Romani Americans#Virginia

Romani Americans have served as experts on official delegations to meetings and conferences in the U.S. held by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). At an OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Roma issues in November 2013, Nathan Mick, who is Romani American, delivered the U.S. delegation's intervention and participated in working sessions on improving respect for the rights of Romani people. Another American Roma Dr. Ethel Brooks served as a moderator at this same event; she also spoke at the UN Holocaust Commemoration in New York in 2013 in commemora- International Efforts to Promote Roma Rights 79tion of the Romani genocide during World War II. In January 2016, former President Barack Obama named Dr. Ethel Brooks to serve on the Holocaust Memorial Council, making her the only Romani American on the council since President Bill Clinton appointed Ian Hancock in 1997. The State Department's public diplomacy programs have benefited from several Romani American speakers including Hancock who have, over the years, traveled to several European countries with support from U.S. embassies in order to discuss Romani issues and human rights. The State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor leads a regular meeting of a Romani working group, which gathers experts on Romani issues based in the Washington, D.C., including Romani Americans, to exchange information and discuss policy priorities for promoting Romani inclusion in Europe.{{cite book|title=Realizing Roma Rights|page=78|isbn=978-0-8122-9387-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjNbDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |last1=Bhabha |first1=Jacqueline |last2=Mirga |first2=Andrzej |last3=Matache |first3=Margareta |date=March 16, 2017 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press }}

Voice of Roma was founded by Sani Rifati in 1996, and incorporated as a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization in 1999, in Sebastopol, California.{{Cite web|url=https://www.romarchive.eu/en/roma-civil-rights-movement/roma-civil-rights-movement-canada-and-usa/|title=The Roma Civil Rights Movement in Canada and the USA{{dash}}RomArchive|website=www.romarchive.eu|access-date=December 3, 2023}}

Schools for young Roma students have been set up in California, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle and Camden, New Jersey.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0K9bHZOj9cC&dq=american+gypsies+settlement+chicago+new+york&pg=PA124 | title=Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles | isbn=9780716770343 | last1=Schaefer | first1=Richard T. | last2=Zellner | first2=William W. | date=2007 | page= 124 | publisher=Macmillan }}

Pennsylvania, Indiana, Georgia and New Jersey passed discriminatory laws that targeted Romani people.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zOeZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT61 | title=Romanies in Michigan | isbn=978-1-62895-379-4 | last1=Bloomfield | first1=Martha Aladjem | date=July 2019 | publisher=MSU Press }}

The Romani people originate from Northern India,{{cite book |last = Hancock |first = Ian F. |year = 2005 |orig-year=2002 |title = We are the Romani People |publisher = Univ of Hertfordshire Press |isbn = 978-1-902806-19-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MG0ahVw-kdwC&pg=PA70 |page=70 | postscript =: ‘While a nine century removal from India has diluted Indian biological connection to the extent that for some Romani groups, it may be hardly representative today, Sarren (1976:72) concluded that we still remain together, genetically, Asian rather than European’}}{{cite journal|first=Isabel|last=Mendizabal|title=Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data|journal=Current Biology|date=6 December 2012|display-authors=etal|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.039|pmid=23219723|volume=22|issue=24|pages=2342–9|doi-access=free|bibcode=2012CBio...22.2342M |hdl=10230/25348|hdl-access=free}}{{cite news|author=Sindya N. Bhanoo|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/science/genomic-study-traces-roma-to-northern-india.html?_r=0|title=Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India|work=New York Times|date=11 December 2012}}Current Biology.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AS61CgAAQBAJ&q=Roma+Rajasthan+Punjab&pg=PA50 |title=Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical and Theoretical Perspectives |author1=K. Meira Goldberg |author2=Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum |author3=Michelle Heffner Hayes |page=50 |date= 2015-09-28|publisher=McFarland |access-date=2016-04-28|isbn=9780786494705 }}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoworl00simo |url-access=registration |quote=Roma Rajastan Penjab. |title=World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East |publisher=Rough Guides |author1=Simon Broughton |author2=Mark Ellingham |author3=Richard Trillo |page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoworl00simo/page/147 147] |access-date=2016-04-28|isbn=9781858286358 |year=1999 }} presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan and Punjab.

