann, “Religious Attitudes,” 168. 38

Western Czech Brotherhood Association (Zapadni Ceske Bratrska Jednota), Bohemian Hall,

Membership Rolls, Central Book (Hlavni Kniha), Lodge 46, Prague, Oklahoma; St. Wenceslaus Catholic

Cemetery.

102

and Frank Barta who remained Catholic, while Frank Vlasak and C.M. Sadlo had left

their European religious roots.

Catholic Bible of Frank Vlasak’s mother

Source: Author‟s photo of Bible on display at Prague Historical Museum.

In his study, Russell Lynch also found little duplication in membership between

the church and Z.C.B.J. However, through interviews with the original settlers or their

children Lynch found that Catholics and Bohemian Hall members enjoyed amiable

relations and frequently socialized. 39

Garver, in his work on Czech freethinkers,

suggested that in the Great Plains region tolerant liberals, not militants, dominated Czech

fraternal associations. 40

This appears to be the case in Prague. These rural Czechs, either

through anger or apathy towards the Catholic Church, drifted into a kind of lethargic

irreligion. However most liberals, at least in Oklahoma, harbored little animosity

towards the Church to the extent of the freethinking journalists but simply felt indifferent

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 97, 137. 40

Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers,” 149.

103

about it. 41

Few were evangelical atheists or even agnostics. They merely quit the church

and concentrated on economic and family matters, usually joining the Bohemian Hall for

insurance and fellowship opportunities not because they entertained a deep grudge

against St. Wenceslaus Church or the Catholic faith. Nevertheless, Prague‟s Z.C.B.J.

members concealed no yearnings to return to the Church. Most remained unchurched

and those who began attending chose a Protestant denomination rather than return to the

pews of the Catholic parish. There is simply no evidence of hatred against their former

faith.

Although claiming no pretense of being a religious organization, Czech

freethought associations such as the local Bohemian Hall evolved into a kind of secular

church complete with regular meeting times and the site of weddings, receptions, and

funerals. Prague‟s Bohemian Hall held several weddings and funerals during this time,

usually with a local judge officiating. 42

No record of the type of music played at Czech

funerals in Prague exists. However, Robert Kutak asserts that funerals held at the

Milligan, Nebraska lodge included church songs such as “God Will Take Care of You,”

“Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown,” and “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.” 43

Remembering that most of the original settlers came from Nebraska, it would not be

surprising if religious hymns rang out at Bohemian Hall memorial services in Prague as

well.

Freethought in the United States then, slowly transformed through the lodges

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 28-29. 42

For a few examples see Prague Record, 12 May 1926; 27 April 1927; 6 March 1929. 43

Robert Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village: A Study of Social Persistence and

Change (New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1933, repr. ed., 1970), 92.

104

from a strident denunciation of everything Catholic and religious to a calmer, secular,

ethnically-oriented movement. Again, among liberal and Catholic leaders the split was

real and, at times, quite hostile. Religious disunity plagued Czech communities in the

United States more than any other ethnic group. This became evident during World War

I when Czech Catholics refused to merge resources with the secular Bohemian National

Alliance until late in the conflict. However, in rural locales like Prague the two camps

put aside their antagonisms in the name of their shared ethnicity. When Prague‟s

Bohemian Hall sponsored a dance or play it was a Czech dance or a Czech play rather

than a freethought dance or freethought play and as time went on dances included

American tunes as well as traditional Bohemian songs and steps. This further weakened

hostile feelings between the two groups. In the end, Catholic and non-Catholic Czechs

transformed ethnicity into their common “religion.” As freethought, especially the

radical anti-clerical form lost its appeal and fraternal organizations focused more and

more on sustaining and passing down Czech distinctiveness to the young, rationalist

ideals withered until by 1980 Catholics comprised a large portion of lodge membership. 44

Karel Bicha noted in his work, The Czechs in Oklahoma, that Czech National

Cemeteries were permanent monuments to the freethought movement in Oklahoma. 45

There is no doubt that in the technical sense this is true. Throughout Oklahoma and other

states, the secular, freethought associations created these burial grounds and interred their

members. Catholics preferred their parish cemeteries and many Protestants chose the

City Cemetery. However, similar to the ideological fate of the actual organization, later

generations and non-Czechs viewed Czech cemeteries as monuments to Czechs rather

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 42. 45

Ibid., 30.

105

than freethinkers. Unless the passerby happens to be a student of freethought or Czech

immigration, the cemetery symbolizes the historical presence of Bohemians and

Moravians in the area. The ethnic identity of the buried trumped their philosophical

leanings. Today, Czech National Cemeteries, although started by rationalists, are

monuments to all Czech Americans rather than the purveyors of a secular freethinking

ideology.

On January 1, 1903, eight months after its founding, Prague contained seven

saloons and no churches. 46

The rough and tumble frontier town attracted many of the

coarser elements from the twin territories searching for strong refreshments after a hard

day‟s toil. Drunken fights and revelries abounded in the embryonic town. Despite the

raucous turmoil, Prague‟s spiritual-minded residents coalesced into bands with like-

minded beliefs and began building churches. Although not the first sacral structure in the

new town, the Catholic parish dated back to 1891 and the land run. 47

Eleven of the forty-

eight original Bohemian settlers claimed membership, including the Barta and Simek

families, whose homesteads later became the town of Prague. 48

Over time, the Czech

presence in the church grew until by the late 1940s their numbers topped 75 percent of

the membership. 49

Unlike urban areas where Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 115. 47

The first church building in Prague was the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. William Ray

Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A. Thesis, Oklahoma

Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 42. 48

Russell Willford Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma: A Comparative Study of the Stability of

A Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County Oklahoma, and the Factors Relating to its Stability,” Bulletin of

Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Stillwater, OK: Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical

College) 39, no. 13 (June 1942), 96; Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 118-119. 49

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 94; Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 31; St. Wenceslaus

Catholic Church issued a memorial pamphlet in 1949, the golden anniversary of the first permanent

structure. The volume listed 186 members, of which 133 sported Czech surnames.

106

dominated, these small-town Czechs faced an empty field of competition for control of

church functions and activities. Recognizing the need for Bohemian priests in these rural

Great Plains settlements, the Catholic Church advertised in the newspapers of Bohemia

and Moravia for priests to come to the United States. 50

St. Wenceslaus requested and

maintained a Czech-speaking priest for over thirty years. 51

In addition, by the beginning

of the twentieth century, the Catholic Church rose to become the largest denomination in

the United States. With growing numbers, mainly fueled by immigration, Catholics

transformed from a tiny minority religion ridiculed and belittled by some Protestant sects

into a proud, confident group. 52

It was under these circumstances that Prague‟s Catholics

established St. Wenceslaus Church.

Although primarily interested in the salvation of souls, the Church throughout

America also aided the poor and needy. In Chicago, the Catholic Benevolent Union

helped Czech immigrants adjust to industrial capitalism and living in an overcrowded

city. 53

Catholic churches in farming regions promoted Catholic holidays and sponsored

dances and bazaars, which turned into community affairs attended by Catholic and non-

Catholic alike. In an attempt to cultivate Christian fellowship among their congregants,

Prague‟s Catholics established their own fraternal association, the Catholic Workman

(Katolicky Delnik). 54

The organization sponsored social activities such as dances,

dinners, and festivals centered on important Catholic holidays. Renegade Catholics of

the Bohemian Hall attended St. Wenceslaus celebrations, as did many in the community.

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 293. 51

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 31. The parish, formed in 1891, retained a Bohemian priest until

1927. 52

Dolan, American Catholicism, 72. 53

Abramson, “Religion,” 874. 54

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 43.

107

Similar to Bohemian Hall activities, townspeople viewed the events as community events

every bit as much as religious galas. 55

About sixty miles east in Oklahoma City, William

Earl Martin found immense religious friction between Czech Catholics and the smaller

congregations of Czech Protestants. Much like Ernest Zizska, Martin emphasized the

antagonism between Catholics, Protestants, and freethinkers. 56

The differing groups in

the larger town separated themselves and refused to cooperate. In the small town of

Prague things were different. They lived in close proximity to each other and saw the

same people on the streets and in the stores anytime they shopped. Constant interactions

bred more of a community spirit than seen in most urban centers. The residents,

regardless of religious preference or ethnicity, simply had to find a way to get along.

Nationwide, Czech Protestants comprised only a handful when compared to

numbers of freethinkers and Catholics. After arrival in the United States if a Czech left

the Catholic Church, rarely did he relocate to a Protestant pew. Among immigrants,

Presbyterian churches attracted the most ex-Catholics. Czech Presbyterians traced their

national and religious heritage to Jan Hus and the Bohemian Brethren, the first

Protestants in the Czech lands. In fact, one of the largest Czech Presbyterian churches in

New York named its building after the martyr: Jan Hus Bohemian Presbyterian

Church. 57

In the farming communities of the Midwest, Rose Rosicky noted that most

Czech Protestants in Nebraska claimed Presbyterianism as their faith. 58

However, the

most aggressive sect was the Methodists. Focusing their conversion efforts primarily on

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 97; Kutak, A Czech-American Village, 44-45. 56

William Earl Martin, “The Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak in Oklahoma City: A

Study of Culture Contrasts” (M.A. Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1935), 143; Zizka, Cultural

Contributions, 48. 57

C. Merton Babcock, “Czech Songs in Nebraska,” Western Folklore 8 (October 1949): 321. 58

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 337.

108

the young, Methodist churches attracted second and later generation Czechs. Over time,

more Czechs claimed Methodism as their faith than any other Protestant sect. 59

Members of the Methodist-Episcopal Church erected the first church building in

Prague. The pastor, appointed by the Annual Conference, ministered in Prague every

other Sunday because he also served a church in nearby Okemah. 60

Soon after opening,

the Methodists agreed to allow other denominations, specifically the Presbyterians and

Baptists, access to their building until they constructed their own place of worship. 61

Much like the Catholic Church, Bohemian Hall, and Sokol Hall, the Methodist Church

became a center of community activity hosting concerts and plays in addition to revivals

and special Christmas services. 62

The membership rolls of the church show no Czech

names on the register during the first decade of its existence. However, by the 1920s

Czech individuals and families began joining the ranks of Methodism with several

holding positions of leadership. Church records list William Vlasak, son of the Czech

pioneer Frank Vlasak, as a Steward in the church and serving on the Sunday School and

Finance committees during the 1920s. In 1928, the members elected Mrs. Billy Urban as

the treasurer. During this same period her husband served alongside Vlasak on the

Sunday School Committee. 63

Other Czech members listed over the years included

Cervenys, Svobodas, Jezeks, Novotnys, Klabzubas, Koutniks, Stoklasas, Voborniks,

Joseph Chada, The Czechs in the United States (Chicago: Czechoslovak Society of Art and

Sciences, 1981), 120-121. 60

William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A.

Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 42. There were twenty-five charter

members in the Methodist Church according to the 1903 Membership Rolls of the First United Methodist

Church of Prague. None had Czech surnames. 61

Ibid., 44. 62

Prague Record, 1 March 1917; 16 July 1915. 63

First United Methodist Church of Prague, Church Records. The Prague Record, 11 January

1928 also listed the election of new Methodist officials.

109

Opelas, and Bonttys. 64

Some of these, such as Jan Svoboda and William Vlasak were

members of the Z.C.B.J. while others were the wives or sons and daughters of members.

For example, Ella Klabzuba, a member of the Methodist church, was the wife of Joseph

J. Klabzuba and both are buried in the Czech National Cemetery. Joe Stoklasa, one of

Prague‟s grocers and a believer in the tenets of Wesleyism, was a member of the Sokol

Hall and is also interred in the freethinking cemetery. 65

Finally, when the long-time

Bohemian Hall stalwart, Jan Svoboda died, Prague‟s Methodist Church held his funeral

and the Czech National Cemetery, his body. 66

The above list embraces some of the most

active Czech Methodists. Apparently many more attended because in 1927 the

Methodists sponsored a special meeting inviting Dr. Karl Sladek, a Czech Methodist

from Oklahoma City, to be the guest speaker at special Czech-language services. 67

Practically no primary source information exists on the town‟s Presbyterian

church. In his “General History of Prague,” Ray Tower notes that “the church conducted

services in Prague from 1906 to 1920 when it was finally decided to disband because of

the small and declining membership.” 68

However, from newspaper accounts we can

glean that the C.V. Sojka family were active members holding a dinner for the

Presbyterian Social Circle in 1916. 69

Later in 1928, Mildred Eret, granddaughter of

Bohemian Hall member, George Eret, married Charles Butler, a non-Czech, in the

Presbyterian Church in Okemah. 70

It appears the Eret family remained staunch

First United Methodist Church of Prague, Membership Rolls. 65

Ibid. Stoklasa was listed as a member of Sokol Hall in the pamphlet, Prague, Oklahoma: City

of Opportunities.” He is buried in the Czech National Cemetery. See, Prague Chamber of Commerce,

Prague, Oklahoma: City of Opportunities (n.p: n.p, n.d.), 37-39. 66

Prague Record, 7 July 1927. 67

Prague Record, 8 February 1928. 68

Tower, “General History,” 32. 69

Prague Record, 23 June 1916. 70

Prague Record, 8 February 1928.

110

Presbyterians because despite losing their church in 1920, the family held their

daughter‟s wedding in a neighboring town. Jumping to the conclusion of the newlywed‟s

lives, Charles Butler and his Czech wife, Mildred Eret Butler, chose as their final resting

place, the Czech National Cemetery. 71

Joseph and Lillian Eret, the parents of the wife

also chose the national cemetery over the City Cemetery, again showing how the once

freethinking cemetery transformed into more of an ethnic cemetery rather than the final

resting place for nonbelievers.

Few Czechs joined either the local Baptist church or Christian church during the

early years of the community. 72

Similar to the experience of the Catholic Church, Prague

Baptist Church lost all records during a storm. 73

However, a few snippets of Czech

interest in these churches emerge from the pages of the newspapers. For instance, Rose

Klabzuba married Harmon Veatch in the parsonage of the Christian Church and James

Urban, a Czech, married Eula Nash with the ceremony held at Prague‟s Christian

Church. 74

Both Czechs were third generation and both married outside the group.

Thirdly, neither ceremony took place in either of the two primary venues of Czech ritual

expression, the Bohemian Hall or the Catholic Church. Of course the question is: what

does all this mean? What is the relevance for the Czech community in Prague; for Czech

communities throughout the United States? Only future studies can adequately answer

whether or not the religious experiences of these small-town Czechs translates throughout

the country. However, it appears that many Czechs, especially the later generations,

Czech National Cemetery. 72

Until 1929 and the formation of a Nazarene congregation, the Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and

Christian Churches were the primary churches in Prague. 73

Prague Baptist Church changed its name to First Baptist Church in 1957. 74

Prague Record, 14 September 1927; 10 March 1921.

111

returned to some sort of faith with most opting for Protestant sects rather than the

Catholic Church.

Upon arrival in the United States many Czech immigrants left the Catholic

Church. Most of these immigrant apostates never returned to the fold, but imbibed the

secular ideas of freethought. A very few joined Protestant congregations, chiefly

Presbyterian and Methodist. Freethought intellectuals, particularly journalists, espoused

a highly anticlerical form of rationalism. Through their weeklies and journals they

contested against their historical faith and developed an us-versus-them attitude.

However, the rank and file leaned more towards apathy in religious matters rather than

confrontation. This appears true in small towns like Prague. Although the freethinkers

established a Bohemian Hall for their members, they openly advertised for anyone –

Catholics, Protestants, Czechs and non-Czechs – to attend their social functions.

Likewise, the Catholic Church held events such as dances and bazaars which were as

much community events as sacred affairs. In Prague, Catholics, freethinkers, Protestants,

and those who simply did not go to church mingled socially at whatever venue offered

refreshments and a good time.

As time and generations passed, more and more Czechs joined Protestant

churches. However, many continued their association with the local chapter of the

Z.C.B.J. including burial in the Czech National Cemetery. Slowly, Prague‟s freethinking

Bohemian Hall transformed into more of an ethnic club than a bastion of religious

unorthodoxy. The 1920s increasingly saw both Catholics and Protestants join the

freethought organization and by 1980 Catholics comprised a majority of the lodge‟s

112

membership. Thus, the situation of Prague differed from urban areas which witnessed

more bitterness and animosity between freethinkers and Catholics.

Rather than unifying the Czech community, religion caused divisions within the

group. In Prague, these divisions did not erupt into outright hostility. The differing sides

realized the need to work together. The following chapter analyzes how this sense of

community transferred to the economic realm. It examines how Catholic, Protestant, and

freethinker were able to set aside their differences and cooperate for the sake of

prosperity. Finally, the chapter looks at the economic interactions of Czechs and non-

Czechs as they struggled to make the frontier farm town a success.

113

CHAPTER 5

ECONOMIC LIFE IN PRAGUE

With Bible in one hand, a hatchet in the other, the stout but still energetic

matronly woman marched down the middle of the dirt street with a brigade of women in

her wake. The bonneted matriarch halted the excited throng close to the front doors of

the nearest saloon and immediately launched into her practiced and polished tirade

against the evils of alcohol. By the time she had finished her blistering verbal attack, the

crowd buzzed with righteous indignation and anticipation with what they knew would

happen next. Closing the Bible and brandishing her weapon, Carry Nation turned from

the crowd and strode into the emptying saloon. With swinging ax and cries for

deliverance to God, the temperance leader splintered several cases of beer before leaving

the drinking establishment where she proclaimed victory to the applauding crowd. 1

Despite the determined efforts of Carry Nation, Prague‟s saloons flourished

during the pre-statehood era. In fact, during the period before November 1907, the

saloon business boomed for most of the communities in southeast Lincoln County. The

reason was quite simple. Lincoln County, as part of Oklahoma Territory, allowed open

and legal alcohol consumption. However, adjacent Indian Territory located a little over

1 Prague News, 15 September, 1904. See also Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., Prague

(Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper Printing, Inc., 1978), 53.

114

three miles east of Prague was “dry.” Alcohol could not be transported, bought, or sold

there. Thus, evenings and weekends saw a veritable parade of Indian Territory residents

crossing into Oklahoma Territory to relax and imbibe alcoholic refreshments. The

prolific alcohol consumption by some customers on occasion erupted into heated

arguments over perceived slights many times ending in bloody fist fights or worse

resulting in a wild-west aura enveloping many towns in the area. Prior to the formation

of Prague, the most infamous was Keokuk Falls, home of the “Seven Deadly Saloons.”

Located only a short ride from Indian Territory, the taverns of Keokuk Falls became a

favorite destination for hard-working ranchers and hired hands as well as members of the

Sac and Fox tribe. However, the easily available booze also attracted unsavory

characters as well. In this small settlement, less than a mile from the future town of

Prague, “all sorts of outlaws, horse-thieves, cattle-rustlers, road agents, and murderers

hung out during the last decade of the [nineteenth] century.” 2 Regardless of the violence

surrounding these drinking establishments, the saloons earned enormous profits. Thus, to

combat the violence, Keokuk Falls hired lawmen equally as tough and violent as the

customers to keep the peace. 3

Upon the formation of Prague in 1902, as in nearby Keokuk Falls, drinking

proved a profitable business enterprise. Only a few weeks after the opening of the new

town, the Prague News listed seven saloons operating in the environs with three of the

establishments serving drinks under nothing but a simple canvas covering. 4 The success

2 Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County: Oklahoma History (Saline, MI:

McNaughton & Gunn, 1988), 198. Keokuk Falls no longer exists. After weeks of heavy rains in the spring

of 1923, a flood covered the entire area with silt and mud destroying the once beautiful natural falls which

had been a favorite recreational area for early settlers. 3 Ibid., 198-199.

4 Prague News, 28 August, 1902.

115

of these saloons encouraged others to join the business. From 1902 until statehood in the

fall of 1907 anywhere from six to thirteen saloons operated within the town‟s limits. 5

Prague‟s Czechs, like many immigrants from eastern or southern Europe, enjoyed

drinking alcoholic beverages. Most primarily drank beer and Czechs prided themselves

on the Bohemian origins of „budweiser‟ and “pilsner” beer. 6 Owning a saloon or

working as a barkeep ranked high in the minds of most Czechs as desirable occupations.

Many viewed attending bar every inch as respectable as teaching school, working at a

bank, or committing to the priesthood or ministry. 7 The Bohemian immigrants of Prague

apparently were no different. One of the most popular drinking establishments in the

early years of the town was the Kentucky Liquor House, owned and operated by Josef

Klabzuba, a Czech. 8 Another Czech, Josef Hrdy owned one of the first saloons in the

new town. 9 Furthermore, saloons were important business enterprises in early Prague as

they brought in much revenue for the town. An example of the profitability of the liquor

business is found in the Prague News’ May 1907 article reporting the town‟s receipts

from licenses and fees. According to the town‟s treasurer, in 1906, Prague took in a total

of $4,193.88. Of this amount, $2,549.00 (over half of the year‟s receipts) came from the

5 Prague Record, 5 October 1916; See also Prague News, 28 August 1902; William Ray Tower,

“A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A. Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural

and Mechanical College, 1948), 13; Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 52. 6 Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 61.

7 Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York: Charities Publication Committee, 1910),

308; Joseph Slabey Roucek, “The Passing of American Czechoslovaks,” The American Journal of

Sociology 39, no. 5 (March 1934): 616. 8 Prague News, 15 September 1904; See also Tower, “History of Prague,” 23-25.

9 Prague News, 1 December 1904.

116

issuance of saloon licenses. 10

Drinking was definitely big business in pre-statehood

Prague. 11

Another activity that emerged during this time was the smuggling of liquor into

Indian Territory where even the possession of alcohol was punishable by fine or

imprisonment. However, the legal prohibition did not deter some ingenious drovers and

ranchers. A common practice was to purchase the forbidden brew in Oklahoma

Territory, hide the alcohol (usually whiskey) inside their boots in nearly undetectable flat

containers, and then ride back into Indian Territory with the contraband completely out of

sight. 12

Even subsequent to statehood and the political decision that the new state of

Oklahoma would be totally “dry” the smuggling of liquor continued. The newspapers,

before the passage of the federal Volstead Act, occasionally contained colorful stories of

arrests of unlucky or inept wrongdoers such as the story in the Prague Record recounting

the arrest of a young man found with twenty-four quarts of liquor “hidden” on his person.

The account does not specify where the lawman discovered the illegal booze. One might

suspect the culprit concealed the two-dozen bottles of alcohol under a long heavy coat.

The only problem with this seemingly astute deduction is the arrest occurred during an

Oklahoma summer. 13

Another interesting account of the illegal alcohol trade revolves

around a young woman who lived near Prague. Apparently, she made a daily habit of

walking to a nearby stream carrying her baby in one arm and a bundle of baby‟s clothes

Prague News., 9 May 1907. 11

The Prague News listed the Ragsdale & Perkins Saloon as Prague‟s first saloon; See Prague

News, 28 September 1905. Other saloons mentioned in the newspapers during the pre-statehood period

include the Ramsdal Saloon, Hardy Saloon, First Chance Saloon, Phil‟s Place, Dorcey and Roberts Saloon,

Watts Saloon, and Hendrix Saloon. See Prague News, 5 January 1905; Prague Patriot, 25 May 1905;

Prague News, 29 November 1906; Prague News, 1 November 1906; Prague News, 19 January 1905;

Prague News, 31 May 1906; Prague News, 4 July 1907. 12

Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County, 198. 13

Prague Record, 6 June 1916; For another interesting account of the illegal liquor trade after

statehood see Prague Record, 14 September 1916.

117

in the other presumably to wash the clothes. The local Methodist minister noticed her

daily forays to the creek, became suspicious, and decided to follow her. To his

astonishment, when the young mother passed by a group of young men, she pulled

several whiskey bottles from under her bundle and handed them to the expectant men. 14

When the two territories combined to form the state of Oklahoma, Prague‟s

saloons were forced out of business – but not without a last hurrah. In a lengthy article

about the final Saturday night before the “dry” laws went into effect, the Prague News

reported that “Prague has had some rough Saturdays but the last one was about the

roughest yet. The drunks were a little drunker and the fights a little harder and oftener if

possible.” However, in the same edition the paper also reported that “the nine saloon

keepers of Prague promptly quit business Saturday night, thereby proving themselves to

be law abiding citizens.” 15

A few weeks later the weekly newspaper put an optimistic

spin on the loss of a large part of Prague‟s early economy by opining that “the empty

saloon buildings will soon all be full again.” 16

Besides Klabzuba‟s and Hrdy‟s saloons, many other Czechs participated in the

local economy. From the onset of Prague, Czechs contributed a good proportion of the

businesspeople in the new town. During the early years, Prague‟s Czechs owned or ran

more than a fourth of the businesses in town. 17

This involvement in the economic sector

continued throughout the second and third decades of the community. In addition, most

James Edward Klein, Grappling with Demon Rum: The Cultural Struggle over Liquor in Early

Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008), 136; Klein went into greater detail in his PhD

dissertation. See Klein, “A Social History of Prohibition in Oklahoma: 1900-1920” (Ph.D. diss., Oklahoma

State University, 2003), 257. 15

Prague News, 21 November 1907. 16

Prague News, 5 December 1907. 17

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 56; Russell Willford Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma: A

Comparative Study of the Stability of a Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County Oklahoma, and the Factors

Relating to its Stability,” Bulletin of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Stillwater, OK:

Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College) 39, no. 13 (June 1942): 99.

118

businesses retained a close relationship with the Czech farming community. Besides

working his fields, this relationship might revolve around a farmer also owning a store in

town or a member of the farming family working in town while still living at home. Or, a

specific business might heavily rely on the trade of Czech farmers to stay in operation. 18

Regardless, the communal peasant environment in which most first-generation

Czechs knew so well in Europe helped them adjust to their new surroundings. This

statement does not contradict Oscar Handlin‟s contention that “[t]he peasants found

nowhere an equivalent of the village” in the United States but rather expands his thesis. 19

Handlin argued that immigrant groups did not experience communal life as was the norm

in Europe. As already stated, the Czechs of Prague, did not live in a central European

enclave where most lived in the village and walked every morning to their fields and

pastures. Prague‟s farming Czechs lived on the peripheral areas of the town on their own

farm land. After the formation of Prague, some of these Czech farmers moved to town

while others remained on their farms with members of their family working at jobs within

the village. Still a few, like Frank Vlasak, owned farm land but also ran a business in

town. This is not equivalent to the European peasant experience in the strict sense.

However, one experience that did transfer from Europe to North America was the

communal mindset. This cooperative spirit melded the outlying farmers with the Czech

town dwellers as both worked to ensure the success of the other. Meanwhile,

organizations such as the fraternal orders and the church solidified these relationships.

Handlin also wrote that the Americanization process proved painful to most

immigrants. He asserts that the emptiness of the prairie farm led to loneliness and

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 100; See also Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 53. 19

Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that made the American

People (Boston: Little, Brown, 1951), 95.

119

market-oriented agriculture promised an agonizing adaptation to American life. 20

Generally speaking, this is unassailable as at the least change causes pain. Anyone

moving away from their home and extended family undergoes extreme apprehension.

This would be compounded further if moving to a faraway place where the language is

incomprehensible and your early efforts to learn the foreign tongue turn to frustration at

the myriad idioms and colloquialisms. However, unlike some ethnic groups such as the

Slovaks, Czechs arrived in the United States with every intention of making a new home.

They came with their families, intent on carving a niche in the new land not only for

themselves but for their descendents as well. No doubt many suffered anxiety and some

depression. Nevertheless, the support system provided by their family, friends, and

fellow Czechs helped most get through the tough times. Despite spending most of their

time working on their farms, they could look forward to coming into town for church

functions or a Saturday-night dance held at the Bohemian Hall or American Legion Hall.

Moreover, as Lynch portrays in his work, Czech farmers proved more successful than

their American-born counterparts in productivity and persistence on the land. They lived

in larger houses with well-kept yards and painted out-buildings. 21

Some of this success

must be attributed to their group-mindedness and cooperative spirit. 22

Other economic questions that need exploration include the impact of Prague‟s

Czechs on the overall economy of the farm town. Did the immigrants keep to

themselves; did they isolate themselves into a separate business community doing

business only with other members of their group? Were they excluded from the

Ibid., 94. 21

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 13. 22

Emily Balch also wrote about how Czech farmers helped each other more than their American

counterparts. See Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, 319-320.

120

economic mainstream by the larger society? Another question is how did the American

economic system affect the Prague Czechs? Did their European peasant background hurt

them as they tried to navigate a competitive market economy? Did their rural experience

mirror John Bodnar‟s statement concerning urban immigrants that “most would labor in

routine, difficult jobs throughout their careers as would the majority of their children?” 23

In other words, was economic opportunity greater for members of an ethnic group in a

farm town or in a large city? Finally, did the newcomers have separate classes within

their ethnic structure? Was there a successful group of Czech entrepreneurs and business

families who withdrew from their ethnic roots? Finally, did these immigrant

entrepreneurs serve as catalysts of amalgamation into American society? 24

The new territorial town boomed. Within a few weeks, after town lots went on

sale, Frank N. Newhouse (not a Czech), formerly of Kansas, moved to Prague and began

publishing a weekly newspaper, the Prague News. In August, 1902, the front page

contained the following:

Prague is but six weeks old, but she already has two banks, two

hotels, five or six restaurants, one drug store, two meat markets,

one furniture store, two hardware stores, one printing office, two

lumber yards, one blacksmith shop, one livery barn, six saloons,

one bakery, one tin shop, six stocks of general merchandise, three

doctors, one real estate firm, and two barber shops. 25

From the beginning, the Czech farming community got involved in the activities

of the new village. Some of the first townspeople included Czech families such as the

John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington, IN:

Indiana University Press, 1985), 183. 24

Some scholars believe immigrant entrepreneurs served as agents of acculturation. See Bodnar,

The Transplanted, 138. 25

Prague News, 28 August 1902. The first issue of the weekly Prague News appeared 24 July

1902. The paper was eight pages in length. Frank Newhouse, the publisher, was not Czech. Soon there

was a rival newspaper, the Prague Patriot.

121

Voborniks, Cervenys, Kratkys, Zaloudiks, Bendys, and Bartas. 26

The very first issue of

the Prague News ran advertisements for Frank Barta‟s General Store and Restaurant and

the Czech-owned Dobry Lumber Company. 27

Frank Vlasak, one of the original land-run

settlers, soon caught the business fever and opened up a grocery store also selling dry

goods. A few years later, his

son operated a garage repairing

the gasoline-powered automobiles

becoming ubiquitous on the dirt

streets of Prague. 28

In fact,

one of the first banks to open its

doors in the new town was the

Lincoln County Bank and the

directors, no doubt wanting

Czech business, chose Frank Vlasak as vice-president. 29

The Czech community actively participated in the economic realm of the new

town and the passage of time did not seem to slow down their excitement. Czechs,

whether original settlers or relative newcomers to the area, energetically joined the

business community. During the next three decades of the town‟s existence, Czechs

provided many products and services to the residents of Prague. Frank Svoboda opened a

blacksmithing operation, C.M Sadlo prospered as the town‟s tailor, while Mike Mitacek

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 34. 27

Prague News, 24 July 1902. As mentioned earlier, Frank Barta also built a hotel in the fall of

1902 (Barta Hotel). The hotel operated until 1961. Regarding the Dobry Lumber Company: The Czech

word “dobry” means “good” in English. 28

Prague News, 2 July 1915. Frank Vlasak called his business Vlasak‟s Cash Store. 29

Tower, “A General History,” 21-22.

122

The Busy Bee Café opened in 1912

by Frank and Josephine Kucera.

repaired and dyed worn out shoes at Mitacek‟s Boot and Shoe Repair Shop. 30

Frank

Lanik, a Czech farmer, opened a cotton gin on the outskirts of town, John Cerveny sold

real estate, and Frank Kucera earned a living feeding hungry customers at his Busy Bee

Café offering them the “best 25¢ meal in town.” 31

Other Czechs earned money through

advertising special services in the

newspapers. George Sadlo offered

violin lessons to the residents of

Prague, boasting that he had studied

under Gerald Mraz of the Musical

Art Institute of Oklahoma City who

himself had studied under Ottokar

Seveik of the Prague Conservatory

of Music in Prague, Bohemia. 32

addition, during the early 1920s George Sadlo and his wife Emily, taught music for

Prague‟s public schools. 33

Another Czech, George Eret, directed the first town band and

latecomer Jake Zabloudil cashiered at Prague‟s First State Bank during the Great War,

dabbled in the oil business, and served a stint in the state legislature. 34

The author could find no issues of the Prague News, Prague Patriot, or Prague Record that did

not include an advertisement by a Czech business from 1902 to 1930. 31

Prague Record, 1 June 1916. 32

Prague Record, 7 September 1916. 33

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 73. George Sadlo later moved to Cleveland, Oklahoma accepting

the position of high school band director. In 1928, the Cleveland High School band, under Sadlo‟s

direction, won Oklahoma‟s Class B State Championship. See Prague Record, 23 May 1928. 34

Prague Record, 29 June 1916, 1; See also Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County,

404-405.

