Moving within a country is stressful, but emigration to another nation is another level of stress. One thing immigrants like to do when moving to a new place is keep some of their old things, whether that be material objects, family traditions, or even food. One thing Bolivians brought with them is their love of soccer.

There are well over four hundred Latino soccer teams with over seven thousand athletes in the Washington Metro area. There are quite a few rivalries, some stemming from former hometowns in Central and South America where the players are from. Many of the players, coaches and owners learned the soccer game and business behind it when they lived outside of the United States. Teams even recruit professional players from their home countries to come play in their metro area teams.[1] Despite the money involved in a lot of the leagues, some coaches refuse to pay players.[2]

 

Money and business are a large part of these leagues, bringing in thousands of dollars annually, but there is no way to know how much vendors are earning. Even international businesses like Budweiser are involved. In 1998, Budweiser donated $10,000 to the TACA Cup which was held at Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Memorial Stadium in Washington, DC. The six day tournament brought in over $16,000 worth of tickets when only two years before the ceremony had been held in an airline office. Getting from an office to RFK in the span of two years is an amazing change. Athletic wear and equipment companies that had verbal agreements wanted contracts to prevent big names like Adidas from taking their “small town clients.” In total, the TACA Cup cost $23,000 for referees, security, renting RFK, and the many other expenses that come with hosting a tournament.[3] However, the competing teams do not have to pay to enter the tournament.[4]

Teams pay anywhere from $500 – $1500 to join leagues and then the owners of the leagues take care of things like field rentals and hiring and paying referees. With such a large fan base, Latino soccer is a $1.4 million a year industry. Many Latino-owned restaurants and businesses aid in supporting the soccer community by sponsoring teams. Sponsoring restaurants often keep their doors open late at night to celebrate winning games.[5]  Unlike most leagues, the Bolivian league is run by a board of directors, instead of owners.[6]

Bolivians, athletes or not, have a local Bolivian celebrity to look up to and use as a beacon of hope for success. Marco Etcheverry was on DC United and had a large fan base comprised of the Bolivians living around the DC Metro area. Fans said they took inspiration from Etcheverry both on and off the field. Americans also like him so that helps unite the immigrants with the locals. Even when offered a large deal to be traded to a team in France, Etcheverry denied it, citing his reasons as wanting to stay in the DC area and remain loyal to both Bolivians and Americans in the area. He even planned to open his own soccer school to give back to the community even further. He donated uniforms to teams and gives speeches to Bolivian schools.[7]

With strong leagues and star Bolivian players, soccer is one thing that Bolivian immigrants don’t have to give up when they come to America. Soccer unites fans around the world and definitely in the DC Metro area. There are plenty of teams to get involved in or just to cheer for. The large soccer scene gives immigrants the chance to feel more at home and start new relationships on common ground.

[1] Gabriel Escobar, “The Other Pro Soccer; In Area’s Latino Leagues, Part of the Game Is Profit, and the Best Players Are Paid” The Washington Post, November 29, 1998, 1.

[2] Escobar, 2.

[3] Escobar, 2.

[4] Escobar, 5.

[5] Escobar, 2.

[6] Escobar, 3.

[7] Pamela Constable, “The Pride of All Hispanics: United’s Etcheverry is Bolivia’s Shining Star,” The Washington Post, Octeber 21, 1998.

In almost every culture food is central. Food connects people, bringing them together for a time to share something that creates bonds and memories. Some of these memories related to food will last a lifetime, as Ethiopian immigrants in northern Virginia can attest to. Two commonly mentioned dishes in several interviews were injera and doro wat. Ethiopians, like many immigrants, try to maintain connections to their heritage through their foods.

