The South Slavs of Michigan—Croats, Slovenes, Serbs and Montenegrins, Bosnian Muslims, and Macedonians—are a microcosm of the immigration saga that occurred throughout the United States. The hard-fought struggle of the copper miners in the Upper Peninsula, and their Christmas tragedy, and the development of the Detroit auto industry are important contributions of the South Slavs to the growth of not only Michigan but also the United States. A large number of South Slavs returned to their homeland homesick, tired, or broken in body, but those who remained sacrificed a great deal to make Michigan what it is today....

The South Slavs first appear in recorded history in the sixth and seventh centuries, when they split off from the Slavic tribes that were slowly migrating into what is now Eastern Europe. According to one hypothesis, the origins of the Slavs could be linked to Iranians and Goths, but these theories of descendance are speculative, because there is little evidence beyond a few citations of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, a Byzantine emperor who wrote between A.D. 948 and 952 a treatise on geography and Byzantine diplomacy.²

The South Slavs slowly drifted down into the Balkan Peninsula, and probably separated themselves off into...

The Croats inhabit the independent Republic of Croatia, but they dwell in the other republics of the former Yugoslavia as well. Throughout their history they have had a strong affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Croats migrated from the Ukraine, and in the sixth and seventh centuries moved into present-day Croatia in the area between the Velebit Mountains and north and south of the Cetina River. Croatia was an independent kingdom in the tenth and eleventh centuries, prospering under its first king, Tomislav (914–928?), and one of its last kings, Zvonimir (1076–1089). Yet in 1102, after the...

The Serbians and Montenegrins are the South Slavic peoples who have opted to remain in Yugoslavia after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina declared their independence in 1991–92. Montenegrins are Serbs who share the same culture due to the dissolution of the Serbian Empire in the fourteenth century and Montenegro’s isolation from Serbia because of its four-century struggle against Ottoman control but who claim a distinct political tradition. Both groups are ethnically similar to the other South Slavs. They use the Cyrillic alphabet, as do the Russians, Bulgarians, and Macedonians; Croatians, Slovenes, and many Bosnians use Latin characters. Otherwise, the...

The Slovenians live in the northwestern corner of the former Yugoslavia. In 1991 the 1,700,000 Slovenes voted to become an independent republic. They are not distinct from the other South Slav groups ethnically, but they speak a Slavic language that is different from Croatian and Serbian, although there are numerous words in common. They are predominantly Catholic, as are the Croatians.

The Slovenes had been under Habsburg rule since the fifteenth century, and with Austria-Hungary’s collapse in 1918 became part of an independent Yugoslav nation. During World War II, Slovenia was divided up among the Axis powers, but with the...

Macedonians are a South Slavic people who were citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, one of the constituent republics of the former Yugoslavia. In 1991 Macedonia declared its independence and it is known for the time being as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The population of Macedonia is 2,200,200, of whom 67 percent are ethnic Slav Macedonians, with the largest minority being Albanian, who make up 21 percent of the population.⁶³ Outside of Macedonia, there are Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria, as well as in other parts of the former Yugoslavia and Albania.

The ancient frontiers of Macedonia...

Bosnian Muslims inhabit the republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1992. They constitute 44 percent of the total population; Serbs make up 31 percent and Croats 17 percent.⁷⁵ The three groups are identical ethnically and speak the same language, which has a number of words of Turkish origin.

Since the end of the the 1992–95 war, Bosnia has been recognized as a single state that is partitioned between the Muslim-Croat Federation, occupying 51 percent of the country’s area, and the Serbian Republic, which covers 49 percent. The population of the state is 2,600,000 as compared...

South Slav immigrants have played an important if unsung role in American immigration history. American society has been transformed by the vast movement of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, and the South Slavs have figured prominently in that transformation by forcing America, despite its reluctance, to open itself to all peoples. The process of South Slav migration, settlement, and assimilation into American society has been arduous and frustrating, taking its toll on many immigrants. A number have suffered discrimination and persecution for their way of life and political beliefs, some even losing their rights to remain in this country....