Fresno
California is one of the few places outside of Armenia to offer public art that does not relate to the subject of Genocide. These include the statues of William Saroyan (1950) and David of Sassoun (1950) in Fresno by the artist Varaz Samuelian.
History
The first Armenians to move to Fresno were the brothers Hagop and Garabed Seropian, who arrived in 1881. Their letters to their home village of Marsovan in the Ottoman Empire brought more immigrants to the San Joaquin Valley, which reminded them so much of home. By 1894 the Armenian population in Fresno was 360, a number which grew rapidly with the onset of the Hamidian Massacres in 1895-96. The massacres and persecution of the Armenians by the Turks fueled the growth until it reached about 10,000 even before the start of the Armenian Genocide. Many of the immigrants were protestant converts, the result of heavy missionary activity in Armenia by American Christians seeking converts from the Armenian Church. During and after the genocide even more Armenians came until the restrictions on immigration in 1921 and 1924 brought this to a virtual end. Los Angeles also became a focus of Armenian immigration, and some Armenians from Fresno moved there as well. The number of Armenians in LA surpassed those in Fresno in 1930 - partly because of the agricultural depression in the valley during the 1920s.
The early immigrants were primarily involved with farming and agriculture, with the ultimate goal almost always that of land ownership. By 1930 Armenians owned 40% of the raisin acreage in Fresno County. The were pioneers in the melon and fig production as well.
From the very beginning, bigotry against Armenians was common, and led many to Anglicize their names. In the 1890s Armenian Protestants were stripped of membership in local churches. Fear of Armenian land ownership caused the passage of laws restricting their rights to freely buy land. This attitude towards the tight knit Armenian community led some to try and assimilate, while having the opposite affect on others. The problem lasted for many decades, finally abating in the 1950s.
After WWII, displaced Soviet Armenians came from Germany, and a natural population flow of Armenians from east to west in the US also contributed to growth.
Today, the number of Armenians in Fresno is thought to number 25-30,000.
Timeline
- 1881 - first Armenians move to Fresno
- 1894 - large influx due to Hamidian Massacres
- 1897 - First Armenian Presbyterian Church constructed
- 1900 - Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church built, which burned in 1914 and was rebuilt in a new location in the heart of "Little Armenia".
- 1901 - Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church
- 1902 - Kaghakatsi (meaning Citizen) founded, renamed Nor Or (meaning New Day) in 1923.
- 1908 - Asbarez (meaning Arena) newspaper founded.
- 1957 - California Courier, which was California's first English-language newspaper.
- 1970s - Establishment of Armenian Community School of Fresno and the Armenian Studies department at California State University Fresno.
Map
Articles
Old Armenian Town Redevelopment ruling
Historic homes can't be moved
Appellate court says Fresno was wrong to OK relocation of Old Armenian Town buildings.
By Brad Branan / The Fresno Bee
May 29, 2008
The city of Fresno disregarded state law when it tried to relocate historic homes for a major downtown redevelopment project, a state appellate court has ruled.
The decision means developers can't immediately proceed with plans to build a parking structure for the Old Armenian Town project. And that could complicate plans for office buildings there.
The city could decide how to respond as early as June 10, when the City Council will discuss the project in a closed session, City Attorney James Sanchez said.
"There are a number of options on how to proceed," Sanchez said. "They could decide to accept the decision and see if the development can continue around that site. Or they could decide to petition the state Supreme Court for review of the case. We're not wedded to any options yet."
Sanchez said city officials were disappointed about the ruling.
"It delays redevelopment of downtown Fresno south of Ventura Street," Sanchez said.
City officials have long touted Old Armenian Town as a key part of their downtown revitalization plans.
But so far, only the 5th District Court of Appeals building has been finished on the site, while three office buildings, retail space and the parking have yet to be completed.
In 2005, two preservation groups challenged the city's plans to relocate five small historic homes to make space for parking. The homes are representative of the city's original Armenian town and shouldn't be moved to a nearby industrial area south of Highway 41 as the city proposed, they said.
The homes are now on a lot at N Street and Santa Clara Street. They are nearly all that remains of a neighborhood where Armenian immigrants settled beginning in the 1880s.
