Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Summer/105/Section 10/Christopher Beller

Overview


Christopher Beller was a real estate broker from Sparta, Greece, who lived in Miami in the 1900s. He was interviewed by Mabel B. Francis on October 24, 1939 as part of the Federal Writer’s Project.

Early Life
Born in 1894 in Sparta, Greece, Christopher Beller grew up during the Age of Mass Migration of Europeans to the United States, a time characterized with the greatest amount of immigration to the country. At 8 years old, he came to Chicago and lived with his uncle, working at his soda and confectionery shop after school. By the age of 14 he had stopped formal schooling, but he continued private study before attending the University of Missouri sometime around 1913 to take a two-year agricultural class.

Adulthood
Beller worked at a farm in Wisconsin until 1918, when he served in France with the 322nd Infantry as part of the 81st division. After the armistice of World War I, he wasn’t allowed to visit his family in Greece because the army captain “did not care” enough to organize the reunion. He had not seen his parents since emigrating. Upon returning to the States, he moved around a lot because the combination of climate and the effects of gas inhalation during the war was damaging to his health. He ended up back in Chicago working in the real estate business. However, it wasn’t long until the Wall Street Crash hit the city and the Mortgage Crisis happened, forcing him to move to Miami. He argued that its effects were worse in Chicago than in New York, where it originated. He thought he’d have better luck as a real estate broker in Miami, but the monetary earnings were still insignificant because of the decline in housing. For at least three years, he studied law at night, on the path towards becoming qualified as a licensed taxation lawyer. He lived alone and had no immediate family, yet he was very sociable; he “knew all of the 800 Greeks in Miami.” He was adjutant of the Hellenic Club, secretary of the Order of AHEPA, and a member of the Greek Democratic Club. He explained, “The Greek does not understand American ways and the American does not know the Greek…We love our country but we try to be good Americans.” Beller both promoted Hellenistic ideals and supported Americanization in the new country. He was fluent in Greek, English, Latin, and French, and he advocated strongly for the Greek language to be learned in American public schools.

The Mortgage Crisis of the 1930s


The 1930s was a homeowner’s time of hopelessness and fear as a result of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, when Americans lost most of their investments and income fell significantly. People simply did not have the means to afford their homes. Many were scared to trust in the system itself again after it had wreaked so much havoc on their lives. At one point, delinquent mortgages on owned houses located in cities was around fifty percent. The government was forced to step in and save the economy from eventual disaster. Newly created agencies, such as the Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLB), the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC), and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), functioned separately, but with one goal: stabilization of the economy. Most of these agencies were part of FDR’s New Deal; they sold loans, bought loans, and even provided insurance to those in need. To illustrate the amount of need met, “In only three years the agency received applications from 40 percent of all residential mortgagors and wrote new loans on ten percent of the owner-occupied homes in the U.S.” The long-term benefits of the impact of this sort of governmental interjection are widely debated, but involvement did alleviate some stress, according to a study in which it was shown that it was a “key part” of the 1940s housing boom.

Greco-American Assimilation Following the Age of Migration
The Age of Migration was a significant time in Greek heritage, as some 421,000 Greeks immigrated to America from 1890 to 1921. These immigrants were primarily young males in the agricultural industry searching for better opportunities than what they found in their homeland. Upon arriving in America, most Greeks were treated harshly and given the stingiest of jobs. “Every possible means was used to discredit the Greek immigrant. He was considered clanish, undemocratic, criminal, a troublesome individual.” The padrone system was utilized in order to take advantage of the unassuming Greek population, promising “great” jobs and the prospect of sending money back home. Because the Greeks were used by their employers as strikebreakers, Anti-Greek riots ensued, most prominently in the early 1900s. “The kinds of harassment Greeks faced ranged from physical assaults and racial segregation to all manner of petty annoyances.” Historians infer that Greek Americans were forced to protect themselves through the Americanization of Greek features like name choices and lifestyle. “The sacrifices of Greek immigrants [as soldiers during World War I] helped somewhat to alleviate the hatred and prejudice against the Greek popu­lation in the United States,” however, discrimination was still an issue. Greek Americans started organizations intended to peacefully integrate American and Greek ideals. The most influential were the American Hellenistic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) and the Greek American Progressive Association (GAPA). These groups differed in their views of the level of cultural assimilation to be achieved: the AHEPA promoted the integration of Greek ways into the American lifestyle, while the GAPA wanted to integrate American ways into a predominately Greek lifestyle. Even though the Greek population was divided about the correct way to preserve its heritage, Greeks had a strong sense of community within their ethnicity and cooperatively helped each other learn the essential American ways. Over time, the Greek immigrants learned the importance of both adapting to their environment and remembering their history, displayed in the evolving content of their school system. At first, communities started Greek schools in order to teach children their language, past, and religion, utilizing these establishments as “a mechanism in delaying or even thwarting assimilation.” As time passed, the curriculum became centered on the balance between the cultural roots of their homeland and the practices of their new nation.