The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a big part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts and daily routines.{{Citation | last1 = Šebková | first1 = Hana | last2 = Žlnayová | first2 = Edita | year = 1998 | url = http://rss.archives.ceu.hu/archive/00001112/01/118.pdf | title = Nástin mluvnice slovenské romštiny (pro pedagogické účely) | place = Ústí nad Labem | publisher = Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity J. E. Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem | page = 4 | isbn = 978-80-7044-205-0 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024041/http://rss.archives.ceu.hu/archive/00001112/01/118.pdf | archive-date = 2016-03-04 }}

More precisely, Romani shares a basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi. It shares many phonetic features with Marwari, while its grammar is closest to Bengali.{{cite journal|first=Milena|last=Hübschmannová|title=Romaňi čhib – romština: Několik základních informací o romském jazyku|journal=Bulletin Muzea Romské Kultury|issue=4/1995|year= 1995 |publisher= Muzeum romské kultury|place=Brno|quote=Zatímco romská lexika je bližší hindštině, marvárštině, pandžábštině atd., v gramatické sféře nacházíme mnoho shod s východoindickým jazykem, s bengálštinou.}}

Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani originated in northwestern India and migrated as a group.{{cite web |url= http://www.livescience.com/40652-facts-about-roma-romani-gypsies.html|title=5 Intriguing Facts About the Roma|work=Live Science|date=23 October 2013}}

According to a genetic study in 2012, the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of northern India, traditionally referred to collectively as the Ḍoma, are the likely ancestral populations of modern European Roma.{{Citation | last1 = Rai | first1 = N | last2 = Chaubey | first2 = G | last3 = Tamang | first3 = R | last4 = Pathak | first4 = AK | last5 = Singh | first5 = VK | year = 2012 | title = The Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup H1a1a-M82 Reveals the Likely Indian Origin of the European Romani Populations | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 7 | number = 11 | page = e48477 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0048477 | pmid=23209554 | pmc=3509117| bibcode = 2012PLoSO...748477R | doi-access = free }}

In February 2016, during the International Roma Conference, the Indian Minister of External Affairs stated that the people of the Roma community were children of India. The conference ended with a recommendation to the Government of India to recognize the Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of the Indian diaspora.{{cite web|title=Can Romas be part of Indian diaspora?|publisher=khaleejtimes.com|url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/international/india/can-romas-be-part-of-indian-diaspora|date=29 February 2016|access-date=4 March 2016}}

File:Romani in America WW1 - The Star Press 1915.png, 1915]]