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum.

123

Wagon traffic on Broadway,

Prague’s main street, ca 1909.

The first permanent building constructed in Prague was a bank. Within a few

years the town contained three financial institutions and although, as noted earlier, none

of the bank presidents were Czech, Frank Vlasak, one of the most respected of the Czech

citizens, served as vice-president

of Lincoln County Bank. 35

Vlasak, whose father played in

the Prague symphony in

Bohemia, also built a two-story

building in downtown Prague

which became home for several

economic enterprises. As the first

decade passed, the growing town

attracted businesses of all kinds,

many operated by members of

the Czech community.

These Czech merchants

and artisans were a part of the

larger business community that

besides numerous

native-born white merchants

also included people with

German, Irish, and Jewish

Tower, “A General History,” 21-22; Lincoln County Bank was later renamed Prague National

Bank.

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum.

C.M. Sadlo’s Tailor Shop

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum.

124

Frank Zajic’s Service Station

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum.

backgrounds. A quick perusal of the very first issue of the Prague News reveals

advertisements for non-Czech businesses operated by people with names like Crow,

Fowler, Bond, Ayers, Alexander, Taylor, and Berger. 36

By 1915, Prague contained

thirteen mercantile

establishments and

although the number

dropped slightly during

the 1920s, the town

continued to attract

enterprising merchants,

many of them not Czech.

The Leader, one of the

largest stores in the

growing town belonged to Morris Blumenthal, a Jewish merchant. 37

During the first

three decades of Prague, two other Jewish families operated retail stores. Sol White

operated a dry goods business until his retirement and Sam Kolodny, a Russian Jew,

managed the popular New York Bargain Store until relocating after nineteen years of

business in Prague to Wetumka in 1926. 38

One of the oldest firms in Prague was Emmet

O‟Kane‟s One Price Store, formed in 1903. O‟Kane, of Irish ancestry, proudly

Prague News, 24 July 1902. 37

Prague Record, 7 September 1916. 38

Prague Record, 1 June 1916. The listed newspaper edition is an example of White‟s and

Kolodny‟s advertisements. Both ran ads on a weekly basis. All three Jewish merchant claimed to be

Russian Jews. In 1920, Sol White was the oldest at 53 with Blumenthal next at 48 years of age and

Kolodny being the youngest at 35. See Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for

South Creek Township. For Kolodny‟s relocation to Wetumka see Prague Record, 10 February 1926.

125

advertised himself in the Prague News as “the redheaded feller.” 39

A member of the

German community, Nola Mertes, operated a millinery parlor and hat shop inside

O‟Kane‟s mercantile. 40

Another ethnic Irishman, Vern McKim, ran a livery business

while two fellow Irishmen managed one of the drug stores in Prague during the second

decade of the twentieth century. 41

Neither the first local dentist nor the postmaster was Czech and only one of the

doctors during the period investigated claimed Bohemian stock. In 1904, that Bohemian

doctor, John Z. Mraz, advertised himself as a physician and surgeon in the Prague News

with his office located at Biggs Drug Store. 42

Mraz practiced medicine in Prague until he

moved to Chicago in August 1905. 43

Another Czech ethnic, John Mastena, opened a

chiropractic clinic in the fall of 1920 and later in the decade, Frank Klabzuba returned to

Prague after attending Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and opened a dental

office. 44

Prague even had a town crier in its early days. William Woods, an ex-slave,

daily drove along the streets of Prague in a horse-drawn hack, ringing a bell, proclaiming

For an example of O‟Kane‟s advertisements, see Prague News, 17 September 1915. 40

Prague Record, 16 November 1916. Jacob Mertes, owner of Mertes Hardware, died in

November, 1916. The newspaper listed his place of birth as Obermehlen, Germany. He is also listed as

born in Germany on the census records. See Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census for South

Creek Township. 41

Prague Record, 9 June 1916. The proprietors of The Rexall Drug Store were listed in the

newspaper as “Brannigan and McDowell.” The 1910 census lists Clayton Brannigan as a druggist.

However, he was not listed on the 1920 census. There is no listing for anyone named McDowell on either

the 1910 or 1920 census. It is very plausible that McDowell arrived in Prague after the taking of the 1910

census and departed before the 1920 census. Furthermore, there are no advertisements in the newspaper for

Rexall Drug Store after 1919. The store apparently went out of business before 1920. See Census of

Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 42

Prague News 10 November 1904. 43

Prague News, 24 August 1905. Dr. Mraz moved his practice to an office in the Prague National

Bank building sometime in 1905. 44

Prague Record, 7 October 1920; For information on Frank Klabzuba‟s dental office, see Prague

Record, 31 August 1927.

126

the important news and upcoming events to pedestrians. When not employed shouting

the news, “uncle” William performed odd jobs for the local inhabitants. 45

William Woods was not the only black living in Prague. Although the African-

American population remained small throughout this period (see chapter three), the

blacks who migrated to Prague did not receive the same economic opportunities as other

residents, including the Czechs. Examining the decennial censuses from 1910 to 1930

reveals a similar result. While all African-American families listed their occupation as

“farmer” on the 1900 census, with the formation of Prague the status of newer arrivals

changed. While a few still claimed farming as their livelihood, black Americans in

Prague overwhelmingly worked as laborers. The specific jobs for African American men

listed on the various census manuscripts ranged from “odd jobs” to “cook” to “cotton

picker” with a few blacks claiming employment as “cake punchers” at the cotton oil mill.

On the 1920 census, one of Prague‟s blacks, Augustus Gray, claimed that he was self-

employed as a “scavenger.” Many African-American women also worked. Their job

descriptions varied from “cook” to “laundress” to “servant”. 46

Unlike members of the immigrant Czech population, no blacks served on the

board of a bank; no blacks owned a building in downtown Prague; no African-Americans

supervised a lumber company or operated a dry goods store. Instead, like most towns

and cities in America the white community, which controlled the overall economic

apparatus, relegated to the black residents of Prague only the most menial and low-paying

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 60. Woods took ill in 1916. The Prague Record ran a short

article about the beloved “uncle” William: “William Woods, one of our respected colored citizens, who has

been quite sick, was able to be out again, Monday.” See Prague Record, 22 June 1916. 46

See Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township;

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township; Census of

Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township; Census of Population: 1930,

Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

127

jobs. Perhaps this is another reason for the acceptance of the Czech community by the

native-born white population. Czechs, like the dominant native-born residents, were

Caucasian. Czechs were white.

While the Czech immigrants of Prague enjoyed a higher economic status than

blacks in the area, such was not the case in most northern cities. When the “new

immigration” began around 1880, most northern cities contained only small numbers of

African Americans. Thus, when the massive wave of southern and eastern European

newcomers crowded into the restricted confines of cities like Chicago, Cleveland, and

Detroit they placed enormous pressure on the infrastructure and services of the cities.

These low-paid factory workers usually sought apartments close to their work and ethnic

kinsmen. Entrepreneurs responded by building “dumbbell tenements” which housed

thousands of immigrants on a single city block. The areas of high immigrant

concentration soon degraded into unsanitary, crime-infested slums with the Italians,

Poles, Czechs, and other groups becoming the focus of ridicule and blame by many

native-born Americans. Nativists attacked the newcomers for their Popish faith, their

strange languages, and unfamiliar customs. Occupying the bottom rung of the social and

economic ladder, the immigrants became the whipping boy for any perceived societal

problems. Many Americans did not accept immigrants and saw them as a threat to the

American way of life. This was not the case in Prague. In the farm town of Prague,

Oklahoma, the bottom visage on the collective totem pole did not look Slavic; the face

was much darker.

Thus, the presence of an even more despised group in Prague resulted in an early

acceptance of the immigrant group. An immigrant group scorned by many in the North,

128

it appears the native-born white residents of Prague overlooked the Catholicism and

freethought tendencies of these central European émigrés, in part, because at least their

skin was white. With the given evidence it is impossible to state with complete certainty

that the existence of a small black community in Prague displaced ethnic persecution

prevalent in northern cities. Nevertheless, having another minority group (the blacks)

could only appreciate your value in the village. 47

Plentiful economic opportunities abounded in the early years of Prague, at least

for the white population. The territorial frontier town needed and welcomed anyone

willing to work and contribute to the town‟s success. People from different backgrounds

arrived in the small agricultural village for the chance to open their own business or work

for one of the successful business enterprises. Non-Czechs from states such as Missouri,

Kansas, Tennessee, and Illinois migrated to the farming community in hopes of reaping

economic success. Unlike some urban areas, Czechs found little discrimination or

harassment about their “strange” ways. Czechs from other states also found their way to

Lincoln County. While most of the original settlers came from the Midwestern states of

Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas, many later arrivals migrated from Texas. These

included a number of families proclaiming to be from the Czech province of Moravia

rather than Bohemia. Although Moravians and Bohemians spoke the same language and

both considered themselves Czech, there were a few differences primarily centered on

religion. Most Bohemians held to either the Catholic faith or claimed freethought as their

principal belief with a few drifting towards Presbyterianism. However, Protestant sects

For a provocative examination of why blacks fared worse than white immigrants, see Stanley

Lieberson‟s A Piece of the Pie: Blacks and White Immigrants Since 1880 (Berkeley, CA: University of

California Press, 1980). In the work, Lieberson agrees that blacks migrating north suffered more

discrimination than the previous immigrants from central, eastern and southern Europe. However, he

maintains that race was not the ultimate cause of why they economically did worse than white immigrants.

129

such as Methodism and later the Baptist church attracted many Moravians. According to

the 1900 census manuscripts of South Creek Township, only three Czech families listed

their last state of residence as Texas. 48

This actually shrunk to only two families on the

1910 census. 49

However, perusing the 1920 census shows that thirty-three families of

Czech stock recorded their previous residence as Texas with twenty of them claiming to

be Moravian. The 1920 census taker, unlike the two previous national counts,

differentiated between Moravians and Bohemians. Although Prague‟s Bohemian

families dominated with seventy-six, Moravians showed a strong minority with twenty-

eight families. 50

Nevertheless, the name “Bohemian” was already the accepted moniker

for Prague‟s Czechs among the non-Czech population. The non-Czech population of

Prague referred to all Czechs, whether from Bohemia or Moravia, as Bohemian. This

remains true even today. Nevertheless, regardless of which province Czechs claimed to

originate, many did well in their new environment. In fact, by the 1920s many were

relatively quite prosperous. 51

In the early days of Prague, Czech merchants, because of their shared language

and group identity, attracted many customers from their ethnic kinsmen. The collective

mindset of the group suggests that Czechs stuck together for the benefit of the whole.

Although impossible to prove, it appears logical to suggest that many Czechs carried on

business with other Czechs. Despite the census records claiming that by 1920 most

Czechs spoke English, some preferred to communicate in their native tongue. In 1920,

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 49

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census, Schedules for South Creek Township. 50

Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 51

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 51.

130

Wes Klabzuba, an auctioneer, advertised in the newspaper that he “cried in either English

or the Bohemian tongue.” 52

However, Prague‟s Czechs did not practice economic exclusivity; they eagerly

interacted with non-Czechs in the community. Czech farmers sold crops to Benjamin F.

Whitmore and had their cotton ginned at his mill. 53

The Prague Record reported that

Joseph Lanik (Czech) and Cliff Parks (non-Czech) traveled to Shawnee together on a

business trip. 54

Although it is not possible to determine which specific stores individual

shoppers, whether Czech or non-Czech, favored a glimpse at their hiring practices

suggests there was little or no prejudice. Moreover, the economic interaction began soon

after the construction of the town. For example, Frank Griffin tended bar at John

Zabloudil‟s saloon and John Pierson and M. J. Tarpey worked as barbers at Czech

immigrant, Joe Eret‟s barber shop in 1905. 55

The Prague News, proud of Eret‟s new

barber shop bragged about his operation:

As evidence of his faith in the future of Prague, Joe Eret has

invested more than two thousand dollars in a barber shop and its

equipment and now presides over one of the finest shops to be

found in Oklahoma. His shop has been furnished with all the latest

designs of furniture, consisting of three chairs, four elegant

mirrors, mug cases, wash basin, boot black‟s chair, etc. and in

addition to this he has added a bath room with two fine porcelain

tubs, hot and cold water supplies. A wind mill and tank furnishes

the water and a hot water tank keeps on a supply of hot water all

the time. . . . The people of Prague should show their appreciation

of his enterprise by turning him a liberal patronage. 56

Prague Record, 7 October 1920. 53

The Prague Record wrote that “J.F. Walenta sold a load of corn to B.F. Whitmore at 75 cents a

bushel.” The paper also reported that another Czech, Joe Piter, “sold a load of hay to B.F. Whitmore.” See

Prague Record, 10 August, 1916 and Prague Record, 7 September 1916. Whitmore‟s birthplace was

Missouri. In addition, both his parents were born in the United States. Whtimore‟s wife, Elizabeth, was

also born in America (Illinois). However, her father was a German immigrant. See Census of Population:

1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 54

Prague Record, 23 September 1920. 55

Prague News, 9 February 1905; 13 April 1905. 56

Ibid., 24 November 1904.

131

A Czech and non-Czech, Charles Vobornik and C.E. Kinsey, formed a

partnership and together operated the Broadway Meat Market for several years. 57

Several

Czechs erected buildings in Prague and accepted any businesses in the community as

tenants regardless of ethnicity. 58

This inclusive trend continued into the second decade of

the town. In 1915, Vern McKim, the Irish liveryman, took a job at William Vlasak‟s

garage. Happy to have the Irishman working for him, Vlasak proudly advertised

McKim‟s presence at his establishment and urged everyone to bring their malfunctioning

motor vehicle to Vlasak‟s shop for McKim to fix. 59

In addition, another of Vlasak‟s

employees was Carl Fiel, an ethnic German. 60

Julius Bontty, a Czech farmer, advertised

“for help to bale 200 acres of prairie hay.” 61

Bontty did not specify in the advertisement

that he only wished to hire Czech hands. He probably wanted any strong young men to

aid him in the tough, hot job of baling hay.

Wes Klabzuba, shared calling duties with another Czech, A. J. Balaun and two

non-Czechs, William Alexander and H.E. Bevers. The four men advertised together on a

weekly basis in the newspapers before World War I. 62

During the 1920s, Wes Klabzuba

joined another non-Czech named Ogburn, to form an auctioneering business. Later in the

decade Klabzuba again formed an auctioneering partnership with another non-Czech

named Barrett. Klabzuba and his partners throughout the 1920s advertised their services

Ibid., 21 November 1907. 58

Example of non-Czechs operating businesses on Czech-owned property include: E. E. Long ran

a candy store inside the Klabzuba building; Frank Tugwell worked at Hatcher & Co.‟s drug store located in

the Cerveny building on Broadway Avenue; Henry Cheek operated a restaurant in the Vlasak building on

the corner of Main and Broadway. See Prague News, 26 December 1907, 2 January 1908, 29 August 1907. 59

Prague News, 30 July 1915. 60

Ibid., 2 July 1915. 61

Prague Record, 20 July 1916. 62

For an example of the auctioneers‟ advertisement see Prague Record, 29 June 1916.

132

practically every week in the local paper. 63

Furthermore, non-Czech business

establishments hired Czechs when they needed help or even to oversee their business.

The Amsden Lumber Company employed P.J. Bartosh, a Czech, to run its operations and

a young Czech woman, Henrietta Sosenko, worked as a saleslady at the New York

Bargain Store for the Russian Jew, Sam Kolodny. Kolodny also employed Eva Shumate

who was neither Jewish nor Czech. 64

Frank Vlasak‟s vice-presidency of Lincoln County

Bank shows that many native-born businesspeople in the Prague area concerned

themselves more with earnings and permanence than with nativist emotions prevalent

throughout much of America during this period.

With the discovery of oil in 1915 in nearby Paden, a minor oil boom came to

Prague. 65

The tiny village of Paden sat nine miles east of Prague with the larger town

benefiting through increased economic activity. People visited Prague to purchase

luxuries in addition to staples causing a brisk business and an increase in the number of

mercantile firms and restaurants. The discovery of oil deposits on farmland in the

vicinity of Prague continued into the 1920s. Unfortunately, the explorers never found

any oil in the immediate environs of the town. However, oil was discovered on Morris

Blumenthal‟s Leader Ranch directly outside of Prague. Blumenthal, a Jewish immigrant

from Russia, also owned the Leader General Store in downtown Prague. The oil booms

brought added prosperity to the town and caused people to pay close attention to the price

of oil. In August 1915, the Prague News rejoiced that “the price of oil stood at sixty

For example, see Prague Record, 6 January 1926; See also Prague Record, 13 January 1926.

The advertisements do not mention Barrett‟s first name. There is a Barrett listed in the census with the first

name of David. However, in 1920 his age was listed as 75 and he does not show up in the 1930 census.

David Barrett may well have been Wes Klabzuba‟s auctioneering partner. But it is impossible to state this

conclusively because by 1926 David Barrett would have been around 81 years of age. 64

Prague Record, 27 July 1917. 65

Tower, “A General History,” 28.

133

cents a barrel, an increase of twenty cents in only ten days.” 66

The discovery of oil in the

Prague area occurred only a couple of years after Henry Ford‟s perfection of the

assembly line in automobile production. Car dealerships opened in the bustling town and

with the increase in automobile traffic came the call to improve the town‟s and county‟s

roads. 67

“Wish we had a good dirt road from Prague to Chandler. The shape of the road

is in now is a fright,” lamented the Prague Record. 68

The call did not go unheeded.

Quickly, the citizens of Prague mobilized, forming the Good Roads Boosters. The next

two years witnessed caravans of cars traveling throughout the county “boosting” for

everyone to urge their state representatives to build wider and smoother roads. 69

One such booster trip ended disastrously when in August 1916, a group of Prague

boosters set out in five cars to travel the county rallying the people to support their cause

of building better roads. The group was ethnically diverse, including at least two Czechs,

Van Sojka and Henry Prykrill, who agreed to drive. While crossing a bridge near

Davenport, the expanse collapsed plunging Prykrill‟s vehicle twenty-five feet into the

shallow creek below. Miraculously, all the passengers except the driver received only

minor cuts and abrasions. Prykrill, knocked unconscious for several minutes, broke his

nose, injured his back, and cut his face. 70

Luckily, the incident killed no one and only

temporarily set back the Good Roads Boosters and their quest for easier travel. If

anything the accident strengthened their argument for the county to improve the roads.

Prague News, 13 August 1915. 67

For examples of the call for better roads see Prague News, 15 July 1915; 6 August 1915. 68

Prague Record, 27 July 1916. 69

Prague Record, 31 August 1916. 70

Prague Record, 31 August 1916.

134

Both the town and county roads did undergo improvements including the paving of

Prague‟s Main Street in 1926. 71

Prague‟s merchants answered the call for more automobiles. The Jones brothers

began selling Buicks in 1915 followed by F.S. Irvine and his Maxwell cars. Irvine sold

his Maxwells for only $695 attracting many who did not wish to pay the $950 to $1485

asked by the Joneses for their Buicks. 72

Not to be outdone, Preston G. Rawdon opened

the Prague Garage in 1916. 73

Rawdon sold the even cheaper Fords to cash-strapped

farmers and townspeople or anyone looking for inexpensive transportation. One Czech

who got into the auto industry was Charles Klabzuba, son of the aforementioned saloon

keeper. In 1927 Klabzuba resigned as cashier of the First National Bank and started his

own business, the Reliable Chevrolet Company, selling and repairing Henry Ford‟s

primary competition. 74

Despite the oil boom, cotton and the railroad formed the basis of Prague‟s

economy until the late 1920s. In 1900, Lincoln County grew more cotton than any other

county in Oklahoma Territory and by 1910, led the entire state in cotton acreage. 75

October 1904, the Prague News proudly proclaimed from the front page of the weekly

newspaper that “200 bales of cotton sold in Prague on this day [4 October].” 76

The

advent of World War I spurred even more cotton activity. Although a major hail storm

damaged many farmers‟ crops in 1916, the newspaper, only a few months later, wrote of

the large war profits made by farmers not only around Prague but throughout the United

Tower, “A General History,” 51; See also Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 45. 72

Prague News, 16 July 1915; See also Prague News, 6 August 1915. 73

Prague Record, 8 June 1916. 74

Prague Record, 20 July 1927; See also Prague Record, 17 August 1927. 75

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 94; Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 7. 76

Prague News, 6 October 1904.

135

States. 77

Despite the overall success of producing and selling cotton, several farmers sold

their farms during these years. Most appeared to be non-Czechs selling their holdings,

but the newspapers also included Czechs selling their farms. Frank Vlasak was one of

these. Vlasak sold his farm land during the winter of 1916 and thereafter focused on his

economic ventures in the town. 78

However, cotton production took a giant hit in 1928

when boll weevils almost completely destroyed Prague‟s cotton farming region.

Thereafter, farmers looked to other commodities, especially livestock and growing hay

for feed. 79

The first train passed through Prague on July 4, 1903. The townspeople, now

numbering over six hundred, celebrated the train‟s arrival with a parade, barbecue, and

baseball game. Benjamin Franklin Whitmore, local mill owner and mayor, gave a

grandiose speech about the rosy future of the growing town. 80

Excitement over the

prospects of the town expanded exponentially. Some envisioned a town that could one

day rival nearby Chandler or even Shawnee in size and prosperity. Throughout the

railroad era of Prague, six trains normally stopped daily, three heading east and three

heading west. 81

During the next thirty-six years the Ft. Smith and Western provided

transportation for crops and passengers. The railroad proved important to the fledgling

For information on the hail storm see Prague Record, 22 June 1916; War profits article

appeared in Prague Record, 11 January 1917. 78

Prague Record, 7 December 1916. Vlasak sold his farm holdings to C.A. Gripe and A.C.

Sahm; neither were Czech. 79

Tower, “A General History,” 18. 80

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma, 98; See also Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., 100. 81

Prague Record, 1 June 1916.

136

community and helped Prague become the hub of economic activity for many farmers in

southeastern Lincoln County. 82

Of course, not all Czech immigrants and ethnics succeeded economically. In the

United States‟s competitive market economy Czech enterprises, like non-Czech ventures,

failed and went out of business on a regular basis. Others closed for more personal

reasons such as Vlasak‟s Cash Store, which closed upon the Prague pioneer‟s untimely

death due to asphyxiation at his home in 1929. 83

The introduction of automobiles and

tractors ultimately ended Frank Sekera‟s dream of establishing a harness shop and Jake

Zabloudil, despite serving in the state legislature and in 1916, becoming president of the

First State Bank, left Prague discouraged and divorced and moved to Texas. 84

Nevertheless, many Czechs thrived in the bustling small-town economy to the point of

being considered by some as excessively materialistic in their outlook. 85

Many Czechs in Prague quickly succeeded in rising higher than most of their

urban counterparts who struggled in routine, difficult jobs year after year. 86

John Bodnar

argued that “most [urban] immigrant businessmen lacked access to large amounts of

capital” and thus remained small serving only a neighborhood clientele. 87

This may very

well be true concerning America‟s urban immigrant population as a whole. As early as

the 1880s, observers of the Czech urban population noticed that many succeeded quite

Due to financial difficulties during the Great Depression, the Ft. Smith and Western Railroad

Company abandoned their Prague coaling station on 7 August 1939. See Lynch, “Czech Farmers in

Oklahoma,” 98. 83

Prague Record, 12 September 1929. 84

Prague Record, 1 June 1916; Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County: Oklahoma

History, 404-405. Although Zabloudil left Prague for Abilene, Texas he continued to keep abreast of his

adopted town via the newspapers. In 1926, the Prague Record listed their subscribers which included

Abilene‟s Jake Zabloudil. See Prague Record, 14 April 1926. 85

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 60. 86

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 183. 87

Ibid., 133.

137

well. In a long article published in the Chicago Tribune in 1886, a reporter who spent

three days wandering around in the Bohemian district of the windy city wrote: “It is a

mistake to think that the Bohemians are only common laborers and wood-shovers. They

are blacksmiths, watchmakers, and wood-turners . . . and they are all steady, sober, active

men.” 88

The reporter went on to say that “many of them are excellent cabinet makers and

upholsterers” and described the entire group as prosperous. 89

Although, the reporter‟s

conclusion was a general statement there were, with little doubt, also failures, slackers,

and even criminals among the Czech population of Chicago.

Likewise in rural communities like Milligan and Wilbur, Nebraska, where Czechs

numerically dominated to the point of ethnic exclusivity, the group thrived. 90

Despite

arriving comparatively poor and with few skills other than farming, some realized the

opportunity for success in the economic realm and became retail store keepers supplying

their ethnic kin with the goods they needed. 91

After only a few years, the town of

Milligan included a doctor, dentist, hotel owner, and several school teachers of Czech

ethnicity. 92

As in Prague, the immigrant populations of Milligan and Wilbur, Nebraska,

enjoyed spirits and recreation prompting some Czechs to operate saloons and dance

halls. 93

It appears that regardless of where Czechs settled, they generally succeeded in

rising above the poverty level with many enjoying the fruits of the American economic

Paul M. Nemecek, Historical and Cultural Essays on Czechs in America, (n.p.: 2005), 41-42.

Most Czechs lived in the southwestern part of Chicago. 89

Ibid., 38-40. 90

Rose Rosicky, A History of Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska (Omaha: Czech Historical Society

of Nebraska, 1929), 84, 119. 91

Robert Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-Village: A Study of Social Persistence and Change

(New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1933, reprint edition, 1970), 18; See also Rosicky,

Czechs in Nebraska, 54. 92

Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-Village, 18; See Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 121. 93

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 60, 89.

138

system. Two reasons emerge as primary explanations for the success of so many Czechs

wherever they lived, that being their cooperative mindset and their western outlook. As

documented in chapter two, the United States Immigration Commission created in 1907

also noticed the Czechs‟ peculiar success, especially compared with other Slavic groups

such as Slovaks and Poles. The Commission explained it this way: “Czechs were

thoroughly imbued with the progressive spirit of the West.” 94

Again, German-speaking

lands, such as the Holy Roman Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire both

centered in Austria, dominated Bohemia for centuries endowed the Czechs with, if not an

appreciation of, at least a familiarity with western European ways and customs. This

obviously helped them adjust and prosper in their new homeland.

Nevertheless, there remain differences in the Czech communities. This especially

holds true when comparing rural to urban. In Bodnar‟s immigrant synthesis, he states

that “in reality two immigrant Americas existed. One consisted largely of workers with

menial jobs. The other, a smaller component, held essentially positions which pursued

personal gain and leadership. Immigrants did not enter a common mass called America

but adapted to two separate but related worlds which might be termed broadly working

class and middle class.” 95

Writing specifically about immigrants from Czechoslovakia,

Joseph Roucek argued that, for the most part, the successful newcomers learned the

English language and a profession and got “lost within the American inundation and very

seldom associate with the rest of the Czechoslovaks of lesser importance. They pride

themselves on their „Americanism‟ and assiduously avoid social contact with the

Joseph Chada, The Czechs in the United States (Chicago: Czechoslovak Society of Art and

Sciences, 1981), 37. 95

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 208.

139

immigrants on the other side of the social fence.” 96

Generally speaking, this did not hold

true in the farm town of Prague, Oklahoma, especially with first-generation Czechs.

There were, to be sure, Czechs who left the city for better economic opportunities such as

Gerald Mraz. Mraz relocated to the much larger town of Oklahoma City to attract more

students for his music school. Nonetheless, he apparently maintained contact with his

friends in Prague and loved the small farming community because upon the death of his

wife he requested her burial be in Prague and practically the entire town turned out for

her funeral. Another successful Prague Czech who left was Jake Zabloudil. After

serving in Oklahoma‟s House of Representatives, Zabloudil went through a divorce and

abruptly left town for Texas. 97

Perusing the membership rolls of the Western Czech Brotherhood, Prague‟s

primary Czech fraternal association, shows that their numbers included farmers, tailors,

blacksmiths, and businessmen. Some of them such as Frank Vlasak and Joe Hrdy, who

built one of the early brick buildings in Prague and operated the C.O.D. Meat Market,

gained much success and acceptance by the larger community and, relatively speaking,

were quite wealthy. While others, such as the farmer Joseph Rubac or Frank Sekera,

acquired less wealth but were content with growing cotton or operating a harness shop

and raising their children in the usually peaceful farming village. 98

An important distinction between the urban cities described by Bodnar and the

small town of Prague is the wealth ceiling. The opportunities to acquire extraordinary

financial gain in a city such as Chicago or New York dwarfed the prospects of a rural

Roucek, “The Passing of American Czechoslovaks,” 617. 97

Prague Record, 1 June 1916; Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County: Oklahoma

History, 404-405. 98

Bohemian Hall, Membership Rolls, Central Book.

140

community like Prague. Quite simply, the economic ceiling was not as high in Prague,

Oklahoma as in New York, Chicago, or even Omaha. This meant that the economic

divide was not as wide among the residents of Prague whether they were Czech or not.

With the exception of the Blumenthal family on whose land petroleum explorers found

oil, most of the “wealthy” residents of Prague would have been considered middle class

at best if they had been living in Chicago, New York, or St. Louis. This resulted in a

stronger feeling of community among the residents of the farm town. There was not an

exclusive suburb for successful Czechs to escape their fellow countrymen. There were

no private country clubs where the wealthy elite gathered to avoid the masses. In fact,

there were no country clubs at all. There is simply no evidence that successful Czechs

segregated themselves from the others.

Instead, both Czechs and non-Czechs, because of their geographical situation,

learned that if their community was to be successful they had to get along. It was the

diverse population incorporated into such a small town that forced quick acculturation

and amalgamation onto the Czech population. If a Czech blacksmith, barber, tailor, or

grocer wished to succeed he simply had to attract at least some non-Czechs to his

business. Likewise, with the native-born or non-Czech ethnic business enterprises, they

too needed Czech customers to survive economically. This is not to suggest that

everything was harmonious or that Prague was an economic utopia. It was not.

Businesses failed, people moved, the black population suffered hardship and lacked

economic opportunities afforded others, and during World War I ethnic tensions rose

between the Czechs and Germans of Prague. Nor is this to suggest that Czechs gave up

being Czechs and forsook their European culture. As will be seen in the next chapter,

141

they did everything they could to maintain their language, customs, and shared history.

They battled to inculcate into their young their ethnic identity, the internal uniqueness of

being Czech.

142

CHAPTER 6

CULTURAL LIFE: CZECH FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS

Fifty-seven year old Oswald Blumel did not notice the tiredness that enveloped

his body. He paid no attention to his need for sleep, his need for rest after such a long

journey. He was much too excited. After almost a year of planning and raising money

for the 1920 trip, Prague‟s Sokol gymnasts at last arrived in Prague – Prague, Bohemia.

Their expressed purpose was to take part in a gymnastic exhibition featuring Czech

Sokols from all over the United States and Czechoslovakia. However, a bigger reason for

the trip was to visit relatives and see and experience the new independent nation of

Czechoslovakia. 1

Less than two years had transpired since the end of the massive bloodletting of the

Great War. After leaving Chicago, the small group of Czech athletes arrived in France

on May 23, 1920 and spent a few days in Paris. From France, Prague‟s Sokol made their

way to Austria and the former capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna.

Although most in the party had never seen Vienna, both young and old identified the city

as the center of Czech persecution. During the war, newspaper articles and speeches

depicted the shameful wickedness of the Habsburg regime in the most unflattering terms

1 Upon returning to Prague, Blumel wrote a detailed article about the European trip for the Prague

Record. See Prague Record, 16 September 1920.

