Migrants in the US have ranked the teaching of the Greek language as one of their top priorities ever since leaving Greece to look for new life prospects abroad. According to historic data, the first known Greek school to have ever been built in the US was in 1776 in St. Augustine, Florida.

The first Greeks that set foot on the new found land were led by a Scottish doctor called Andrew Turnbull and his wife, Marica Gracia, who was the daughter of a Greek businessman from Ismir.

Years later, in the spring of 1776, Greek and other migrants moved and settled 70 miles to the north from the first settlements, in today’s St. Augustine. There, carpenter Ioannis Yiannopoulos’ house served as the local school, with Yiannopoulos taking up teaching. To date, the historic house is well preserved and is a cultural attraction to everyone visiting the town, since it is the oldest recorded school that has been built in the US.

Two years ago, Mr. Nikolidakis, who has issued a wide series of studies on the education of the Greeks in America, has reviewed an album entitled “From the lives of Greeks in America”, which aimed at shedding light on the colonial life in different areas of the US.

The first Greek School in NY opened in 1912.

Imagine America at the beginning of the 20^th century. Imagine a bar just like the Cotton Club, just picture the club’s characteristics, the rooms that are behind the clubs, just like the ones we are used to seeing in the movies with their gamblers holding their breathes.

Now picture one gentleman with a cigar in his mouth and with an aristocratic style but with this honest look on his face and collecting all the chips on the table, gathering them with admiration and jealousy surrounding him.

If we are able with our imagination to transport ourselves to America in that era, we would definitely have to visualize the plain emblematic figure of Nikolaou Andrea Dandolou or “Nick the Greek”.

The man that made history as “the gentleman of gambling” or the “philosopher of gambling”, who lived a life that reminds us of the movies of Martin Scorsese and died just like the way most gambling legends die, on Christmas Eve broke but not forgotten.

The king of gambling, the most honorable players of the casino card games of his time. Wrote history by being able to pass from rags to riches more than 75 times, even information from some of the sources of the gambling world said that upon his career he lost and won more than 500 million dollars,

Even today, 45 years after his death, the legendary “Nick the Greek” continues to honor the casino felts around the world and makes article writers that associate themselves with gambling, summon him so they can speak with the legend.

The Start…

Nikolaos Dandolos was born on April 27, 1883 in Rethymno, Crete. His family came from Smirni and grew up well off for his time. His father sold carpets and his godfather was a shipbuilder, which he had a very well economic stability. This economic stability helped Dandolo to study philosophy at the Hellenic Evangeliko College of Smirni. He will then make the decision to migrate to the United States, the land of opportunity.

The truth is that “Nick the Greek” took advantage of every opportunity that was given to him for a more interesting life. At 18 years old he left for America to gain experience for entrepreneurship and gaining a weekly sum from his godfather a total of 150 dollars.

Just as fate would have it only thing that he would throw away was the business. Not only did he not evolve into a entrepreneur but he paid his way into having the lack of entrepreneurship, as a result to win and lose entire properties and to die in the end penniless.

From Chicago to Montreal…

His first stop was Chicago. There he fell in love with a young woman but their relationship didn’t last. When they broke up he moved to Montreal, Canada. It was there that his entrepreneurship faded. There he met with a famous horse racer, Phil Masgkreiv, who taught him his professional secrets. His love for horse races had just started and in just six months he managed to win 500,000 dollars.

His return to Chicago marked the start of a legend. There he soon became a connoisseur to card playing and to the dice, with casinos begging to recruit him so they can somehow fix the damage he made.

“Nick the Greek” didn’t accept any of those proposals and continued to play forming the title-legend. Even when he would lose 100,000 dollars, with only one bet, he still wouldn’t stop betting and at the same time becoming history in the making with his honorable games.

As time went by, more and more his title kept increasing as “Nick the Greek” just like the poker game that lasted 10 whole days and provoked the attention of the mob boss Costello while in the presence of the former King of Egypt, Farouk.