The first Roma to come to the United States arrived in Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey and Louisiana during the 1500s.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iniuCgAAQBAJ&dq=Gypsies+live+in+cities+chicago+los+angeles&pg=PA9|title=Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles, Ninth Edition|isbn=9781478631835 |last1=Schaefer |first1=Richard T. |last2=Zellner |first2=William W. |date=October 22, 2015 |publisher=Waveland Press }} Romani slaves were first shipped to the Americas with Columbus in 1498.Peter Boyd-Bowman (ed.), Indice geobiográfico de cuarenta mil pobladores españoles de América en el siglo XVI, vol. 1: 1493–1519 (Bogota: Instituto Caro y Cuervo, 1964), 171. Spain sent Romani slaves to their Louisiana colony between 1762 and 1800.The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Volume 1; Volume 7 By Junius P. Rodriguez An Afro-Romani community exists in St. Martin Parish due to intermarriage of freed African American and Romani slaves.{{cite book|title=We are the Romani People|page=27}} The first Roma to arrive in the United States came from the British Isles. Other Roma later came from the Mediterranean, along with the general shift of immigrants from northern to southern Europe. Among these were Roma, who moved out of Romania and Moldova in the nineteenth century. They travelled through Austria-Hungary, Italy and the Balkans, to arrive in New York in 1881.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54gyRnhIugkC&dq=Gypsies+in+the+United+States+fortune+tellers+women+roofing&pg=PA419|title=Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World|isbn=9780878083527 |last1=Phillips |first1=David J. |date=August 31, 2023 |publisher=William Carey Library }} The Romanichal, the first Romani group to arrive in North America in large numbers, moved to America from Britain around 1850. The Rom were the second subgroup of Roma to immigrate to the United States. They came from Germany and other parts of western Europe. The third was the Ludar. They came from southern European ports beginning in 1882.{{cite book|title=American Immigration: A Student Companion|page=129|isbn=978-0-19-998895-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_JQEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 |last1=Daniels |first1=Roger |date=May 10, 2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press }} Iberian Gitanos and Balkan Romani, the ancestors of most of the Romani population in the United States today, began immigrating to the United States on a large scale over the latter half of the 19th century coinciding with the weakening grip of the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Wars in Europe in the 19th century, which ultimately culminated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), freeing many ethnic Eastern Europeans from Ottoman dominance and producing new waves of Romani immigrants.{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/163603|title=The Ottoman Emigration to America, 1860–1914|last=Karpat|first=Kemal|journal=Cambridge University Press|year=1985 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=175–209 |jstor=163603 |access-date=October 21, 2019}} Other Roma mainly came from Greece and Italy.{{cite book|title= Emerging Voices: Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans| isbn=9780813543420 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EJfrLhHyjM8C&dq=gypsies+united+states+came+from+italy+serbia&pg=PA115| last1=Ling | first1=Huping | year=2008 | publisher=Rutgers University Press }} England and Scotland had shipped Romani slaves to Virginia.{{cite book|title=We are the Romani People|page=28}} The Kalderash first arrived in the United States in the 1880s. Many of them came from Austria-Hungary, Russia and Serbia, as well as from Italy, Greece, Romania and Turkey. The arrival of the Kalderash, rudari and the other subgroups of Romani at this time more or less wiped out the Roma who had arrived in United States during the colonial period. Their arrival coincided with the large wave of immigration from Eastern Europe.{{cite book|title=The Roma in Romanian History|page=125|isbn=9789639241848 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOl4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |last1=Achim |first1=Viorel |date=January 2004 |publisher=Central European University Press }} Early Romani immigrants listed such diverse occupations as farmer, laborer, showman, animal trainer, horse trader, musician, and coppersmith, among others, to census takers. In the 19th century, Romani American men tended to pursue nomadic European occupations, while Romani American women often practiced fortune telling.{{cite book|title=Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia|page=1850}}

That wave of Romani immigration comprised Romani-speaking peoples like the Kalderash, Machvaya, Lovari and Churari, and ethnically Romani groups that had integrated more within the Central and Eastern European societies, such as the Boyash (Ludari) of Romania and the Bashalde of Slovakia.{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/gyp/gypstart.html|title=Gypsies in the United States|access-date=2007-08-26|work=Migrations in History|publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}

Many of the Vlach Romani headed for the United States took an indirect means of traveling to America; this involved traveling by ship to countries such as Mexico, or arrive at Canada to retry entry or cross the border.{{Cite web |date=20 November 2020 |title=Romani Realities in the United States: Breaking the Silence, Challenging the Stereotypes. |url=https://fxb.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2464/2020/11/Romani-realities-report-final-11.30.2020.pdf |access-date=13 May 2023 |page=12}} This was due to the fact that, at the time, U.S. legislation prevented entry to "Gypsies", making it problematic for those who were perceived to be easily identifiable as Romani by their appearance.

In 1999, the United States pledged to take up to 20,000 Kosovan refugees; many of them were Roma.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNCX6UsdZYkC&pg=PA115|title=Encyclopedia of North American Immigration|page=115|author=John Powell|date=August 31, 2023 |publisher=Infobase |isbn=9781438110127 }}

File:Romany USC2000 PHS.svg]]

By the 2000s, there has been some acknowledgement of the growing presence of Romani peoples within America as the Census forms of 2000 were disseminated for the first time in Romani language, furthermore, as of 2010, five sessions in Congress have been held to address the growing increase of Romani asylum seekers to the US, due to the anti-Romani sentiment of Europe.{{Cite book |last=Hancock |first=Ian |title=Danger! Educated Gypsy! |publisher=University of Hertfordshire Press |year=2010 |pages=195–196}}

