1. On December 1, 1918  in Chicago was summoned a congress , which lasted for more than a week. 201 delegates were present. In the light of the recent events its organizers considered as most important the question of preparing a mutual agreement about the possible after-war status of Macedonia - autonomy or annexion to Bulgaria. With a great majority the delegates supported the annexion.


The Macedono-Bulgarian Congress in Chicago, December, 1918. 
A Bulgarian flag is seen in front.


On January 15, 1919 a Memoir was sent to the Great Powers, the US President and others. In it they explained the real motives of Bulgaria to enter the war. The delegates shared their disappointment from the peace agreements, which according to them threw their brothers into a "foregn slavery". They demanded for Macedonia not to be torn apart but to join the state it was historically connected to - Bulgaria.

 






Memoir Respectfully Submitted by the Macedono-Bulgarian Central Committee Representing Forty Thousand Bulgarians from Macedonia in the United States of America, to the President of the United States of America, and to the Governments of the Allied and Neutral Powers of Europe and Their Representatives at the Peace Conference, Paris, France.

Here is part of the text:

"A resolution by the Macedono-Bulgarian Congress conducted on December 1-6, 1918 in Chicago for the freedom of Macedonia and the unification of the Bulgarian people.
......
We, the undersigned 200 delegates, representing 40 000 Bulgarians from Macedonia, present the following facts:

"1. We are born, grown up and brought up in the cities and villages of Macedonia, where we used to live: Skopie, Tetovo, Debar, Ohrid, Kostur, Lerin, Voden, Bitolja, Prilep, Veles, Gevgeli, Dojran, Kukush, Radovish, Maleshevo, Shtip, Kochani, Kratovo, Kumanovo, Palanka, Demir Hisar, Serres, Drama, Resen, Tikvesh, Struga, Enidje-Vardar, Solun and others, which are currently under Greek and Serbian slavery...

3. We are part of that population, whose fathers and children had fought against the Greek religious yoke and had been the creators of our church organisation the Bulgarian Exarchate much before the Bulgarian Kingdom was created.  

4. We are just a small part of the 1, 200, 000 Slav inhabitants of Macedonia, who speak no other language but Bulgarian...
...
...we politely ask that our native land be included in the borders of our common Fatherland, thus preventing a policy of partition
and
tearing apart of our native land."


2.
Stilton. The members of the Bulgarian Mecedono-Odrinian Organization. See the enormous Bulgarian flag.       



3.
The celebration of the St. St. Cyrill and Methodius day in Madison, Illinois, 1920.  The Bulgarian flag is proudly raised as a symbol of the national affiliation of the early emigration.



4.
The laying of the foundation stone of the Bulgarian church in Stilton, Pennsylvania in 1909. To the right is seen the Bulgarian flag.



5. Photo from the parade honouring the day of the Macedono-Bulgarian Organisation in Gary, Indiana. Several Bulgarian flags are seen on the picture.


6 . The "Liberty" newspaper was the press organ of the Macedono-Bulgarian National Alliance..


7. Trayan Andreeff Murdzheff  from the village of Giavato, Bitolja, with a parade uniform. On his chest he has a Bulgarian-flag ribbon.


8. À Bulgarian amateur theater group giving the play "Macedonian Bloody Wedding". Behind them is the Bulgarian flag.



9. The Macedono-Bulgarian "Orient" band, founded on September 21, 1914 in Granite city, Illinois.

 

10. "Bulgarian Balkan Band" - founded in 1915 in Stilton, Pennsylvania. Most of its members were from Prilep, Macedonia.

11. The "Macedonia" newspaper was the fifth Bulgarian newspaper in the US. It was issued weekly in Granite city from 1907 to 1910.


12. April 23, 1942: OSS report on various American Slavic groups. In 1942 as a mean to build up pro-Allied sentiment among America's various Eastern European immigrant communities, a "Slav Congress" was held, with delegations arriving from the most prominent groups. Office of Strategic Services informant "SK" attended and reported on internal dissension behind the scenes. In the report the population of Macedonia is reffered to as "Macedonian Bulgarians".

 

13. Here you can see examples of newspaper advertisements of the Macedonian Bulgarians in the US from the beginning of the 20th century.

 

14. Resident Alien's Border Crossing Identification Cards issued in 1947 by the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the U.S. Department of Justice.

15. 1910 Census in the US - Instructions to Enumerators:

...

137. Do not write "Macedonian," but write Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek, Servian, or Roumanian, as the case may be.  

...

Taken from here.


Links:

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND MACEDONIA

THE MACEDONIAN PATRIOTIC ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA

MACEDONIAN AMERICANS