143

However, after visiting the capital of the empire even the most virulent Habsburg critic

had to admit to the beauty of the city. The Austrians further disarmed the Czech group

by showing them nothing but kindness. From Vienna, the small band of Oklahomans

traveled through the southeastern part of Germany, through the Bavarian Forest, and

crossed the international border into Czechoslovakia. At first, some of the people they

met spoke German. But as they continued on towards the capital of the new nation,

Czech became the dominant tongue. 2

Prague was as beautiful as Blumel remembered. Despite not being in Bohemia

for over twenty-five years, memories of his childhood and early adulthood flooded the

older man‟s mind. Nevertheless, Blumel still believed he made the right decision in

leaving. He managed his own hardware business in the Oklahoma farm town and lived in

a comfortable house which he owned. Although his three children had all been born in

the United States, he and his immigrant wife, Emelia, made sure their kids learned the

Czech culture through the Sokol and Bohemian Hall and both agreed that the costly trip

was important and worthwhile. 3

The gymnastic exhibition, although exciting and fun, proved only a small part of

the trip. The Oklahoma Czechs, like all traveling American groups, were treated like

royalty by their hosts. They ate well and the gymnastic schedule allowed the group

ample time to explore the city of their forefathers at their leisure. Blumel took time to

visit his childhood home and re-meet friends and relatives he had not seen in decades and

likely would never see again. The entire trip was exhilarating to everyone, especially the

2 Ibid.

3 For details concerning Blumel‟s family, occupation, and home ownership see Census of

Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. Blumel was also a member

of The Western Czech Brotherhood Association. See Bohemian Hall, Membership Rolls, Central Book.

144

older chaperones like Oswald Blumel. When, at last, the day of leaving dawned it was

with bittersweet emotions that the Czech expatriate hugged and shook hands a final time

with the memories of his former life. 4

Oswald Blumel, like many Czechs in Prague, continued to love the country of his

past. Despite realizing their families were better off economically in the United States,

they never wanted to forget their heritage, their sense of who they were. So, for this

reason, Czechs throughout the United States held fast to their European ways and

earnestly tried to pass their Bohemian uniqueness to their descendants. Although with

time and new generations of children born and bred in the United States, their attempts to

safeguard specific traditions, especially the Czech language, quietly fell by the wayside.

However, despite failure in the grand attempt to create a Czech enclave in the midst of a

foreign society, the Czechs in Prague, Oklahoma succeeded in inculcating for many

descendents a permanent Czech identity. Furthermore, the matrix of this lasting group

identity emerged during the early decades of settlement and arose from the group‟s

persistent efforts to preserve their distinctiveness in a torrent of change.

In 1915, the Prague News published a directory of local lodges. The list included

the Masonic Lodge, Knights of Pythius, ODD Fellows, Z.C.B.J. (Zapadni Cesko-

Bratrsky Jednota or Western Czech Brotherhood Association), Modern Woodmen of

America, and Woodmen of the World. 5 Although every lodge included Czechs, the lodge

that attracted the most Czechs was the Western Czech Fraternal Association (Z.C.B.J.).

4 Prague Record, 16 September 1920.

5 Prague News, 27 July 1915.

145

Despite the fact that the Z.C.B.J. lodge stood at the apex of Bohemian social life,

the Czech community‟s original fraternal association was the Bohemian Slavonian

Benevolent Society (Cesko-Slovansky Podporujici Spojek) with its headquarters in St.

Louis. The Missouri Czechs established the Bohemian Slavonian Benevolent Society in

1854 long before the advent of the “new” immigration. The St. Louis society was

America‟s oldest and largest Czech fraternal association in the United States and

provided help, both financially and psychologically, for many Czech families throughout

the country. 6 A year after the 1891 land run, five Czechs living in the Dent area of

Lincoln County formed Lodge 214 of the Bohemian Slavonian Benevolent Society to

encourage fellowship and cooperation and to provide aid and life insurance for the

immigrant farming community. The charter members, Frank Vlasak, Jan Sefcik, Jan

Vobornik, Jiri Walla, and Vaclav Ladra, did not erect a permanent meeting place but met

in private homes on a regular basis. The lodge meetings and social gatherings provided a

refuge for the newcomers from the intense labor and emotional struggle of creating

functioning farms and finding their niche in a strange land. 7

However, in 1896 a schism developed within the national association between the

eastern and western lodges. The eastern lodges, containing an older membership,

received an inordinate amount of the benefits being paid out due to their aged members. 8

In addition, the Bohemian Slavonian Benevolent Society did not admit women to their

6 Thomas Capek, The Cechs (Bohemians) in America: A Study of their National, Cultural,

Political, Social, Economic, and Religious Life (New York: Arno Press, 1920; repr., 1969), 258. 7 Russell Willford Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma: A Comparative Study of the Stability of

a Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County Oklahoma, and the Factors Relating to its Stability,” Bulletin of

Oklahoma Agricultura and Mechanical College (Stillwater, OK: Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical

College) 39, no. 13 (June 1942): 95; Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., Prague (Kolache-Ville)

Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper Printing, Inc., 1978), 134-135. 8 Rose Rosicky lists the death benefit as $250. See Rose Rosicky, A History of Czechs

(Bohemians) in Nebraska Omaha: Czech Historical Society of Nebraska, 1929), 357.

146

ranks; it was a men‟s only club. 9 Chafing at the rising monthly dues charged by the

national headquarters in St. Louis and the desire to allow women to join, several western

lodges seceded from the parent organization and established their own association in

1897 with headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. 10

This new group chose the name Western

Bohemian Fraternal Association (Zapadni Cesko-Bratrska Jednota or Z.C.B.J.). The

Czech farmers living in the southeastern corner of Lincoln County, Oklahoma joined this

secession establishing a charter lodge in the new organization – Lodge 46. When Prague

incorporated five years later, the Z.C.B.J. Lodge moved from the rural community of

Dent to the new, larger town. In 1901, while still meeting in Dent, the lodge contained

fifty-three members, including sixteen women. By the end of 1902, membership in the

lodge grew to seventy-three and the number of women members jumped to twenty-six –

over a third of the total. 11

Unlike many early twentieth century associations, both ethnic

and native, the Z.C.B.J. lodge welcomed female members on an equal basis as men and

many Czech women eagerly joined their husbands as members. 12

Prague‟s Bohemian

Hall was a community lodge in which family participation was the norm. Not only could

husband and wife join, but their children attended most functions as well. Moreover, as

Czechs married non-Czechs the lodge also welcomed their spouses. 13

Once relocated to Prague, members continued meeting in homes and sometimes at

the local schoolhouse. As the lodge grew, members agreed that they needed a permanent

structure. John Barta, a Catholic and not affiliated with the Z.C.B.J., offered to give the

9 Ibid., 356-357.

10 Bruce M. Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers on the Great Plains, 1871-1914,” in Ethnicity

on the Great Plains, ed. Frederick C. Luebke (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1980), 160. 11

Western Czech Brotherhood Association (Zapadni Ceske Bratrska Jednota), Bohemian Hall,

Membership Rolls; Central Book (Hlavni Kniha), Lodge 46, Prague, Oklahoma. 12

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 357. 13

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 94. See also Bohemian Hall, Central Book,

Membership List.

147

lodge an acre of land. 14

In return for his munificence, Barta received free admission to all

lodge dances, plays, lectures, or any program held at the Bohemian Hall for the rest of his

life. Finally in 1917, after myriad fund raisers and donated labor by many members, a

permanent two-story building south of the Catholic Church was completed. In the

dedication ceremony, lodge members christened the red-brick structure Bohemian Hall.

The Hall became a focal point in the lives of many Prague Czechs sponsoring all sorts of

events including dances, plays, coming-out parties, and special lectures. 15

In addition to

activities, membership in the lodge included a life insurance policy for husband and wife

as well as financial help when a member became ill or injured. The national organization

in Omaha published a handbook for all its lodges and in addition to death benefits, the

handbook states that lodges are established:

To unite its members fraternally and to furnish them with an

opportunity for mutual education and advancement, and to furnish

opportunity for relief and aid in event of their sickness, disability

or distress.

To arrange educational lectures and debates, to support Czech-

American national understandings, especially schools and Sokol

organizations, to establish and maintain Czech libraries, and to

cultivate the mother tongue and culture in general among its

members. 16

The Western Czech Brotherhood Association (Z.C.B.J.) came out of an

John Barta is found nowhere on the membership lists of Lodge 46. In addition Barta is not

buried in the Czech National Cemetery. John Barta is buried in the City Cemetery. 15

The Prague Patriot, Prague News, and later the Prague Record seldom published an issue

without a short article or advertisement on the next event to be held at the Z.C.B.J. Lodge (Bohemian Hall).

Lynch and Brown both discuss the importance of the Bohemian Hall to the Czech community. See Lynch,

96; Brown, 135-136. 16

Z.C.B.J. Handbook, 1939. Quoted in Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 95.

148

intellectual movement known as freethought. As discussed in chapter four, many Czech

immigrants left the Catholic Church soon after arriving in the United States. These

Catholic apostates provided

the backbone of the early

fraternal movement and used

their Bohemian Halls the way

most believers used their

church. Prague‟s Catholics

rarely joined the Z.C.B.J.,

preferring to participate in

parish activities. 17

Thus, it is

interesting that John Barta

provided the land for the

erection of a permanent

building for the non-religious fraternal association because the origins of the American

Czech fraternal movement contained deep roots in freethought, with many freethinkers

openly expressing anti-clerical and anti-Catholic beliefs. Apparently this anti-Catholicism

did not extend to the farming community of Prague or at least John Barta separated his

religious beliefs from helping his ethnic kinsmen.

Another popular organization of Prague‟s Czechs was the Sokol Gymnastic

Society (Telocvicna Jednota Sokol). 18

This gymnastic club, originally the brainchild of

William Earl Martin, “Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak in Oklahoma City: A Study

of Culture Contrasts” (M.A. Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1935), 137; see also Lynch, “Czech Farmers

in Oklahoma,” 97. 18

Sokol means falcon in Czech.

149

Miroslav Tyrs and based on similar German organizations, was formed in Prague,

Bohemia in 1862 as part of a cultural revolt against Austrian domination. 19

The purpose

of the initial society was to train Czech young people (both male and female) physically,

but also, and just as important, to inculcate them with Czech pride and nationalism.

Many Czechs worried that the German language and culture of the Austrian Empire

would, over time, extinguish the native language, traditions, and historical pride of the

Czech people. The Sokols were a reaction to this fear and the athletic clubs proved a

huge success with the population, especially amongst teenagers. Within a few short years

practically every village in Bohemia and Moravia of moderate size or larger sported a

gymnastic association. Apparently, Sokols succeeded in their mission of instilling

nationalistic feelings in Czechs because during World War I, the Austrian government

dissolved all Sokols declaring them treasonous to the Empire. 20

The Sokol clubs quickly crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The St. Louis Czechs

established the first Sokol in the United States in 1865 and the gymnastic order came to

Prague in 1906. 21

Although the various fraternal lodges stressed the maintenance of

ethnic identity and culture, Sokols were especially assertive in their quest to instill Czech

traditions among the young. 22

Like the Western Czech Brotherhood and other fraternal

orders, American Sokols soon became freethought in their outlook. Although physical

training, language maintenance, and cultural retention were the primary goals, Sokols

Chicago formed the second Sokol in 1866 with New York City forming their own club the

following year. Vera Laska, ed. The Czechs in America, 1633-1977: A Chronology and Fact Book (Dobbs

Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1978), 86. 20

The Czech national Alliance in Great Britain, Austrian Terrorism in Bohemia (London: The

Czech National Alliance in Great Britain, n.d.), 28-29. 21

Prague News, 5 April 1906; See also Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 96; and Karel

Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980), 44. 22

Joseph Chada, The Czechs in the United States (Chicago: Czechoslovak Society of Art and

Sciences, 1981), 145.

150

also attracted many religious and political liberals, some harboring radical beliefs and

opinions. 23

Joseph Chada in his discussion of the gymnastic organization asserts that

Sokols were the conduits that spread progressive ideas to the rural areas of the United

States. 24

Some Sokol clubs, evincing a decidedly progressive stance, even wore red as

their primary uniform color to signify their socialist viewpoint. Other clubs commonly

referred to these groups as “Red Sokols.” However, the more mainstream clubs that

strictly focused on athletics and Czech culture wore the traditional white tops and deep

blue bottoms. 25

Prague‟s Sokol fell into the traditional category. When competing,

Prague‟s gymnasts wore the white and blue of the original organization, not the political

red of the radicals. 26

This is not to say there were no socialists among the Czech

population. Progressive thought and socialism held a strong attraction for many

Oklahoma farmers during the early decades of the twentieth century regardless of their

ethnicity. Prague would have been quite the anomaly among Oklahoma farm towns if

progressive ideas and socialist theory were not political topics discussed while waiting

for a haircut at one of the local barbershops or on a family‟s front porch where neighbors

gathered in the cool of an early evening after a hard day‟s work to share a cool drink and

visit about the coming weather, swap family and town gossip, and solve the problems of

the world. When Frank Vlasak, a charter member of Prague‟s Z.C.B.J., died in 1929 of

accidental asphyxiation, the Prague Record included in the obituary the fact that he

Ernest Zizka, Czech Cultural Contributions (Chicago: Benedictine Abbey Press, 1942), 72. 24

Chada, Czechs in the United States, 88-89. 25

Joseph Roucek, “The Passing of American Czechoslovaks,” The American Journal of

Sociology,” 39, no. 5 (March 1934): 623. 26

The Prague Historical Museum contains photographs of early twentieth- century Sokol

uniforms. In addition, Mary Anne Pritchett, daughter of Sokol member Frank Sefcik, still has her father‟s

navy blue and white uniform.

151

Sokol Hall, Prague, Oklahoma, ca 1907

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum

proclaimed himself a “progressive.” 27

Vlasak, whose mother appears to have been a

Catholic, was not a member of any church. His family held his funeral at the Bohemian

Hall and he is buried in the Czech National Cemetery instead of the City or Catholic

cemeteries. 28

Prague‟s Czechs established a Sokol on the first day of April 1906 amid much

fanfare from not only

the immigrant

community but also

from the town at

large. 29

The thirty

charter members

purchased the Prague

Produce Market and

began teaching

gymnastics on Sunday

afternoons and courses

in the Czech language and traditional dance during the week. 30

The Sokol proved

extremely popular the first twenty years of its existence, traveling to Ft. Worth, Texas for

regional competition, Chicago for National Sokol contests, and once even sailing across

Prague Record, 12 September 1929. 28

The Catholic Bible of Frank Vlasak‟s mother is on display at the Prague Historical Museum.

See Appendix B. 29

Prague News, 5 April 1906. 30

Ibid.; Prague News, 12 April 1906.

152

Source: Courtesy of Prague

Historical Museum

the Atlantic Ocean to show off their gymnastic skills to their European kinsmen. 31

The

Sokol and Z.C.B.J. organizations helped both

young and old. They

provided athletics and social intercourse for

Czechs whether living in town or on a farm.

Prague‟s Sokol concentrated on gymnastic

events. However, occasionally the hall held

other athletic events such as in 1929 when they

held a wrestling match and invited the entire

town. 32

In addition, the fraternal associations

buttressed the minority ethnic community psychologically and enabled their members to

confront and adjust to the larger,

dominant society with success. In

his study of Oklahoma‟s Czech

farmers, Russell Lynch concluded

that “Czech children due to the

Z.C.B.J. and Sokol were better

rounded [educationally] than

those of the native American

farm youth.” 33

Prague Record, 16 September 1920. The group visited Paris, Vienna, Prague, and several

towns in Germany. The Prague Sokol visited Oklahoma City and Ft. Worth, Texas in 1926. See Prague

Record, 23 June 1926; 1 September 1926. 32

Prague Record, 6 March 1929. 33

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 99.

Members of the Sokol Hall

on parallel bars.

Members of the Sokol Hall on parallel bars.

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum

153

An interesting aside to the discussion of Prague‟s Sokol concerns their Sunday

gymnastic classes. Many American towns during this period strictly enforced

Sabbatarian laws commonly referred

to as blue laws. These regulations

forbade certain businesses such as

saloons from operating and also

restricted social practices like

athletic events from being played

on Sunday. As noted earlier, the

baseball team occasionally played on Sundays and here is evidence of the Czech

community‟s Sokol holding regular workouts on the Lord‟s Day. Whether or not there

were protests in Prague against these practices is not known. There may have been entire

sermons preached against the practice. However, there is no mention in the Prague

newspapers of complaints either against the Sokol or Prague‟s baseball team. Nor is

there evidence of city officials taking any official steps to discourage the events such as

occurred in nearby Wellston. The Prague News reported that authorities arrested the

entire Wellston baseball team in 1907 for playing a baseball game on Sunday. As a

result, city officials discontinued all baseball games and the residents of Wellston lost

their team in the Frisco League. The franchise moved to Davenport, also in Lincoln

County and continued playing with many of the same players. 34

Why Prague appears lax

on enforcing blue laws is difficult to ascertain. Perhaps the isolation of the farming

community separated them from the pressure to conform to other towns. A more likely

explanation lies in the fact that early in Prague‟s history, and during the apex of the strict

Prague News, 4 July 1907.

Female Sokol Hall members

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum

154

enforcement of blue laws, the Protestant churches did not hold much power in the

community compared to the Catholic Church and Bohemian Hall. Neither of them

pushed Sabbatarianism and in the case of the Czech fraternal lodges, cared not a whit

about abiding by primitive Christian rules. Thus, the principal actors in the community

allowed Sunday activities such as the playing of baseball games and exercising on the

pommel horse and parallel bars which other towns dominated by Baptists and Methodists

proscribed.

Few Catholics joined the Bohemian Hall preferring to participate in parish

activities including their own mini-version of the Bohemian Hall. 35

The Catholic Worker

(Katolicky Delnik) founded in 1904 by members of Prague‟s St. Wenceslas Church,

included many farmers and townspeople and during the first two decades of the town was

one of the most active social organizations in Prague. 36

However, besides containing

fewer members than the secular Bohemian Hall, this, and most Catholic enterprises,

focused on charity work rather than social gatherings and primarily strove to help the

poor and needy families in the community through the giving of food baskets, Christmas

gifts to young children, and direct relief to those suffering hardship. 37

Because it

concentrated first and foremost on religious instruction, the Catholic Church did not set

aside the financial resources to sponsor as many events as the Bohemian Hall. Thus,

their social events paled in number to the almost weekly affairs, especially dances, held

just south of their building.

Nevertheless, many in the Catholic congregation mingled socially with members

of Bohemian Hall. Catholics, especially the young, were not averse to attending dances

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 39-40. 36

Martin, “Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak,” 137. 37

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 97.

155

or plays sponsored by the Z.C.B.J. 38

It also appears that the Bohemian Hall did not

belittle or disparage the beliefs of their Catholic kinsmen. The Western Bohemian

Fraternal Association, unlike the older B.S.B.S. society, propagated a policy of

impartiality in the matter of religion. 39

The younger generation of freethinkers evinced

more moderate thinking than their forebears. They definitely were not as confrontational

and anti-clerical in their beliefs. 40

Czech Catholics of Prague and their counterparts in

the Bohemian Hall did not comprise two enemy camps as suggested by other writers. 41

Due to pragmatic reasons, such as the wish of people regardless of their philosophical or

religious convictions to enjoy a community dance, band concert, or dramatic play about

old Bohemia, the two opposing sides laid aside their differences and got along. In the

farm town of Prague, Oklahoma the limited population almost demanded it.

By 1914, some of Prague‟s Czechs had lived in Oklahoma over twenty years.

Many had been in the United States even longer. Nevertheless, when war erupted in

Europe the rural Czech community instantly showed concern when the Austro-Hungarian

Empire, of which ancestral Bohemia and Moravia were provinces, joined Germany to

fight the Allies led by Great Britain, France, and Russia. With anti-German sentiment

growing in the United States primarily due to a cultural affinity with the West and the

persistent submarine warfare perpetrated by the Kaiser‟s Germany, bewilderment

cascaded upon many Czech Americans. Thus, American Czechs looked to their native

land for guidance.

Ibid. 39

Rosicky, Czechs in Nebraska, 357. 40

Ibid., 286. 41

Zizka, Czech Cultural Contributions, 48.

156

From the onset of war, the Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia despised the conflict.

They saw the war and conscription of their young men as further German oppression.

The imperial government in Vienna feared a rebellion and tried to forestall problems by

issuing an official decree that suspended “many constitutional guarantees, including

freedom of speech, public gathering, press, travel, the privacy of one‟s home, and the

secrecy of the mails.” 42

Furthermore, a military court rather than a civilian judge and

jury tried anyone accused of violating the decree. 43

Nevertheless, Bohemians and

Moravians ignored the diktat, resulting in thousands arrested. 44

Anti-Austrian sentiment

worsened and a long-suppressed nationalistic clamor rang throughout the Czech

provinces. 45

The Sokols took the lead as the most active Czech organization opposing

the war and attempting to awaken a nationalistic consciousness. Prominent and respected

individuals such as Thomas Masaryk and Edvard Benes added stimulus to the anti-

Habsburg feelings sweeping the Czech lands. When the Austrian government moved to

stamp out all dissent, many Czech intellectuals, including Masaryk and Benes, fled the to

Switzerland and then to England. 46

The dissidents formed the Czech National Alliance in Great Britain and began

speaking and writing against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, specifically against Austrian

oppression. Through pamphlets such as The Case of Bohemia, the alliance argued that

the Czech struggle against German domination and tyranny went back to the fifteenth

H. Louis Rees, “The Czechs During World War I (Especially 1917-1918); Economic and

Political Developments Leading Toward Independence” (Ph.D. diss., The Ohio State University, 1990), 20. 43

Ibid. 44

Ibid., 21. 45

Joseph Jahelka, “The Role of Chicago Czechs in the Struggle for Czechoslovak Independence,”

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 31, no. 4 (December, 1938): 381. 46

Ibid., 383.

157

century and the martyrdom of Jan Hus in 1415. 47

In this “case” against the Austrians, the

Czechs proclaimed their national history to be “one long struggle against the Universal

German Monarchy under whatever garb it should appear.” 48

Lewis B. Namier, author of

The Case of Bohemia, concluded his argument by appealing to the Allies to create a free

Bohemia which would serve, in the future, as “a safeguard against a new German

advance and a barometer of German pressure.” 49

Still another pamphlet originating in

London, detailed imprisonments and atrocities committed by the Austrian authorities and

military against the Czechs. The short tract, titled Austrian Terrorism in Bohemia,

alleged that since the beginning of the war, the Austrian government had sentenced

almost one thousand Czechs to death and “the total of [Czech] soldiers executed already

amount[ed] to several thousands.” 50

Soon, anti-German fervor spread to the United States. Chicago, with the largest

concentration of Czech immigrants, became the center of anti-German activity. The

leaders of the Chicago Czechs formed their own group, the Bohemian National Alliance

of America, composed of the Sokol Gymnastic Societies and the principal Czech

fraternal organizations in the United States. At first, few Catholic organizations joined

the movement. This was probably due to the fact that many movement leaders espoused

a freethought or liberal religious philosophy which disturbed urban Catholics. However,

despite their concern, Czech Catholics eventually grasped the cudgel of Bohemian

independence and joined the effort in the latter portion of the war; they formed their own

Lewis B. Namier, The Case of Bohemia (London: The Czech National Alliance, 1917), 5-7. 48

Ibid., 5. 49

Ibid., 9-10. 50

The Czech National Alliance in Great Britain, Austrian Terrorism in Bohemia (London: The

Czech National Alliance in Great Britain, n.d.), 23.

158

national alliance in 1917 and then merged with the Bohemian National Alliance and the

Slovak League to form the Czechoslovak National Council of America in 1918. 51

The Chicago alliance began speechmaking and printing pamphlets attacking the

Central Powers, Austria in particular, and calling for Czech independence. Charles

Pergler became one of the alliance‟s most prolific orators traveling and speaking

throughout the United States. In 1916, in an address before the Committee on Foreign

Affairs of the House of Representatives, he explained to American lawmakers why

Bohemia should become an independent nation. 52

Later that year, Pergler gave a stirring

speech in Chicago in which he said:

It follows, therefore, that this war is not only one to reduce

France to impotence, to destroy the British Empire, to

thwart legitimate Russian ambitions, to destroy the Serbian

nationality and to absorb Belgium, but it is also a War on

the part of Germany and Austria against the Bohemian

People, who have been the western sentinel of Slavdom for

Centuries. 53

Pergler ended his talk by hoping that the Allies emerged victorious and a free and

independent Bohemia was a fruit of their victory. 54

Increasingly, the Bohemian National

Alliance included calls for independence in their speeches and printed tracts. Vojta

Benes, an exile and member of the alliance, wrote that “[t]he Bohemian nation has

Chada, Czechs in the United States, 49. 52

Charles Pergler, Bohemia’s Claim to Independence: An Address Delivered by Charles Pergler,

LL.B., Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the United States on

February 25, 1916 (Chicago: Bohemian National Alliance, 1916), 8. 53

Charles Pergler, The Bohemians (Czechs) in the Present Crisis: An Address Delivered by

Charles Pergler LL.B. on the 28 th

Day of May, 1916, in Chicago, at a Meeting Held to Commemorate the

Deeds of Bohemian Volunteers in the Great War (Chicago: Bohemian National Alliance, 1916), 8. 54

Ibid., 23.

159

always held the right of self-determination to be the inalienable right of every people.” 55

When the Alliance reprinted a London speech by Thomas Masaryk, in which he declared

it was time for the Bohemian people to strike out for themselves, the alliance capitalized

and shouted in bold print his plea to the allies:

WE ASK FOR AN INDEPENDENT BOHEMIAN-SLOVAK STATE 56

Apparently the Chicago Czechs came under some criticism because in a published

position paper the Bohemian National Alliance declared that they felt comfortable

speaking on behalf of all Czech Americans because the Alliance was only expressing the

general will of the community. 57

Indeed, Dr. L.J. Fisher, president of the American

Alliance, contributed numerous articles to the cause with many printed in both Czech-

language and English newspapers across the United States, including Prague,

Oklahoma. 58

In addition, all Czech-language periodicals in America carried a standing

entreaty to Czech residents in the United States to become, as quickly as legally possible,

naturalized citizens to rid themselves of “the odium which Austro-Hungarian citizenship

in their minds carries.” 59

Chicago was not the only major American city to take up the cause of Bohemian

independence. The Czechoslovak Arts Club in New York City joined the Chicago

alliance by printing and distributing pamphlets. Like the Bohemian National Alliance,

Vojta Benes, Economic Strength of the Bohemian (Czechoslovak) Lands (Chicago: Bohemian

(Czech) National Alliance, 1918), 2. 56

Thomas G. Masaryk, Declaration of the Bohemian (Czech) Foreign Committee: Comments of

London Papers (Chicago: Bohemian National Alliance of America, n.d.), 6. 57

The Bohemian National Alliance, The Position of the Bohemians (Czechs) in the European War

(Chicago: Bohemian National Alliance in America, n.d.), 17. 58

Prague Record, 3 May 1917; Prague Record, 10 May 1917. 59

The Bohemian National Alliance, The Position of the Bohemians, 17.

160

they too declared the right of self determination for Bohemia. 60

However, one of their

more interesting tracts contained nothing but quotes, including many attributed to the

President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson. This pamphlet was powerful and

surely evoked tremendous hope for Czechs not only in America but across the world. In

one example:

Self-determination is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative

principle of action, which statesmen will henceforth ignore

at their peril.

Woodrow Wilson 61

There is little doubt that the contribution of American Czechs proved vital in

persuading the American people, and thus their government, that a free and independent

Czech-Slovak nation would become a valued ally and buffer to German aggression in the

future. The Chicago Czechs led the propaganda battle through speeches and printed

material. However, any effort of this magnitude takes money, and a lot of it. Joseph

Jahelka, after studying the Czech independence movement in the United States, asserts

that “the principal support, both financial and moral, came from the workingman in the

cities, and the farmers of the Middle West and Southwest.” 62

The Czech community of

Prague supported Bohemian independence, and did so from the outset of the conflict.

Furthermore, they assisted the movement through volunteer work and donations and

vocally championed the independence movement and Allied war effort even if it resulted

The Czechoslovak Arts Club, The Czech Declaration of January 6, 1918 (New York: The

Czechoslovak Arts Club, 1918), 2. 61

The Czecho-Slovak Arts Club, The Independence of the Czechoslovak Nation: Quotations from

Wilson, Viviani, Balfour, Palacky, Masaryk, Seton-Watson, & Others (New York: The Czecho-Slovak Arts

Club, 1918), 6. 62

Jahelka, “The Role of Chicago Czechs,” 392-393.

161

in hard feelings and physical confrontations with the German immigrant community in

Prague.

Economically, the war proved a godsend for American farmers. In January 1917,

the Prague Record published a report by the Department of Commerce showing a

doubling in exports of agricultural products from 1913 to 1916. 63

Additionally, the

newspapers, before the United States entered the war, covered the European war

extensively. Prague‟s weeklies regularly published photographs and short articles about

the conflict, and always from a pro-Ally viewpoint. The Prague Record, even more than

the Prague News, was unashamedly anti-German in its outlook. Whether this was due to

the relatively large Czech community in and around Prague is uncertain. Although, much

smaller, there was also a German-American presence in Prague and the paper leaned

Republican in political coverage. One would think the political persuasion of the editor

alone would tilt pre-American involvement against President Wilson, who increasingly

appeared to favor Great Britain over Germany. Nevertheless, both Prague newspapers

openly promoted the cause of the Allies. The Prague Record published articles

originating from the Bohemian National Alliance. These commentaries advocated

independence for Bohemia and complained of Austrian atrocities committed on Czechs. 64

One particularly emotional diatribe, written by L.J. Fisher, president of the Alliance

headquartered in Chicago, declared that “in the first two years of the war four thousand

men and women have been hanged for „high treason‟ to the emperor.” 65

Whether or not

the accusation was true is not important. The importance of the article lies in its impact

Prague Record, 11 January 1917. 64

Two interesting articles appeared in the Prague Record. See Prague Record, 3 May 1917 and

10 May 1917. 65

Prague Record, 10 May 1917.

162

on the Czech community because many readers, no doubt, believed the report in its

entirety.

During the war years, emotions ran high in Prague, Oklahoma. Some in the

Czech community were only recently removed from their country of birth and most, even

if born in the United States, still communicated with relatives in the old country. C.M.

Sadlo, who came to the United States in 1898, still had a sister living near Prague,

Bohemia. Wes Pospisil, a young man of twenty-three when the war broke out in 1914

and who worked in Prague‟s harness shop, did not set foot on the shores of the United

States until 1909. 66

The town‟s shoe repairman, Mike Mitacek, came to Prague in 1910.

His mother remained in Bohemia. 67

Many in the Czech community kept in contact with

relatives and friends. In addition to personal letters, the rural Czech community stayed

abreast of what was happening in Europe through the local weeklies and through their

Czech-language newspapers, primarily published in Chicago or Omaha.

On the other hand, there was also a German community centered north of Prague

and many of these immigrants also retained ties with Europe. John Mertes, who ran a

hardware store in Prague, was born and raised in Germany. The merchant came to the

United States in 1897 at the age of twenty-two. 68

Although born in Illinois, both of

Elizabeth Whitmore‟s parents (the wife of B.F. Whitmore, Prague‟s first mayor and

owner of a cotton gin frequented by Czech farmers) listed Germany as their birthplace.

The same was true of Kate Hudspeth, whose husband ran a livery business. 69

Many in

the German community were farmers living only a few miles from town. These families

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census, Lincoln County, OK, South Creek Township. 67

William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A.

Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 55. 68

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 69

Ibid.

163

with names such as Heinzig, Tripke, Benning, and Wagner, in some instances had been in

the United States less than a decade. 70

What were their feelings about the great European

war? No doubt, some harbored ambivalent emotions, especially as it became clearer that

the United States preferred Great Britain and the Allies over Germany. However, in a

time of war it was natural for some Germans to support the fatherland, at least in the

privacy of their homes.

The Prague Czechs loudly voiced their support for the Allies and Czech

independence, resulting in heightened tensions in the community. Unfortunately,

emotions sometimes boiled over. Fritz Heinzig, a German American who lived through

the war years stated that “fist-fights and near riots, caused by bitterness of feeling among

foreign-born residents, were common in Prague.” 71

Ray Tower, a native-born resident of

the farm town during the World War I period remembered “two cases of near lynching in

the Prague community over the expression of sentiment favorable to the cause of the

Central Powers.” 72

He further stated that „[l]ooking at the community as a whole during

World War I, there was a general feeling of both patriotism and sadness coupled with

bitter hatred [by the Czechs] against the Germans and Austrians in Prague.” 73

Granted,

these are the memories of older men recollected many years after the war. The passage

of time often dims and distorts facts. However, even if we question or dismiss some of

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. Both

Ray Tower and Melva Losch Brown recorded that O.R. Blumel, owner of Prague‟s harness shop, arrived in

Oklahoma in 1905 directly from Austria, where his parents and extended family still lived. They reported

that his sympathies were with Austria and the Central Powers during the Great War (See Tower, “A

General History of the Town of Prague,” 56; Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 111-112). However, according

to the Manuscript Census Schedules of 1910, Blumel listed his arrival to the United States as being in 1894.