The new wave of Romani people such as the Romungre from Hungary and the Catani from Romania to be concentrated in New York and Chicago.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ieIcAAAAQBAJ&dq=american+gypsies+settlement+chicago+new+york&pg=PA89 | title=Roma Education in Europe: Practices, policies and politics | isbn=9781136280665 | last1=Miskovic | first1=Maja | date=July 18, 2013 | publisher=Routledge }}

Many Romani people also came from Cuba, Canada, Mexico or South America, from where it was easier to immigrate to the United States.{{cite web|url=https://rm.coe.int/second-migration-factsheets-on-romani-history/16808b1a86|title=Second Migration|website=rm.coe.int|access-date=27 January 2024}}

Early Romani immigrants reported a wide range of occupations to census officials, including farmer, laborer, showman, animal trainer, horse trader, musician, and coppersmith, among others. In the 19th century, Roma American men typically engaged in nomadic occupations common in Europe, while women frequently practiced fortune telling. As automobiles began to replace horses, men transitioned to roles in selling and repairing cars, as well as metalworking. Mobility has been a fundamental aspect of Roma culture; while some Roma Americans continue to travel or relocate as urban migrants in search of work, others exhibit a level of sedentism comparable to that of non-Romani Americans.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2MWDAAAQBAJ&dq=roma+%22gypsies%22+live+in+chicago+new+york&pg=PT3292|title=Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia|isbn=978-1-5063-3278-9 |last1=Cortés |first1=Carlos E. |date=August 15, 2013 |publisher=SAGE Publications }}

Many Romani Americans keep their identity a secret due to stereotypes of Romani people being nomads, beggars, scammers and thieves.{{cite web|url=https://time.com/archive/6916701/hounded-in-europe-roma-in-the-u-s-keep-a-low-profile/|title=Hounded in Europe, Roma in the U.S. Keep a Low Profile}} TLC‘s My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding have portrayed American Roma poorly and has oversexualized Romani American girls.{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/12/30/it-is-high-time-to-address-anti-roma-racism-in-the-us#:~:text=They%20misrepresent%20us%2C%20as%20Romani,invented%20by%20reality%20TV%20executives.|title=It is time to address anti-Roma discrimination in the US}} Recently, Police departments in the United States have racially profiled America Roma, stereotyped Roma people as criminals and have set up task forces specialised in “Gypsy crimes”.{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/opinions/2020/12/20/romani-americans-struggle-with-inherent-criminality-stereotypes|title=Romani Americans still struggle with discrimination}}{{cite web|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2016/11/gypsy_crime_class_raises_quest.html|title='Gypsy' crime class raises questions about racial profiling}} In 2023, There was a racist sign at a gas station in Rowland Heights, California.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-25/gas-station-bans-romani-women-rowland-heights-california-chevron|title=L.A. County gas station signs banned Romani women. Community lashes back over racism}}

{{further|Romani society and culture}}

Romani Americans eat sarma (stuffed cabbage), gushvada (cheese strudel), and a ritually sacrificed animal (often a lamb).{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gypsy-americans|title=Gypsy Americans |website =Encyclopedia.com |access-date=December 3, 2023}}

A dish eaten for feasts and everyday use by American Roma is pirogo.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTWNDAAAQBAJ&dq=ethnic+american+food+today+gypsies&pg=PA121|title=Ethnic American Cooking: Recipes for Living in a New World|first=Lucy M.|last=Long|date=July 15, 2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-6734-3 |access-date=December 12, 2023|via=Google Books}}

Romani Americans are concentrated in large cities such Chicago and Los Angeles and states such as New York, Virginia, Illinois, Texas and Massachusetts.{{cite book|title=Emerging Voices: Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans|page=116}}

Romani Americans live mainly in major urban areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, and Portland. Romani Americans today still migrate across the United States from the Midwest to Nevada, California, Texas, and elsewhere to live close to family and friends or for jobs. Some of the Roma who had once lived in Delay and then in the Dearborn area in Michigan moved to Las Vegas Valley to work or retire.{{cite book|title=Romanies in Michigan| isbn=9781628953794 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zOeZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT33 | last1=Bloomfield | first1=Martha Aladjem | date=July 2019 | publisher=MSU Press }}

