National and ethnic cultures of Utah
[1] Originally populated by the Ancestral Puebloans, Ute, Navajo, and Fremont people, Utah has experienced several waves of immigration over its history, leading to a diversity of ethnic and national backgrounds.
characterize the post-Indigenous settlement of Utah as having occurred in three major waves, the first between 1850 and 1880, the second between 1880 and 1920. and the third post World War II to the present.
Utah was admitted to the Union as a slave state under the Compromise of 1850, at which time approximately 50 Black people, or 0.4% of the population according to the 1850 US Census, lived in the territory.
Discrimination against Black citizens was endemic, with limited access to public positions many professions considered off-limits to all but White people.
[citation needed] In 1976, the Reverend Robert Harris, a Democrat from Ogden, became the first African American elected to the Utah Legislature.
Today (2007), many of Utah's American Indians are experiencing a better balance between tribal life and coexistence with the dominant society.
After the railroads were built, at the beginning of 1900 some found occupations in the new mining industry and others dedicated themselves to independent businesses such as laundries, restaurants and mini markets.
Due to this significant population a newspaper was started, a Buddhist Temple, and a Christian church were built near Japan Town in Salt Lake City.
The really big blow came with World War II, when almost all Japanese were segregated in Camps in remote areas of Utah, such as Topaz.
No permanent Mexican settlements were ever established, but the Spanish Trail was built in the state's southern boundaries, and several geographic names remain.
The first Hispanics to settle in Utah were ranchers coming from New Mexico and Colorado who found jobs in the southwestern part of the state, near Monticello[clarification needed] in the 1880s.
At the same time a good number of Mexicans immigrated to the Salt Lake and Ogden area to work in the railroad and mining companies.
In the 1920s a congregation called La Rama Mexicana was established by the LDS Church, to cater to the Hispanics of Central and South America converted by the Mormon missionaries.
Most of the Danes were farmers from Northern Jutland and settled in the agricultural counties of Box Elder and Cache in the north of Utah, and Sevier and Sanpete in the south.
Although LDS Church leaders encouraged assimilation, and participation in English speaking wards, a number of language based organizations flourished.
Several Danes soon became prominent in all sectors of civil and ecclesiastical activities, but for most of those of the first generation the language barriers were difficult to overcome.
[12] Finnish immigrants (also called Finns or Finlanders) came to America in big numbers in search of better opportunities, also because their Country was engaged in a bloody war of independence against Russia.
With the large increase of immigrants, businesses related to their national culture were started, such as coffeehouses, bakeries, and grocery stores with Greek products.
The Greek festival organized by the Holy Trinity Church in Salt Lake City attracts over 100,000 people every September.
Famous Germans in Utah include a long list of musicians, architects, painters, scholars, and Church leaders.
German language and traditions have always been kept alive with various organizations and a newspaper, the Salt Lake Beobachter, that ended publication in the 1930s after forty years of activity.
On the other side, British immigrants greatly helped American Mormons to start the development of the new land, in the critical first years before the arrival of the railroad.
They came by the thousands, and soon in the west side of Salt Lake City a Little Italy was formed, with a cluster of stores where Italian cuisine and merchandise were sold.
Several local Italian newspapers, such as Il Minatore (the miner) and La Scintilla (the sparkle) were keeping the new immigrants informed.
The Italians who came to Utah were mostly Catholic, and were taken care of by a parish priest, Monsignor Giovannoni, sent from Italy to ease the language barriers they encountered.
Swiss immigrants started to come to Utah in the 1850s as a result of the proselytizing efforts of Mormon missionaries in Switzerland.
A group of them were sent by Brigham Young to start the town of Santa Clara, near St George, and they accomplished the task in an excellent way.
[20] The Jews who first settled in Salt Lake City in the 1850s were merchants and businessmen of German and Hungarian origin coming from the Eastern United States.
Several of them became prominent businessmen and citizens, occupying top positions in the city council, in the legislature, and in the chamber of commerce.
For their social events the Jewish community purchased a large and elegant building near downtown, that remained active for many years.