Jeanette Jurkovich of Friends of Armenian Town, one of the groups that challenged the city, applauded this week's appellate court ruling. The decision upheld a 2006 Superior Court ruling.
"This is very consistent with what we were trying to have the government do," she said.
"Maybe now we can protect and preserve a little part of Armenian Town."
Jeff Reid, an attorney representing developers Richard Gunner and George Andros, said he couldn't comment on the ruling because he hasn't seen it. But he said removing the proposed parking location throws the whole development plan into question.
"Losing that parking affects the overall development potential -- it's all up in the air," he said.
The court's decision focused on an environmental review process.
An initial report by the city found that Andros and Gunner couldn't build the parking structure where they wanted, because the historic homes would need to go there, the court's ruling says. Keeping the homes there was a necessary "mitigation measure" required to meet the state's rules governing the effect of projects on the surrounding area.
Nevertheless, the city proceeded with the developers' plans for the parking structure, ignoring what its own review had found earlier, the court found.
The city "never justified its abandonment of the previously adopted mitigation measure, and no substantial evidence supports the change," the court said.
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2008/05/29/634860/historic-homes-cant-be-moved.html#storylink=cpy
| This article contains text from a source with a copyright. Please help us by extracting the factual information and eliminating the rest in order to keep the site in accordance to fair use standards, or by obtaining permission for reuse on this site.. |
Armenian Genocide monument to be constructed in Fresno
May 16, 2014 - 09:43 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Fresno’s Armenian-American community has come together to form the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee, an umbrella association established to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide throughout this year and 2015, Asbarez reports.
Working under the theme “Commemoration, Education, Inspiration,” the committee is made-up of representatives from the community’s religious, educational, social, and political organizations.
“The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide is clearly a significant moment for Armenians all around the world,” said AGCC Chairman and California State University, Fresno, Professor of Armenian Studies Sergio La Porta. “As Fresno is one of the largest and most active Armenian communities in the Western Hemisphere, I think it resonates particularly strongly here. It is home to a proud and resilient Armenian community and is an especially poignant place to commemorate those who died in the Genocide and those who toiled afterwards to insure that we would have a much better world to live in.”
The centerpiece of the AGCC’s efforts will be the monument that will be constructed on the Fresno State campus. Designed by Fresno architect Paul Halajian, the structure will embody symbols of cultural meaning to the Armenian people. Built from béton brut and tufa stones, its principal components will be nine columns arranged in a circular pattern and angled inwards, reminiscent of the Tsitsernakabert monument in Armenia. The nine pillars represent the six provinces of historic Armenia, Cilicia, the Diaspora, and the Republic of Armenia. The columns will gradually descend in height around the circle, with the first measuring 19 feet high and the last 15 to underscore the significance of the year 1915. An incomplete halo will be set above the columns, symbolizing both the fracture left by the Genocide and the unity of the Armenian people.
In keeping with the group’s mission to educate, the AGCC plans several endeavors to reach out to the broader Central Valley to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide. A San Joaquin Town Hall event entitled Man’s Inhumanity To Man—The Last Hundred Years will be held on March 18, 2015 at the Saroyan Theatre, and a dramatic play about the Genocide is in the works, scheduled to open at Fresno State on May 1, 2015.
The committee also plans to offer workshops for secondary teachers of the Fresno and Clovis Unified School districts as well as other area districts to inform them how best to educate their students about the Armenian Genocide. The proposed lesson plans not only address the Armenian Genocide in particular, but also place Armenia’s tragedy within the larger historical context of Man’s Inhumanity to Man, including the treatment of Native Americans, the Holocaust, and the more recent state-sponsored ethnic cleansings in Rwanda and the Balkans. The committee stresses that though the Genocide occurred a century ago, the crime is still very much a modern human rights issue—especially in light of the maneuverings of the Republic of Turkey to deny or revise this historical fact.