There are Vlax and Romanichal churches in large cities in the Southern United States such as Atlanta and Houston.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSuaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA214 | title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 6: Ethnicity | isbn=9781469616582 | last1=Ray | first1=Celeste |year=2014 | publisher=UNC Press Books }}

The Roma have lived and travelled throughout the state of New York.{{cite book|last=Eisenstadt|first=P.|title=The Encyclopedia of New York State|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8156-0808-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmHEm5ohoCUC&pg=PA682| page=682|location=Syracuse, NY}}

Romani people are concentrated in the Northeast, the Midwest and the West Coast.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q0oOH5ZCR4wC&dq=Encyclopedia+of+Contemporary+American+Culture+%22gypsies%22&pg=PA326|title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture|first1=Robert|last1=Gregg|first2=Gary W.|last2=McDonogh|first3=Cindy H.|last3=Wong|date=November 10, 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1-134-71929-9 |access-date=December 12, 2023|via=Google Books}}

The Roma first came to Chicago during the large waves of Southern and Eastern European immigration to the United States in the 1880s until World War I. Two separate Romani subgroups settled in Chicago, the Machwaya and the Kalderash. The Machwaya came from Serbia and parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They settled on the Southeast Side of Chicago.{{cite web|url= http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/559.html|title=Gypsies|website= Encyclopedia of Chicago}}

The Winsted Citizen in an article from 1947 reported that in the late 1800s Romani people visited Connecticut on a routine basis. In Hartford, there was a horse market that was owned by a Romani "King."{{cite web | title=Gypsies | website=New Hartford Historical Society | date=28 February 2013 |url=https://newhartfordcthistory.org/2013/02/27/gypsies/#:~:text=Gypsies%20are%20not%20usually%20associated,winter%2C%20the%20gypsies%20went%20south | access-date=12 December 2023}}

Numerous Romani individuals have relocated to Northern Kentucky.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zc0eBgAAQBAJ&dq=The+Encyclopedia+of+Chicago+gypsies&pg=PA428|title=The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky|first1=Paul A.|last1=Tenkotte|first2=James C.|last2=Claypool|date=October 17, 2014|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|via=Google Books}}

There are about 20,000 Roma in Texas. In Texas, the two main Roma populations are Vlax and Romanichal. Romani Americans are concentrated in Houston and Fort Worth. Significant numbers of Romani families also live in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso. Nearly every large town in Texas has some Roma residents.{{cite web|url= https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/roma-gypsies|title= Romani Americans (Roma)|publisher= Texas State Historical Association}}

One of the most well-documented colonial Romani North American migrations involved many French Roma who helped build the French colony of Louisiana. The French Roma settled throughout Biloxi, New Orleans, Natchez to Natchitoches.{{cite web | title=Romani History is American History – Ann Ostendorf| website=web.sas.upenn.edu | url=https://web.sas.upenn.edu/earlyamericanstudies/2022/03/16/romani-history-is-american-history/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20well,Orleans%2C%20and%20Natchez%20to%20Natchitoches| access-date=9 January 2024}}

Romani people moved to rural areas in Nebraska in the 1930s. The Roma were known as shrewd horse traders.{{cite web | title=Gypsies | website=Wessels Living History Farm | date=18 January 2023 | url=https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farming-in-the-1930s/farm-life/gypsies/#:~:text=During%20the%201930s%20Gypsies%20moved,sometimes%20camped%20near%20their%20farm | access-date=12 December 2023}}

The Roma are concentrated in the northeastern part of New Jersey, especially in the Newark, Paterson and Elizabeth area.{{cite news| title=The Hidden Minority: New Jersey's Thousands of Gypsies |newspaper=The New York Times | date=6 September 1992 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/06/nyregion/the-hidden-minority-new-jersey-s-thousands-of-gypsies.html#:~:text=In%20New%20Jersey%20they%20are,in%20the%20Toms%20River%20area | access-date=12 December 2023}}

Many Romani moved to New York City from other parts of the United States after relief programs were put into effect in the 1930s. Romanies from Hungary went to New York after the revolution in 1956. The Roma settled in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Newark, New Jersey.{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition|page=563|isbn=978-0300114652 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lF_uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA563 |last1=Jackson |first1=Kenneth T. |last2=Keller |first2=Lisa |last3=Flood |first3=Nancy |date=December 2010 |publisher=Yale University Press }}

