The Portuguese Community in the USA

Source: Presidency of Portugal website

Today, I will talk about the Portuguese Community in the USA, the second largest Portuguese community outside Portugal (only Brazil has more Portuguese community members than the USA).

For a long time, there were not accurate numbers with regards to the Portuguese community in the USA, because the American Census always included them in the Latino category.

However, since 2007, the U.S. Census has included the option Portuguese when asking the ancestry of the USA residents and then it was discovered that there were around 1,5 million members in the Portuguese community.

In June of that same year, the President of Portugal, Mr. Cavaco Silva, travelled to the USA and had a meeting with the Portuguese Community in Newark, NJ. And below I put a text I have extracted from the website of the “Meeting with the Portuguese Communities”, talking about the Portuguese people in the USA:

“The Portuguese presence in America goes back to 1850, when many Portuguese took part in the gold rush and in the creation of agricultural settlements in California. Businesses connected with whale fishing equally contributed to a large wave in immigration.

In the first twenty years of the XX century some 130,000 Portuguese emigrated to the USA. From 1900 to 1914, that number represented 16.7% of our emigration. In 1916 and in 1920 that percentage increased to 46.3% and 37.3%, respectively. The 30’s and 40’s witnessed a large decrease (11,372), an effect of the immigration quotas, by the great depression and by the universal instability. From the mid 50’s (Capelinhos volcanic eruption in the Azores) and during the 60’s, emigration to America again increased and, in accordance with official figures, the USA received, from 1960 to 1990, 218,.541 Portuguese. The last American census, dated 2000, states a total number of 1,173,691 Portuguese and Portuguese descendants resident in the USA.

The large majority of the members of the Portuguese Community are employed by industrial enterprises, and a considerable number are employed by the service industry and are also noted personalities in the scientific, educational and arts areas. A significant number are also members of the liberal professions.

At this moment there are approximately 95 Portuguese or citizens of Portuguese ascendancy elected to political office.

There are 385 Portuguese and Portuguese descendant communities in the United States of America, which include recreational and cultural associations, social and sports clubs, educational foundations, libraries, theatrical groups, brass bands, folklore dancing groups, philanthropic and religious societies and regional associations.

Portugal currently has Consulates General in Boston, New York, Newark and S. Francisco, Consulates in New Bedford and Providence and a Consular Section in the Portuguese Embassy in Washington.”

Larissa Bona