Furthermore, his first two children were born in Texas. Finally, if this is the same O.R. Blumel – and it

definitely appears to be so – as the Blumel who accompanied Prague‟s Sokol club to Czechoslovakia in

1920, then despite being born in Austria he most likely was of Czech ancestry. 71

Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague,” 56. 72

Ibid., 56-58. 73

Ibid.

164

the specifics it appears obvious that emotions ran rampant in the small town and

manifested in several ugly incidents. It should be noted that hostility against German

Americans in Oklahoma was not exclusive to Prague. Richard Rohrs, in The Germans in

Oklahoma, concluded that throughout Oklahoma violence against Germans occurred

during the entire period of World War I. 74

In 1915, the Czech community formed a Samostatnost club. At the initial meeting

the charter members elected Charles Cerny, one of the town‟s barbers, as president and

Prague‟s tailor, C.M. Sadlo, as secretary. The club met the first Sunday of each month in

the Sokol Hall with the express purpose of raising awareness and funds for the

independence movement. However, the meetings were open to the public and advertised

weekly in the newspapers encouraging anyone interested in Bohemian independence to

attend – the word samostatnost means independence in Czech. 75

The Samostatnost club, in conjunction with the other Bohemian societies of

Prague, sponsored Professor Sara Hrbek, teacher of Slavonic languages and literature at

the University of Nebraska, to come to Prague and speak at the Czech community‟s

commemoration of the 500 th

anniversary of the death of the Czech martyr, Jan Hus.

Professor Hrbek agreed to come and delivered two speeches to large audiences. Her

afternoon speech was in Czech, followed by an English version that evening. 76

The

program which included traditional Czech songs was not billed as a political rally and

Hrbek‟s actual speech was not published. However, according to Joseph Jahelka, Hrbek

was an active member of the Bohemian National Alliance whose sole purpose was to

Richard C. Rohrs, The Germans in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980),

42, 44-45. 75

Prague News, 27 May 1915. 76

Prague News, 9 July 1915. Sarah Hrbek‟s name is sometimes printed as Hrbkova, which is the

feminine form of Hrbek.

165

promote Bohemian independence. Thus, it is difficult to imagine the professor traveling

the many miles from Lincoln Nebraska to Prague, Oklahoma and not mentioning the war

in Europe or the Czech struggle for independence.

Two years later, the Samostatnost club brought another speaker to Prague.

Ferdinand Pisecky lectured at the Sokol Hall and like Professor Hrbek before him, to an

overflowing crowd. On its front page, the Prague Record carried an article about the

upcoming lecture:

Professor Ferdinand Pisecky . . . will lecture at the Sokol

Hall at 7:30 o‟clock Thursday evening of this week. The

professor was at one time a prisoner of the present

European war, but made his escape and came to America

about six weeks ago. 77

These public speeches were more than informational lectures, more than simple

emotional appeals to get American Czechs excited about a new, independent Bohemia.

They were fundraisers. The Bohemian National Alliance sent out speakers, not only to

arouse public opinion for the cause of Czecho-Slovak independence, but to raise much-

needed money to support the cause. The total amount raised by the alliance during the

war exceeded $675,000 with many contributions being five to ten dollars. 78

In his study,

Jahelka claims that most of the financial support came from urban workers and rural

farming communities. Knowing how passionately Prague‟s Czechs supported their

country of birth, it seems safe to assume both famers and townspeople helped the cause

of Bohemian independence with their pocketbooks.

Prague Record, 21 June 1917. 78

Paul Robert Magocsi, “Loyalties: Dual and Divided,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of American

Ethnic Groups, ed. Stephen Thernstrom (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,

1980), 680; Vera Laska, Czechs in America: 1633-1977: A Chronology & Fact Book (Dobbs Ferry, NY:

Oceana Publications, 1978), 45.

166

Prague and the surrounding farm community sent 111 men into the military

during World War I. 79

Three of these young men perished in the war. The first to lose

his life in combat was Edward Walla, a young Czech American, killed in 1918 at the

Battle of the Meuse-Argonne Forest. To honor the young soldier, Prague named their

American Legion Post after him. The Czech community buried their fallen hero in the

Czech National Cemetery and erected a small Washingtonian-type memorial so that

everyone would always remember. 80

Early in 1918, American Czechs expressed dismay when President Woodrow

Wilson announced that his preliminary peace plan provided some autonomy for ethnic

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 111. 80

The statue commemorating Walla still stands in the Prague National Cemetery. Prague‟s

American Legion Post also retains Walla‟s name.

1917 farewell celebration in Prague for World War I soldiers

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum.

167

groups within the Austro-Hungarian Empire but not complete autonomy. Czechs and

Slovaks staged mass protests across the United States clamoring for an independent state.

Had they not early in the war took the side of the Allies? Had their young men not

readily and energetically volunteered for the Allied cause? Why had they given their

hard-earned money to the Bohemian National Alliance if not to see the dreams of their

homeland at last fulfilled? 81

Finally in September, after Wilson met with exiled Czech

leader, Thomas Masaryk, the president announced his support for the dissolution of the

Empire and the creation of an independent Czech-Slovak nation. When the victorious

Allies granted the Czechs and Slovaks their own independent country at the peace

conference, American Czechs rejoiced. The Czech community of Prague, Oklahoma

enthusiastically joined the chorus. By aiding the cause of independence with their

money, manpower, and moral support, the small farming town in the middle of

Oklahoma did their part. The Sokols and fraternal organizations provided the

organizational apparatus for the ambitious Bohemian National Alliance. The Catholic

Church joined the effort putting aside their theological differences with the freethinkers.

The year 1918 marked a new beginning for the Prague Czechs. No longer did they need

to refer to their birthplace as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They now hailed

from Bohemia and Moravia, provinces of Czechoslovakia and home of the Czechs.

Czech fraternal associations served an important function within the ethnic

community. Although not as large as the freethought organizations, the Czech Catholics

organized the first parish and actively participated in the community through charity

work and religious instruction. However, the much larger Bohemian Hall and Sokol

Gymnastic Organization provided the bulk of the Czech population with entertainment,

Magocsi, “Loyalties,” 683.

168

athletic training and competition, and a link to the past. The fraternal lodges actively

sought to maintain Old World customs, traditions, and the Czech language. Faced with a

demographic and geographic situation that demanded they make concessions to succeed

economically, the fraternal orders futilely bailed against the rising waters of the dominant

culture. That they succeeded as long as they did is a tribute to their persistence; the

Bohemian Hall continued to conduct all monthly meetings in the Czech language until

almost World War II. 82

Nevertheless, despite the determined efforts of the lodges, individual Czechs

actively and quickly decided to participate in the larger Prague community to prosper and

find contentment amongst their diverse neighbors. Many, if not most, did not forsake

their old ways but instead lived in both worlds. They owned and operated businesses in

the town; they hired and worked for non-Czechs; they were barbers, tailors, saloon

keepers, waitresses, clerks, blacksmiths, harness makers; some sold groceries, fabrics,

and notions, others hardware or automobiles. At the town‟s inception in 1902, Czech

immigrants energetically joined the community in every way. Sounding almost

contradictory, Czech members of both the Bohemian Hall and Sokol Lodge became some

of the most notable citizens in the new town. As already noted, Frank Vlasak was a

charter member of the Bohemian Hall and very influential in the Czech community.

However, he also owned a thriving grocery business in Prague and served as vice-

president of Lincoln County Bank. Others such as Josef Cerny, Frank and Josef

Klabzuba, George Eret, and Frank Kucera became involved in the local economy and

society of Prague while at the same time spending many hours sitting in the Bohemian

The Bohemian Hall records continued to be written in Czech until late in 1938.

169

Hall smoking cigars, discussing politics and business, and no doubt reminiscing about

their former lives in Bohemia. 83

Ultimately, the resolute efforts by the fraternal orders to maintain their European

ways ended in failure. Upon the formation of the town, Prague‟s Czechs, including many

in the first generation, actively and vigorously engaged in community affairs. This led to

rapid adjustment and acculturation by most. Nevertheless, the stubborn, steadfast refusal

of the fraternal lodges to give up the past resulted not in the preservation of a unique and

separate culture, but in the inculcation of the young with a distinctive identity. Long after

the graves of many original Czech settlers no longer attracted flowery tributes on

Memorial Day and Sokol Hall was but a faded sepia print in a centennial memory book,

Prague‟s Czechs remained Czech. That they participated fully, not only in the economic

sphere but the social as well, will be seen in the next chapter. It was the social

acceptance, even more than the economic necessity, that led to an amazingly speedy

adjustment by the small-town Czechs to the way of life of the majority in the community.

Nevertheless, regardless of their “Americanization,” including marrying outside their

ethnic group, many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the early Czech

pioneers never forgot who they were. Even if somewhere in their family history their

surname changed from Sala to Reynolds or Sefcik to Pritchett, many held fast to their

Czech roots.

Bohemian Hall records show that the lodge almost monthly purchased cigars (doutniky). It is

assumed the members smoked them at meetings or unofficial gatherings.

170

CHAPTER 7

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS IN THE LIFE OF PRAGUE‟S CZECHS

A tired George Sadlo wiped the dripping sweat from his glistening brow. He

glanced over his shoulder at the searing August sun and peered intently at Mose Case

squatting almost serenely behind the dusty slab. An athletic-looking man from the

county seat of Chandler, a man Sadlo and Case barely knew, stood beside the flat slab

waving a menacing stick of ash as if he intended to charge the tiny hill Sadlo stood upon

and do harm to the young Czech. Sadlo massaged the grass-stained orb resting in his

right hand and in determined staccato gestures nodded at Case. From Sadlo‟s left came

the encouraging chatter of Lester Hooter, while from his right John Reel and Fatty

Oplinger joined Hooter and barked their confidence and support. Even the cheerful

rasping of Wesley Pastusek‟s far-away voice filtered into Sadlo‟s ears. Lifting his left

leg high into the air, Sadlo rocked backwards before pushing towards the friendly Case

and the awaiting stranger from Chandler. Sadlo let loose the sphere and stood stoically as

it zipped past the helpless outsider. Mose Case caught the whizzing whiteness, stood and

held the ball high before striding to a now smiling Sadlo. The game was over. The

Prague Slugger baseball team had won yet another game. This week‟s victory came

against the Chandler Nine by a score of four to one. Prague‟s baseball club still had not

171

lost a single game the entire summer. 1

The Prague Record covered the details of the August 1916 baseball game

between Prague and Chandler in a front page article. George Sadlo, Prague‟s victorious

pitcher, struck out sixteen Chandler batters on the hot day giving up only six hits in the

nine inning game. Unfortunately for the baseball team they lost their first and only game

of the summer the very next week to Bristow‟s town team by a score of 7 to 2. Both

Czech players mentioned (George Sadlo and Wesley Pastusek) entered the United States

Army in 1918 and served in Europe with the American Expeditionary Force under

General John J. Pershing. 2

Like most Americans, rural and urban, in the first half of the twentieth century,

the residents of Prague loved baseball. In 1919, the local newspapers ran articles on both

the American and National Leagues of Major League baseball including photographs of

each player on the World Series Championship team, the Cincinnati Reds. 3 However,

Prague‟s newspapers did not stop covering baseball just because the season ended.

During the winter months of 1917, 1918, and 1919, most issues of the Prague Record

carried short articles written by former Major League umpire, Billy Evans. The articles,

titled “Billy Evans Solves Baseball Problems,” explained the complex rules of America‟s

national pastime. 4 And, during the 1920s, the newspaper published pieces that included a

1 Paraphrased from a newspaper article detailing the Prague victory against Chandler‟s baseball

team. See Prague Record, 17 August 1916. 2 Prague Record, 24 August 1916; For a list of Prague‟s Czechs in World War I, see Prague

Historical Museum, Prague, Oklahoma, American Legion Honor Roll of Prague Czechs serving in World

War I. 3 Prague Record, 2 November 1919.

4 For examples see Prague Record, 25 January 1917; Prague Record, 9 November 1919.

172

biographic sketch, advice, and photos of famous major league stars such as Ty Cobb, Lou

Gehrig, Tris Speaker, and George “Babe” Ruth. 5

From the second decade of the twentieth century throughout the period covered

by this study, Prague fielded a town baseball team usually referred to in the newspapers

as the Prague Sluggers. 6 To put it simply, baseball was the sport in the United States

during this time. Whether one lived in an urban setting or in a small town, baseball held

a prominent place in the minds and hearts of most male residents. Despite never seeing a

Major League game in person, most Americans, especially males, followed the teams and

players through the newspapers and beginning in the 1920s via radio. In addition, many

small towns throughout the country formed teams and competed against other

communities in their area. In 1920, the Prague Record reported that the area baseball

teams were trying to revive the pre-war league that again would be called the Frisco

League. Prospective participants included Prague, Chandler, Weleetka, Sparks, Paden,

and hopefully others. 7 These baseball teams, in general, were not comprised of

adolescents, but young men in their late teens and early twenties who took the game

seriously and played hard, hoping that a roving scout would see them play and sign them

to a professional contract. Towns took great pride in their “nine” and flocked to the

games. An illustration of the immense interest is found in the July 6, 1916 edition of the

Prague Record. According to the paper, Prague‟s baseball game against Paden drew

over 450 fans. This may not appear a tremendous attendance until we take into

consideration that the total population of Prague at this time was barely over one

5 For examples see Prague Record, 24 March 1926 (Babe Ruth) and Prague Record, 7 April 1926

(Ty Cobb). There were many other baseball stories concerning various big-league players throughout the

1920s. 6 Prague News, 16 July 1915; Prague Record, 24 August 1916.

7 Prague Record, 23 September 1920.

173

thousand. 8 And the town of Prague, Oklahoma, was no different in its interest in baseball

than most communities across the United States. However, it should be noted that these

town teams were not comprised of professional players. During the week, most team

members held full-time jobs. For example in 1917, twenty-one year old George Sadlo,

Prague‟s top pitcher, claimed his occupation was musician. The hurler offered private

violin lessons to the residents of Prague and later taught music at the public school.

Wesley Pastusek, seventeen years old, and Lloyd “Fatty” Oplinger, twenty-three years of

age, worked during the week as salesmen, Pastusek in a grocery store, Oplinger in a

hardware store. Lester Hooter, Prague‟s twenty-one year old first baseman worked for

the railroad when not playing baseball while Ernest Blumenthal, twenty years of age,

worked alongside his father at The Leader general store. 9 The team practiced in the

evenings and played games on Saturday afternoons and occasionally on Sundays.

Normally, players received a small portion of the gate receipts, but never enough to earn

a living playing baseball. These young men were semi-professional, at best.

The people of Prague apparently evinced much interest in baseball and their home

team. During summer months the front page of the Prague Record almost always

contained an article about the previous Saturday‟s game. The Prague baseball team

represented the entire town; it was not specifically a Czech team and by the large

attendance at games it appears the town avidly followed the team. However, from 1916

until he left for the military, Prague‟s top pitcher was George Sadlo, a Czech and the son

of the town‟s tailor. As mentioned, the 1916 Prague Sluggers won every game except

8 Prague Record, 6 July 1916; See also Russell Wilford Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma: A

Comparative Study of the Stability of A Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County Oklahoma, and the Factors

Relating to its Stability,” Bulletin of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Stillwater, OK:

Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College) 39, no. 13 (June 1942): 97. 9 Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

174

one, a 7 to 2 defeat at the hands of the Bristow Browns. The town of Bristow lay thirty-

eight miles from Prague. With the automobile still in its primitive stage and roads

usually nothing more than grated rock or dirt in 1916 rural Oklahoma, thirty-eight miles

was quite a trip, which again shows the love and importance that baseball held to these

small agricultural communities. 10

In April 1917 the Prague Record published the roster for the upcoming season.

Most of the players sported Anglo names such as John Reel, Carl Wilson, Lester Hooter,

Mose Case, and a second baseman named Smith. However, Lloyd “Fatty” Oplinger,

from the German community, played shortstop and helped out with the pitching chores

while Ernest Blumenthal, Jewish son of Morris Blumenthal occupied left field. George

Sadlo returned as the Sluggers‟ ace pitcher and was joined on the team by another Czech,

Wesley Pastusek. 11

George Sadlo and Wesley Pastusek were second-generation Czechs. Their

parents hailed from Bohemia and Moravia, respectively. Sadlo, born in Missouri, and

Pastusek, born in Texas, probably had never been to Europe. Both attended school in the

United States and could read and write English. 12

They were American Czechs and

appear to fit well into Marcus Hansen‟s theory that the progeny of immigrants made

every effort to fit into American society. 13

What could be more American than baseball?

Prague Record, 25 August 1916. During the period covered, 1916 appears to be Prague‟s best

baseball season. 11

Prague Record, 12 April 1917. 12

Although George Sadlo‟s father, Cyril, arrived in the United States in 1889, his mother, Emma,

was born in Missouri. However, both her parents were born in Bohemia. Wesley Pastusek‟s parents

emigrated from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1873 and lived in Texas prior to migrating to Oklahoma.

See Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. Apparently

Pastusek left Prague sometime between 1917 and 1920. According to the Prague Record, Wesley Pastusek

lived in Texas in the fall of 1920. See Prague Record, 4 November 1920. 13

Marcus Lee Hansen, “The Problem of the Third Generation Immigrant,” in Theories of

Ethnicity: A Classical Reader, ed. Werner Sollors (New York: New York University Press, 1996): 204.

175

Karel Bicha in his study of Oklahoma Czechs suggested that “the Czechs of

Oklahoma did not immediately embrace the larger society in which they lived” and

because of this “they were not the most popular of settlers, partly because of their

clannishness and partly because of behavior traits which were all too common among

them – quarrelsomeness, suspiciousness, and an inclination to carry small disagreements

beyond the point of reason.” 14

The above may very well hold true regarding the earliest

settlers, the land-run pioneers of 1891 and the arrivals before the creation of Prague in

1902. The early Czechs in the area lived a somewhat isolated, exclusive ethnic lifestyle.

However, once the farm village came into existence, the situation rapidly changed.

Czechs participated eagerly in the economy of the new town, opening businesses,

providing services, buying and selling alongside the non-Czechs. There is little evidence

of Czechs segregating themselves from the larger community, especially economically.

In, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village, Robert Kutak wrote that

“immigrants in cities are often maladjusted because they lack control over their lives;

they are moved and influenced by forces which lie beyond them . . . this is not true in an

isolated agricultural village where 90 per cent of the individuals are of the same

nationality.” 15

Kutak compares an ethnic urban population with that of a rural

community that was extremely ethnically homogenous. He does not include in his

analysis rural communities like Prague where the newcomer population, although

originally living in relative isolation, immediately fell into the minority with the creation

of a town. The Czechs of Prague fall into this latter category. The early farming

community was probably clannish as evidenced by Lynch‟s study which stressed how

Karel Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980), 33,60. 15

Robert Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village: A Study of Social Persistence and

Change (New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1933, repr. ed., 1970), 144.

176

Czech farmers helped each other get through the tough times of cultivating the coarse

prairie. Lynch mentions nowhere in his study that the Czech immigrants helped native-

born or ethnic German farmers also located in the area. They appear to have kept to

themselves. However, when the Ft. Smith and Western Railroad Company chose Frank

and Josephine Barta‟s homestead as the site of a coaling station and Prague came into

existence, circumstances changed. The Prague Czechs faced a decision: either actively

participate in the new village or retreat to an even deeper isolation that would ultimately

hurt not only themselves but their children. Prague‟s Czechs proved pragmatic and

realistic. Most chose to involve themselves in the inchoate community.

However, many did not envision participation as relinquishing their European

culture. Like other immigrant groups, the Prague Czechs exhibited stubbornness in

hanging onto their Old World culture, such as their language, cuisine, and music. They

coupled their desire to retain the past with an acceptance of their present situation. To

make life for themselves and their children as prosperous and conflict-free as possible,

they chose to live a twofold lifestyle. Prague‟s Czechs made every effort to remain

“Czech” while thriving in their new homeland. In his pessimistic study of American

Czechs, Joseph Roucek posits that “when the first generation will have died there will not

be much left of the Czech and Slovak culture patterns in the United States.” 16

The

evidence suggests that Roucek was mistaken, especially in rural areas such Milligan or

Wilbur, Nebraska. Many rural areas maintained traditional customs well into the third

generation. 17

In addition, his thesis speculates on the lifestyle and traditions of the

immigrant community. He does not include the persistence of Czech identity, the refusal

Joseph Slabey Roucek, “The Passing of American Czechoslovaks,” The American Journal of

Sociology,” 39, no. 5 (March 1934): 625. 17

Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village, 63-65, 70.

177

of many people of Czech ancestry to give up their identification as Czech, and their

refusal to melt into the cauldron of Caucasian uncertainty. Many Prague Czechs,

although rather quickly adjusting to a culture different from their own did not lose their

group identity or their sense of belonging to a group outside the native-born white

mainstream. Again, this does not mean that Prague‟s Czechs refused to identify

themselves as American or make concessions to the dominant culture. Many immigrants

anglicized their children‟s first names such as Frantisek becoming Frank or Jiri changing

to George and beginning with the second generation most Czechs proudly proclaimed

themselves Americans. But most never forgot their origins, they never lost their ethnic

group identity. Nevertheless, as individual Czechs made the decision to participate in the

activities of the farm town, their adjustment period shortened. Once Czechs took this

irreversible step, some, especially the offspring of Czech women who married non-

Czechs, began the journey away from the close-knit ethnic group to the ambiguity of an

“American.” Sporting a non-Slavic surname these American-born children, if they

wished, could fade into the mainstream of society with little difficulty. Regardless of

accepting new associations and boundaries, some of Prague‟s Czechs resisted the slide

into ethnic uncertainty and established a lasting presence centered on a birthright

ethnicity that continued long after they laid aside their cultural distinctiveness. Despite

practicing a dual lifestyle in which they participated fully in the dominant culture while

holding fast to their symbolic roots, Prague‟s Czechs remained firm in their ethnic group

identity.

Like most groups, whether Czech, German, native-born white, or African

American, the fundamental unit was the family. Most Czech immigrants to the United

178

States derived from the rural cottager class and they brought with them the concept of the

family as the center. In pastoral Europe, the family was of utmost importance in

providing workers to toil the land. These were not urban professionals enmeshed in the

capitalist dream of financial success through upward mobility. Instead, these hardy

cultivators worked many hours to get the most from the soil. Their ultimate goal was to

own a fertile plot of land, build a comfortable home, and raise their children. Their ideas

of family solidarity remained intact even after arriving in the United States and forced,

out of economic necessity, into industrial jobs or, as in the case of the immigrant farmers

living on the periphery of Prague, choosing to move into town and attempt to create a

business. Josef Barton claimed that “the locus of membership and alliance in the Czech

community was the lineal unit of the family. . . Czech immigrants, in short, allied

themselves in families of three generations.” 18

The extended family was the norm and

was of paramount importance to the Czech community. However, regardless of the

importance Czechs placed on unity and cohesiveness, this was the historical period

known as the Victorian Age. Like the typical native-born American father, a Czech

father normally did not pursue close emotional relationships with his children. 19

This

was left to the mothers. Mothers were the purveyors of affection – not the fathers. Czech

fathers constructed a wall of authority and affection between themselves and their

offspring. Fathers were the center of power. Respect was paramount in their minds.

This contrived distance enabled fathers to maintain control over their children and

because of the more formal relationship, there was less chance of disrespectful behavior.

Josef Barton, “Land, Labor, and Community in Nueces: Czech Farmers and Mexican Laborers

in South Texas, 1880-1930,” in European Immigrants in the American West: Community Histories, ed.

Frederick C. Luebke (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), 152. 19

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 58.

179

Once in the United States, the immigrant family came under intense stress. The

family absorbed the shocks of the new culture, language, and economic system. It was to

the family that the father, most likely the breadwinner, could retreat at the end of another

workday in the new environment. Furthermore, if he and his wife had young children, as

these children aged, many times they became culturally separate from their parents. This

could place the entire family at risk. 20

Czech families, as did other immigrant groups,

grasped this tension and attempted to alleviate it either through the fraternal organizations

or the Catholic Church, with the secular orders holding more sway in most Czech

communities. Prague‟s Bohemian Hall was for the family and the Sokol lodge

specifically focused on the needs of the ethnic group‟s young.

Writing about immigrants‟ efforts in adjusting to the United States, Leo Eitinger

wrote that “mothers have the easiest, as well as the most difficult time of it.” 21

Eitinger‟s argument is that most immigrant mothers remained in the home while their

husbands went off to work and, therefore, these women experienced less contact with the

American culture, which allowed them more time to adjust slowly rather than being

jolted by the new culture on a daily basis. In immigrant families, Czech families in

particular, it was the mother who transferred much of the family and ethnic traditions to

the young. However, Eitinger also argues that immigrant mothers found it exceedingly

difficult to deal with their children who grew up in American society and desired to

conform in matters of fashion, music, and even food. This, of course, caused conflict

Vivian Rakoff, “Children of Immigrants,” in Strangers in the World, eds. Leo Eitinger and

David Schwarz (Bern: Hans Huber Publishers, 1981), 133, 144-145. 21

Leo Eitinger, “Feeling at Home: Immigrants‟ Psychological Problems,” in Strangers in the

World, eds. Leo Eitinger and David Schwarz (Bern: Hans Huber Publishers, 1981), 95.

180

between mother and children. 22

When extrapolated to Prague, Eitinger‟s comments

contain much truth, especially regarding the Czechs living on the rural farms outside of

town. These women probably only came to town to shop or attend a Czech or

community event and a fissure may very well have formed between them and their

public-school educated children. However, the experience of mothers living within the

environs of Prague probably differed. These women would have been more aware of the

goings on around them and interacted more with non-Czechs than the rural mothers.

Nevertheless, the slower pace of the small town and the seeming acceptance of

Czechs by the majority native-born white population surely helped the immigrant women

cope with the pressures of adjustment better than their urban kin. Regardless of the

situation, everyday life centered on the family. Parents provided affection, security and

disciplined structure for the children and in return expected obedience and work. 23

It was

through these ties of affection and obligation that immigrant families channeled ethnic

identity to succeeding generations. Many times in urban areas, these ties became strained

due to the intense stimuli of the dominant society. However, in the comparative isolation

and slower pace of a rural farm or village, the family better controlled the social habits of

the young. 24

Parents were better able to oversee their children‟s personal habits including

recreational activities and social interactions. Furthermore, when the parents openly

Ibid. 23

John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington, IN:

Indiana University Press, 1985), 213; Bernard J. Weiss, “Introduction” to American Education and the

European Immigrants: 1840-1940, ed. Bernard J. Weiss (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1982),

xxi. 24

Tamara K. Hareven and John Modell, “Family Patterns,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of American

Ethnic Groups, eds. Stephen Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press

of Harvard University Press, 1980), 345; Kathleen Neils Conzen, “Historical Approaches to the Study of

Rural Ethnic Communities,” in Ethnicity on the Great Plains, ed. Frederick C. Luebke (Lincoln, NE:

University of Nebraska Press, 1980), 4.

181

participated in the various aspects of community life, stress on the family lessened

resulting in less friction than if the children alone came in contact with the larger society.

Marriage was one important aspect of family life that immigrant parents

attempted to control. It is not so much that they tried to choose specific mates for their

children, although this no doubt occurred, but that they stressed the importance of

choosing another Czech as their lifetime mate. Most ethnic groups in the United States

married largely within their own group during the first and most of the second

generation. 25

According to Karel Bicha, “adult members insisted their children marry

within the Czech group.” Bicha goes on to say that “Czech Oklahomans were

conspicuously endogamous for perhaps two generations.” 26

Bicha‟s thesis is a general

application regarding all of Oklahoma‟s Czechs. However, Bicha‟s assertion, when

extrapolated to Prague, does not precisely describe the situation. The early and active

participation of Czechs in the economy of the farming town resulted in social integration,

dalliances of Czechs and non-Czechs, and ultimately exogamous marriages.

By using various sources such as census manuscripts, newspaper announcements,

and cemetery records a sense of the marriage patterns of the Prague Czechs emerges.

The census records show the birthplace of the individual, but also the birthplace of his or

her parents. Thus, it will be relatively easy to determine who are the immigrants and who

are the second-generation ethnics. The third generation will prove tougher to unravel

because both the birthplace of the individual and parents will show up in census records

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 75; Paul H. Elovitz, “Patterns and Costs of Immigration,” in

Immigrant Experiences: Personal Narrative and Psychological Analysis, eds. Paul H. Elovitz and

Charlotte Kahn (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1997), 65. 26

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 60.

182

as being somewhere in the United States. This can be especially taxing for third-

generation females. With third-generation males, of course, most will sport obvious

Czech surnames. When examining undetermined wives shown on census material in the

later years of the study, (1920 and 1930) it may be possible to revert to an earlier census

manuscript and ascertain the birthplace of the grandparents of the individual in question

and thus determine the ethnicity of the wife. However, this can only be possible if the

wife‟s maiden name is obtained. This is where the local newspapers and cemetery

records can be of assistance. All marriage announcements in the Prague newspapers

contained the wife‟s maiden name and many cemetery tombstones also displayed a

woman‟s surname before marriage. Thus, if the couple married in Prague or if their final

resting place was in one of the Prague cemeteries there is a good possibility of

determining the wife‟s maiden name. By knowing the maiden name of the wife of a

Czech immigrant or Czech ethnic, a supposition can be deduced regarding the existence

of endogamous or exogamous marriage within the Czech community.

The 1900 census records show forty-two Czech households in South Creek

Township, location of the future town of Prague. In all of these households save one, at

least one of the married adults listed their birthplace as Bohemia. 27

In thirty-five of the

forty-two households both marriage partners were born in the Czech lands while five

families consisted of a second-generation Czech married to an immigrant. 28

The only

possible exception to this endogamous portrait was Mary Banghain. Mary, a Bohemian

The only non-immigrant household head was Joseph Klabzuba, a twenty-one year old bachelor

and second-generation Czech, born in Kansas. Joseph lived with his nineteen-year old brother, Frank, and

another second-generation Czech, Eddie Kryche. There were also two households headed by single men

and two others headed by widowed heads. However, in all four of these situations the single head‟s

birthplace was Bohemia. See Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek

Township. There were also several Czech families residing in North Creek Township. 28

Four male immigrants married second-generation wives and one immigrant female married a

second-generation husband.

183

immigrant, married George Banghain most likely in Nebraska when she was eighteen and

he around twenty-two. 29

Her husband, George, listed his birthplace as Nebraska and his

parents‟ birthplace as Iowa. Their two daughters were born in Nebraska, with the

youngest being nine years old in 1900. Although it is impossible to state with complete

certainty that Mary‟s husband was not a third-generation Czech, his last name suggests he

was not. Thus, out of the forty-two households containing at least one Czech only the

Banghain family could be considered the result of an exogamous marriage. 30

Does the above analysis support some scholars‟ idea that marriage patterns

remained for the most part within the ethnic group during the first and second

generation? 31

There is little doubt that the early Czech farming community in South

Creek Township consisted overwhelmingly of immigrants marrying immigrants or

immigrants marrying the children of immigrants. However, a closer look reveals that the

situation in 1900 is somewhat inconclusive for any sweeping declarations concerning

endogamous or exogamous proclivities. Nevertheless, it does show the closeness of the

early Czech communities. Czech immigrants definitely looked for a mate within their

group. Of the thirty-five immigrant-to-immigrant marriages, fourteen occurred in

Bohemia before emigration. This reinforces the earlier position that many Czechs came

to the United States in family units rather than as individuals. Furthermore, the twenty-

Nebraska as the couple‟s place of marriage was deduced using the 1900 census records. The

census shows that George and Mary had been married thirteen years. Furthermore, they had a twelve year

old child (Edna) born in Nebraska only a year after their marriage. Finally, George‟s place of birth was

also Nebraska. Thus, it appears likely that Mary migrated to Nebraska (home of a substantial Czech

colony), met George and married him sometime in 1887. Furthermore, Laura, the couple‟s second

daughter was also born in Nebraska in 1891. Therefore, the Banghains did not come to Oklahoma until at

the earliest sometime in 1891 after the birth of their second daughter. I could find no cemetery records

recording the entombment of anyone named “Banghain.” Thus, it was impossible to determine Mary‟s

maiden name. 30

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 31

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 75.