In conjunction with the Fresno Philharmonic, the committee will host a concert to be held on April 25 at the Saroyan Theatre. The AGCC hopes that the evening’s program—which will include scared, classical, and new pieces—will celebrate the spirit of the Armenian people even in the wake of the Genocide. Also as part of the centennial’s musical events will be a performance by the Khachaturian Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano at Fresno State on November 14, 2014.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/178925/
| This article contains text from a source with a copyright. Please help us by extracting the factual information and eliminating the rest in order to keep the site in accordance to fair use standards, or by obtaining permission for reuse on this site.. |
Armenians find reason to celebrate
Bee staff08/30/08 22:22:27
The Musa Dagh Commemoration Committee in Fresno held its annual picnic and celebration Saturday at the Fresno Police Association's training grounds.
This year marks the 93rd year of remembrance of stand off at Musa Dagh (Mountain of Moses). The mountain is located in the Southern part of what is today Turkey, near the Syrian border on the Gulf of Iskenderun in the Medeterrean. Six Armenian villages lived along the Mountain side. When Ottoman authorities gave them orders to evacuate, they decided to stay and resist the Turkish millitary forces rather than be victims of a death march. A novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, by Franz Werfel published in 1933 depicts this resistance by these brave Armenians.
The villagers, under siege by the Turks during the Armenian genocide, fought off the soldiers for 53 days before being saved by a French ship passing by on the Mediterranean Sea. The celebration Saturday began with the cooking of the Harissa, a lamb and whole wheat stew.
The event also included traditional music and dancing.
It continues today with church services at 10:30 a.m., a blessing of the Harissa and music until 3 p.m.
The picnic began in 1978 with a few families keeping the culture alive and now attracts between 800 and 1,000 people each year from as far away as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Canada.
| This article contains text from a source with a copyright. Please help us by extracting the factual information and eliminating the rest in order to keep the site in accordance to fair use standards, or by obtaining permission for reuse on this site.. |
Recognition of Karabakh Independence
Azerbaijan Threatens Fresno County
http://asbarez.com/109833/azerbaijan-threatens-fresno-county/ Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Fresno County
FRESNO-The Fresno County Board of Supervisors became the newest target of Azerbaijan's wrath after the local body passed a resolution recognizing the self-determination of the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and its independence last month.
The Fresno Bee reported Tuesday that Azerbaijan has officially written to the Board of Supervisors urging the body to rescind the April 23 resolution.
Fresno County became the first County in California to officially recognize the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Artsakh).
On April 23, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution sponsored by Supervisor Andreas Borgeas that officially recognizes the Nagorno Karabakh Republic - a region historically and ethnically Armenian situated between Armenia and Azerbaijan - and also calls upon the California Legislature to grant official recognition.
The Permanent Representative of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States, Robert Avetisyan, commented at the time that "[w]e are grateful for [this] initiative, and hope that the adoption of this Resolution will set a deeper cooperation towards stability, as well as democratic and economic prosperity in our region." The Consul General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles, Grigor Hovhannisian, commented that "[e]very step toward the recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a step toward peace and friendly relations in the South Caucasus. I whole-heartedly welcome recognition efforts by community and elected officials, as a continuation of friendly relations and solidarity between the people of the Republic of Artsakh, the Republic of Armenia and Fresno, California."
"This fuels fighting between the communities," Azerbaijani Deputy Consul General Ramil Gurbanov, who is based in Los Angeles, told The Fresno Bee on Monday. It doesn't help achieve "a diplomatic and peaceful solution in the region."
"We stand with our Armenian friends, both in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh ... We will not be muscled by a well-funded lobbying effort by the Azerbaijanis," said Borgeas told the Fresno Bee, indicating that the Board of Supervisors will not budge from its earlier decision.
Following the passage of the resolution on April 23 Borgeas said, "I am thrilled to stand beside our Armenian friends - here, in Armenia and Artsakh - and hope Sacramento will also officially recognize the independence of NKR. While Fresno County is the first County in California to pass such a resolution, my goal is for this initiative to help inspire more recognition efforts throughout the state, country and eventually Washington, D.C."
"[T]his resolution by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors is timely, appropriate and significant," William Bairamian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee - Western Region commented at the time. State legislatures in Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have already passed similar resolutions.
| This article contains text with a copyright from Asbarez. Please help us by extracting the factual information and eliminating the rest in order to keep the site in accordance to fair use standards, or by obtaining permission for reuse on this site.. |
Armenians from Fresno
These are Armenians who were born or who have lived in Fresno:
General Andranik, Ross Bagdasarian, William Saroyan