Gypsy caravans journeyed through North Dakota's territory since the 1880s and continued annually up until the 1940s.{{Cite web|url=https://news.prairiepublic.org/show/dakota-datebook-archive/2022-06-10/fear-and-stereotypes-of-gypsies-in-n-d-1933|title=Fear and Stereotypes of Gypsies in N.D., 1933|website=Prairie Public Broadcasting|access-date=December 12, 2023}}

The highest concentration of Romani people in Maryland was in Baltimore in the 20th century but encampments were reported across the state.{{cite web | title=The Gypsy Queen of Baltimore* – Maryland Center for History and Culture | website=Maryland Center for History and Culture | date=18 April 2013 | url=https://www.mdhistory.org/the-gypsy-queen-of-baltimore/#:~:text=Habersham%20is%20only%20the%20most,the%20neighborhood%20of%20Cherry%20Hill | access-date=12 December 2023}}

There is a Romanichal community in Arkansas. They trace their lineage to England and Ireland.{{Cite web|url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/romani-5357/|title=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|access-date=December 3, 2023}}

Approximately 200,000 Roma live in California and 50,000 live in Los Angeles.{{cite book|title= Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles, Ninth Edition|page=9}}

There is a Hungarian-Slovak Romani community in Michigan.{{cite book |author=Bloomfield |first=Martha Aladjem |title=Romanies in Michigan |year=2019 |publisher=Michigan State University Press |isbn=9781611863406}}

Romani have resided in Oregon since the early twentieth century. There is a Romani community in Portland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ohs.org/oregon-historical-quarterly/award-winning-articles/upload/Silverman_Roma-in-Oregon_OHQ-Winter-2017_Final.pdf|title=Oregon Roma (Gypsies)|access-date=December 3, 2023}}

The Roma have been present in the state since the mid-1800s,{{Cite web|url=http://paheritage.wpengine.com/article/lycoming-county-romani-pennsylvania/|title=Romani in Pennsylvania|website=Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine|access-date=December 12, 2023}}

A group of Roma settled in Stumpy Bottom in Princeton.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/100|title=e-WV | Romani People|website=www.wvencyclopedia.org|access-date=December 3, 2023}}

The Roma began settling on Cleveland's near west side in the 1880s.{{cite web|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/g/gypsies|title=GYPSIES|date=May 16, 2023 }}

Most of the Roma who came to Utah were of Balkan, Eastern, and Central European origin. They settled in Deseret, Elsinore, Oak City, Kanab, and other rural communities in Utah since the early 1900s.{{Cite web|url=https://historytogo.utah.gov/traveling-gypsies/|title=Traveling Gypsies Brought an Exotic Lifestyle to Rural Utah|date=May 3, 2016|website=History to Go|access-date=December 12, 2023}}

The Appalachian Mountains in Virginia provided a home for traveling Romani people during first half of the 20th century.{{cite journal | title=Appalachian Roma: The Handprint of the Gypsy | journal=Asa Annual Conference | date=13 July 2017 | url=https://mds.marshall.edu/asa_conference/2017/accepted_proposals/354/ | access-date=27 January 2024 | last1=Whitaker | first1=Tracy }}