184

one immigrant households who married after arriving in the United States consisted of

many immigrants arriving in the United States at an early age including ten who arrived

before their sixteenth birthday and four aged sixteen to twenty. Most, if not all of these,

likely arrived as a dependent member of an immigrant family and despite claiming

Bohemia as their birthplace had already spent several years in America.

An obvious and simple observation gleaned from the data is that rural Czech

colonies in the Midwest clung strongly together. Most of the early Czech settlers in

South Creek Township listed their birthplace as Nebraska with the others claiming rural

states like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Kansas. These immigrants lived in an environment

where they came into social contact with other Czech immigrants. Thus, despite the fact

that some arrived in the United States at an early age, their families quickly migrated

west and joined close-knit immigrant colonies which practically ensured the marriage of

their children to others within the Czech community. Moreover, only eight married

couples claimed to be married less than ten years. Considering that the first Czechs

arrived in Oklahoma in 1891 with the opening of the Sac and Fox reservation to

settlement, most couples married in the United States exchanged vows before migrating

to the Sooner state. They met, fell in love, and formed a family before moving to

Oklahoma. 32

With the formation of Prague, things changed. During the next thirty years

interaction between the Czech community and the community at large in the economic,

educational, and social spheres resulted in more exogamous marriages. Third-generation

Czechs, those whose grandparents came from Bohemia, displayed little hesitation in

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

185

choosing a non-Czech as their spouse. 33

Through the years the Prague Record contained

numerous marriage announcements covering the nuptials of third-generation Czechs with

non-Czechs. 34

Even three granddaughters of the immigrant pioneer Frank Vlasak

married outside the ethnic group. His oldest son‟s daughters, Marie and Gladys, married

non-Czech men with the surnames Vanhooser and Crute, while his youngest son‟s

daughter, Ednamae, married and divorced Herbert Kilgo of Asher, Oklahoma. 35

Considering that the third-generation descendant and also the parents all grew up in the

United States, it is not surprising that many married outside the ethnic group. This

occurred in most ethnic groups. However, what about the second generation, those born

in the United States of immigrant parents? Did Prague‟s second-generation Czechs

remain endogamous as posited by Bicha in The Czechs in Oklahoma? 36

As already noted, the 1890s Czech farming community contained only six

second-generation families and all married within the group except for one whose head of

household was unmarried at the time of the census. With the creation of Prague more

Czechs as well as non-Czechs streamed to the area until by the 1920s there were about

one hundred Czech families living in the area including thirty-six immigrant-to-

immigrant pairings. 37

Again, by comparing cemetery records and newspaper marriage

See Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township; St.

Wenceslaus Cemetery, Prague Oklahoma; City Cemetery of Prague, Oklahoma; Czech National Cemetery,

Prague Oklahoma; Prague Record; Prague News. 34

For a few examples, see Prague Record, 23 November 1916, 17 February 1926, 14 September

1927, and 8 February 1928. Many other exogamous marriages can be deduced by comparing cemetery

records that included the maiden name of the wife with the census manuscripts to ascertain probable

ethnicity and the generation of the Czech spouse. 35

See Prague City Cemetery and Czech National Cemetery. William Vlasak along with his wife

and daughters, Marie Crute and Gladys Vanhooser are buried in the City Cemetery. Frank Vlasak Jr.‟s

family including Ednamae (Vlasak) Kilgo, are buried in the Czech National Cemetery. The Czech National

Cemetery records contain a paragraph on Ednamae‟s life including her stint as a school teacher in Asher

and her marriage in 1929 to Herbert Kilgo. 36

Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma, 60. 37

Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

186

announcements with the census manuscripts a good depiction of second-generation

Czech marriage practices emerges. The 1920 census contained sixty-nine second-

generation Czech families. Of the sixty-nine households, forty-five married another

Czech. Twenty-six of these forty-five married an immigrant and nineteen partnered with

a fellow second-generation Czech.

However, the remaining twenty-four second-generation Czechs married non-

Czechs. Although these exogamous marriages constitute only about a third of the total

second-generation unions, they are a significant number. Interestingly, eighteen of the

twenty-four exogamous marriages consisted of a female second-generation Czech

marrying outside the group including one Czech farmer‟s daughter, Agnes Sucha, who

married a member of the German community, Max Brauer. Sucha, born in 1903, would

have been a young teenager during America‟s World War I. 38

Apparently the hostility

between the Czech and German communities during this period did not affect her choice

of a lifelong mate.

An examination of cemetery records reveals an additional five exogamous

marriages involving immigrants with three of the five spouses being male Czechs. 39

Added to the twenty-four second-generation exogamous nuptials, the immigrant

marriages bring the total of out-of-group partnerships to twenty-nine. Although

endogamous marriages greatly exceeded exogamous marriages the numbers are

significant and suggests that Czech society was not closed. Marriages uniting Czechs and

Agnes Sucha lived in North Creek Township, directly north of Prague. Her father, Stanley

Sucha, immigrated in 1890 and owned a farm. See Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census

Schedules for North Creek Township. 39

The three male immigrants marrying non-Czechs were: George Sala married Julia Miller, Julius

Bontty married Bertha Hall, and John Simek married Lillian Turner. See Census of Population: 1920,

Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township; See also Prague City Cemetery.

187

non-Czechs were commonplace beginning with the second generation. Thus, it appears

that the dual lifestyle many Czechs pursued, the pragmatic approach wherein Czechs

participated fully in the community of Prague while attempting to maintain their

traditions through the family and fraternal organizations had already begun to break down

by the second generation.

A final note on marriage patterns centers on how some Czech women who

married outside the group continued to claim their ethnic roots. When a man married a

non-Czech his name remained the same. Despite marrying a German or Irish or Anglo

bride he kept his Czech last name. Thus, to his dying breath his name proclaimed his

Czechness; he was an Opela, a Sala, or Jezek no matter the nationality of his wife. Not

so with Czech women. When they married, tradition demanded they change their

surname to reflect their husband‟s. When Alice Babek, a second-generation Czech,

married Cecil Olson she became Mrs. Cecil Olson or simply Alice Olson to her friends

and acquaintances. 40

However, it is enlightening how several Czech women who married

non-Czechs desired a return to their ethnic roots upon death. In the Czech National

Cemetery, which required Czech heritage for burial, rests fourteen graves of Czech

women of this period who married non-Czechs. Their husbands are not buried alongside

them. The women‟s graves stand alone. Each woman‟s married name and Czech maiden

name are etched on the tombstone with only one exception, Ednamae Vlasak who

divorced her husband, Herbert Kilgo. Why these women‟s husbands were not buried

beside them is unclear. Perhaps, the wife died before the husband and he turned the

burial over to her family? Or, perhaps, the husband passed before the wife and she, in her

Alice Babek did marry Cecil Olson and changed her name to Helen Olson. Source: St.

Wenceslaus Catholic Cemetery, Prague, Oklahoma.

188

dotage, decided in favor of a burial with her birth family and ethnic kinsmen rather than

with her in-laws. Or, maybe pride in their heritage prompted these women to ask for

burial in the Czech cemetery upon their death? The true reason is unknown and for each

woman the motive probably differed. Nevertheless, these graves give testament that

some Czech women, of which several were third-generation, continued to consider

themselves as Czech. They held fast to their ethnicity despite going through much of

their life with a non-Czech last name. 41

In addition, there are five married couples‟ graves of Czech women and their non-

Czech spouse (in the Czech National Cemetery). 42

These are worthy of note because in

two instances the non-Czech husband outlived his Czech wife meaning he agreed to

burial in the ethnic cemetery. In the other three cases, the wife outlived her spouse

implying she made the final decision on a burial site. However, two of the non-Czech

husbands passing before their wife were in their seventies when they died and the other,

George Williams, was eighty-one or eighty-two years old. Thus, it is likely that these

couples discussed burial plans before their deaths and agreed on the Czech cemetery as

The fourteen women buried alone in the Czech National Cemetery born during the period of

study were: Ednamae Kilgo (Vlasak), Frances Pruett (Stasta), Libby Spurgeon (Vobornik), Anna Farr

(Provaznik), Madeline Choate (Salda), Marie Supler (Svoboda), Ella Simmons (Cerny), Helen Brown

(Bruza), Ellen Shivers (Bruza), Minnie Emery (Sekera), Violet English (Cerny), Lottie Switzer (Caha),

Rosie Hurley (Kolar), and Mary Frances Darrow (Zbavitel). Source: Czech National Cemetery. Third

generation Czechs were: Ednamae Kilgo (Vlasak), Libby Spurgeon (Vobornik), Ella Simmons (Cerny),

Violet English (Cerny), Mary Frances Darrow (Zbavitel). In addition, Minnie Emery (Sekera), born in

1915, may have been a third-generation Czech. Author could not locate her name on census manuscripts

for verification. See Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek

Township; Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township; Census

of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 42

There are actually more than five non-Czech graves. However, for this study‟s purpose only the

tombs of those born before 1930 were considered.

189

their final resting place. Again, this points out that these women, even though marrying

outside the ethnic group, still identified themselves as Czech. 43

The Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups suggests that “often the decision to

marry in the United States marked the turning point in national identification and created

the first tangible tie to the new land.” 44

Intermarriage affected not only the individual

married couple, but their children, and the entire ethnic group. This appears especially

true when a female married outside the ethnic group. Their children would no longer

keep the mother‟s ethnic surname, but would take their father‟s. It is the descendants of

these offspring who are very susceptible to leaving the distant maternal heritage and

becoming indifferent to their ethnic identity. Richard Alba advanced this idea by positing

that “pervasive intermarriage suggests the emergence of a new ethnic group, one defined

by ancestry from anywhere on the European continent.” 45

Although it is arguable

whether or not over one third of second-generation marriages being exogamous falls

under the adjective “pervasive,” nevertheless it is more than trivial. Furthermore,

exogamy did nothing but increase with succeeding generations. Did these marriages

outside the group result in the emergence of a new group or the disappearance of the old?

Perhaps with some that indeed was the result. However, during this period, many,

including Czech women, clung tenaciously to their identity as Czech Americans

regardless of their last name.

The five couples were: Joe and Helen Tompkins (Leder), Louis and Anna Holman (Smicka),

Joe and Julia Nance (Pantlik), George and Effie Williams (Stastny), and Fred and Emma Pierce (Barta).

Source: Czech National Cemetery. The Prague Record announced the Holman and Smicka wedding. See

Prague Record, 23 November 1916. 44

Paul Robert Magocsi, “Loyalties: Dual and Divided,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of American

Ethnic Groups eds. Stephen Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press

of Harvard University Press, 1980), 676. 45

Richard D. Alba, “The Twilight of Ethnicity among Americans of European Ancestry: The

Case of Italians,” in Ethnicity and Race in the U.S.A.: Toward the Twenty-First Century, ed. Richard D.

Alba (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Pau, 1985), 153.

190

Besides the name, Prague exuded a distinctive Bohemian flavor. The Czech

population, both those residing within the town limits and those in the rural sections did

not isolate themselves from town activities. They were not an exclusive group, shunning

contact with non-Czech members of the population. 46

In this respect, Prague‟s Czechs

appear different from urban ethnic communities where normally the children most readily

accepted the dominant culture. In Prague, adults as well as their children participated in

village events and worked for and befriended non-Czechs. Similar to their experiences in

a European village, the Prague Czechs participated actively in town activities and

organizations. Additionally, friction between the Czech community and the other

residents appears practically nonexistent – at least not until the outbreak of World War

I. 47

As mentioned earlier, nativist ideas and outright hostility towards immigrants

pervaded much of the United States in the early twentieth century. Nevertheless,

Prague‟s Czechs and the non-Czech inhabitants regarded each other with, at the least,

respect and most times friendship. However, many in the Czech community relied

heavily on their fraternal societies or if Catholic, the local parish Church. These

organizations helped the immigrants and their descendants cope with unfamiliar ways

and customs which enabled individual members of the group to succeed not only in

business but on a personal level. The historical western orientation of these Slavs aided

them well after their arrival in the United States. The Dillingham Commission found that

the American Czech population was socially and educationally above other Slavic groups

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 102. 47

Ibid., 97.

191

and almost the equal of German immigrants in education. These attributes assisted the

Czechs well in coping with their new environment. 48

Most of Prague‟s Czechs maintained a keen curiosity in the happenings in

Europe, especially the Czech lands and in other Czech communities in the United States.

At least three Czech-language newspapers enabled the rural community to glean

information about their country of birth and others of their ethnic group in the United

States that their local newspaper might not cover. 49

The primary Czech-language

newspaper read in Prague was Oklahomaske Noviny (Oklahoma News). Published in

Chicago beginning in 1905, the semi-weekly kept the immigrant community apprised of

Czechs throughout the United States as well as happenings in Bohemia. An Oklahoma

farmer could have the paper mailed directly to him and could read about other Czech

farmers in Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, or keep abreast of events in Chicago,

Cleveland, and other urban centers. For example, the October 19, 1905 issue offered a

story about an anti-Habsburg demonstration in Brno, Moravia. 50

The desire to throw off

the yoke of imperial dominance did not begin with Word War I. Another popular paper

published in Chicago was the liberal-bent Hlasatel (The Herald). Similar to Oklahomske

Noviny, Hlasatel evinced a more politically progressive slant on the news and leaned

towards rationalism on matters religious. Although, there is no way of estimating the

number of Lincoln County Czechs who read Oklahomske Novingy or Hlasatel, they were

available and most likely read by some if not many. The official newspaper of the

United States Immigration Commission, Reports of the Immigration Commission 20

(Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1911), 42. 49

Oklahomske Noviny published the itinerary of a speaking tour by a Professor Isky of the

University of Nebraska. Isky visited and spoke in Prague on 1 November 1905. See Oklahomske Noviny,

5 October 1905. 50

Oklahomske Noviny, 19 October 1905.

192

Western Czech Brotherhood Association printed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa was Bratrsky

Vestnik (The Fraternal Bulletin). Its primary purpose centered on informing members of

upcoming events, meetings, and changes in leadership, dues, or benefits. Unfortunately,

despite Prague containing an active lodge, there are no surviving issues of Bratrsky

Vestnik in the Prague Historical Museum or the Oklahoma Historical Society. Thus, it is

impossible to determine how many Prague Czechs received the paper. William Earl

Martin estimated that at least half of Oklahoma County Czechs read Oklahomske Noviny

and the rest read either Hlasatel or Bratrsky Vestnik, with some reading several

publications. 51

It seems reasonable to assume that many Czechs read their lodge‟s

newspaper and other Czech-language periodicals probably on par with their fellow

kinsmen in nearby Oklahoma County.

In 1902, Franklin N. Newhouse, a dedicated Republican, moved his printing

presses from Baxter Springs, Kansas to Oklahoma and began printing the Prague News,

Prague‟s first newspaper. 52

The following year Frank Mullen started a rival paper, the

Prague Patriot, which claimed independence in politics. 53

The papers carried stories

from all over the nation as well as local news and both actively sought to please their

Czech readers with articles about events in the Czech community. Czechs reciprocated

by advertising their businesses and meetings in both newspapers. In 1909, the Prague

Patriot became the Prague Record when Frank Nipper, a newcomer to Prague, bought

the Patriot and changed its name. A few years later, in 1917, Nipper bought out

William Earl Martin, “The Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak in Oklahoma City: A

Study of Culture Contrasts” (M.A. Thesis, University of Oklahoma Press, 1935), 114. 52

Newhouse printed the first issue of the Prague News on July 24, 1902. 53

Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A, Prague (Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper

Printing, Inc., 1978), 42, See also Tower, 46-47. Mullen gave the Patriot to his son-in-law, W.S.

Overstreet, in 1905 who sold the operation to B.S. Edwards. It was Edwards who sold to Nipper.

193

Newhouse‟s Prague News and stopped publishing the rival sheet. 54

In 1919, deciding to

move to Wyoming and begin anew, Nipper sold the Record to two men from Hennessy,

Oklahoma who in turn sold the entire operation in 1920 to Junia Heath Jones. She

returned the newspaper to a Republican tilt and printed the happenings of the small town

for many years. 55

Prague‟s newspapers, like most small town papers in the early twentieth century,

covered all aspects of town life and the surrounding rural community. By reading the

weekly newspaper, one could stay abreast of pretty much every happening in the town.

Looking at a few stories covered by the Prague Record in a sixty day period during 1916

reveals the wide-ranging scope of the newspaper: “Anton Pastusek building an addition

to his house.” Justice Balaun fined a man $16.50 for “hogging the road with his wagon

and not allowing a Ford to pass.” “Outside Paden [about eight miles east of Prague] last

Thursday night, police had gun-fight with crowd of party men. One man shot in side

after he fired his gun. He paid a fine.” “Miss Henrietta Sosensko lost her gold wish-bone

pin last Friday night. Finder please return to Miss Henrietta at the New York Bargain

Store and receive reward.” The papers even published accounts of seemingly ordinary

activities such as, “some Wilzetta [a rural community about six miles northwest of

Prague] people . . . out car riding Friday night,” or “D. Bartek, John Barta, C.M. Sadlo

and several others went to the Canadian [River] Wednesday afternoon on a fishing

party.” 56

The newspapers, especially the Prague Record, reported extensively on the

Franklin Newhouse remained in Prague. His wife, Lillian, became the postmaster in Prague and

Franklin took a job as her assistant. See Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for

South Creek Township. See also Prague Record, 26 April 1917. This issue of the Record details Nipper‟s

buying of the Prague News and his plans to stop publishing the News. 55

William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A.

Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 46-47. 56

Prague Record, 1 June 1916; 20 July 1916; 27 July 1916; 3 August 1916.

194

everyday life of their readers. As seen, a resident could not add on to his house or even

go fishing without the community finding out. When the wife of a prominent Czech, Dr.

John Z. Mraz, died, the Record covered her funeral noting how beloved by the

community the deceased was and that practically the entire town attended. 57

If one

previously assumed that farmers and small town residents rarely left home, they would be

mistaken. Considering only the Czech community, the paper reported trips to various

destinations throughout Oklahoma such as Oklahoma City, Stroud, Guthrie, Bristow, and

Tulsa. Furthermore, Prague‟s Czechs traveled out of state as well on visits and vacations

to nearby states like Texas, Arkansas, and Kansas, but also to more distant destinations

such as Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Oregon, California, and New York. 58

The papers also reported on parties, families visiting other families, and even

when a young single man paid a visit to the home of a young single lady. These social

events and visits, whether friendly or romantic, show Czechs and non-Czechs personally

and voluntarily involved with each other. This is but another example of Prague‟s

Czechs participating in the community and not isolating themselves. The Prague News

and Prague Record contain dozens of examples of Czechs and non-Czechs

fellowshipping including a 1915 note where the Pospisil family (Czech) visited the

Hensley home Sunday evening. 59

Apparently the Sojka family residence (Czech) was a

popular destination because many non-Czech families such as the Emericks, Hammacks,

Prague Record, 25 January 1917. 58

Although the Prague Patriot carried few articles on travel, practically every issue of the Prague

News and Prague Record contained a short note on residents traveling. For a few examples of visits both

within Oklahoma and to other states see Prague News, 16 July 1915; 27 July 1915. See also Prague

Record, 25 May 1911; 8 June 1916; 15 June 1916; 29 June 1916, 6 July 1916; 27 July 1916; 17 May 1917;

28 October 1920; 6 January 1926; 13 January 1926; 17 March 1926; 21 September 1927. 59

Prague News, 3 February 1915.

195

Milligans, and Burnsides stopped there for visits. 60

When young Joe Bartosh (Czech)

“called on Miss Fannie Nix, Tuesday evening” the whole town probably buzzed. 61

However, the relationship did not last as the 1920 census shows the second-generation

Bartosh married to Camellia, also a second-generation Czech. 62

Parties were always

popular events and Czechs enjoyed them as much as the next. When the Burnsides threw

a party the Record listed the guests attending and they included several non-Czechs as

well as Czechs such as the Vlasaks and Sojkas. 63

On Joe Heinzig‟s fourteenth birthday in

1926 his mother gave him a big party serving popcorn and birthday cake to the guests

which included Charlie, Louis, Fanny, and Agnes Opela and Marie and Anna Mae

Simek. Young Heinzig‟s heritage was German. Obviously, the hard feelings of the prior

decade between the German and Czech community were forgotten as this German family

allowed their son to invite his Czech friends to celebrate his birthday. 64

Notwithstanding experiencing great success as farmers, artisans, and in business,

the Czech community also suffered tragedy. One of the worst occurred in the summer of

1916: “Joe Rubac, a prominent Bohemian farmer . . . was run over by a west-bound

passenger train Monday afternoon . . . he died in a short time afterwards.” 65

Apparently,

after disembarking Joe Rubac realized he left his suitcase on the train. He re-entered the

departing locomotive, retrieved his baggage, and then jumped from the moving train

falling underneath. The weight of the passenger car crushed and severed one of his legs.

The fifty-four year old Czech bled to death before some good Samaritans could carry him

Prague Record, 22 June 1916; 27 June 1916; 3 August 1916. 61

Prague Record, 6 July 1916. 62

Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. Joe and

Camellia Bartosh are buried in the Czech National Cemetery. 63

Prague Record, 22 June 1916. 64

Prague Record, 3 February 1926. 65

Prague Record, 20 July 1916.

196

to a doctor. The Czech community and the entire town showered his widow, Anna, with

their condolences and food. The Bohemian Hall of which Rubac was a member paid fifty

dollars to Anna for burial expenses. The fraternal organization paid an additional fifty

dollars to the widow as a death benefit. 66

Rubac‟s widow buried her husband in the

Czech National Cemetery. To thank everyone for their kindness Anna Rubac wrote a

thank-you note, which the Prague Record printed. 67

However, this is not the end of the

story. In the weeks to come, the Record reported various people visiting the widow,

sometimes taking her to their house for a meal. 68

The community made sure Anna Rubac

was not left alone while grieving.

Other than baseball, Prague fielded no other athletic teams during its first decade

of existence. The high school did not play their first varsity football game until 1915

probably because of the amount of time and work most residents invested in building

their homes, businesses, roads, and other infrastructure necessities. This is not to say that

the early residents of Prague did not relax and enjoy themselves. As early as 1904 the

town sported a race track, shooting gallery, and bowling alley. 69

In 1906, Prague added a

roller skating rink for the young and old alike and by the end of 1907, two billiard halls

opened. 70

However, beginning around 1915 the citizens of Prague ventured into other

Bohemian Hall, Financial Accounts Books, 1915-1916. 67

Prague Record, 27 July 1916. 68

Prague Record, 10 August 1916; 17 August 1916; 24 August 1916. 69

For information on race track see Prague Patriot, 17 November, 1904; Dorsey Shooting Gallery

see Prague Patriot, 20 October 1904, Prague News, 7 September 1905; bowling alley mentioned in Prague

Patriot, 17 November 1904. 70

For information on roller skating rink see Prague News, 30 August 1906; Prague contained at

least five pool halls (billiard halls) over the years. See,Prague News, 17 January 1907, 24 January 1907 for

information on the Adams & Sangster Pool Hall; Hooter‟s Billiard Hall opened in the Watts Saloon shortly

after statehood. See Prague News, 21 November 1907. John Urban opened a pool hall in 1916. See

Prague Record, 1 June 1916. Another pool hall operating in 1916 was the Lone Star Pool Parlor. See

Prague Record, 21 December 1916. The Metropolitan Pool Hall first mentioned in 1917. See Prague

Record, 24 November 1917.

197

competitions. The Prague News reported the town organized a tennis team which, like

the baseball nine, challenged nearby towns to matches. And like the baseball club, the

tennis team included adults because the article listed Arthur P. Slover, a bank cashier and

school board official, as one of the team members. 71

George Sadlo, the baseball team‟s

top pitcher, also played tennis. Other members of the tennis squad listed in the article

included men with Anglo names like Fred Miles and Clifford Botts, and a Jewish man,

Ernest Blumenthal. Thus, like the baseball club, the tennis team featured non-Czechs as

well as Czechs. In March 1917, Prague held a town-wide domino tournament which

lasted several days and attracted many contestants, including Czechs. Sam Kolodny, the

Jewish immigrant from Russia and owner of the New York Bargain Store emerged as

champion defeating former mayor, Benjamin Franklin Whitmore, in the final game. 72

Probably the most popular leisure activity in Prague was dancing and the Czech

community‟s Bohemian Hall emerged as the center of the dance craze. Saturday nights

became the unofficial evening for taking a date for several hours of dancing and music

usually featuring local Czech bands such as Bontty‟s Coronet Band or the Prykrill

Orchestra. 73

One of the first bands formed in Prague did so in 1906. The twenty-three

member coronet band chose George Eret, a Czech, as bandmaster and John Davis, a non-

Czech, as business manager – still another example of inter-ethnic cooperation. 74

From

1915 to 1930, practically every edition of Prague‟s newspapers contained an

advertisement promoting a Saturday night dance at the Bohemian Hall. In addition, the

Prague News, 30 July 1915. The 1920 Census lists A.P. Slover‟s age as thirty-eight. Thus, in

1915 Slover would have been at least thirty-two years old. See Census Manuscripts, 1920, South Creek

Township. 72

Prague Record, 22 March 1917. 73

For example, see Prague Record, 27 July 1916; Prague Record; 30 September 1920. 74

Prague News, 22 March 1906.

198

weekly advertisements always stressed that everyone in town was invited. Despite being

held at the Czech‟s fraternal building, any couple paying the cost of admission (fifty

cents before 1920 and seventy-five cents during the 1920s) could come and dance. 75

Although the most common venue for dances, the Bohemian Hall was not the only floor

where one could waltz or practice the foxtrot. In 1917, Agnes Vobornik and Mary

Pastusek held a “Big Social Dance” at the Sokol Hall. The Record reported that about

seventy people attended the young ladies‟ party. 76

The American Legion also held

occasional dances as did the Catholic Church. 77

Besides dancing, the townspeople enjoyed attending live plays. The Methodist

Episcopal Church performed “The Thread of Destiny” at Prague‟s Folly Theater

featuring youth from their church as the cast. 78

The high school drama department staged

several plays with some of the performances also held in the evenings at the Folly

Theater. In 1921, the high school presented “Valentine Vinegar‟s Vaudeville Agency”

before a sold-out audience. Edward Shultz played the lead role and the cast of teenaged

actors included Eddie Klabzuba and Frank Kozak from the Czech community. 79

The

Bohemian Hall sponsored plays as well. In April of 1921, to raise money for Prague‟s

American Legion organization, the Czech fraternal group held a play two nights

running. 80

A few years later, the Bohemian Hall advertised a play in the Record with the

Czech title, “Osel je Osel,” which roughly translates “A Fool is a Fool.” The

advertisement bragged that the performance featured “Home Talent” and that the play

First instance of price increase appeared in Prague Record, 30 September 1920. 76

Prague Record, 18 January 1917. 77

Prague Record, 5 October 1916; 20 March 1920. 78

Prague Record, 23 November 1916. 79

Prague Record, 17 March 1921. 80

Prague Record, 31 March 1921. Later in 1926, the Western Czech Brotherhood also held a

benefit dance to help a Czech invalid‟s family and enable him to buy a wheelchair. See Prague Record, 20

January 1926.

199

would be followed by a dance. Although, the advertisement did not specify the language

of the play, the Czech title was published. Thus, the play was most likely performed in

Czech. 81

Residents of Prague almost certainly flocked to the Folly Theater in 1917 when it

began showing motion pictures on a giant screen. The Savoy Theater, owned in 1921 by

the Lanik brothers (Czechs), competed with the Folly for customers. 82

Besides reporting

on the latest Hollywood movie coming to Prague, the newspaper also carried news about

neighborhood women holding rook and whist parties including who attended. 83

Traveling shows periodically stopped in Prague. Frank Still and his Wild West Show

performed before overflow crowds in July 1915, and the M.L. Clark and Sons Circus

came to town in September of that year. 84

Burk‟s Big Show also arrived in Prague in

1915 and treated the residents to a parade and a rendition of the classic play, “Uncle

Tom‟s Cabin.” 85

The following summer over five thousand people gathered outside

Prague on the Barta farm to watch Tex LaGrene demonstrate a flying machine, an

airplane. 86

Vaudeville came to town in 1916 featuring dancing, singing, and comedy for

three consecutive nights. The Franklin Show set up a giant tent and offered a different

play each night with Vaudeville performed between acts. Adults paid twenty cents and

the children got in for only a dime. 87

Prague held a Big Spring Festival in 1922, featuring

eating contests, music, and a baseball game. Before the big event, the Prague Record

Prague Record, 4 April 1928. The translation of the Czech word “osel” is jackass or donkey.

However, like in English the word many times refers to a fool or someone easily deceived. 82

Prague Record, 3 February 1921. 83

Prague Record, 9 May 1917. 84

For Wild West show, see Prague News, 23 July 1915; For information on circus, see Prague

News, 17 September 1915. 85

Prague News, 9 July 1915. 86

Prague Record, 28 September 1916. 87

Prague Record, 10 August 1916. The three plays performed by the Franklin Show were: “The

Sultan‟s Daughter,” “St. Elmo,” and “Why Lindy Ran Away.”

200

advertised that the Terrible Turk, a professional wrestler, would be in town taking on “all

comers.” 88

However, the ensuing editions of the paper did not report anyone defeating or

even challenging the Terrible Turk. Perhaps, when the young men in town finally got a

glimpse of the Turk, he truly was terrible.

It is impossible to say with any certainty how many, if any, Czechs attended these

town events. It seems beyond reason to suggest they did not. We do know that the air

show which attracted over five thousand was held on the farm land of a Czech, Frank

Barta. In all probability Czechs enjoyed the shows and area happenings as much as their

neighbors.

One community event Prague‟s Czechs loved was the annual Lincoln County

Fair. Each fall, the newspapers listed the yearly ribbon winners and Czechs always fared

well. For several years, Rudolph Pospisil was one of the best riders in the county, while

Franny Walla, whose husband was an active member of the Bohemian Hall, won

numerous first place awards with her canned blackberries and plum jelly. Lydia Sojka

excelled in cake making, especially devil‟s food cake, while Rosie Vana took home

several prizes in tatting (lace work). 89

However, the biggest town event of the year occurred every July fourth.

Festivities began early and lasted all day. The entertainment included music, singing,

speeches, recitations, and contests such as foot races, an apple pie eating contest, a

Prague Record, 1 June 1922. 89

See any Prague newspaper issued in October after the fair for winners. For a good example, see

Prague Record, 12 October 1916.

201

money-grabbing event, fat man‟s race, and various other attractions. Of course food was

plentiful and the celebration normally concluded with a baseball game. 90

Although the early Czech farming community appears to have been somewhat

clannish, there seems little doubt that after the formation of Prague most Czechs, both

young and old, actively participated in community affairs. Similar to the economic

experience, Czechs contributed to social events from playing on the baseball team to

winning ribbons at the county fair. Beginning as early as the second generation, some

Czechs married outside their ethnic group. However, despite choosing a non-Czech

husband or wife, many continued their allegiance to the Czech community. In the social

arena, as in economics, Prague‟s Czechs practiced a pragmatic approach in their

relationships with the larger community. They took part in celebrations and befriended

others outside their own ethnic group. This twin lifestyle quickly led to cultural dualism,

an almost total immersion in the community which resulted in rapid adjustment to the

new American ways and acculturation into the mainstream culture. Nevertheless, some

in the Czech community refused to undergo a full identity change; they refused to turn

completely Yankee.

Still another aspect of the Czechs‟ decision to cooperate with the larger

community concerns education. If these Czechs truly wished to maintain their European

culture they needed to teach their young the ways and language of their forbears. It was

imperative. The following chapter reveals how they indeed attempted to do just this

while continuing to live in two worlds.

Prague News, 2 July 1915. This issue of the News published the entire program for the

upcoming Independence Day celebration and is a good example of the day‟s festivities. Other years

mentioned food and entertainment but did not list specific events. The band performing at Prague‟s

Independence Day celebration in 1916 was Bontty‟s Coronet Band. See Prague Record, 15 June 1916.

202

CHAPTER 8

EDUCATION AND THE CZECH COMMUNITY

Ben Davis, quarterback for Prague High School‟s football team, barked the

signals to the offense in a clear, loud voice that bordered on the musical to many

spectators in the stands. Upon hearing the trigger word, the center snapped the football

into the open, waiting hands of Davis who wheeled to his left and deftly stuck the

football into the midsection of Jim Sala, Prague‟s halfback and leading rusher before the

Seminole defense could tackle him for a loss. Sala tightly cradled the pigskin against his

side with his left arm and followed the other halfback, Frank Kozak, as they charged into

the maelstrom of the Seminole line. Prague‟s linemen on the left side, Paul White and

Charlie Klabzuba, threw their bodies at their husky counterparts desperately trying to

carve an opening in the Seminole defense enabling Sala to speed through. Spotting a

linebacker knifing through the gap, Kozak barreled into the opponent knocking him to the

ground. Jim Sala burst through the opening afforded him by the efforts of his teammates

and sprinted several yards towards the goal line before the Seminole defenders finally

dragged him to the turf. 1

Jim Sala, with the help of his teammates, eventually scored a touchdown in a

winning effort against Seminole High School. Sala, of Czech ancestry, joined two other

1 Paraphrased from a newspaper account. Details of the football game between Prague and

Seminole including a roster of players are found in the Prague Record, 23 September 1920.