When the Mob Boss Called Him a…”Coward”

This legendary game became the center of “El Maroco” with audiences of 10 famous players among them the King of Egypt, Farouk. When the game was over, the Greek immigrant had won hundreds of thousands of dollars causing dissatisfaction from Costello who then dared to say to him: “Greek, you are leaving because you are a coward.”  Then Dandolo turned to Farouk and asked him to shuffle the cards. Then he turned to Costello; “Now amigo come and draw a card, the lowest one loses 500,000 dollars.” The Italian Mob boss denied and the next day the Times wrote “Costello won’t always be the leader of the mafia just like Nick the Greek will always be the King of poker”.

The Historical “Marathon” with Johnny Moss…

He played many games like these just like the game that wrote history and was the inspiration of “World Series of Poker” it wasn’t any different from the showdown with the legendary Johnny Moss. It all started in the summer of 1949 when Dandolos made an unusual proposal to Benny Binion, a casino owner and poker lover. His proposal was to hold a poker marathon with the top poker players of his time.

Benny agreed and closed the deal with Johnny Moss but on one condition….to become famous. That is exactly what happened. This game started in January of 1949 and ended in May of 1949. It was only natural that it stayed in history as the biggest poker game that was ever played.

The players had brakes only for food and sleep. In the end Moss would finish the game winning 2 million dollars and “Nick the Greek” say the legendary cue “Mr. Moss I’m going to have to let you leave”. Many said that the Greek quit only from exhaustion mainly because he was 24 years older than his opponent.

Dies Poor, Was Buried Like a Croesus…

“Nick the Greek” died on Christmas Eve in 1966 at the age of 83. He died poor even though in his last years he played with small amounts in Northern California. The assessment, however, that all the famous and rich people that were fed to him allowed him to be buried like a simple mortal. Some friends got together and decided to give him a rich funeral, with a golden casket buried with all his honors. Everyone was present.

Everyone was present, all his famous and rich friends of his, from the biggest stars to the finest Kings, from the most legendary Mob bosses to the biggest gamblers, and everyone was there. The first one there was Frank Sinatra, crying like a small child, said in his speech “Nick, you were so pure and honest that the only properties that you ever claimed were your charities”.  Indeed, all of the publications at the time mentioned that he gave about 20 million dollars to various charities from his winnings.

Stories That Made History…

The reputation but mostly the personality of Nikolaou Danadolo had generated interest from many interesting people of the time, “Nick the Greek” socializing with everyone from Aristoteli Onassis to Albert Einstein.

The last one mentioned, he would indeed often go on a night out fearing that his patrons would not respect his educated friend and he would often introduce him as “Little Al from Princeton” (Einstein was a member of the Institute of Applied Studies at the university. Einstein, however, enjoyed himself very much.)

“Luck is like a woman and this woman happens to be the love of my life”, was often said by “Nick the Greek”. In history, however, you were not only mentioned simply because of your luck.

However, Greek-Americans, whether they live in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Australia, Canada or Germany, they always find a way to mark their territory. Either building Greek restaurants or introducing Greek cuisine to other countries or just building museums filled with history and culture, Greeks always find a way to bring home to them.

The National Hellenic Museum in Chicago, Illinois is doing just that. Executive director Stephanie Vlahaki says, “The story we tell is very much the immigrant story and the individual story in search of opportunity, in search of home.” The museum was designed by Demetrios Stavrianos, who is also the principal in the Chicago office of RTKL firm. Located in the Historic Greek town in Chicago, the museum holds displays of old Greek folk costumes, old icons of various saints, statues of Ancient Greeks hero’s and the last thing of all their roof is like an Ancient Greek garden with statues of Ancient Greek hero’s which at night they light up along with the rest of the city. “The National Hellenic Museum will tell the story of how Ancient Greece laid the foundation for Western civilization and contributed to building America,” Vlahaki says.

Their exhibits include “The Oral Tradition,” which is a display of Homer’s “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” bringing to life the Trojan War and the adventures of Odysseus. Other exhibits include “Culture and Community: The History of the Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago,” which is a display of how religion has helped bring the Greek community together. “Gods, Myths and Mortals” is an exhibit, which opens December 10th, 2011 that will give visitors a chance to meet the 12 Gods of Olympus, see what daily life was like in Ancient Greece and have a chance to interact with poems such as “The Iliad “ and “The Odyssey”.