• Boyash:{{cite book|title=Roma: Modern American Gypsies|page=9|isbn=9781478633792|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5USpDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|last1=Sutherland|first1=Anne H.|date=May 25, 2016|publisher=Waveland Press}} The Boyash are concentrated in the Northern United States.{{cite book|title=Gypsies: The Hidden Americans|page=xv}}
• Kalderash: The Kalderash are concentrated in New York City, Chicago, and Fort Worth, Texas.{{cite book|title=Roma Minority Youth Across Cultural Contexts| isbn=978-0-19-065408-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e30_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT36 | last1=Dimitrova | first1=Radosveta | last2=Sam | first2=David Lackland | last3=Wreder | first3=Laura Ferrer | date=September 7, 2021 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}
• Machwaya: The Machwaya came from Mačva, Serbia. Most Machwaya settled in California.{{cite book|title=Ethnic American Food Today: A Cultural Encyclopedia|page=249|isbn=9781442227316 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DBzYCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA249 |last1=Long |first1=Lucy M. |date=July 17, 2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }} Machwaya are concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles.{{cite book|title=Roma Minority Youth Across Cultural Contexts: Taking a Positive Approach to Research, Policy, and Practice}} They brought many customs from Yugoslavia such as sarme (foods) and slava rituals.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5USpDAAAQBAJ&dq=american+gypsies+settled+in+chicago+new+york&pg=PA15 | title=Roma: Modern American Gypsies | isbn=9781478633792 | last1=Sutherland | first1=Anne H. | date=May 25, 2016 | publisher=Waveland Press }}
• Rom: They number around 20,000. The Rom have spread across North America in large family groups and tend to stay together. The Rom have tried to continue in fortune telling, but they soon have moved on to roofing and car sales, traveling in trailers and mobile homes. Metal work is one of the preferred activities of the Rom men in car body repairs, scrap collecting, car sales and occasional coppersmithing, but more often do roofing, paving and home improvements. The women do fortune telling and sell cheap goods around the houses.{{cite book|title=Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World|page=419}}
• Ludar: Hailing from North of the Balkans, Hungary, and the Banat, the Ludari, also known as Rudari, Boyash, or Banyash, are a subculture of Romani who arrived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Hungarian-Slovak Romani: The Romani of Northern Hungary largely settled in industrial cities of the Northern United States near the turn of the century. Among Romani from these areas were Olah, Romungre, and Bashalde immigrants. They were noted for their musical traditions and popularized Romani music in the United States by performing in cafes, night clubs and restaurants. Their prevalence in show business made Hungarian-Slovak Romani the most visible of the Romani groups arriving in America at the turn of the century and helped to shape the modern American idea of a Romani.{{cite web|url=http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/additional-resources/gypsy-and-traveler-culture-in-america |title=Gypsy and Traveler Culture in America |publisher=Gypsy Lore Society}} The Bashalde reside principally in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Chicago and Las Vegas.{{cite book|title= Teaching Tolerance Magazine{{dash}}Issues 15–21|page=34}}
• Romanichal: The ancestral home of the Romanichals is the British Isles.{{cite book|title=Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Culture|page=27}} Members of this group are found across the U.S., with concentrations in Arkansas, Texas and the Southeast.
• Black Dutch (genealogy): Sinte Romani from Germany, whom de Wendler-Funaro refers to as Chikkeners (Pennsylvania German, from the German Zigeuner), sometimes refer to themselves as "Black Dutch." They are few in number and claim to have largely assimilated into Romnichel culture. They are represented in de Wendler-Funaro's photographs by a few portraits of one old man and briefly referred to in the manuscript "In Search of the Last Caravan."
• Cale: Spanish Roma are found primarily in the metropolitan areas of the East Coast and the West Coast.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gypsyloresociety.org/additional-resources/gypsy-and-traveler-culture-in-america|title=The Gypsy Lore Society{{dash}}Gypsy and Traveler Culture in America|website=www.gypsyloresociety.org|access-date=December 3, 2023}}
• Xoraxane Roma: Established mainly in the Bronx, New York where they have established mosques, the Xoraxane are a Muslim population originating in Macedonia and surrounding areas of the Balkans, several hundred families that came to the United States beginning in the late 1960s. Several thousand other Xoraxane came later as part of a Bosnian refugee program initiated St. Louis, Missouri, and are settled there.{{cite book|title=Danger! Educated Gypsy: Selected Essays|page=130}}
• Lovari: Some 2,000 or more Lovari live in the Chicago metropolitan area. They descend from the Russian Roma who fled to Yugoslavia during the First World War, travelling back and forth into Hungary and intermarrying with Hungarian Lovari. After deciding to leave Europe a group of Lovari families arrived in Montreal, Canada on a Russian ship from France but were targeted for deportation. They then moved to St. Louis in 1973 and then on to Chicago to find relatives.{{cite book|title=Danger! Educated Gypsy: Selected Essays|page=131}}
• Scottish Romani and Traveller groups: For centuries, the Tinkers, who were ethnically Scottish, remained separated from the mainstream society in Scotland. However, some of them migrated to Canada after 1850 and a significant number made their way to the United States after 1880. Although more than 100 distinct clans have been identified, the exact total number of Tinkers is still unknown.
• Yenish: A largely assimilated group of ethnic Germans, mistakenly identified as Gypsies, established a community in Pennsylvania after immigrating in 1840, primarily working as basket makers.