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Czechs on Prague High School‟s 1920 fourteen-man football squad. Frank Kozak, whose

Bohemian-born father was the town‟s blacksmith, occupied the other halfback position

and Charlie Klabzuba, a third generation Czech, played left tackle for the Prague eleven.

Klabzuba‟s father and mother, born in Kansas of Bohemian immigrants, ran a general

store in the downtown business district of Prague and owned one of the finer homes in

town. 2 The three Czech football players, Sala, Kozak, and Klabzuba, were born and

raised in the Oklahoma farming community. 3

2 A booklet published in the late 1920s featured photos of Prague‟s finest homes and included the

Joseph J. Klabzuba residence. Prague, Oklahoma: City of Opportunities (n.p.: n.d.), 9. 3 Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

204

Attendance at public school promoted patriotism, cultivated socialization, and,

through peer pressure, enhanced cultural homogeneity. Five days a week, several months

each year children from different socio-economic and religiously diverse backgrounds sat

close to each other at desks or tables and recited the alphabet, repeated the multiplication

tables, and learned about their civic duties as American citizens. During recess, they

played games like tag, hopscotch, jacks, marbles, and red rover. The boys chose a best

buddy and soon the two become blood brothers while the girls hung out in groups of four

or five and talked about how disgusting boys were. By the time the children were no

longer kids but energetic teenagers verging on adulthood, they dressed alike, wore their

hair in a similar fashion, used the same idioms and slang words, and dreamed of the

future. Sometimes, the immediate future included marriage. It was not uncommon,

especially in a small town to choose your mate from someone you grew up with,

someone from your high school. Rarely did a young man exclude as a possible lifetime

partner a cute girl who laughed at his jokes simply because she or her parents claimed as

their birthplace a faraway place called Bohemia. Nor did a young Czech normally find

himself rebuffed by the slender redhead sitting next to him in geometry class because his

last name was Opela or Jezek instead of Smith or Johnson. 4

For ethnic groups, attending public school hastened acculturation or the

“Americanization” of their young. Most immigrants realized the confused look on their

child‟s face after the first day of school would soon disappear as their son or daughter

relaxed in their new surroundings, got acquainted with their classmates, and sadly, over

time became indistinguishable from them.

4 Kraut, The Huddled Masses, 134-137; Peter D. Salins, Assimilation, American Style (New York:

Basic Books, 1997), 7.

205

The first Czechs of Prague understood this all too well and tried to establish a

Czech School for their children. This school was not associated with the parish, but

appears to be simply a brief attempt to form a secular ethnic academy. Unlike their

energetic immersion into the economy of the farm town, many Czech parents in the early

days of Prague wanted their offspring to attend classes taught in Czech. However,

probably due to costs and losing students to the free public school, Prague‟s Czech

School lasted only a short time. Leaders in the ethnic group vainly trying to sustain

Czech as the vernacular in the Bohemian community offered language classes at the

Sokol Hall. Although popular in the beginning, the weekly instruction failed to stanch

the inexorable flood emanating from the public schoolhouse. Czech students wanted to

fit in, wanted acceptance from their peers, wanted to be liked.

Immediately upon formation as a town in 1902, Prague established a public

school district. The tiny wooden school building, which went only through the eighth

grade, at once suffered from overcrowded conditions. 5 After a quick meeting of Z.C.B.J.

officers, the Czech lodge offered Bohemian Hall as a temporary solution. The school

board, chaired by Z.C.B.J. member, Frank Vlasak, accepted the invitation and for over

two years the Bohemian Hall housed Prague‟s public school. 6 Two years later, the

aspiring school district hired Dr. Adolph L. Lincheid, a German immigrant, as

superintendent of Prague Public Schools. 7 With Lincheid‟s guidance the town, in 1909,

established a sixteen-credit high school. However, the school remained housed in a

5 Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County: Oklahoma History (Saline, MI:

McNaughton & Gunn, 1988), 186. 6 Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., Prague (Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper

Printing, Inc., 1978), 68. 7 William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A.

Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 36-37; Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., 67-69.

206

cramped, wooden structure. The first graduating class of nine seniors (seven girls, two

boys) received their diplomas on May 6, 1913. 8 Prague built a permanent eight-room

brick schoolhouse in 1917. Declared unsafe in 1927, the city tore down the top floor of

the building and added a new wing. 9

This short chronology appears to somewhat contradict or at least question the

efforts of Prague‟s Czech community to establish their own school. The Z.C.B.J. Lodge

aided the public school with the use of their building for classes. Furthermore, the

influential Czech immigrant, Frank Vlasak, served as chair of Prague‟s very first Board

of Education. Obviously, not all Czechs worried about the impact of the school on their

children. Some, such as Vlasak, promoted the public school system. Even the largest

fraternal association in the new town supported the fledgling public school. Indeed, as

will be seen, other adult Czechs in the ensuing years loaned their talents to the public

school.

Most scholars of late nineteenth, early twentieth-century immigration agree that

America‟s public schools eroded immigrant culture. Nearly all educators during this time

promoted cultural homogeneity and the virtues of capitalism to their students. 10

Public

school teachers fostered universal literacy and through their efforts solidified English as

8 Prague Times-Herald, 6 August 1987. The members of the first graduating class of Prague High

School were Nora Jenkins, Walter Schoggen, Gertrude Jukes, Mabel Jukes, Mattie Roberts, Alda Heatley,

Beatrice Mansur, Lora Jenkins, and George Sadlo. 9 Prague Historical Society, Prague, the First 100 Years: Prague, Oklahoma 1902-2002 (Rich

Hill, MO: Bell Books, 2001), 53. Children of African Americans attended a separate school. Prague, like

most American towns during this period, practiced segregation of the races. Prague News, 7 September

1905. 10

Michael R. Olneck and Marvin Lazerson, “Education,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of American

Ethnic Groups, eds. Stephen Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press

of Harvard University Press, 1980), 307; Bernard J. Weiss, ed. “Introduction” to American Education and

the European Immigrant: 1840-1940 (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1982), xiii.

207

the dominant language in the United States. They advanced and glorified the idea of the

American Dream where, over time through thrift and hard work, economic success lay

within anyone‟s reach. Another important outcome of public education, and for the most

part unintended, was interethnic and immigrant-native socialization. 11

This invariably led

to friendships and if that friendship involved someone of the opposite sex, possible

romance. To fall in love with someone you first must meet them and spend time together

and the school house placed pubescent teenagers in close proximity.

Leaders of ethnic communities quickly realized the impact of public schools on

their young. Some groups formed private schools, which enabled them to preserve their

religious and cultural heritage. 12

The Jewish and Catholic faiths successfully built and

operated independent, private schools across the United States stressing the doctrines of

their beliefs along with a rigorous academic program. Unlike Jewish centers, which

stressed Jewish culture, Catholic parochial schools focused on religious instruction.

Thus, attending a private Catholic school did not necessarily mean avoiding cultural

decline. Will Herberg‟s work about the mid-twentieth century United States illuminated

this phenomenon, but asserted that by holding onto the religion of their forbears,

individual ethnic members retained something of their heritage, their religion. 13

Although generally accurate regarding future generations of most ethnic groups,

Herberg‟s thesis falters somewhat when transposed onto this small rural Czech

community.

Salins, Assimilation, American Style, 7. 12

Milton M. Gordon, Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National

Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 35. 13

Will Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew: An Essay in American Religious Sociology, rev. ed.

(Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1960), 16.

208

When in the fifteenth century the piercing criticisms of Catholic policies,

especially the selling of indulgences by Czech priest Jan Hus resulted in his execution in

1415, Czechs revolted against the Church. 14

The terrible and bloody conflicts that

followed took on a political cast as well as religious pitting the downtrodden Czechs

against, not only the Roman Church, but also their German agents of war. From earliest

times, national strife intertwined with religious strife. 15

Following the battle-field

victories of the Czech Hussites under their legendary leader, Jan Zizka (1360-1424),

Bohemia proclaimed autonomy from the Catholic Church. For over a century, the

Czechs preserved a wobbly religious independence despite rejoining the Austrian Empire

in the sixteenth century. However, following the 1620 Battle of White Mountain in

which a combined force of Catholics that included troops representing the Holy Roman

Empire, Catholic League, and Spain routed a much smaller Bohemian army, Ferdinand

II, the Holy Roman Emperor, restored Catholicism as the official religion of the Czech

lands. The Catholic field commanders occupied the Bohemian capital of Prague and

ordered all Protestants to reaffirm their faith or leave. Many left. Those who stayed

never forgot. 16

Matthew Spinka, John Hus: A Biography (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968),

130-164; W. N. Schwarze, John Hus: The Martyr of Bohemia (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company,

1915), 68-70, 134-135. 15

Elizabeth Wiskemann, Czechs and Germans: A Study of the Struggle in the Historic Provinces

of Bohemia and Moravia (London: Oxford University Press, 1938), 6-7; Howard Kaminsky, A History of

the Hussite Revolution (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1967), 58-59, 14-141, 369; Rose

Rosicky, A History of Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska (Omaha: Czech Historical Society of Nebraska,

1940), 284. 16

R. W. Seton-Watson, A History of the Czechs and Slovaks (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1943,

rpr. 1965), 113; Wiskemann, Czechs and Germans, 9-10.

209

Upon arrival in the United States, many Czech immigrants abandoned the

Catholic faith forced on their ancestors. 17

Many grasped the theological tenants of the

freethinkers, some joined Protestant sects soon after arrival, others simply left the Church

and concerned themselves with material issues. Unlike other ethnic groups like the Irish

and Poles, Czechs found little refuge in the official religion of their native country. For

many, the Catholic Church acted more as a wedge, splintering the community into two

rival camps. 18

Because of the weakening of the Church, parochial schools struggled in

Czech communities. Non-Catholic Czechs refused to allow their children to attend an

educational institution run by priests and nuns. They much preferred public schools over

parochial schools. 19

The situation in Prague, Oklahoma differed little. Czech immigrants

founded the Catholic Church in Prague. However, they lacked the funds and students to

open a thriving primary school. Instead, like their liberal kinsmen, they sent their

children to the local public school and intensified their efforts of inculcating the Roman

faith through church activities and Catholic clubs. 20

The membership of the Czech community‟s secular associations, the Z.C.B.J.

Lodge and Sokol Hall, apparently understood the destructive impact of public education

on their ethnic culture. They realized and worried that after they were gone their

descendents might one day furrow their brows in incomprehension when hearing the

melodic tones of their ancestor‟s tongue. Thus, in the early days of Prague, immigrants

established a Czech School focused on passing their heritage and especially their beloved

Ernest Zizka, Czech Cultural Contributions (Chicago: Benedictine Abbey Press, 1942), 70;

Karel Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980), 26. 18

Zizka, Czech Cultural Contributions, 48. 19

Bruce Garver, “Czech-American Freethinkers on the Great Plains, 1871-1914,” in Ethnicity on

the Great Plains, ed. Frederick C. Luebke (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1980), 156. 20

William Earl Martin, “The Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak in Oklahoma City: A

Study of Culture Contrasts” (M.A. Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1935), 137.

210

Czech School, early 1900s

native language to their offspring. Unfortunately, the only remaining artifact of Prague‟s

Czech School is an undated photograph with a list of students on the back. The children

in the photo appear to

range from about age

five or six to the early

teens. Interestingly, all

of the oldest students are

female. The oldest male

student looks about nine

or ten years of age, while

the photograph‟s back

row containing eight

female students all appear

older. Comparing the list of student names with cemetery records reveal that birth dates

spanned from 1896 to 1902. Furthermore, only one student (Edward Bartosh) is buried in

the Catholic Cemetery. The Czech National Cemetery contains the remains of eight of

the ten students found in the records. 21

Several of the young scholars identified later

attended Prague High School. For example, Frank Kozak is pictured in the Czech School

photograph. As noted in the opening anecdote, Kozak played halfback for Prague High

School‟s 1920 football squad. 22

How long the school remained open is unknown.

Unfortunately, only ten of the twenty-two students recorded could be found in cemetery records.

Some, no doubt, moved away from Prague before their death. Female students were particularly difficult to

locate in cemetery records unless their tombstone recorded their maiden name. Czech National Cemetery;

Prague City Cemetery; St. Wenceslaus Catholic Cemetery. 22

The original photograph of the Czech School is in the Prague Historical Museum, Prague,

Oklahoma.

Source: Courtesy of Prague Historical Museum

211

However, the school shows an early attempt by members of the Czech community to

inculcate their children with Czech culture. 23

A later attempt to preserve the Czech language centered on the Sokol Lodge. The

gymnastic society offered language instruction at the Sokol Hall in downtown Prague.

Students conjugated Czech verbs, learned the different case endings, and correct

pronunciation as if studying in a medieval-era Bohemian monastery overlooking the

flowing blue water of the Vltava River rather than a rut-filled dirt street called Highway

62. The Sokol Hall‟s language classes continued at irregular intervals for many years. 24

As time progressed, parents stumbled in their efforts to convince their children the

importance of learning the language of a land they only knew through stories and faded

photographs. However, the language did not entirely die out. Young people enjoyed

using Czech words and phrases when telling an off-color joke or insulting someone.

However, the new generation still exuded pride in their heritage. They liked who they

were. They simply wanted to speak English. 25

It is impossible to know with any certainty the range of feelings Czech mothers

and fathers underwent when deciding to send their children to public school. They

understood that instruction would be in English. They understood that their sons and

daughters would study alongside the offspring of native-born Americans. They realized,

No instructional material remains. Thus, the language of instruction cannot be ascertained with

complete certainty. However, since this early school was a definite attempt on the part of the immigrant

community to maintain their heritage, including their language, there is a high probability that classes were

taught in Czech. 24

Interest in Sokol Hall waned during the 1930s, probably due to Depression-era problems. After

World War II, activity resumed but by the early 1970s the organization attracted few members. The town

tore down the Sokol Hall building in 1976 and deeded the land to the American Legion. On paper the

lodge existed until 1992 and then officially disbanded after almost ninety years of existence. The last three

directors were: Jim Pospisil, Frank Sefcik, and Leonard Walenta. Prague Historical Society, Prague, The

First 100 Years: Prague, Oklahoma 1902-2002 (Rich Hill, MO: Bell Books, 2001), 69. 25

Joshua A. Fishman, “Language Maintenance,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic

Groups, eds. Stephan Thernstrom, Ann Orlov, Oscar Handlin (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of

Harvard University Press, 1980), 630; Martin, “Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak,” 145-147.

212

surely, that their children would change as a result. Some, no doubt, believed they could

lessen the influence of the American school with increased participation in Sokol and

Bohemian Hall activities. Others probably recognized the cultural fate of their progeny

and sadly accepted it as a result of their decision to emigrate. Regardless, most Czechs

comprehended the importance of an education for their young. As time progressed, more

and more began sending their children to public school.

Melva Losch Brown, a 1970s resident of Prague, wrote that the Czech pioneers

were well educated. 26

She based her conclusion on interviews with descendents of the

original settlers, not on actual data such as certificates, diplomas, or college degrees. The

Czech immigrants to Prague, with few exceptions, were farmers. 27

Most originated from

small villages in Bohemia and Moravia where toiling in the fields was the future of most

young rather than a college education. This does not mean that Czechs did not value

education; they did. Congress‟s Dillingham Commission found that Czech immigrants

compared closely with German immigrants in literacy and fared much better in the ability

to read and write than other Slavic groups such as the Poles and Slovaks. 28

However, the

first settlers to the Prague area concerned themselves with etching out an existence on the

new land. Planting crops, building fences and barns and a home emerged as their first

priority, not schooling for the young and especially not advanced schooling. This

mindset continued even after the creation of Prague and included the native born and

German immigrants. For several years most students‟ education in the Barta Post Office

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 66. 27

Frank Vlasak appears to be an exception. Vlasak, although owning farm land, operated a

general store in Dent soon after the 1891 land run. He continued his business proclivities after the opening

of Prague by opening a store in the new town. 28

U.S. Immigration Commission, Reports of the Immigration Commission, 12 (Washington, DC:

GPO, 1911), 87. See chapter 2 for specifics of the commission‟s findings.

213

area of Lincoln County and the early days of Prague ended with the eighth-grade

graduation ceremony.

Although probably not “well educated” as surmised by Brown, the early settlers

overwhelmingly arrived literate. The 1900 census for South Creek Township listed only

four adult Czechs (two men and two women) considered uneducated with two of the four

able to read but not write. 29

Thus, only two Czech pioneers could neither read nor write.

However, the ability to speak English reveals a somewhat different picture. Almost two

dozen Czech adults in 1900 revealed to the census taker that they could not converse in

English. This equates to almost a fourth of the total adult Czechs listed on the census.

The number unable to speak English rises slightly when children (excluding infants and

toddlers two years or younger) are included in the total. Although most children spoke

English, the census manuscripts list ten youngsters unable to speak English. However,

these ten dependents came from only three families. Furthermore, nine of the ten non-

English-speaking children belonged to two families, the Pechaceks and Placas, containing

no naturalized members.

Josef and Matilda Pechacek and their six children emigrated from Bohemia in

1897. They either arrived in New York and took a train to Texas or what is more likely

landed in Texas because Matilda gave birth to a seventh child, Vincent, in the Lone Star

state in 1897, the same year of emigration. Sometime after Vincent‟s birth, but by the

end of 1898 at the latest, the family migrated to Oklahoma Territory and purchased a

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

Illiterate is normally defined as someone who can neither read nor write. Thus, if one can read but not

write a better term for that person might be uneducated rather than the offensive term, illiterate. Only two

adult Czechs in 1900 fell under the category “illiterate.”

214

farm in the Czech community of South Creek Township. 30

The Pechaceks either arrived

in the United States with some money or did quite well on their new farm; by 1900, they

owned the property free and clear. Neither Josef nor Matilda could speak English. Their

five oldest children ages fifteen, thirteen, eleven, ten, and seven, attended school for three

months during the preceding year. However, all claimed no ability with the new

language. 31

How they received instruction without an understanding of English is

unclear unless the Pechacek children attended the Czech School. As previously noted,

records of the Czech School vanished over time with the only relic remaining being a

single undated photograph with an incomplete list of student‟s names on the back. No

Pechacek children are on the list. 32

Of the ten children listed on the 1900 census who

could not speak English, five belonged to the Pechacek family. They had been in the

United States less than four years.

The entire Placa family including five sons and a daughter was born in Bohemia.

In 1899, Frances and his wife, Francis, arrived in the United States with their five

youngest children. They came to join their oldest son, Josef, who emigrated two years

earlier. Reunited, the Placas quickly made their way to Oklahoma Territory where they

rented a farm. The four oldest sons aged, twenty-two, eighteen, sixteen, and fourteen,

helped their father and mother work the farm. Only the two youngest children attended

school and this for just two months. Of the eight family members, three claimed on the

Although it is unclear exactly when the family left Texas for Oklahoma Territory, the Pechaceks

lived in Oklahoma Territory in 1898. Josef Pechacek joined the Bohemian Hall in 1898, at that time

located in Dent, Oklahoma; Matilda joined in 1899. See, Bohemian Hall Membership Rolls, 1898 to 1904. 31

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 32

Undated photograph of early Czech School, Prague Historical Society, Prague, Oklahoma. The

Pechacek family is not found on the 1910 census. Bohemian Hall updated their membership records in

1912 and show the name Matilda Pechacek. There is an annotation beside her name, “gone.” Josef

Pechacek is nowhere mentioned on the 1912 membership rolls. See, Bohemian Hall Membership Rolls,

1912.

215

1900 census an ability to speak English, Frances, Josef, and ten-year-old Jaroslav (Jerry).

New to the United States, the Placas became immersed in creating a new home and

obtaining economic viability. Similar to the early settlers, the Placas worked the land as

a unit with the educational needs of the children considered secondary to the crops. The

Placas, with little doubt, spoke their native language on the farm. They most likely

encountered the strange-sounding tongue of the majority only on trips to town for

groceries and supplies. 33

Thus, the addition of four Placa children to the list of non-

English speaking children brings the 1900 census total to nine children unable to speak

English.

The tenth and final Czech youngster listed as not able to speak English was Annie

(Anna) Kaiser. Her situation appears completely different from the Pechaceks and Placas.

Annie, aged fifteen, was the second oldest of six children born to Jan and Anna Kaiser.

Except for her infant sister, Francis, all of Annie‟s siblings spoke English and attended

school at least three months during the previous year. Annie did neither. Additionally,

Annie could not read or write. Her father immigrated to the United States in 1868 at age

fifteen or sixteen. Her mother was also born in Bohemia, however the census taker failed

to record her arrival date. Annie and all her siblings except the youngest (born in

Oklahoma) claimed Wisconsin as their birthplace. As her brothers and sisters attended

school, could read and write, and converse in English while Annie could do none of

these, leads to the assumption that Annie Kaiser was mentally challenged. Furthermore,

Annie is buried in the Czech National Cemetery alongside her mother and father. The

name on the tombstone lists no married name, only her family name. It appears she never

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

216

married. Thus, Annie Kaiser‟s situation differed considerably from the Pechacek and

Placa youths who were recent arrivals from Europe. 34

Unfortunately, the census does not reveal how many children could converse in

both English and Czech. The suspicion is the number would be great. Several families

such as the Kolars, Bartoshs, Terflers, Spevaceks, Mertas, Kroutils, Smikas, and

Novotnys contained at least one parent unable to speak English, usually the mother.

However, in every instance, the children proclaimed an ability to converse in the new

tongue. 35

How did these youngsters communicate with their parent(s)? They obviously

spoke both Czech and English. What this suggests is that many Czech families continued

to speak their native language at home even after most or all members acquired the

facility to speak English.

Ten years later, with the town of Prague now in existence, eight adult Czechs

declared they could not communicate in the English language. 36

By 1920, the number of

non-English speakers in the Czech community fell to three, each of whom was part of the

1910 total. Apparentl,y none of the three learned the language of the United States from

1910 to 1920. The three Czech-only speakers consisted of a married couple aged

seventy-two and sixty-eight and a sixty-seven year old woman (whose husband could

speak English). 37

The 1900 census also tracked school attendance denoting the total number of

months spent in school during the previous year for school-aged youngsters. Generally

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township; Czech

National Cemetery, Prague, Oklahoma. 35

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 36

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township. 37

The three non-English speakers were Elizabeth Petecka, Vaclav and Mary Baestam. Census of

Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

217

speaking, Czech girls spent about six months per year in the classroom and Czech boys

about half that time. Additionally, under the rubric “Trade/Profession” the census lists

most girls‟ occupation as “At School” while beginning around the age of ten or eleven,

Czech boys found themselves quantified as “Farm Laborer.” This undoubtedly shows

that the first priority for most farmers at this time was not an education for their young,

but economic survival. This survival depended on the sons helping the fathers in the

fields as early in their life as possible. As illustrated on the census records, young males

attended school when they could, but if work needed done on the farm, then their sisters

trekked to class without them. 38

Moreover, this data alludes to the patriarchal undertones of Czech family structure

with two distinct possibilities. Czech fathers believed their daughters should not toil in

the hot, sweaty cotton fields alongside them and their brothers. The school attendance

records of girls compared with boys lends credence to this assumption. On many

mornings, the girls washed their hands and faces, brushed their hair, slipped on their

homemade frocks and sauntered off to school. At the same time, their brothers, some as

young as ten, donned overalls, a floppy hat, and slipped a patterned handkerchief into

their back pocket and took their place in the cotton field at the side of their father.

However, a second possibility is that in some families the daughters also provided field

labor during planting and especially harvest time. Once the cotton matured, farmers

rushed to pick the yield as quickly as possible for fear of a sudden thunderstorm that

could flood the fields and ruin the crop. Census data attests that this second scenario is

probably true for some Czech families. In a minority of families, the months attending

school by gender mirrored the other. For example, despite being recorded as a student,

Census of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

218

thirteen-year-old Mary Pechacek attended only three months of classes in 1900; the same

number of months as her older brother, Joseph, cataloged on the census as a farm laborer.

Likewise, in the case of Fannie and Albert Novotny, eighteen-year-old Fannie spent only

a single month in the classroom as did her younger brother, Albert, who the census

denoted as a farm laborer. In these families and others, girls carried the title of student

even if they spent relatively little time at the schoolhouse. Perhaps, the fathers and

American society or at least the census recorder, preferred to think of female adolescents

as students even if actual conditions confirmed a different conclusion. 39

Finally, a glimpse of either economic success or the importance of education to

individual families can be garnered by examining census information. For instance, the

school-aged children of Josef and Mary Leder, Frank and Fannie Provaznik, and Frank

and Terezie Sestak, all attended around six months of school in the year before the

census. This included both males and females. 40

Thus, the economic circumstances of

these families was such that they needed less help from their sons or else these particular

parents valued education to the extent that they somehow circumvented the much needed

and readily available labor supply in order for their young, both boys and girls, to attend

school. The economic situation and ideas about the importance of an education differed

from family to family. Some believed in and wanted their children to attend school

regularly. However, some of these same parents decided the best chance for the family‟s

economic success depended on their children laboring on the farm rather than sitting in a

classroom reading Shakespeare or Hawthorne. Other families probably saw little value in

an education beyond basic reading and math abilities. After all, back in Bohemia, the

Ibid. 40

Ibid.

219

parents of the early settlers were farmers; they were farmers and their children would be

farmers.

The experiences of school-aged children of non-Czech native-born farmers

mirrored the latter Czech scenario much closer than the former. Quite simply, the

offspring of some families attended class on a regular basis while the children in other

families went to school much less. However, a sharp difference observable in native-

born families is that in almost every case both sons and daughters attended the same

amount of school during the year. If the daughters made it to school, their brothers went

with them. This is a marked variance from some Czech families where the brothers

occasionally stayed home and worked on the farm while their sisters studied in school. 41

Later census manuscripts did not enumerate the number of months children

attended school. They simply listed whether or not an individual attended school. Thus,

a detailed comparison between the necessity to stay home and work the farm versus

sending the children off to school is difficult. However, some differences protrude from

the data. In 1900, only two seventeen-year-olds in the Czech farming community

attended school. In both 1910 and 1920, only one young person of Czech heritage in

Prague aged seventeen or younger did not attend school. The 1910 census taker recorded

fourteen-year-old Agnes Martinek as currently not attending classes and in 1920, the

census listed Mary Piter, aged sixteen, as not in school. 42

Why these teenaged-girls left

school is uncertain. Perhaps, a serious illness to either them or a close loved one forced

one or both of them to forgo their education, at least temporarily. Perhaps, the census

taker simply made an error. In the case of Agnes Martinek, her seventy-eight-year-old

Ibid. 42

Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township; Census

of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

220

Catholic father, Vincent Martinek, arrived in the United States in 1863 but still declared

his language as Bohemian rather than English. Vincent owned his home free and clear

and lived, according to the census, on his “own income.” 43

Thus, he may have placed

little faith in the American educational system and might have even envisioned it as a

hindrance to his family‟s religious or ethnic way of life. There is no way of telling for

sure. Of course, the primary reason why so few older teens, regardless of ethnicity,

attended school in 1900 compared with later years is that the early public schools in the

area went only through the eighth grade. Once Prague built a public four-year high

school most town residents took advantage of the opportunity and sent their young to

class.

This was not the case among Czech farm families living in South Creek Township

in 1920. As mentioned, among Czech youths under age eighteen who resided in the

environs of the town, only Mary Piter did not attend any school during the previous

twelve months. However, looking at Czech families dwelling on farms in the outlying

rural areas of the township shows almost a dozen teenagers less than eighteen years of

age not in school. 44

Why the discrepancy? Again, each family faced different obstacles

and problems including economic, social, and sometimes physical illness or injury as

they endeavored to establish a new home in America. Parents needed teenaged children,

both male and female, to help on the farm. Cotton production was labor intensive and to

a farming family, children truly were a blessing not an added hardship.

Agnes Martinek‟s mother was fifty-seven. She married Vincent Martinek at age thirty-four.

The couple had two children, Agnes and an older sister, Esther, aged nineteen. All three women claimed

on the census that they could speak English. Census of Population: 1910, Manuscript Census Schedules

for South Creek Township. 44

Census of Population: 1920, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

221

A hand-written list found in the 1904 school notebook of Ellen Whitmore,

daughter of the town‟s initial mayor, provides the earliest record of Prague‟s students.

Whitmore, a member of the first eighth-grade graduating class of six students, listed

thirty-eight pupils attending the Prague Public School including three Czechs, Mary

Sestak, Joe Leder, and Agnes Martinek. 45

The Sestak and Leder families belonged to the

Bohemian Hall, while the Martineks attended St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church. The

number of Czech students attending public school in 1904 was small. This is doubtless

due to the existence of the Czech School. Why these three families opted for their child

to attend public school over the ethnic school is unclear. Perhaps, distance was a factor.

Maybe the public school required only a short walk from their homes. Cost may have

been an issue. Parents paid no out-of-pocket expenses to send their child to a public

primary or secondary school. However, private schools received no taxpayer funds.

Thus, the expense of the private Czech School may have discouraged some families. 46

Regardless of the reason, the Sestaks, Leders, and Martineks, chose the public school

over the ethnic school. As the years passed, more and more Czech families chose to send

their children to public school. 47

Czech children rarely posed discipline problems at school possibly due to their

ordered homelife. 48

Moreover, some did quite well academically. The Prague Record

lauded Raymond Kolar and Lillian Pastusek as Prague‟s top seventh grade students in

Ellen Whitmore, Ensley Barbour, Leoti Overstreet, Cora Casey, Alma Thomas, and Dora

Newhouse constituted Prague‟s first eighth-grade graduating class in 1904. 46

There are no existing records of the tuition amount of the Czech School. As a private institution

it needed operational funds to buy books and materials and to pay the teacher. Where the money came

from, if not from parents, is uncertain. Author found nothing in the records of the Z.C.B.J. Lodge to

suggest the Bohemian Hall financed the school. 47

Of the three families, Sestaks, Leders, and Martineks, both the Sestaks and Leders were

prominent in the Czech community. However, the Martineks, who were Catholic, appear more sectarian

and less involved. 48

Bicha, Czechs in Oklahoma, 39.

222

English. 49

Frank and Eddie Klabzuba graduated from Prague High School and attended

Creighton University in Nebraska. 50

Eddie Klabzuba later entered Creighton‟s dental

school and earned his license in 1926. Henryetta Bartosh scored well enough on entrance

exams for admittance to nursing school while Oliva Cerny and May Mee Cerveny studied

business in Oklahoma City. 51

George Sadlo, a member of Prague‟s very first graduating

class in 1913, earned a teaching certificate and became a band director. In 1928, his

Cleveland (Oklahoma) High School band won the Oklahoma Class B State

Championship. George and his wife, Emily, later returned to the town of their birth and

taught music at Prague until their retirement. 52

In addition to Sadlo, two other Czech

students graduated and entered the teaching profession during this period. Marie Vlasak

and Clara Cerny taught at Prague‟s grade school during the 1920s. 53

Czechs also competed alongside their non-Czech classmates in the athletic arena

and a few acquired a reputation as outstanding athletes. The high school started a

football program in 1915. 54

In the early years of the football program, Frank Kozak, Jim

Sala, and Charlie Klabzuba were mainstays of the squad. During their four years on the

team, Kozak and the younger Sala manned the backfield as halfbacks for the Red Devils.

During the late 1920s, Wesley Kahanek anchored Prague High School‟s track team with

his specialty being the pole vault. 55

Apparently, nature gifted George Sadlo with many talents. Besides musical

ability Sadlo excelled at track and other sports. In 1913, Sadlo won the Lincoln County

Prague Record, 3 February 1926. 50

Paul White, a non-Czech, attended Creighton with the Klabzubas. The Prague Record reported

the three traveled home together for a visit in 1926; Prague Record 6 January 1926. 51

Prague Record, 6 January 1926; 31 March 1926. 52

Prague Record, 23 May 1928; Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 73. 53

Prague Record, 23 May 1927; 4 June 1928. 54

Prague Record, 27 August 1915; Tower, “A General History,” 38. 55

Prague Record, 14 April 1929.

