Prof. Dominic Pacyga - Vice-Marshall in Chicago's 127th Constitution Day Parade

Dr. Pacyga among officials of  the Parade. Students present the banner

with the motto of the 2019 parade. Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk. Used by Permission

Dr. Dominic Pacyga, a highly respected historian of Polonia and an expert on the history of Chicago served as Vice-Marshall in the 2019 Constitution Day Parade in Chicago.  He commented: "Being Vice- Marshall of the Polish Constitution Day Parade in Chicago was one of the high points of my professional life. I was surprised and honored to be nominated by the Dziennik Związkowy and grateful for their endorsement of my work. The parade was wonderful. It was a delight to see so many young people and children involved. I was especially happy to see the widespread support of Polonia for the event. It proves the staying power of Polskość and that the Chicago area’s Polonia remains a vital force in the social, economic, cultural, and political life of the city and suburbs."

Dominic Pacyga getting ready for the parade. Photo by George Woznicka

Dominic A. Pacyga is Professor Emeritus of the Columbia College in Chicago. For three decades, he taught  in the Liberal Education Department at the college. He earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1981 and has wide ranging interests in urban development, labor history, immigration, and racial and ethnic relations.   He worked with museums including the Chicago Historical Society, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Field Museum in Chicago on a variety of public history projects. Pacyga has also worked with numerous neighborhood organizations as well as ethnic, labor, and fraternal groups to preserve and exhibit their histories. Pacyga acted as guest curator of a major exhibit, "The Chicago Bungalow" at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and co-edited The Chicago Bungalow (Arcadia Press 2001), a companion volume to the exhibit.

St. Maksymilian Kolbe Polish School and youth in Lowicz costumes 

at the 2019 Parade. Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

Dr. Pacyga won the Oscar Halecki Award from the Polish American Historical Association for his book, Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago (1991) and the Catholic Book Award for Chicago: City of Neighborhoods (1986). Dr. Pacyga served on PAHA Board in 2016-2018. During the 75th Anniversary  Conference of PAHA (at Loyola University Chicago, September 2018), Dr. Pacyga took the participants on a tour of Polish Chicago; and a summary was posted on this blog: http://pahanews.blogspot.com/2018/10/tours-of-chicago-with-dominic-pacyga.html

The Parade in 1999. Photo by Belissarius. Wikimedia Commons.

The Polish Constitution Day Parade in Chicago was held for the first time in 1892 in Humboldt Park, and after World War II it was moved to downtown, currently being held in Grant Park, from Buckingham Fountain to the bridge.  The event honors Poland's May 3rd Constitution, the first democratic constitution of Europe, adopted by the Polish Seym in 1791, after four years of debating. It is the second constitution of its kind, following the Constitution of the United States Constitution.

Women in Highlander Costumes. Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

The 2019 Parade Marshall was Józef Cikowski, president of Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America, an organization gathering former residents of the Tatra Mountains and their foothills, who emigrated to Chicago in large numbers mostly prior to World War I. The election of the Marshall was held in March, with interviews of the top candidates w ho presented their achievements on behalf of Polonia. http://dziennikzwiazkowy.com/polonia/jozef-cikowski-marszalkiem-parady-3-maja/

St. Urszula Ledochowska Polish School. Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

More than 100 Polonia organizations participated in the parade, including schools, culture clubs, Polish student clubs, Polish scouts (Harcerstwo), businesses, and fraternal and social organizations. The parade was watched by about 200,000 viewers. All Polish language schools their students to the parade, and about 10,000 students participated in the parade, marching with their teachers, carrying flags and banners.

 Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

Casimir Pulaski Polish School. Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

Polish American Student Alliance from Northwestern University.

Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

Photo by Andrew Mikolajczyk

Call for Papers - Poles in Latin America Conference in Gdynia, October 2016

1st International Interdisciplinary Scholarly Conference 

at the Emigration Museum in Gdynia

Poles and Polish Diaspora in Latin America: Past and Present

27th-28th October 2016, Emigration Museum in Gdynia, Poland

Photo Maciej Moskwa, from culture.pl website.

The Emigration Museum in Gdynia has the honor to invite you to an international scientific conference on the Polish presence in Latin America. With this event, we want to start a series of scientific gatherings on the history of emigration from the Polish lands and the Polish communities which function in various parts of the world. We hope that through such actions and the research we conduct as well as our publishing projects, the Museum will become a significant exchange platform for ideas and experience of the units, whose research work is focused on the problems of emigration and Polish diaspora.

The Polish have an important position in the migration history of Europe and the world. Since the early days of the Polish state, our natives have left the country temporarily or permanently, for various reasons. It was caused by the complicated political history of the Polish nation and the often difficult socio-economic situation. As a consequence, the presence of Poles is now noticeable on every continent. Latin America has an important position among the lands, which have accepted a significant number of Polish emigrants. First, the Polish had little contact with that part of the world and it was rather incidental. However, after some time, as the migration processes were developing, coherent Polish communities formed there. The Polish diaspora and Poles became an important part of the social and cultural life of Latin America. The goal of the conference is to provide an opportunity for researches who specialise in the subjects connected with the Latin America Polish diaspora to meet, exchange views and take part in an interdisciplinary debate. Though we pay attention to the historic aspects of the Polish presence in this part of the world, we also want to focus on showing the image of Polish diaspora in Latin America today.

Therefore, we would like to emphasize the following questions during the conference:
 current and historic place of Poles and Polish Diaspora in the societies of Latin American countries;
 the Polish input into the political, social, cultural and scientific life of Latin American countries;
 the history of Polish emigration to Latin America;
 forming of the Polish diaspora communities in Latin America as well as political and cultural interest in this phenomenon;
 the forming and changes of Polish identity in Latin America;
 the image of Poles and Polish diaspora in the Polish diaspora press, journals and diary literature as well as belletristic literature and literary reports;
 the image of Poles and Polish Diaspora according to the information of diplomatic and consular representations;
 the relations between Poland and the Latin American Polish Diaspora;
 the activity of Polish diaspora organisations and Polish clergy among the members of Latin American Polish diaspora;
 the literary and cultural activity of Poles and Polish diaspora in Latin America;
 the research of Polish scholars in Latin America and their connections to Polish diaspora societies.

However, the above list is not complete, when it comes to the issues, which may be presented at the conference.

The conference is of an interdisciplinary character. The organizers' idea is to gather specialists who deal with the issues of Poles and Polish diaspora in Latin America from various perspectives: historians, political scientists, culture experts, Ibero-American and Latin American studies experts, cultural anthropologists, philologists, etc. The conference will be summarized with a reviewed printed publication in Polish.
Languages of the conference: Polish / Spanish / Portuguese.

Muzeum Emigracji, Gdynia, from culture.pl.

Applications:

Please send the form, which has been attached to the invitation by 17th June 2016 to:
r.raczynski@muzeumemigracji.pl

The information on the acceptance of a paper will be sent by the 1st of July 2016.

The conference is free of charge for its participants. The organisers provide the foreign
participants with accommodation (26th-27th, 27th-28th and 28th-29th October), full board
and print together with a possibility of translation of a text as a part of the post-conference
publication (upon the reception of a positive review).

NOTICE: The number of participants is limited. The final choice of applications qualified
for participation in the conference will be made by the Scientific Committee
of the Conference, based on the abstracts of papers which are sent in.