As you can see The National Hellenic Museum is the newest thing in Ancient History.

Aris Anagnos at his office in Los Angeles

Aris Anagnos was born in Greece and came to the States in 1946 after having served in the Greek army in World War II. He was only a young boy in his final year of high school when the war broke out in Greece. It was 70 years ago when the Greek premier Metaksas responded “Oxi” (no) when the Italian fascist Musolini asked if Greece would let the Italian and Nazi forces pass through Greek land. “It was very difficult times but you could feel that the Greeks were very proud of their decision,”Aanagnos remembers.

“I remember that day very well, everybody went out on the streets after they heard the news. Later, the army started drafting soldiers, and even several women’s clubs started working on making supplies for the soldiers. I was a teenager then, and I belonged to the national youth club. That first day, they sent me to the Greek Pentagon and made me a messenger. That day I was the first from the civilians to learn that Metaksas denied entry to the Italian and Nazi forces. I delivered that message on my bicycle to Zapeion Hall, to the national radio for broadcast.”

Less than a year later Anagnos, decided to sell all his family’s valuables in order to go to the Middle East and join the resisting forces. He risked his life many times and was thrown in jail as a hostage. He was set free after the end of the war. Anagnos fought for Greece at the time of war and continued to fight all his life for social justice and Hellenic issues. He is also an activist for peace in Kosovo and Serbia, and for human rights movements in Latin America.

Upon his return to Greece in 1945, Anagnos worked for the UN where he befriended his boss, a Navajo Indian, who suggested he leave for America. His boss gave him a letter of recommendation and an affidavit of support to leave his life in Greece behind and begin his new journey in America.

Bus boy and dishwasher were among his first jobs upon arriving in the States. “Eventually a Greek connection led me to work at the clearing house of a bank, meanwhile I was studying at UCLA.” He later began selling insurance and finally got into real estate which is where he was extremely successful.

He is one of the founders of the American Hellenic Council, which was originally formed to protect Cyprus. “In 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus. When we heard the news here in Los Angeles we met at Agia Sophia and we formed the save Cyprus Council in order to fight for justice in the Cyprus problem. We began doing demonstrations and some lobbying in congress that we still continue to this day. Later on we renamed the organization the American Hellenic council.”

In honor of OXI Day Aris, who now resides in California with his family, asks Greeks to remember the past and to not forget because “the past has been too brutal and we have suffered too much”.

On September 18th, the Asia Minor Holocaust Memorial Observance Committee, headed by Archon Bill Theodosakis, held their annual commemoration of the Greek Holocaust at Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church in Brooklyn New York.

This year’s commemoration saw a large influx of Greeks from across the tri-state area joining with local parishioners to observe the memorial service and listen to guest speaker Prof. Michael Stratis.

The annual commemoration, which normally goes unnoticed by the greater Greek American community, inspired for the first time another such memorial service to be held in California. Also on Sept 18th, St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church in Stockton, CA, organized their own memorial service to remember the victims of the Asia Minor Catastrophe in solidarity with services held in Brooklyn.

It is the hope of the Hellenic League of America to expand memorial services in Greek Orthodox Churches in 2012.

Greek Stamp in honor of Christopher Columbus

There has been more written about Christopher Columbus than about any person with the exception of Jesus Christ, and yet his past has been shrouded in mystery. It is generally known and agreed upon by the majority of historians that Columbus’ family was from Liguria and Christopher was born in the city of Genoa, the son of Domenico Columbo, a local weaver. However, the exact origin of Christopher Columbus (his national or ethnic background) has been a source of speculation since the 19th century and recently many books have been published claiming that the great admiral might have been Portugese, Catalan, Polish or Greek.

In fact, according to the book  A New Theory Clarifying the Identity of Christopher Columbus: A Byzantine Prince from Chios, Greece” Columbus never said he was from Genoa.

“He said he was from the Republic of Genoa, something much different. The island of Chios was part of the Republic of Genoa. The name Columbus is carved above many doors in the villages of Pirgi and Cimbori and a priest with that last name traces his ancestry on the island back over 600 years. There are also many Genovese families who trace their ancestry back to Chios. Columbus also wrote about the gum-mastic called mastika which comes only from Chios.” Till this day on the Greek Island Chios, there are a lot of people that have the last name Colombus.

