Where did all the Greeks Go?
A Brief History Why Leave Greece? “Kokolis came over from Greece because back then times were very hard in the village. There was depression, war and famine, and my grandmother had so many kids to take care of. A lot of families were like us. I mean very poor. Kokolis brought them over here. I forget how many but the goal was to give them a better life, make some money, and send some money back over to help out their families.” (Athen Mazias of the Hamilton Restaurant) Greeks, like many other immigrants, came to America solely for economic gains. Much like the rest of Europe, the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s was a time of economic despair. This economic despair can be broken down into four points: 1. France had just undergone a blight that wiped out their Currant farms. Greek framers saw this as an opportunity to make money and in many cases destroyed their olive farms to be replaced by currants. However, when the French became able to grow currants again, the Greeks suffered a
