Armenians began arriving in the US in large numbers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when they were driven out of historical homelands by the Ottoman Turks. The largest diasporan community is in the US, where there are over 1 million Americans of Armenian descent. The greatest concentration is in California, where in 1983 an Armenian American, George Deukmejian, was elected governor. Since the Second World War, Armenians have emigrated to the US from diasporan communities in Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Soviet Union, as well as Armenia itself.

The earliest immigrants to the US organized themselves for mutual support, building a network of churches, schools, social clubs, political parties and philanthropic organizations. These still form the backbone of Armenian American community life.

Each wave of Armenian immigrants has joined these institutions in search of fellowship and assistance. As a result they have been both sites of conflict between American-born and foreignborn Armenians, who differ due to decades of separation and culture change, and places where accommodation and innovation have been creating new forms of Armenian American culture. Perhaps the most influential institution has been the Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) church, to which most Armenian Americans have ties if not direct affiliations.

Armenian Americans have joined the US mainstream. While they have been changed by it, they have also altered US society in significant ways. Influenced by the white “ethnic pride” movement of the 1960s, which led white Americans to rediscover their “roots,” Armenian Americans established Armenian studies programs at such universities as Harvard, UCLA, Columbia and Michigan. The US diet has been affected by the production and marketing of foods favored by Armenians, such as yogurt, string cheese, raisins, figs and melons. Of the many Armenian Americans who have contributed to technology and industry, perhaps the most successful is Alex Manoogian, whose company developed the single-handled faucet. In the arts, literature and entertainment among those best known are actor/singer Cher (Cherilyn Sarkissian), painter Arshile Gorky, composer Alan Hovhaness, film director Rouben Mamoulian, journalist Ben Bagdikian and Pulitzer Prize winning author William Saroyan (The Time of Your Life, The Human Comedy).

Each year on April 24 Armenian Americans commemorate the “Armenian Genocide,” marking events immediately preceding and during the First World War when between 800,000 and 2 million Armenians died in massacres and deportations at the hands of the Turks. The individual and collective tragedies of this period have taken on profound historical and political meaning for Armenian people everywhere, many of whom see this historical policy as one of genocide.

An independent Armenia was established in 1991 on the dissolution of the former Soviet Republic. This has been a source of joy and pride for Armenian Americans, whose moral and financial support for the new Republic of Armenia has been substantial.