 Credit SpiceRoots

Injera is a spongy flatbread used as a utensil to eat other food. It can be found a nearly every meal and is definitely a staple to Ethiopian cuisine. Diners use the injera to pick up or scoop other food because Western utensils, such as a fork or spoon, are not used.[1] Injera is fairly easy to make which is good because it is needed at every meal. The grounded grain teff serves as the flour of the bread and it is mixed with water. Then it sits for a day or two before it is cooked in a saucepan. Although it seems somewhat similar to a pancake mix, it is much thinner and is only cooked on one side so that the other side remains spongy.[2] Keeping this spongy texture makes it easier for the consumer to soak up sauces, soup and the like.[3]

Credit The Daring Gourmet

Doro wat, like injera, is a traditional Ethiopian dish. Although quite popular and mentioned in several interviews of Ethiopian immigrants in northern Virginia, the dish doro wat is made more for special occasions. It is a spicy stew made with chicken and other ingredients, as well as a hard-boiled egg. Ethiopian immigrant, Zion Bezu, came over to America in the 1990s when she attended college in Kansas. She continues to make traditional Ethiopian food for her family and says her children’s favorite dish is doro wat. She only makes it on special occasions because it is very time consuming, taking hours of cooking. Bezu says doro wat is a traditional New Year’s dish, but Ethiopians celebrate their Enkutatash (New Year) in mid-September.[4] Immigrating at seven years old, Afomia Wendemagegn says doro wat is a traditional dish to serve at Christmas, also known as Genna.[5] Despite the long hours to make doro wat, it is a very traditional and valued dish to share with family on holidays such as Enkutatash or Genna.

Different traditional Ethiopian dishes have several meanings to immigrants and their families and often bring back memories. It is comforting to Ethiopian and other African immigrants to find traditional foods in northern Virginia or wherever else they may settle. Whether the consumers are as old as Bezu or younger like Wendemagegn, or even a second generation like Bezu’s children, traditional food is still very important, especially with their connections to holidays or just everyday meals. Passing down these dishes to descendants is important to the Ethiopian immigrants as well, so that they know the children do not lose their heritage. Food brings generations and nationalities together.

[1]Selome Araya. “Hands Instead of Forks: Eating Ethiopian Food.“ Skipping Stones 25, no. 3 (May 2013): 14.

[2] Heather U. Authentic Injera (aka Ethiopian Flat Bread), accessed October 27, 2016, http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-injera-aka-ethiopian-flat-bread-96980.

[3]Selome Araya, “Hands Instead of Forks: Eating Ethiopian Food.” Skipping Stones 25, no. 3 (May 2013): 14.

[4] Zion Bezu, interview by Krystyn Moon, Alexandria, VA, July 23, 2015.

[5] Afomia Wendemagegn, interview by Krystyn Moon, Alexandria, VA, June 24, 2015.

The 1940 U.S. Census for Alexandria, Virginia lists two men with the surname of Giuseppe living within a short distance. After further research, the men are likely either brothers or cousins. James Giuseppe is listed as a forty-three year old Italian immigrant working as a carpenter with an American wife and six children, ages four months to seventeen years old, all born in Virginia. He had three years of education while his wife received seven years. His children over the age of five were all educated starting around age seven. He earned $1,800 a year and owned a house on East Raymond Street. It is likely James immigrated sometime in the 1920s because his oldest child was seventeen years old at the time of the 1940 census and had been born in Virginia.[1]

 

In the same census, down the street was another Giuseppe family that had parents from Italy. Both John and Mary Giuseppe were originally from Italy and immigrated to the United States where all four of their children were born. John was a car repairman and made $1,200 a year. Mary did not have an education and took care of the household.[2] John and Mary’s oldest child was also 17 and born in Virginia; it is possible that James and John immigrated together.[3] Their children all had been educated starting around age seven or eight. Their oldest child had reached his second year of high school.[4] Both men would have been in their twenties when they immigrated, as John and James were forty-nine and forty-three, respectively, at the time of the 1940 U.S. Census.[5]

 

The Giuseppes were part of approximately 9 million Italians living outside of Italy by the 1920s.[6] By the 1930s, they were part of 3.5 million Italians in America, many of whom were trying to escape from Mussolini and Fascism.[7] Despite this, there were many Italians in America who saw Mussolini’s Italy as a homeland to be proud of.[8] It is unclear whether either Giuseppe family supported or opposed Mussolini and Fascism. Previous diasporas had a lot of Italians leave Italy, work elsewhere for a while and then return to Italy, but that stopped by the time the Giuseppes came to America. They, like many other Italians around the same time, likely intended on staying in America for good.

