Stirpes, Volume 31, Number 3, September 1991 Page: 106
pp.102-150 ; 27 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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106 STIRPES
Czech Texas and the Texas Czechs
By Robert Janak
The Czechs are a Slavic people. More specifically, they are a West
Slavic people along with the Slovaks, Wends and Poles. The East
Slavs include the Russians, Ukrainians and Bielo-Russians. The South
Slavs include the Bulgarians and the various peoples of Yugoslavia --
Macedonians, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Today the Czechs live in Czechoslovakia together with the Slovaks.
The Czechs inhabit the western half of the country and the Slovaks
the eastern half. Before the end of World War I and the creation of
the Czechoslovak Republic, what is now Czechoslovakia was part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. At that time the Slovaks lived in the
northern region of Hungary and the Czechs lived in three Austrian
provinces called Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. This was the political
situation at the time when the majority of the Czechs who came to
Texas emigrated.
The three provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia are called the
Czech Crown Lands because in the Middle Ages they were the hereditary
lands of the Kings of Bohemia. At one time Lusatia was a land of the
Czech Crown as well. Lusatia is important to Texas because it is the
homeland of the Wends who settled in Lee County.A
There is some confusion between the term Czech and the related term
Bohemian. "Czech" is a linguistic and ethnographic term. It properly
refers to the Slavic people who speak the Czech language. "Bohemian"
is a geographic term. It properly refers to the people who live in
the province or old Kingdom of Bohemia.3 Since Bohemia had a large
German population up to the end of World War II when they were expelled
from the country, the term Bohemian can properly refer to the Germanspeaking
inhabitants of the kingdom as well as to those who spoke Czech.
In fact, many German-speaking immigrants came to Texas from Bohemia.
The confusion occurs when people use the terms synonymously. Some
people even call the Czech language Bohemian.
Many of the Czechs who came to Texas considered Bohemian an offensive
term. They were Czechs. They did not even like to refer to their
former home as Bohemia. They used the Czech term "Cechy" (land of the
Czechs). Many of today's Texas Czechs have preserved this attitude.
There is also confusion with the term Moravian. On the one hand
"Moravian" is a geographic term which refers to the people who live in
Moravia. This included both Czech and German-speaking inhabitants at
the time of the great immigrations to Texas. Many of the Czechs of
Moravia, however, preferred to call themselves Moravians to distinguish
themselves from the Czechs of Bohemia.L They were Moravians because
they lived in the province of Moravia. They were also Czechs because
they spoke the Czech language. They were Bohemians because they lived
in the Czech Crown Lands. And of course they were Austrians becauseat that time they were citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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Texas State Genealogical Society. Stirpes, Volume 31, Number 3, September 1991, periodical, September 1991; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39878/m1/7/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Genealogical Society.