The argument supporting this theory also states that Columbus kept his journal in Latin and Greek instead of the Italian of Genoa.

The House of Christopher Columbus in Chios, Greece

Columbus also referred to himself as “Columbus de Terra Rubra” (Columbus of the Red Earth); Chios was known for its red soil in the south of the island where grow the mastic trees that the Genoese traded. There is also a village named Pirgi in the island of Chios where to this day many of its inhabitants carry the surname “Columbus.” At the village of Pirgi where he also had a house, Columbus convinced a lot of Greek sailors to follow him on his Spanish funded journey to discover India, as he- then- thought.

A few more researchers have speculated that Columbus may have come from the island of Chios in Greece.

A Greek immigrant to America, Seraphim Canoutas, spent years trying to prove that Columbus was from a Greek family originally from Byzantium.

Ruth G Durlacher-Wolper, the founder and the director of the New World Museum and the New World Foundation in San Salvador, Bahamas, where Columbus’ ships first landed in 1492 and author of “A New Theory Clarifying the Identity of Christopher Columbus: A Byzantine Prince from Chios, Greece” summarized the 22 facts contributing to the clarification of Columbus’ identity.

Among the most interesting:

Columbus' Signature

Columbus signature “Xro-Ferens” Christophoros is Greek-Latin or Byzantine.

Columbus spelled Chios with a Greek ‘X’.

Columbus named Cape Maysi in Cuba using Greek words, Alpha and Omega.

Columbus never asked Italy for ships or aid for food and shelter when he needed help. If he was from Genoa than why not? Nor does he ever mention the Columbo family of Genoa to whom history says he was related. He neither spoke or read Italian. Yet in his favorite book Imago Mundi by Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly he wrote in Greek in the margins.

Columbus was called Genovese because he dressed in Genovese fashion from Chios. He signed his name “Columbus de terra Rubra” which means of the red earth. The Mastic areas of Chios was known for the red color of the earth. He banked at St. George in Genoa which took care of the colonies like Chios.

Columbus kept two logs on his journey, one real and one false. The true log used the measurements in Greek leagues and the false in Roman. The author used the real logs and measurements to reconstruct Columbus discovery of the island of San Salvador and cleared up many discrepancies in the geography of the area.

The Colombo family of Genoa were illiterate and the Genovese Christophoro was a woolweaver. For this person to acquire the learning, experience and spirituality that Columbus had that could convince a foreign king and queen to entrust a small navy and a fortune to him doesn’t seem probable. Maybe in twentieth century America, a poor son of a common garment worker can grow up to become president but in the Europe of the 15th century it is unlikely he could make Captain, much less Admiral in Command of a fleet. It is more likely that for Columbus to have received an audience with a king and queen, have to be royal himself, or have some pretty good connections.

Columbus’ son Ferdinand wrote that his ancestors have always followed the sea. Unless the Columbo family of Genoa had a long history of being ships tailors or official shearers of sea-sheep then they were not related. In fact even though they were living in Genoa at the time that Ferdinand was writing about his father, they are not mentioned. Nor are they mentioned in the Will of Columbus.

Columbus was not a wool-worker struck by God like Joan of Arc and instantly filled with knowledge of navigation, philosophy, astronomy, psychology, languages and the power to convince kings to give him whatever he wanted. This was a man with a lifetime of education, culture, experience and inspiration who had a sense of his own destiny and the drive to fulfill it.

In the book, we discover that not only was Columbus connected with the Paleologos family but many of his buddies were Greek too. Perhaps this is the most convincing argument for me. Anyone knowing Greeks in exile is aware that they are a tight group that trust each other and spend all their time together, bound by that thread of Hellenism. As convincing as all the other arguments, (and there are many in this small book), the fact that his ‘parea’ was Greek, (in other words his group of friends and associates), proved to me that Christopher Columbus was not the son of an itinerant Genovese wool-worker, but a Byzantine prince from Chios who came from a life of enlightened education and spiritual aspirations, and as an islander, combined it with a love of the sea.