{{main list|List of Romani Americans}}

• Stiv Bators, punk rock vocalist and guitarist
• Gratiela Brancusi, actress
• Michael Costello, fashion designer
• Gigi Dolin, professional wrestler
• Billy Drago, actor
• Rita Hayworth, actress and dancer
• Ladislas Lazaro, politician
• Oksana Marafioti, writer
• Seanan McGuire, writer and musician
• Paul Nicholas Miller, better known as GypsyCrusader, white supremacist internet personality
• Hillary Monahan, writer
• Paul Polansky, writer and activist
• Tracey Ullman, actress

• Romani people
• Romani studies
• {{section link | Romani literature | United States}}
• Irish Traveller Americans

{{Reflist}}

• Gropper, Rena C., and Carol Miller. “Exploring New Worlds in American Romani Studies: Social and Cultural Attitudes among the American Macvaia.” Romani Studies 11, no. 2 (2001): 81–110.
• Heimlich, Evan. "Romani Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2014), pp. 1–13. [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3273300150/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=c69f1bde Online]
• Marafioti, Oksana. American Gypsy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012).
• {{cite book|title=American Gypsies|author=Sinclair, Albert Thomas|editor=George Fraser Black|year=1917|publisher=New York Public Library|url=https://archive.org/details/americangypsies00blacgoog|quote=New York Public Library.|access-date=24 April 2014}}
• {{cite book|title=An American-Romani Vocabulary|author=Sinclair, Albert Thomas|editor=George Fraser Black|edition=reprint|year=1915|publisher=New York public library|url=https://archive.org/details/anamericanroman01librgoog|quote=New York Public Library.|access-date=24 April 2014}}
• Sutherland, Anne. “The American Rom: A Case of Economic Adaptation.” in Gypsies, Tinkers and Other Travellers, edited by Farnham Rehfisch, (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975). pp 1–40.
• Sutherland, Anne. Gypsies: The Hidden Americans (Tavistock Publications, 1975).
• Sway, Marlene. Familiar Strangers: Gypsy Life in America (University of Illinois Press, 1988).

• {{cite web | title=Romani History is American History{{dash}}Ann Ostendorf | website=Early American Studies: Miscellany | url=https://web.sas.upenn.edu/earlyamericanstudies/2022/03/16/romani-history-is-american-history/ | editor1=McNeil Center for Early American Studies | editor2=University of Pennsylvania | editor3=University of Central Florida's Center for Humanities and Digital Research }}
• {{cite web | title=Romani People in the Americas | website=Harvard University: FXB Center for Health and Human Rights | date=June 14, 2019 | url=https://fxb.harvard.edu/the-roma-program/romani-people-in-the-americas/}}
• {{cite news | last1=Matache | last2=Bassett | first1=Margareta | first2=Mary T. | title=Romani Americans still struggle with discrimination | publication-date=December 20, 2020 | access-date=December 25, 2023 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/12/20/romani-americans-struggle-with-inherent-criminality-stereotypes}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/home Gypsy Lore Society]
• [http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Du-Ha/Gypsy-Americans.html "Gypsy Americans", everyculture.com]
• [https://publications.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2016/04/American-Communities-Series_Macedonian-Roma_English_508.pdf Macedonian Roma: Hidden in Plain Sight in the Bronx, New York]
• [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pxrfh "Roma (Gypsies)", Texas State Historical Association]
• {{cite web | title=Romani Atlantic | url=https://www.romaniatlantic.cz}}
• {{cite web | title=RomArchive | url=https://romarchive.eu}}

{{Romani diaspora}}

{{Demography of the United States}}

{{Ancestry and ethnicity in the United States}}

Roma

Roma

United States