Gavoor: ‘Roots Run Deep’

What a great theme for the upcoming 81st Annual AYF Olympics in Detroit: “Roots Run Deep.”

In 1938-40, a woman named Sydney Robertson Cowell organized and ran a WPA Folk Music Project. She and her colleagues went around to various parts of California recording all kinds of American, American Indian, and other ethnic folk music. They went to Fresno and recorded the Armenian immigrants playing instruments and singing songs they had brought with them from the “old country.” One of the songs they recorded was of a man singing a diasporan version of “Hoy Nazarim Yarim,” an old Armenian folk song. It was a diasporan version because the verses were referring to the Armenian girls of New York, Fresno, Detroit, and Boston, and their taste in potential husbands. The song was sung by one Ruben J. Baboyan:

Bostoni hay aghchigner, hoy nazarim yarim Doctor pastapan guzen, hoy nazarim yarim

Fuh-res-no-in aghchigner, hoy nazarim yarim Hayruir aker hogh guzen, hoy nazarim yarim New Yorki hay aghchigner, hoy nazarim yarim Khali dzakhoghner guzen, hoy nazarim yarim

Dee-troy-ee-tee hay aghchigner, hoy nazarim yarim Fordi ashkhadogh guzen, hoy nazarim yarim

Back in the 1930’s, there were clearly four song-worthy Armenian towns, and Detroyeet was one of them. Roots run deep. The 1930 Ameriga-Hye words to this old song tell a story. They tell a very simple story of where Armenians first migrated to in this country. Armenians went to Fresno for a reason. They ended up in Andover, Mass. for the same reason. Armenians who had been farmers could farm in these places. You could almost envision the first immigrants coming to these places with a sack of seeds. Literally, for these Armenians, roots ran deep.

The Findlater as it appears today as a dance hall.
The Findlater as it appears today as a dance hall.

Armenians went to New York to be merchants and Boston to continue or start professions. As highlighted in this song, Armenians also went to Detroit. They came to Detroit because of Henry Ford, his factories, and the $5/day wages he was paying. My grandfather, Levon, worked in one of Henry Ford’s factories. He worked in the foundry. I always thought of the dichotomy of he and his friend growing up in a rural and agrarian Armenian village and ending up in, what was at that time, the industrial epicenter of the world. What a contrast. He was not alone. A lot of Armenians were uprooted and made new homes in Detroit with the lure of becoming a Fordi ashkhadogh. Roots run deep.

The auto industry is still important to the Armenian community of Detroit. Many Armenians work for or have worked for Ford, GM, or one of the suppliers over the years. There are numerous examples of families with two, three, and even four generations working for either Ford or GM. Armenians have made significant contributions to the industry in terms of general management, assembly, engineering, and quality at the VP and director levels. Roots run deep. Armenians from certain villages in the old country tended to immigrate to the same places in the United States. Detroit had Armenians coming from everywhere, but the bulk of the immigrants were from Sepastia, Van, and Kghi. They came together in Detroit, still rooted in their villages that were no more, to create a new Armenian village in Detroit. To this day, the Vasbouragan Society meets and holds events. The children and grandchildren of the original immigrants from Keghi recently regrouped and held a very successful pagharch dinner in 2012. These roots run very deep. The immigrants got married and had children. They worked to preserve a sense of being Armenian in the gritty industrial boomtown that was Detroit. In 1933, the Armenian Youth Federation was founded and provided a natural way to bolster the Armenian Spirit in the youth, and slow down the very strong lure to melt and meld into the American culture. They had planted new roots in this gritty industrial city and wanted to nurture the coming generations. They built churches and community centers, called getrons.

The children of the survivor generation made the AYF strong. This generation, my parent’s generation, embraced American and Armenian life. They fought in World War II and Korea. They married, often have found their spouse in the AYF.

At first, like many regions, the metropolitan Detroit area had several AYF chapters, from Pontiac to Melvindale. Over time, as transportation advances made the geography more compact and the demographics of the community changed, chapters merged to become bigger and stronger. When I first became aware of the AYF, there were two chapters in Detroit: Christopher and Mourad-Zavarian. In the 1960’s, the two chapters became one. They took a new name, Koppernick Tandoujian, a member of parliament of the first Armenian Republic who had settled in Detroit…and made new roots. His granddaughters were members of the chapter at the time.

This year, the Olympics return to Detroit. Detroit hosted its first Olympics in 1950. In that first year, the local chapters—Detroit Christopher, Detroit Mourad, Detroit Zavarian, Windsor, Melvindale, and Pontiac—all had representation on the organizing committee. Detroit has hosted the Olympics in 1961, 1975, 1980, 1986, 1993, 2000, and 2008. The 2014 Olympics will be the 9th AYF Olympics in Detroit.

For the 1950 Olympics, the ARF gave a room at the Armenian Getron on Lafayette to the AYF. The local AYF chapters raised funds and transformed this room into a lounge and clubhouse for AYF members. At that Olympic weekend, the room was inaugurated. It was jam packed with AYFers for an epic Friday night hook-up and impromptu talent show.

After that first Olympics in Detroit, the AYF room was open every night for AYF members to meet and socialize. One had to actually show an AYF membership card to get in. The AYF continued to use that room into the 1970’s. The older men had their srjaran, the youth the AYF room.

Detroit had a few Olympic firsts. In 1950, Detroit held the track and field games at a University of Detroit stadium. This was the first university venue for the AYF Olympics. In 1975, the Detroit AYF alumni organized and hosted the first Alumni Night on Friday. It was completely complimentary and set a standard that has become a highlight of the Olympic weekends for the alumni. Roots run deep.

Clearly, the theme for this year’s AYF Olympics is a good one. Make your travel plans, book your rooms, place an ad in the Ad Book. Come and join the Detroit AYF community for a weekend full of athletics, dances, meeting old friends, and making new ones. Come and experience the Armenian side of Detroit. Come and contribute to strengthening our roots that, indeed, run deep.

Mark Gavoor
Mark Gavoor is Associate Professor of Operations Management in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management at North Park University in Chicago. He is an avid blogger and oud player.

4 Comments

  1. Hi Mr. Gavoor,
    This is a wonderful article! I am Greek American, and I feel very close to all my Armenian friends in history, culture, and suffering. I have a specific question: is your surname from the Turkish word for non-believers, “gavur,” which they called all Christians, Armenians and Greeks alike.
    I am just curious.
    Thank you!

  2. Thank for this charming article, Mark!
    I spent five memorable years in Ann Arbor, during which time I was a participant in some of these Detroitahay events.

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