The islanders from Chios are known for their skill on the sea and for the number of sea captains and ship owners from there. If Columbus was Greek then Chios is the most likely island he would be from. Chios has Genovese architecture and a sea-faring history, and its people have executed heroic exploits.

(Sources: Wikipedia, Ruth G Durlacher-Wolper, GreeceTravel.com, Daily Mail, Hellenism.net)

Bill Anton, Chairman Emeritus of the Culinary Institute of America was honored with the museum’s first Cultural Icon Award. On accepting his award, he said, “It’s amazing all that has been accomplished here.”

National Hellenic Museum Executive Director Stephanie Vlahakis (r) presents the Cultural Icon Award to Bill Anton

Well-known chef and cookbook author Diane Kochilas, honorary chairperson, said, “You’ve embraced Greek cuisine as a part of the culture, and you’ve glorified it in a way not attained in the US. I’m so proud to be here.” She then used a food metaphor to describe the “sneak peek” at the museum, and that there was more to come. “This is just the meze. The full plate will be marvelous.”

The Marketplace, featuring cooking demonstrations, signings from noted cookbook authors and the opportunity to purchase often hard-to-find Greek food products, has been open throughout the event. Friday, September 23 is the final day of Kouzina, and offers one last opportunity to participate in all the Marketplace has to offer.

All in all, Kouzina was a spectacular and memorable event.  The National Hellenic Museum has breathed new life into Greektown, but it’s so much more than a shiny, pristine building with artifacts – it’s where the community comes together, to share and celebrate our history and culture, to tell our story to the world. It’s not just our history – it’s the world’s. This is a very proud moment for our community.

An international team of experts resurrected the hidden manuscript of the ancient world’s greatest thinker, Archimedes of Syracuse.

In Jerusalem in 1229 AD the greatest works of the Greek mathematician Archimedes were erased and overwritten with a prayer book by a priest called Johannes Myronas. In the year 2000 a project was begun by a team of experts at the Walters Art Museum to read these erased texts. By the time they had finished, the team that worked on the book had recovered Archimedes secrets, rewritten the history of mathematics and discovered entirely new texts from the ancient world. This exhibition will tell that famous story. It will recount the history of the book, detail the patient conservation, explain the cutting-edge imaging and highlight the discoveries of the dogged and determined scholars who finally read what had been obliterated.

The exhibition will conclude with two galleries that ask “What will we discover next?” In six interactive learning stations, conservation staff will present artworks from the Walters’ collection to illustrate the very real questions that start the process of learning and discovery through research. For example, you will be invited to consider why a Kentucky Long rifle is associated with a pastoral 19th-century drawing by Rosa Bonheur, to explore what Ethiopian painting and manuscript illustration have to do with colorful minerals on display, and to ponder how silver preservation could be revolutionized by recent advances in nanotechnology.

The documentary “finally reveals the web of domestic politics, the realpolitik of Henry Kissinger, and repeated refusal of successive US presidents to demand that the rule of law and fundamental human rights be upheld in Cyprus.” Among the documents revealed is a recently declassified 1974 White House memorandum from Secretary of State Kissinger, who wrote, “There is no American reason why the Turks should not have one-third of Cyprus.”

“Cyprus Still Divided” also looks to the future of the divided island in the context of the ongoing settlement negotiations between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot community that began in September 2008. The documentary says: “By abandoning the rule of law and its principles, the United States had a role in causing the present division of Cyprus. It remains to be seen whether the U.S. can perform a role in reunifying Cyprus.”

The documentary originally aired on Detroit Public Television, on September 13, 2010.

Alice James, Professor of Anthropology and Fellow of the American Anthropological Association, has been doing research on Chios, Greece, since 1989. Her most recent focus of interest has been Asia Minor refugees. In 2005-2006, she was a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Asia Minor Studies in Athens, Greece; and in 1997-1998 she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Greek National Social Science Research Center. Her publications on Asia Minor refugees on Chios include “Memories of Anatolia: Generating Greek Refugee Identity,” in Balkonologia and “In the Mirror of their Past: Greek Refugee Photographs” (with photographer B.Smith) in Visual Anthropology Review.