223

High School pole-vault championship. 56

After graduation he pitched for Prague‟s town

baseball team and traveled to other communities as part of the tennis squad. If Prague

fielded an athletic team, Sadlo participated. 57

Unfortunately for Sadlo, an older man from

nearby Bellemont completely outshined the Czech athlete. While Sadlo was winning

blue ribbons at county track meets, this man was winning gold medals at the Olympics.

As Sadlo struck out batter after batter for the Prague Sluggers, this man scored

touchdowns for the National Football League‟s Canton Bulldogs and hit homeruns for the

New York Giants of baseball‟s Major Leagues. Regardless of Sadlo‟s talent in many

sports, the fleet-footed Sac and Fox Indian born only a few miles outside Prague garnered

all the attention. George Sadlo demonstrated exceptional athletic ability and his exploits

deserve praise. With little doubt, during the second decade of Prague‟s existence, Sadlo

enjoyed the reputation as the town‟s best all-around athlete. But no matter how good he

was, he was no Jim Thorpe.

Rural schools dotted the landscape outside of Prague. These small, often one-

room buildings, attracted the children of farmers living too far from Prague to trek to the

larger school. Most German farmers lived north of Prague and their offspring usually

attended either Center Point or Arlington schools. A few Czech farmers, such as Josef

Cerny, Ernest Sala, Stanley Sucha, Frank and Lewis Bouda, and Antonia Dostalik, owned

land in the Arlington area and sent their children to school with the German youngsters.

Other rural schools near Prague included Red Eagle, Prairie View, and Fairview.

Frequently, these small country schools faced financial hardships and held carnivals and

pie sales to raise money for needed supplies and equipment or repairs to the schoolhouse.

Prague Times Herald, 6 August 1987. 57

George Sadlo graduated high school in 1913, two years before Prague fielded a football squad.

Otherwise, he probably would have excelled in this sport also.

224

Another common practice involved teachers, usually single young women, boarding with

local farmers. In Arlington, George “Grampa” Sala and his wife opened their home to

many dedicated but penniless educators. 58

These schools remained small. In 1947

consolidation began. Prague swallowed several farm schools the very first year including

Fairview, Center Point, Red Eagle, and Bellemont. In 1900 Lincoln County contained

one hundred and eighty-four schools with most being very small. A hundred years later,

in 2000, the count dropped to nine. 59

In education, Catholic and secular liberal Czechs refused to cooperate. Some in

the Czech community attempted operating a Czech School. However, with only one

student positively identified as Catholic, it appears that most Catholic Czechs eschewed

the ethnic school. When Prague opened a public school, some leaders in the Czech

community, such as Frank Vlasak, heartily endorsed the free public school system from

the outset. As time went on, more and more Czechs began sending their children to the

town‟s school. However, they continued in their attempts to preserve their culture,

especially their language, through classes held at the Sokol Hall. In addition, Prague‟s

Czechs rejected a passive approach to their children‟s education. They encouraged the

public school to recognize the special needs of their young, primarily the celebration and

preservation of Czech culture. The decentralized structure of these small town schools

left them open to ethnic pressures and many times ethnic groups successfully lobbied for

Prague Historical Society, Prague, the First 100 Years, 47. Other farming families mentioned

as supplying living quarters for young teachers were the Eddy Hillmans, Jerry Nelsons, and Blant

Southerns. 59

Ibid., 47-53; Czech farmers living in Arlington area found in Census of Population: 1900,

Census Manuscripts Schedules for North Creek Township.

225

favors they might not obtain in a larger, highly bureaucratized system. 60

For example,

the public school in Milligan, Nebraska, where Czechs dominated numerically, offered

the Czech language as a course in their high school. 61

In Prague, Czechs focused on the

arts, specifically music and dance. George and Emily Sadlo taught music to all grades

with George offering violin lessons on the side. The talented George Eret, Prague‟s first

bandmaster, gave lessons to Prague students on various stringed instruments. 62

Prague

Public School instructed its students in the Czech Beseda (circle) dance and formed a

Beseda Dance Team that traveled in 1932 to teachers‟ meetings in Tulsa and Oklahoma

City to perform their routine in traditional Bohemian dress. The Beseda dancers included

several students from outside the Czech population, such as Albert Brown, Clarence

Fennel, Olene Roberts, Kathryn Forth, and Robert Slover. 63

Obviously non-Czech

students enjoyed Czech dances, too.

Once Czech families decided to send their children to public school they

attempted to exert some control over the situation through active participation. This

proved especially successful in the arts. Their rural environment and minority

demographic circumstances plus the refusal of the secular, Protestant, and Catholic

segments to cooperate and form a unified private or parochial school left the public

school as the best option for education. The Czech community simply refused to unite

Olnek and Lazerson, “Education,” 307. Victor Greene also writes about how Czechs valued

public schools and in some instances actually used state universities to help preserve their culture. Victor

Greene, “Ethnic Confrontations with State Universities, 1860-1920,” in American Education and the

European Immigrant: 1840-1940, ed. Bernard J. Weiss (Urbana, IL: University ofIllinois Press, 1982),

199. 61

Robert Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village: A Study of Social Persistence and

Change (New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1933, repr. ed., 1970), 63. 62

Brown, Czech-Town, U.S.A., 73. 63

Prague Historical Society, Prague, the First 100 Years, 45. Czech students identified as part of

the Besdea Dance Team were: Eddie, Ernest, and Helen Sestak, Rose and Raymond Svoboda, Emily

Bruza, John Sefcik, Marie Pospisil, Emil Kucera, Helen Soukup, Rose Vobornik, Elba Cerney, and Henry

Womastek.

226

because of the religious split. The religious situation of Czech immigrants differed

drastically from other ethnic groups. Rather than a primary ingredient of their culture,

religion many times served as a source of disagreement if not downright enmity. Finally,

Czechs actively involved themselves in practically all community organizations and

events. Prague‟s Czechs participated in civic affairs including the town band, volunteer

fire department, and served on various town committees. It is to this final area that we

now turn.

227

CHAPTER 9

POLITICS AND COMMUNITY LIFE IN PRAGUE

Charles Vobornik probably slept little the night of the election. Although backed

by the Bohemian Political Association, Vobornik faced a tough competitor for town

treasurer in fellow businessman, Jacob Mertes. Mertes, a German immigrant, operated a

thriving hardware store on the west side of Broadway Avenue not too far from

Vobornik‟s Meat Market on Main and Broadway. 1 The two Czechs already holding

office in Prague, Frank Vlasak and Anton Pastusek, supported Vobornik but as with any

office seeker, the candidate felt uneasy. Similar to most residents of Prague, he liked

Mertes but still hoped to receive more votes than the affable hardware dealer.

Fortunately, neither Vobornik nor Mertes had to wait long. By the following day it was

clear that Prague‟s next treasurer would be Charles Vobornik. In a landslide victory, the

Czech immigrant defeated the German immigrant by 106 votes. For the upcoming year,

1907, of the eight town officials three would be Czech. 2

Earlier chapters demonstrated the rapid acculturation and accompanying marital

assimilation of Prague‟s Czechs with the larger society. The frontier beginning, rural

1 The Prague News, 7 June 1906 listed the location of the Mertes and Heatley Store as being on

the west side of Broadway Avenue. In November, 1906 the Prague News placed Vobornik and Kinsey

Meat Market at the corner of Main and Broadway. 2 Paraphrased from stories found in Prague News, 9 May 1907; Russell Willford Lynch, “Czech

Farmers in Oklahoma: A Comparative Study of the Stability of a Czech Farm Group in Lincoln County

Oklahoma, and the Factors Relating to its Stability,” Bulletin of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical

College (Stillwater, OK: Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College) 39, (June 1942): 103; and

Melva Losch Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., Prague (Kolache-Ville) Oklahoma (Norman: Hooper Printing,

Inc., 1978), 137-138.

228

characteristics and demographic situation of the farming town of Prague hastened the

conversion of many Czechs, including the first generation, from “outsider” to respected

resident. Indeed with the inception of Prague the minority Czech population participated

in every facet of the community. Paramount in this transition was the apparent absence

of prejudice and discrimination from the very beginning against Czech newcomers by

native-born Americans. This chapter reveals a public involvement in the affairs of the

town by ethnic Czechs. Czechs were joiners; they liked being engaged. Not only was

this true regarding their fraternal associations but also their participation also overlapped

into the community‟s civic lodges and local politics. Finally, it appears these small-town

ethnics assimilated into the larger society much quicker than their kinsmen living in

urban areas such as Chicago and Cleveland or those who made their homes in fairly

homogenous rural settlements across the Midwest. From the town‟s inception, in 1902,

many Czechs made the decision to accept their new environment and actively take part in

it. Furthermore, participation in civic institutions began earlier than the second and third

generations; some of the early town leaders such as Frank Vlasak, A.G. Balaun, and

Anton Pastusek were immigrants. 3

With a membership of almost fifty, Prague‟s Bohemian Political Association

promoted the election of good candidates; good candidates normally translating to good

Czech candidates. Chaired by the ubiquitous Frank Vlasak, the organization declared no

allegiance to a specific political party, but, instead, searched for and backed anyone they

believed good for the town. 4 Considering the party allegiance of most Czechs in Prague,

the evidence is sketchy at best. With the Bohemian Political Association declaring

3 Census Of Population: 1900, Manuscript Census Schedules for South Creek Township.

4 Brown, Czech-Town U.S.A., 138.

229

partisan neutrality, one cannot simply state that all or even most Czechs belonged to a

specific political party. Perhaps, a look at other Czech communities will provide hints as

to political affiliation. Robert Kutak, in his study of Milligan, Nebraska, concluded that

early twentieth-century Czechs overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates, chiefly

due to their loyalty and affection for their favorite son, William Jennings Bryan. 5 Rose

Rosicky agreed with Kutak that a majority of Czechs leaned Democratic. However, she

leavened her analysis somewhat by pointing out that the leading Czech (and freethought)

weekly of the Great Plains region, Progress of the West (Pokrok Zapadu), consistently

backed the Republican Party and must have influenced many new citizens unsure about

politics. 6 In addition, Emily Balch argued that because the first migration of Czechs

arrived in the United States earlier than other Slavs, many before or shortly after the Civil

War, the Republican Party‟s anti-slavery stance attracted them. However, later arrivals,

especially those settling in urban areas, favored the Democrats. Nonetheless, rural areas

remained in the Republican fold. 7 Joseph Chada, in his Czechs in the United States,

posited that most Czechs liked the progressive policies and style of Republican Theodore

Roosevelt but due to World War I and Woodrow Wilson‟s support for the creation of

Czechoslovakia, many switched allegiances to the Democratic Party. 8

Besides the two major American political parties, socialism also attracted Czechs.

Devout freethinkers especially tended to advocate the overthrow of the capitalist system.

5 Robert Kutak, The Story of a Bohemian-American Village: A Study of Social Persistence and

Change (New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1933, repr. ed., 1970), 31-32, 35. 6 Rose Rosicky, A History of Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska (Omaha: Czech Historical Society

of Nebraska, 1929), 444. 7 Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York: Charities Publication Committee, 1910),

394. 8 Joseph Chada, The Czechs in the United States (Chicago: Czechoslovak Society of Art and

Sciences, 1981), 33-34.

230

However, even among freethinkers, socialist ideas remained in the minority. 9 Thus, it

appears Czechs, like most Americans, supported whichever party they believed best

represented their views. Urban residents inclined towards the Democratic Party while

rural folks split their allegiance and see-sawed back and forth depending on the candidate

and circumstances. Nevertheless, Prague boasted two very successful Czech candidates

during this period, A.J. Balaun and Jake Zabloudil – both Republicans. Balaun, a

member of the local Z.C.B.J., served for many years as Justice of the Peace in Prague,

holding court for minor offenses and citing the marriage vows for numerous young

couples. Zabloudil, originally from Nebraska, worked at the State Bank of Prague until

winning election as a Republican to the state legislature in 1915. 10

Populism, a grassroots movement focusing on the dreary plight of farmers, also

attracted many Oklahoma farmers and those living in rural towns and exerted a powerful

voice for progressivism in territorial and later in state and local politics during the 1890s

and the first two decades of the twentieth century. In 1904, the Prague News reported

that spokesmen for the Peoples Party (or Populist Party) were in town holding meetings

and campaigning hard for their candidates. 11

Although amazingly silent on the affiliation

of most city officers, the newspaper did list A. F. Wood, the town‟s police judge in 1904

and 1905, as a Progressive. 12

9 Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, 392-393; Bruce Garver “Czech-American Freethinkers on the

Great Plains, 1871-1914,” in Ethnicity on the Great Plains, ed. Frederick C. Luebke (Lincoln, NE:

University of Nebraska Press, 1980), 148, puts the number of Czech freethinkers at about one in six. Vera

Laska‟s fact book, The Czechs in America: 1633-1977: A Chronology & Fact Book (Dobbs Ferry, NY:

Oceana Publications, 1978), 53, claims Cleveland as the hotbed of Czech socialism. 10

Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County: Oklahom History (Saline, MI:

McNaughton & Gunn, 1988), 404-405; Prague Record, 6 July 1916. 11

Prague News, 1 September 1904. 12

Prague News, 4 May 1905; The Prague News, 10 May 1906 reported in 1906 that James

Harris defeated A. F. Wood for Police Judge by 6 votes. Neither was Czech.

231

When comparing the political participation of urban and rural Czech

communities, Ernest Zizka, author of Cultural Contributions, wrote that “[t]he rural

communities were somewhat retarded, however, when compared with the development of

Czech communities in the large cities of America in which its denizens achieved

responsible positions in public, professional, and commercial life and in the trades.” 13

Although Zizka‟s conclusion may hold much truth regarding many rural communities,

the situation in Prague offers another scenario. The Bohemian Political Association came

into being soon after the establishment of Prague and within four years, three of the eight

town officers were Czech. 14

Keep in mind that from the town‟s birth Czechs never

enjoyed a majority; they constituted about 30 percent of the total population during this

period. Thus, to have control of almost half of the town positions suggests that non-

Czech residents showed no hesitation in voting for someone with a Slavic name. These

local political victories also hint that Czechs voted as a bloc. If a Czech ran for office,

most in the Czech community most likely cast their ballots for fellow Czech. Prague‟s

Czech population historically stuck together. Regardless of the correct scenario, from the

very beginning, Czechs actively involved themselves in affairs of the town. They served

on the city council and held positions from town treasurer to mayor. 15

However, Czech

candidates were not always successful. The popular Frank Vlasak lost his town council

seat in 1917 to the local photographer, William Shumate. 16

Nine years later, Jim Farley,

a local barber, bested his Czech opponent, Joseph J. Klabzuba, in another city council

Ernest Zizka, Cultural Contributions (Chicago: Benedictine Abbey Press, 1942), 100. 14

Prague News, 10 May 1906. The Bohemian Political Association remained active until after

World War II. Prague‟s Czechs became especially incensed after the Munich Conference in 1938 and

Hitler‟s takeover of Czechoslovakia. The Tulsa Tribune, 20 March 1939 reported that both of Prague‟s

fraternal organizations, the Z.C.B.J. and Sokol, sent letters of protest to Great Britain. 15

Lynch, “Czech Farmers in Oklahoma,” 103. 16

Prague Record, 5 April 1917.

232

race by twenty-eight votes. 17

Thus, despite being a powerful voice in the town‟s political

matters, the Bohemian Political Association was not a monolith; it was nowhere close to

being a small-town reproduction of a big-city machine.

In addition to politics, Czechs energetically participated in civic lodges. Along

with the Bohemian and Sokol Halls, the town of Prague hosted local chapters of the

Masons, Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, ODD Fellows, Lions Club, and the

American Legion. 18

Many Czechs joined these non-ethnic organizations, especially the

Masons and Knights of Pythias. Over the years, the Prague weeklies splattered

Bohemian surnames such as Bontty, Balaun, Svoboda, Jezek, Cerny, Leder, Vlasak, and

Sojka when listing the officers of these lodges. 19

In April 1927, Prague business leaders

established a Chamber of Commerce to encourage and assist economic concerns. 20

The

group held their early meetings at Sokol Hall with Charles Klabzuba, proprietor of the

Reliable Chevrolet dealership, serving as secretary-treasurer. 21

Other Czech businessmen

in the Chamber of Commerce included John Stoklasa, co-owner with his brother of The

Boston Store, one of Prague‟s busiest general stores. Stoklasa served on the Business and

Trade Committee while another retailer, Joseph J. Klabzuba worked with the Roads and

Highway Improvement Committee lobbying both county and state governments for better

transportation infrastructure. 22

Prague‟s Chamber of Commerce also listed Frank

Prague Record, 7 April 1926. 18

The Prague News, 27 July 1915, included a directory of the local lodges. 19

A few examples can be seen in Prague Record, 27 July 1915; 1 June 1916; 6 July 1916; 23

November 1916; 23 September 1920; 13 January 1926. Czechs prided themselves on their lodge

associations and many times etched their membership on their tombstone. This is especially true of those

belonging to the Masonic order. 20

Prague Record, 27 April 1927. 21

Prague Record, 27 April 1927; 31 August 1927. W.H. Hartman was the Chamber‟s first

president and George Jepsen, a cotton buyer and part-owner of the Union Cotton Oil Company and Jepsen

Gin Company, the first vice-president. 22

Prague Record, 25 May 1927.

233

Svoboda, Steve Kanak, Charles Babek, and Joe Stoklasa as members during the decade

of the 1920s. 23

The Ku Klux Klan, a not-so-civic lodge held meetings someplace around Prague

in the early 1920s. The re-emergence of the Reconstruction era terrorist group swept into

Oklahoma after World War I. Fueled by fears of communism and radicalism, many

white rural residents panicked at the influx of Catholic and Jewish immigrants from what

they saw as the backward parts of Europe. In addition, whites became alarmed at the

perceived black defiance to the social order as witnessed in the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.

The earliest mention of the white supremacy group‟s activities in the area occurred on the

eighth of June, 1922 in the Prague Record. In a short article the paper described how

two clansmen in full regalia visited a local Methodist church at the end of the service and

handed the preacher a note and $38.50. 24

The following week Prague‟s paper included a

rumor “that an order of the Ku Klux Klan was organized last week.” 25

Every edition of

the Record during July and August of 1922 contained at least one article covering the

activities or beliefs of the organization. The Klan again visited a church in September.

Several clansmen dressed in fluid white robes and slitted hoods interrupted Reverend

William McElvany of the Methodist church during a revival meeting. The group

marched down the narrow aisle of the small auditorium and ceremoniously offered the

minister an undisclosed amount of money, which he accepted. The clansmen then

promptly left. This story in no way should be viewed as disparaging of the Methodist

cleric. A minister accepting a donation from hooded armed men does not equate with

Prague Chamber of Commerce, Prague, Oklahoma: City of Opportunities (n.p.: n.d.), 32-34,

37-39. 24

Prague Record, 8 June 1922. 25

Prague Record, 15 June 1922.

234

agreeing with them. We do not know Reverend McElvany‟s racial beliefs. In addition, if

the evangelist refused the proffered money he risked open confrontation or the chance

that the unknown men might drag him from his bed one night and whip him in front of

his neighbors and family. Few whites brazenly defied the Klan. Reverend McElvany

appears no different. 26

Did Czechs join the Ku Klux Klan? Although impossible to state with complete

certainty, one would hardly think so. The Klan despised immigrants, specifically those

from southern and eastern Europe. For a Czech immigrant or even second-generation

ethnic to enlist in a group that detested their very origin seems foolish. If evidence ever

did come to light proving Klan membership of someone in the Czech community during

this time, it would be the ultimate evidence of total and complete assimilation. The

proposition sounds absurd at its very core. Apparently, interest in the secret organization

eventually withered because Prague‟s newspaper reported no more episodes of Klan

activity after the fall of 1922. Whether for lack of support or the community‟s strict

observance of Oklahoma‟s Jim Crow laws, activities of the hooded band either dissipated

or went unmentioned. Finally, absolutely no Klan violence against anyone in the Czech

community surfaced in the pages of Prague‟s newspaper, in Russell Lynch‟s study of the

farming community, or in the two general works on the town. No immigrants suffered

lynching, beatings, or any other degradation at the hands of the most prominent home-

grown terrorist organization in the United States.

Historically, Czech and musician were almost synonyms. Czechs prided

themselves on their prowess with musical instruments and the old Bohemian saying, “co

Prague Record, 7 September 1922; See James Lowell Showalter, “Payne County and the

Hooded Klan, 1921-1924” (Ph.D. diss., Oklahoma State University, 2000).

235

cech, to muzikant” (if a Czech, then a musician) contained much truth. Of course, during

the first decades of the twentieth century, television was unheard of and radio did not air

until the 1920s and even then only in metropolitan areas for a few hours per day.

Residents of small towns relied on silent motion pictures (until 1927 and the advent of

“talkies”) and traveling troupes offering plays, burlesque, and vaudeville. Most

entertainment in rural communities originated locally. School plays, concerts, and sports

attracted large audiences. Traveling Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian evangelists

erected huge tents and held emotion-packed services nightly for two or three weeks to

overflowing crowds before moving to the next town. 27

Rural as well as town folk

attended the worship meetings enjoying the foot-tapping music and singing as much as

the fire-and-brimstone sermons. Revivals, although not overtly meant to be, took on an

air of entertainment featuring local musicians and singing groups. Czechs attended these

open-air services. Czech groups like the Makovsky Band played and sang sacred songs

prior to the itinerant preacher expounding upon the genetic legacy of original sin or

denouncing rebellious transgressions like gambling, alcohol abuse, and lust. 28

These

religious meetings were as much social gatherings as attempts to birth still another Great

Awakening.

Besides sacred music, Czechs enjoyed playing and singing secular tunes. While

researching his thesis, William Earl Martin visited several Czech homes in Oklahoma

Most revival announcements and short articles appeared in Prague‟s newspapers during the

summer months of the second and third decades of the town. For examples see Prague Record, 1 June

1916; 1 July 1927. In 1927 Prague‟s churches held a “Union Revival” throughout the summer. Today this

event probably would be called a non-denominational or inter-denominational meeting. It should be noted

that although filled with emotion, these revivals were not Pentecostal in the modern-day sense of the word;

they were led by Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians. The Charismatic or tongue‟s movement did not

start until 1906 in California. It only slowly made its way eastward. Prague‟s first Pentecostal Holiness

Church did not open its doors until 1945. The first Assembly of God building was erected in 1947. Brown,

Czech-town U.S.A., 124-125. 28

Prague Record, 6 July 1916.

236

City in 1933 and 1934. Martin found musical instruments in practically every home he

visited and the residents willing to show off their talent with the violin, piano, or horn. 29

Prague‟s Czechs probably differed little from their western neighbors. Shortly after

incorporation, Prague formed a town band. George Eret, a Czech, accepted the position

as band leader and for the next thirty years members of the Czech community actively

and, no doubt, energetically played at town events like Independence Day, Decoration

Day, and the Washington and Lincoln birthday celebrations. 30

In 1929, residents

organized a Municipal Band and again chose a Czech as its leader. Julius Bontty met

with band members every Tuesday and

Thursday evening at the Sokol Hall for

practice. The twenty-member ensemble

included both Czechs and non-Czechs

and, like the earlier town band, entertained

Prague‟s residents at most community

events. 31

Public safety was always a

concern in the frontier town. An out-of-

control fire could quickly devastate the

brick and wood buildings that lined Main Street. In the early days of Prague, anyone

physically able helped put out fires. During scorching, dry summer months fires could

William Earl Martin, “The Cultural Assimilation of the Czechoslovak in Oklahoma City: A

Study of Culture Contrasts” (M.A. Thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1935), 167. 30

A Czech did not always lead the band. Ludie Johnston directed Prague‟s twenty-four member

town band in 1926 which included the following Czechs: Eddie Bartosh, Joe Lanik, Elmer Sojka, Lada

Kucera, Billie Kanak, Alfred Spaniel, and Julius Bontty. Prague Record, 22 September 1926. 31

Prague Chamber of Commerce, “City of Opportunities,” 23. Other Czechs on the 1929

Municipal Band included Charles Suva, Jake Simek, Frank Navrah, Charles Jezek, and Frank Sleva. The

article did not mention specific instruments played.

237

quickly spread out of control so anyone in close proximity to the blaze lent their brawn.

Real horsepower provided impetus for the fire trucks while the pumps and hoses relied on

sheer human muscle. When a fire broke out, anybody in the vicinity rushed to the scene

and assisted the hot and smudgy effort. By the 1920s, however, the town of Prague

owned a motorized fire truck with a gasoline-powered pump. Similar to practically every

community organization or activity, Czechs eagerly became involved. At least two

Czechs served on the fire department with Charles Babek holding the position of assistant

fire chief during the 1920s. 32

There were no Andrew Carnegies or John Rockefellers or Cornelius Vanderbilts

in Prague, Oklahoma. Thus, the small farming town did not contain the wealth of a big

city. Primary industries revolved around the production of cotton. The only

manufacturing ventures attempted proved to be a short-lived effort by a blind Czech

immigrant, Frank Mastena, who produced and sold brooms and the Oklahoma Cigar

Manufacturing Company, managed by another Czech, J. Hajek. The cigar factory

employed between ten and fifteen people. 33

Possibly the most successful business

enterprise, and one that was neither owned nor operated by Czechs, was the Union Cotton

Oil Company. It attracted investors from as far away as Chicago. George Jepsen

managed and owned a share of the operation with additional financial backing provided

by Bertha Ambrister, a wealthy widow, and several out-of-town investors including one

from Chicago. However, when the price of cotton dropped after World War I and a boll

Ibid. The other Czech member of the fire department was August Bartosh. Both Bartosh and

Babek belonged to the Catholic Church. 33

Prague Record, 8 February 1917; Prague News, 15 March 1906. The newspaper listed the

partners of the cigar factory as J. Hajek, A. J. Balaun, Wes Wostichil, and Mr. Halousek.

238

weevil epidemic in the late 1920s bankrupted many farmers, the profits of the cotton oil

mill dropped precipitously. 34

Despite the absence of colossal wealth, community and business leaders emerged

in the central Oklahoma town, most of the time the two being one and the same. As

noted earlier, from its inception Czechs participated in every facet of the town. From

establishing businesses to serving on the school board to running for and holding public

office, Czechs comprised an integral part of the community. Furthermore, with time and

new generations their degree of contribution suffered no decline. In its 1920s

promotional booklet, “City of Opportunities,” Prague published photographs of homes of

its leading citizens and short biographies of successful merchants and the principal

educational and civic officials. Sandwiched between photographs of impressive rock,

brick or painted frame dwellings owned by families with names like Long, Wilson,

Whitmore, and Duncan are pictures of spacious and well-kept Czech residences owned

by the Klabzubas, Bonttys, Kanaks, and Kolars. Also pictured was the Barta Hotel. The

last few pages of the booklet contained snapshots and biographies of almost fifty

religious, business, and civic leaders. The eleven-page section showcased ten prominent

Czechs. 35

Czechs showed no hesitation in joining community affairs. Members of the

immigrant community occupied civic and political positions in the town ranging from

municipal band leader to assistant fire chief to state representative. However, to gain a

better understanding of Prague‟s Czechs, the situation of Czech populations in other

William Ray Tower, “A General History of the Town of Prague, Oklahoma, 1902-1948” (M.A.

Thesis, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1948), 50. 35

Prague Chamber of Commerce, “City of Opportunities,” 30-40. The ten Czechs featured in the

booklet were: Charles Klabzuba, Frank Svoboda, Frank Zajic, C. M. Sadlo, Steve Kanak, Julius Bonty,

Charles Babek, Joe Stoklasa, Charles Jezek, and Frank Jezek.

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regions of the United States needs exploration. An examination of civic participation of

immigrants living in urban areas and rural communities like Milligan, Nebraska whose

population consisted overwhelmingly of Czechs should provide a better understanding

and assessment of what was going on in Prague.

In urban areas, immigrants arriving shortly before or shortly after the turn of the

twentieth century lived in the least expensive housing usually close to their place of

employment. Oftentimes immigrants from the same geographic region or village

clustered together in ethnic neighborhoods and formed tight-knit communities that might

constitute a city block or only a high-rise tenement. However, rarely did a single ethnic

group reside exclusively in a single neighborhood. They usually shared their living area

with at least one other ethnic group but normally did not socialize with them. For

example, in The Huddled Masses, Alan Kraut writes that “on New York‟s Lower East

Side, Jews and Italians shared the neighborhood, but each group held domain over

particular blocks. Thus, different groups could live in close geographical proximity and

yet be socially isolated.” 36

Czechs living in New York, Cleveland, Chicago, or other

urban centers realized the same fate. Most worked long hours doing factory work or

some other menial job and spent much of their down time in the local saloon, Bohemian

Hall, or if still loyal to their faith, in a church pew. With only a few exceptions did they

pursue political careers or gain notoriety as city leaders.

Furthermore, even if they wished for and pursued a greater role in their city, anti-

immigrant feelings by the native-born majority or the negative reactions of an already

entrenched group like the Irish rebuffed their efforts. Urban Czechs, like most “new

Alan M. Kraut, The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921

(Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1986), 117.

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immigrants,” suffered from a lack of acceptance by the majority population. Most of

these immigrants retreated to the security of their homes, lodges, or local saloon after a

hard day at the factory. Many, long after their arrival, remained psychologically isolated

to the point of loneliness. 37

They were in the United States but not truly a part of it. It

fell to their children and grandchildren to incorporate fully the values, culture, and

economic mindset of the new land.

A relatively homogenous rural village like Milligan, Nebraska offers yet another

look at a Czech community. In The Story of a Bohemian-American Village, Robert

Kutak examined the social structure and change from about 1890 to 1930. Established in

early 1888, the village of Milligan, much like Prague, benefitted economically with the

construction of a railroad. However, from the beginning, Czech settlers numerically

dominated the small town almost to the point of it being entirely Czech. In 1900, of

eighty-three families living in the proximity of Milligan, sixty-nine were Czech. By 1930

the community consisted of over two hundred households with a total population of 681.

Three hundred and thirteen of the residents were Czech immigrants and another two

hundred and ninety were the immigrants‟ sons and daughters. Kutak found only fifty-

three people living in Milligan in 1930 that claimed no Czech blood, with another sixteen

stating that one of their parents was Bohemian. During Kutak‟s period of study, all

village officials were Czech. 38

What did this mean for the fairly isolated farming village?

How did it differ from the situation in Prague? Milligan Czechs controlled every facet of

their environment. From the economic structure, to the social scene, to who ran the town,

their voice and decisions dominated. Unlike the Czechs of Prague who, from the very

Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that made the American

People (Boston: Little, Brown, 1951), 94. 38

Kutak, Story of a Bohemian Village, x-xii, 49.

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onset, found themselves at a numerical disadvantage these Czechs living in Nebraska

were in almost total control of their community. This proved especially true regarding

language. If an individual chose never to learn English he/she could shop, run a business,

or attend church without fear of ridicule or feeling like an outsider. Although many

younger people in Milligan knew English, Czech remained the primary spoken language

in the home as late as 1930. 39

All the same, Kutak did not portray the community as an

unadulterated ethnic oasis in the midst of the Great Plains. He did report American

culture creeping inexorably into the hearts of the young. Kutak found that adolescent

Czech boys congregated at a local field and played the American game of baseball

conversing and teasing each other in both English and their parent‟s tongue. 40

Attending

a town dance revealed the girls in home-made patterned dresses but wearing their hair in

the popular bobbed style of Hollywood starlets. Few young men wore jackets while

dancing, preferring long-sleeved shirts rolled up to around the elbow. The local band

interspersed fast-paced American music with traditional Czech tunes and if anyone

needed refreshments, there were hot dogs and soda pop. 41

This Saturday night dance

probably mirrored thousands more across the United States during the 1920s regardless

of race or ethnicity.

Nonetheless, the penetration of American ways into this isolated community

advanced slower than in demographically diversified areas and primarily took hold with

the young. Kutak described the typical Milligan family still claiming roast pork,

sauerkraut, and potato dumplings followed by a slice of Kolache and coffee as their

Ibid., 63, 65. 40

Ibid., 69. 41

Ibid., 90-91. Many Czechs loved to drink beer. However, this was the time of Prohibition.

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favorite Czech meal. 42

He portrayed them as rather clannish, not prone to intermarriage,

and proud of their Central Hall, which alternated as a saloon and meeting place for

several lodges. Prominently displayed on opposite walls of the Main Street structure

hung portraits of the martyr, Jan Hus and Tomas Masaryk, the Czech nationalist and first

president of Czechoslovakia. 43

To conclude, unlike their counterparts in Oklahoma, the

Milligan Czechs did not immediately feel the pressure to adjust to everything new.