[1] 1940 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Alexandria, Virginia, E Raymond Street, sheet no. 10A, James Guiseppe, line 7-14, digital image, accessed October 11, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/

[2] 1940 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Alexandria, Virginia, E Raymond Street, sheet no. 10A, James Guiseppe, line 7-14, digital image, accessed October 11, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/

[3] 1945 U.S. City Directories, Alexandria, Virginia, page 184, Dorothy Giuseppe, line 17, digital image, accessed October 11, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/

[4] 1945 U.S. City Directories, Alexandria, Virginia, page 184, Dorothy Giuseppe, line 14-17, digital image, accessed October 20, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/

[5] 1940 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Alexandria, Virginia, E Raymond Street, sheet no. 10A, James Guiseppe, line 7-14, digital image, accessed October 11, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/

[6] Donna R. Gabaccia, Italy’s Many Diasporas (London: Routledge, 2003), 141.

[7] Gabaccia, 146.

[8] Gabaccia, 147.

In the mid to late 19^th century, Alexandria, Virginia was a popular location, with both a large railroad system and plenty of waterfront for ships to bring people and cargo. Alexandria had a lot of people traveling to and from the city. As a sizable commercial hub, it also supported prostitution.[i]

One of the immigrants that decided to live in Alexandria was an English immigrant named Ann White. She was listed as a 50 year old homeowner in the 1860 U.S. Census.[ii] She owned $1300 in real estate, but no slaves. She was the second highest property holder in her block, only beaten by another woman running a boarding house. White was not married and neither was anyone else listed in her house. It appears that her home may have been a mix of a brothel and a boarding house. At the time of the 1860 U.S. Census, White had two women, both of whom worked as prostitutes, and a sailor living with her.[iii] Her house was located in the 300 block of North Lee Street.[iv]

The house’s location was a great place for White to host a brothel, or a boarding house that doubled as a brothel. The house was a mere block or two from the water’s edge and local hotels, making it very accessible to sailors and other visitors.[v]

The two prostitutes living with White were Ann Jones and Margaret McCline/McCuin. Margaret’s surname changes based on the database used but she is consistently in the house. She was 23 years old, while. Jones was 34 in 1860. Neither Jones nor McCline were literate. McCline was an Irish immigrant but Jones was from Maryland.[vi] Perhaps both came from poor backgrounds, and were never able to have schooling so they turned to one of the few jobs available to women.

Jeremiah Robb (sometimes Robbs) is listed at the house in the 1860 U.S. Census, but doesn’t appear in the 1870 US census.[vii] It is unclear what connection Robb had to White. He was listed as a waterman, and perhaps was living there for a short period that happened to coincide with the census.[viii] He could have also worked for White part time; oftentimes, female brothel owners needed a male bouncer in case clients became rowdy.

Why White chose to run a brothel is not clear, but she did well and made a good profit doing so.[ix]

[i] A Brief History of Alexandria, City of Alexandria, VA, accessed September 29, 2016, https://www.alexandriava.gov/.

[ii] 1860 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Alexandria, Alexandria, Virginia, Sheet 68, household of Ann White, line 27, digital image, accessed September 29, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/.

[iii] “Social Groups in Alexandria” Prostitution,” Voting Viva Voce, last modified 2016, accessed Sept. 22, 2016,  http://sociallogic.iath.virginia.edu/.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] 1860 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Alexandria, Alexandria, Virginia, Sheet 68, Ann Jones and Margaret McCline in the household of Ann White, line 28-29, digital image, accessed September 29, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/.

[vii] 1860 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Alexandria, Alexandria, Virginia, Sheet 68, household of Ann White, line 27, digital image, accessed September 29, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/.

[viii] 1860 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Alexandria, Alexandria, Virginia, Sheet 68, household of Ann White, line 30, digital image, accessed September 29, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/.

[ix] “Social Groups in Alexandria” Prostitution,” Voting Viva Voce, last modified 2016, accessed Sept. 22, 2016,  http://sociallogic.iath.virginia.edu/.