Because of their majority status they could survive economically and socially without a

whirlwind tutorial in American customs and language.

In the realm of civic participation and demography the experience of Prague‟s

Czechs differed from urban and ethnically-homogeneous rural communities. The farm-

town ethnic group faced much less discrimination than their urban counterparts when

aspiring to hold public office or participate in community-wide civic affairs. From the

beginning, the dominant, native-born Anglo population accepted their Slavic neighbors.

The community voted Czechs to leadership roles in the town government and saw no

disgrace in playing instruments under the guidance of a Czech leader. Some, perhaps

with a quick wink of the eye, even performed the secret handshake of the Masons with

their Czech fraternal brothers. Equally important to this lack of prejudice by the majority

population was the decision by many Czechs to participate in community affairs. This

decision was an individual‟s choice not a group pronouncement after a close or lopsided

vote in the Bohemian Hall. A few Czechs probably hesitated or outright rejected joining

the community-life of Prague. They retreated to their homes and little is known of their

lives for that very reason. Some of them perhaps left the small town in search of a less-

Ibid., 67. 43

Ibid., 2,4.

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threatening environment similar to that in Milligan. Most probably just refrained from

participating in any activity they did not understand or worried might make them look

like a greenhorn. 44

This early acceptance of the American culture and economic system implies a

pragmatic decision to survive in their new surroundings. To succeed in a farming town

that contained very little industry one needed to adjust to the ways of the majority

population. This would be especially true for a member of an immigrant group. The fact

that Czechs constituted a noteworthy portion of the town from its very creation helped.

Indeed, the very name of the new settlement signified their presence. The presence of a

small black community in the town, a less desirable racial group than the European

immigrants, meant that Czechs did not occupy the lowest rung of the social ladder, which

surely diminished any prejudice that might have been aimed towards them. However,

the rapidity and apparent entrance into Prague‟s general community of many within the

ethnic group, including immigrants, suggests more than a hardheaded assessment of the

circumstances. It suggests a fundamental change, a structural assimilation into their new

environment. Individual ethnics, including several pioneer immigrants, voluntarily

transformed their lifestyle to fit in. Generally speaking, the Prague Czechs joined the

new milieu and they did so quickly, much quicker than most of their ethnic kin living in

urban or homogeneous rural settings.

This does not mean they gave up their identity as Czechs and tromped into the

haziness of American whiteness. They did not wake one morning and see the visage of a

Yankee staring back at them in the mirror. Despite attending public school and playing

Greenhorn was the common term for a newly-arrived immigrant; someone who understood little

about the culture of America.

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on the varsity football squad or playing in the municipal band or even serving the public

as a respected member of the town council, these Czech immigrants did not exile

themselves from their heritage. They held firm to their birthright and desperately tried to

pass it to their progeny. They were Czech Americans in the truest sense, Czech in their

ethnicity but American in their loyalty and outlook. The immigrant pioneers no doubt

exhibited much more “Czechness” than their offspring. After all, Bohemia or Moravia

was their birthplace – their cherished home. It was the second generation, those born in

the United States who maneuvered more easily in American culture. The young played

the same sports as their non-Czech friends, listened to the same music, and equally

enjoyed watching Clara Bow, John Barrymore, and Mary Pickford on the silver screen.

A number of them even fell in love and married someone outside the group. By the third

generation most of Prague‟s Czechs were probably indistinguishable in their speech,

mannerisms, and dress from their friends named Johnson or O‟Malley. However, like

their fathers, mothers, and grandparents before them, they too joined the Bohemian Hall

or participated in Sokol events and valiantly tried to repeat the tricky sounds of the Czech

language when their elders spoke to them. By 1930, many of the original Czech settlers

were gone. A few moved away, but most had died. Their decision not to isolate

themselves into an ethnic enclave but to participate fully in the larger community resulted

in a legacy of rapid acculturation and assimilation to the brink of absorption – but not

quite. Although outwardly they appeared as American as anyone born and raised in the

United States but inwardly, the Prague Czechs remained Czech. They retained their

internal distinctiveness; they maintained their ethnic identity.

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CHAPTER 10

CONCLUSION

Even before the establishment of Prague, Frank Vlasak enjoyed a position of

respect among Czech farmers. Known as “Squire,” Vlasak operated a store in Dent, a

small town just north of Prague, and aided his fellow immigrants through personal loans.

From 1891 to 1902 Vlasak reinvested his earnings in acreage and by the formation of

Prague, was one of the larger landholders in the community. 1 Vlasak quickly realized

that a better economic future lay in the newly-opened town and relocated to Prague,

opening a feed store. Despite his immigrant status, Vlasak‟s prescient decision not to shy

away from complete involvement in the farm town resulted in success. The Czech

entrepreneur bought some prime downtown property and built a two-story structure, the

Vlasak Building, on Broadway Avenue selling groceries, dry goods, and general

merchandise. Vlasak operated his retail business on the first floor and rented out the

second floor rooms to temporary and long-term tenants. 2 Vlasak remained in business

until his accidental death in the fall of 1929 at the age of seventy. Apparently, the

widower lit a faulty heater in his home and died of asphyxiation. 3 He went to sleep and

never woke up. With Frank Vlasak‟s death and the death of Josephine Barta, a year later,

1 Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County: Oklahoma History (Saline, MI:

McNaughton & Gunn, 1988), 1362. 2 Prague News, 20 September 1906; Prague Record, 30 January 1928.

3 Prague Record, 12 September 1929.

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the two people most responsible for the appellation of the new town being Prague were

gone.

Prague, Oklahoma from its beginning was a demographically diverse farming

community on the southeastern edge of the Great Plains region. Named after the capital

city of faraway Bohemia, the town affords a different perspective on assimilation and

ethnicity than that found in populous urban areas and relatively homogeneous rural ethnic

enclaves. Beginning in the seventeenth century, the earliest arrivals primarily left their

central European homeland due to religious persecution. The destruction wrecked by

Catholic invaders during the Thirty Years‟ War (1618-1648) ravaged Bohemia and

Moravia causing countless Protestants to flee their ancestral lands. Some migrated to the

American colonies with most of these settling in Pennsylvania alongside German

farmers. Small numbers of Czechs continued trickling into the United States until the

late 1840s when the industrialization of the Austrian Empire pushed many artisans and

cottagers to seek better lives abroad. Czech immigration to the United States increased

during the next thirty years and swelled even more after 1880 when multitudes of

southern and eastern Europeans left their native soil. Besides industrialization, two other

reasons inducing Czechs to leave their homes included a severe drought during the 1840s

and a population explosion throughout Europe.

The more recent Czech immigrants for the most part avoided the congested

eastern cities choosing instead to migrate to the Midwest. Here they sought cheap farm

land and many times settled near their European nemesis, the Germans. The incongruous

relationship between Czechs and Germans appears inconsistent at first glance. Czechs

disdained the Germanic governments that for centuries had dominated them. Spurred by

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the rise of nationalism and ethnic consciousness in the nineteenth century, Czechs

attempted a failed revolt in 1848 against their Austrian rulers. Nevertheless, despite their

political antipathy towards the Germans, the German‟s geographical nearness and long

association with their dominant rivals resulted in a familiarity with western ideas and

ways. Indeed, when the United States Immigration Commission studied newcomers, they

found that Czechs more closely resembled Germans in their adaptation to the United

States than with their Slavic kin, the Poles and Slovaks.

Rather than the natural outcome of a planned migration to the newly-opened land,

the origins of the Czech colony in the southeastern corner of Lincoln County resulted

from mere happenstance. Already living in the United States and residing preponderantly

in Midwestern states, Czech immigrants learned by word-of-mouth and newspaper

articles of another land run to be held in Oklahoma Territory. 4 Desiring cheap land,

many families and individuals made their way to the Oklahoma City area in the months

preceding the event. Encountering others with the same native tongue, a group of Czech

newcomers declared an unofficial pact to claim land near each other. For the most part,

they succeeded.

Beginning as a rather clannish immigrant farm community established in 1891 on

the former territory of the Sac and Fox tribe, a number of Czech settlers relocated in 1902

to the newly-created railroad town of Prague being developed on the home sites of fellow

Czechs. Upon joining the town, the newcomers immediately found themselves vastly

outnumbered by native-born Americans. Despite other Czechs moving to the new

community during the next decade the group never attained much beyond 30 percent of

4 There were several land runs in Oklahoma Territory. The first and most famous was the 1889

event, which resulted in the creation of Oklahoma City, the eventual state capital. The federal government

opened the Sac and Fox Reservation for white settlement via another land run in 1891.

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the town‟s population. In spite of, or, more likely, because of their numerical

disadvantage, these pioneer Czechs adjusted rapidly to the economic and social

conditions of their frontier environment. Although the ethnic group invested much effort

in continuing and passing down their language and traditions to future generations, many

immigrants participated in the activities of the new town. This resulted in a close

association with the majority population and a dual lifestyle for many Prague Czechs.

They existed in two worlds. Most Czech immigrants realized they had to adapt to the

world of the present; they found themselves in a bustling frontier town full of

opportunities but shrouded in a foreign culture and difficult language. However, their

familiarity and mindset lay in the world of the past. They understood and, no doubt,

cherished the memories, customs, and language of their beloved Bohemia. 5

Close to the border of Indian Territory, the location of Prague provided impetus to

the early economy of the farm town. The economic situation of the town and the

interplay of the Czechs from the early Wild West days through the oil boom of the teens

and the rise and fall of cotton production resulted in many farms metamorphosing into

ranches by 1930. The nearness of “dry” Indian Territory to “wet” Prague in Oklahoma

Territory spawned a thriving saloon business. Czechs, proud of their historic

accomplishments in brewing, which they continually debated with German brewers,

eagerly joined the liquor trade. From 1902 until statehood and prohibition in November

1907 Czech immigrants owned, managed, or worked as bartenders in Prague‟s saloons.

Others such as C.M. Sadlo, Mike Mitacek, and Frank Lanik chose a different route to

business success. They offered products or services such as tailoring, shoe repair, and

5 Oscar Handlin in The Uprooted portrays the confusion and vexation of the immigrant over

his/her new environment. See Handlin, The Uprooted, 85-90, 95-98.

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ginning cotton. These three are but a few of the Czechs involved in business. Czech

immigrants and their descendents participated in practically every sector of the local

economy from selling real estate and banking to giving violin lessons and waiting on

tables. During the first thirty years of the town‟s existence, Czechs annually accounted

for about a quarter of the town‟s business establishments. Native-born whites and

entrepreneurs of Irish, German, and Jewish extraction controlled the rest.

There appears little doubt that most residents of the farm town, regardless of

ethnicity, traded with Czech businesses. Likewise, the evidence suggests that Czechs

supported non-Czech businesses as well. Although it is impossible to quantify the

clientele of each economic enterprise, the evidence for this assumption lies in the fact that

Czech firms employed non-Czechs as well as Czechs while non-Czech enterprises

regularly hired members of the Czech community to perform duties ranging from bank

clerks to lumber yard managers. The general population recognized this ethnic group as

an integral part of the community and accepted them wholeheartedly. Two possible

reasons for the tolerance lay in the frontier origins and small population of the town. The

aspiring settlement needed and welcomed the energy and skills of everyone. However,

another explanation was the presence of African Americans in Prague. Because of the

dearth of blacks in northern cities at this time, Czechs, along with Poles, Italians, and

others of southern or eastern European origins, occupied the bottom of most northern

cities‟ social establishment. They were the common laborers and the unskilled factory

workers. This was not the case in Prague. Although small, there was a black presence in

the town and it was they who suffered discrimination in the economic and social spheres.

African-American workers held the lowest-paying, menial jobs – not the immigrants.

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The fact that Prague‟s Czechs did not occupy the bottom rung of the social ladder should

not be discounted when trying to understand the lack of nativist sentiment towards them.

The mere reality that the Czechs already lived and, for the most part, prospered in

the Prague area constitutes a final potential explanation for their acceptance. For over a

decade Czech farmers built homes and plowed the fields of Barta Post Office, the site of

the future Prague, with much success. Upon its creation, several Czechs such as Frank

Barta, Frank Vlasak, and Josef Hrdy erected buildings in the new town, hardly the acts of

penurious laborers. Furthermore, most immigrant farmers of South Creek Township

lived previously in other states. Few were recent arrivals and thus did not possess the

wide-eyed awe or strangling anxiety of those new to the United States. In other words,

they were not greenhorns. The modest fortunes and life experiences in their adopted land

surely helped the Czechs adjust and thrive after their arrival in the United States.

Despite the eager participation of Czechs in the economic realm, they still

harbored a deep desire to maintain their Bohemian culture and language. Soon after

building their homes and planting their first crop, the Czech community formed a

fraternal order to aid their neighbors in times of sickness and death. However, the

fraternal lodge also emphasized the preservation of Czech heritage and language and

strived through social events to maintain group cohesion. Formed in 1906, the Sokol

Hall, another Czech organization, held weekly gymnastic classes and further emphasized

cultural maintenance through language instruction. Both of these fraternal lodges traced

their origins to the freethought movement which emphasized a secular agenda if not

downright anticlericalism and thus attracted few Catholics. Not to be outdone, Catholic

Czechs formed their own society in Prague, The Catholic Worker. Although created as a

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counter-balance to the Bohemian Hall, the Catholic lodge contained fewer members and

stressed charity work and religious instruction. Whereas the more narrowly focused

secular Czech associations provided life insurance, direct financial aid to their members

in time of need, and afforded them a lively venue to socialize on Saturday nights. The

Catholic lodge, due to their smaller numbers and religious focus, offered fewer social

events than their rivals and thus impacted group cohesion less than the secular

associations. However, Prague‟s freethought organizations and their Catholic

counterparts apparently harbored less animosity towards the other than in some urban

centers. Catholics attended Bohemian Hall activities such as dances and plays and, in

later generations, joined the secular lodge.

During World War I, Prague‟s Czechs became involved in the Czech

independence movement forming a Samostatnost (Independence) Club and sponsoring

Bohemian National Alliance speakers such as Sara Hrbek. Jan Hus, the medieval martyr,

took on added significance as a nationalist. He became a symbol of someone who gave

his life not only for doctrinal truths, but for rebuking German hegemony. Czech

communities throughout the United States, including Prague, commemorated the

anniversary of the priest‟s execution. During the war, these events doubled as fundraisers

for the Bohemian National Alliance, the primary organization pushing for Czech

independence. As the war lengthened, emotions ran high in the small town resulting in

fisticuffs between Czechs and Germans and according to one witness, the near lynching

of a German man who dared to voice support for the Central Powers.

The efforts of the fraternal organizations to pass Czech culture to the young

ultimately proved futile. The dual lifestyle of most Czechs, including immigrants,

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whereby they actively participated in every facet of the farming community while also

participating in ethnic group functions led to rapid adjustment and acculturation.

However, despite the failure of the pioneer generation to inculcate European ways within

their progeny they succeeded in instilling something more intrinsic, something more

fundamental. No matter how “American” they became, some in succeeding generations

held fast to their identity as Czechs. 6

Keeping in mind that any decision to interact with others on a social level or

participate in community activities lay with the individual, the depth of intermingling by

seemingly most of the Czech population remains surprising. From joining the baseball

team to entering a homemade cake in the county fair to simply attending a picnic at a

friend‟s house, Czechs showed no hesitation in becoming involved with those outside

their ethnic group. They played football, baseball, tennis, and entered domino

tournaments alongside native-born whites and other immigrant groups. Czechs loved to

dance, attend the theater, participate in school plays, and celebrate Independence Day by

eating a hot dog or watching the town baseball team compete against their arch-rival,

Chandler. These amiable interactions hastened the adjustment period and inevitably led

to exogamous marriages by both male and female Czechs.

What caused this apparently rapid social involvement in the larger community is

ultimately conjecture. That it happened is verifiable, why it happened not so clear.

However, the social acceptance of the Czech immigrants by the native born must be

considered of paramount importance. Furthermore, this acceptance stretched beyond the

bounds of economic necessity. For example, it is simply good business practice for a

6 By “American” I mean they became indistinguishable from the native-born in speech, dress, and

mannerisms.

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merchant to sell products to everyone. In addition, it is economically advantageous for

that same merchant to frequent the business of someone outside his or her racial or

cultural group if they offered a needed product at a low price. Typically, both of these

encounters are purely for economic motives. In other words, a person might very well

sell to or purchase a product from someone if the act financially aids them but they might

never entertain that person in their home or do the Turkey Trot with them at a town

dance. To socialize with someone is an extremely personal choice and a decision that

must be reciprocated. It appears the non-Czech residents of Prague accepted the

newcomers socially to a degree not found in most American cities. Indeed, Czechs and

non-Czechs in the Oklahoma farm town seemed to get along rather well.

One area Czechs strived to control was the education of their youth, both male

and female. Besides instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, public schools served

to incorporate civic values such as patriotism and citizenship. Furthermore, the teachers

spoke English in the classroom which further strengthened the country‟s monolingual

goal. However, two of the greatest impacts upon the young, and ones primarily

unintended, were cultural homogenization and socialization. Some of the early Czechs

understood the effects the public school system would have on their children and

established their own Czech school. However, the private school proved short lived as

more and more immigrant families sent their children to the public school. This was in

part due to the religious split among Czechs. Catholic parents refused to cooperate with

the secular Czech school and likewise Protestant or unchurched individuals in the ethnic

population preferred the public school over a church school.

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Nevertheless, Czechs continued to promote their heritage and language through

weekly instruction held at the Sokol Hall. These classes normally held on Sundays

stressed language maintenance but also incorporated Bohemian history and music. Once

Czechs matriculated to the public school, they fared well with several attaining

prominence in athletics and academics. After graduation, several Czech students went on

to business schools or nursing programs while others attended a university. During the

1920s at least three returned to Prague as teachers and another opened a dental office.

Soon after Czech children trooped into Prague‟s classrooms the adults attempted to

influence the curriculum, primarily the arts. Although there is no record of the Czech

language being taught in the public school, Czech parents convinced the school board to

conduct classes in music and Bohemian dance. Prague High School boasted a Beseda

Dance Team that traveled to other towns presenting the unofficial national dance of

Bohemia in traditional costume. Moreover, many members of the dance team were not

Czech but native-born whites.

For many new arrivals to the United States their belief system and local church

lessened the blows, both psychological and material, of their displacement. Religious

institutions supplied material relief to struggling immigrant families usually in the form

of food staples. In addition, churches offered social activities that afforded adults and

children alike a place to come together and mix with other immigrants. For many

newcomers, the church became the center of their life. This appears especially true

concerning the relationship between the Catholic Church and immigrants arriving from

southern and eastern Europe. Because of the large number of immigrant members, some

churches in both urban and rural locales took on a decidedly ethnic cast. After 1880,

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many urban Catholic churches became ethnic as well as religious centers for groups of

Italians, Poles, and Slovaks. In many cases a member of the ethnic group served as priest

over the overwhelmingly ethnic parish with the laity under control of local immigrant

leaders. Czechs were the only immigrant group which left the Church in large numbers.

Due to centuries-long tensions between Bohemia and Rome, many Czechs discarded the

religion of their youth soon after arriving in the United States. A few joined Protestant

denominations, especially the Presbyterian Church. Others severed all ties with

organized religion and focused on simply making their way in the new land. A majority

referred to themselves as liberals, rationalists, or freethinkers.

Similar to a religious sect, freethought included both lukewarm followers and

devout members such as the uncompromising agnostics and atheists who denounced all

trappings of religion and harbored especial hatred of the clergy. Conversely, their ranks

also included amiable agnostics who might poke fun at traditional dogma but entertained

no ill will towards those who maintained faith in the Church and still others who believed

in a deity, just not one actively involved in the affairs of mankind. An important

difference between Czech freethinkers and other European rationalists was their

nationalist streak which manifested in an anti-Habsburg outlook. During World War I,

freethinkers led the fight for independence and used their fraternal lodges to garner

support both emotional and financial.

The local Czech fraternal organization, centered on the Bohemian Hall, replaced

the Church for most freethinkers with Jan Hus held as almost a saint by many

freethinking intellectuals. The veneration of Hus reached its apex in the years before and

during the Great War. Although a medieval Catholic priest, the martyred Hus

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transcended religious iconography and became a symbol of rising nationalist feelings

among the Czech people. While Hus occupied the pedestal of “patron saint,” the lodge‟s

meeting place, usually called Bohemian Hall or Czech Hall, supplanted the church in

importance. Bohemian Halls hosted weddings, funerals, and social events such as dances

and plays for their members. Even in death, a member of a freethinking lodge could

avoid lying next to a Catholic or follower of Luther. Most secular fraternal lodges built

and maintained a memorial park usually referred to as Czech National Cemetery for their

deceased members. Thus, from birth to death, liberal Czechs could participate in life‟s

rituals without ever stepping foot in a church.

However, Prague‟s fraternal associations appear more tolerant than their urban

counterparts. Although practically no Catholics joined the lodge in the early years,

freethinkers and Catholics as well as the few Protestants exhibited amiable relations.

Furthermore, as time progressed the Bohemian Hall, once the foundation of the

freethought movement, transformed into more of a cultural center attracting both

religious and non-religious ethnic members. By the 1920s, many Czech Protestants and

Catholics became members of the local lodge with some, primarily Protestants,

requesting burial in the Czech National Cemetery.

Like many native-born Americans of this period, Czechs were joiners. They liked

being involved. Fueled by the absence of nativist sentiment by the majority Anglo

population, many of Prague‟s Czechs engaged in the civic affairs of the farming town.

Soon after incorporation, Czech immigrants established the Bohemian Political

Association. This group, chaired by an immigrant, worked to elect Czechs to local

257

offices and witnessed much success. For several years, Czechs occupied three of the

eight town offices including once capturing the office of mayor.

Prague‟s civic lodges also attracted many in the Czech community. The Masons,

Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Lions Club, and American Legion all

included Czech members with some voted into positions of leadership. In the economic

realm Czechs took an active part in the Chamber of Commerce, which should not seem

surprising as the town contained many Czech businesses. Besides political and economic

matters, a number of Czech residents simply wanted to enjoy the different aspects of

village life. Czechs proliferated in the town band and all but dominated the position of

band leader. They helped put out fires by joining the fire department and served on the

school board. The first chair of Prague Public School‟s Board of Education was a Czech

immigrant. Their situation differed immensely from their urban counterparts who

struggled with acceptance and also differed from homogeneous rural areas like Milligan

where the ethnic group‟s overwhelming numbers placed them in control of events.

Prague‟s Czechs were in a minority position in the town. Nevertheless, it appears that

most of the native born harbored little ill will towards them. Obviously wishing to

succeed both economically and socially, many ethnic members made the decision to join

the community. However, their decision did not include discarding their European

culture. The pioneer Czechs established lodges which offered financial support,

insurance, recreation, and a permanent building in which individuals and families could

gather. Most in the Czech population dearly wished to maintain their identity as a

distinctive group.

258

Although beginning as a rather clannish farming community, with the creation of

Prague, the immigrants adjusted swiftly to the realities of living in a small, ethnically-

diverse town. That they did so quicker than most immigrants living in urban areas and

homogeneous rural villages appears convincing. Their assimilation began not with the

second generation, but with the immigrants themselves. It was members of the first

generation that made the decision to join the larger society in every way possible from

opening a store to serving on the school board to playing in the town band at

Independence Day celebrations. The overriding focal point of the study centered on the

rapid integration of the Czechs into the social and economic mainstream of the town.

Like any complex problem, the answers are many and intertwined. Not any one cause

stands completely alone as the cause. There are various reasons and factors for the

outcome.

The geography and demography of the town were important. The relative

isolation of Prague encouraged, if not forced, the various elements of the population such

as the native-born whites, Czechs, Germans, and those from other ethnic groups to at

least tolerate each other to ensure the success of the town and, therefore, themselves. The

lack of numbers meant that Prague‟s Czechs could not control the economic, political, or

educational structure of the town. This is different from the situation in Milligan,

Nebraska where the Czechs dominated. In Prague, they did not. Therefore, to survive

financially, Prague‟s Czechs could not retreat inwardly. They simply had to reach out to

others in the community. This was a pragmatic decision derived at individually. Those

living in the town who could not or would not change probably fared worse than those

who did. The territorial status and location of Prague further enhanced the prospects of

259

the immigrants. As a town in Oklahoma Territory, and until statehood in 1907, the

saloon industry dominated the town of Prague. Czechs, with a proud history of beer

making, entered this trade and with “dry” Indian Territory lying less than four miles

away, prospered. This territorial beginning, added to the newness of Prague, afforded

many opportunities for enterprising individuals regardless of ethnicity. The frontier

status of early Prague also hastened adjustment, especially when compared to the

political situation of most Czech communities which were located in established states.

A final ingredient of the Prague Czech‟s recipe for rapid assimilation was their

acceptance as respectable residents of the community by the larger non-Czech populace.

If one cause leaps to the fore as a primary reason for the quick adjustment of the

immigrants to their new environment, this appears to be it. From the very start of the

town, Czechs participated in every area including the economic sector, civic involvement,

and local politics. However, even their acceptance shares a common denominator with

other factors such as the frontier location of Prague and the newness of the town. The

environment in which the Czech community found itself a part of should not be

overlooked. It was a huge advantage for the immigrants. Due to its size, an urban

environment can be very impersonal and somewhat segregated on class and ethnic lines.

However, most small towns in rural locales tend to be more personal. Someone living in

a small town would run into the same people over and over again while shopping,

attending school functions, or at community events.

Although this probably holds true for urban dwellers in their neighborhood, a

major difference centers on proportion. A city dweller might know many in his

neighborhood, in the few city blocks where he performs the everyday functions of life,

260

but very few outside. While a resident of Prague would know practically everyone in

town after only a short period. With a total population of only about a thousand during

the early years of the town, keeping separate would have taken effort. These personal

relationships between Czechs and non-Czechs seem to have lessened or completely

smothered anti-immigrant nativist feelings in Prague, attitudes which ran rampant in most

urban centers throughout this era. Another possible factor contributing to Czech

respectability was the fact that evangelical faiths such as Baptist and Methodist did not

politically or socially dominate this farming community. With a thriving Catholic

Church, a German immigrant community close by, and a large contingent of freethinkers

and unchurched in the Czech population, the vilification of alcohol and the strict

observance of sabbatarian laws appears much less significant in Prague than in other rural

areas of Oklahoma. During the first five years of its existence, the town thrived on the

liquor trade and many Czechs participated and prospered in the alcohol business with no

apparent denigration. Finally, the existence of a black community meant that immigrant

Czechs and their descendants occupied a higher social plane than their kin living in large

cities. It was the African Americans who performed the menial jobs in Prague, not the

Czechs.

Thus, from the very first days of the formation of Prague, Czechs began their

transformation from immigrant outsider to respected Czech Americans. The seeming

paradox of their lifestyle, that of simultaneously accepting and resisting their new

environment, led to rapid acculturation and exogamous marriages. However, for many it

also resulted in a lasting ethnic identity. Because of an early admittance into

respectability, Czechs (even in the second generation) suffered no loss of pride. It was

261

acceptable to be Czech in Prague. 7 Due to this ethnic pride, and despite intermarriage,

the Czech population did not melt into a muddled concoction of ethnicities. Prague‟s

Czechs marched to the edge of complete assimilation but would not take the final leap.

They refused to give up their most important quality, their identity. In this struggle to

keep their group identity, a sturdy remnant remained steadfast. Furthermore, their

identity as Czechs appears to stretch somewhat beyond the symbolic ethnicity practiced

by many ethnic groups throughout the United States. This birthright ethnicity

incorporates much more than a yearly celebration on the first weekend of May or the

hanging of a Czech Republic flag. 8 Although with diminished numbers, the present-day

Czechs of Prague continue to meet monthly in the same Bohemian Hall as their ancestors

and they still offer life insurance to their members. In addition to the monthly meetings,

weddings and other social events are held in the former citadel of freethought. Although

occurring less and less, occasionally a class on the basics of the Czech language is

offered and Czech Americans throughout the area still request burial in the Czech

National Cemetery. The cemetery is a source of great pride.

Further study of Czech populations and other ethnic groups living in small towns

appears worthwhile. Research could focus on the similarities and/or differences in the

experiences of Italians or Slovaks or Germans. A study of the experiences of another

group of Czechs or even a different ethnic group living in an already established town or

state and compare them with the experiences of the Czechs living in the frontier town of

7 In many urban environments, especially schools, ethnic behavior was frowned upon by the

native-born population. For examples, see Leonard Covello, “Accommodation and the Elementary School

Experience,” in White Ethnics: Life in Working-Class America, ed. Joseph A. Ryan (Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1973), 100-112. 8 The town of Prague annually celebrates their Czech heritage via a Kolache Fesitval held the first

weekend of every May.

262

Prague. Other possible studies could examine Czech assemblages within Oklahoma

Territory, such as Yukon or Hennessey and see if they in any way parallel Prague. These

and other studies would shed even more light on the much-neglected plight of ethnic

groups living in small, rural towns. Karel Bicha in his study of the Czechs in Oklahoma

summed up their experiences when he wrote: “their lives were simple. They farmed.

These two words provide both a memoir and an epitaph for the first generation of Czech

Oklahomans and a large majority of their descendants.” 9 As a general statement, this

may very well hold much truth. However, for the Czechs of Prague, I believe we can

agree that they did much more than just farm.

9 Karel Bicha, The Czechs in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980), 48.

263

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VITA

Philip Dale Smith

Candidate for the Degree of

Doctorate of Philosophy

Dissertation: FROM PRAHA TO PRAGUE: ASSIMILATION AND ETHNIC

IDENTITY IN AN AMERICAN FARM TOWN, 1891-1930

Major Field: History

Biographical:

Personal Data: Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 13, 1955, the son of Rev.

Charles W. Smith and Patty Smith. Married in Tulsa, Oklahoma on

August 9, 1974 to Pamela Sue Warren.

Education: Received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Northeastern

State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma in May, 1981; received a Master

of Arts degree in History from the University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma

in May, 1992; completed the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy

degree at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma in May,

2010.

Experience: Graduate Assistant, History Department, University of Tulsa,

1990-1992; History Teacher, Sand Springs High School, 1993-1996;

History Teacher, Oologah High School, 1996-2005; Teaching Associate,

History Department, Oklahoma State University, 2005-2008; Assistant

Professor of History, Liberal Arts Department, Tulsa Community

College, 2008-present.

Professional Memberships: Southwestern Social Science Association, Missouri

Valley Historical Association

ADVISER‟S APPROVAL: Dr. Ronald A. Petrin

Name: Philip Dale Smith Date of Degree: May, 2010

Institution: Oklahoma State University Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Title of Study: FROM PRAHA TO PRAGUE: ASSIMILATION AND ETHNIC

IDENTITY IN AN AMERICAN FARM TOWN, 1891-1930

Pages in Study: 279 Candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Major Field: History

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences

of an immigrant group living in a rural environment in the midst of a larger

native-born population. The group chosen were Czechs, who settled in the

southeastern corner of Lincoln County, Oklahoma after participating in the 1891

Sac and Fox Land Run. The principal sources were manuscript census records,

local newspapers, and various town records such as church membership rolls and

baptismal records, cemetery, and the minutes and account books of the Bohemian

Hall. In addition to primary sources, extensive secondary research is included in

the study.

Findings and Conclusions: This work elucidated a little-researched phenomenon: the

dilemmas of an immigrant group living amongst a larger primarily native-born

white population in a small, somewhat isolated farm town. A primary assertion of

the work is that the Czechs of Prague, Oklahoma underwent cultural and

structural assimilation more rapidly than Czechs in urban environments or Czechs

living in homogeneous rural areas. The reasons for this were many, including the

frontier environment of the community which forced the residents to cooperate in

order for the town to succeed. Other rationales for the rapid acculturation

included the size and rural location of Prague and the fact that the town also

included an African American community, which absorbed the brunt of

discrimination. A sub-thesis of the dissertation is that despite the quick

acculturation, the Czech newcomers established a permanent presence in the

small farming town on the edge of the Great Plains. The ethnic group maintained

their identity as Bohemians, not in the multicultural sense whereby they

steadfastly held to their native tongue and native ways, nor in a symbolic sense in

which the only remaining vestiges are public festivals and kolache cafes, but in a

much deeper, existential sense they remained Czech; they preserved and passed

on an internal sense of distinctiveness.