In the late nineteenth century, Chicago attracted many immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, and with them arrived groups of Roma, most of them settling but some maintaining their nomadic lifestyle. Chicago grew from what had in 1870 been a city of about 300,000 inhabitants into a major industrial hub that by 1900 was home to some 1.7 million people. The expansion was driven in particular by iron and steel production, with its insatiable appetite for workers. While the European migrants worked the steel mills of the city, the Roma preferred to stick to their traditional occupations. Romani women told local people their fortunes; men walked from door to door, offering knife-sharpening services. And, of course, the Roma brought with them their love of music. It didn't take long for Chicagoans to fall in love with Romani bands, which were in huge demand for weddings and birthday parties.
There is still a strong Romani presence in the city. Recent migration peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, when Roma started settling around Lincoln Square and Portage Park. Romani culture has remained strong in Chicago to this day. On 8 April 2023, for International Roma Day, local Roma headed towards Washington Street with great excitement. The families that gathered here saw a huge banner with the Romani flag spread out on the ground - green and blue, with the burning red dharmachakra in the centre. As music flooded the streets, with many Roma dancing to its rhythms, the banner was slowly raised into the sky. Gradually, it lifted higher and higher, the blue of the flag seeming to melt into the day's spotless sky. Standing out from the grey of the skyscrapers all around, it marked the Romani presence in the city as never before. Indeed, many of those present that day felt they had witnessed history being made. As the flag billowed softly in the wind, the crowd began to sing 'Opre Roma' - 'Up, Roma', a famous line in the Romani anthem 'Gelem, Gelem', composed by Zarko Jovanovic, and which has become a popular phrase for Romani activism and identification. As so often in our oral culture, there are several variants to the song, in different Romani dialects. One version runs:
Putar, Devla, te kale wudara Te shai dikhau mirri familia.
Palem ka djau lungone dromentza Thai te phirau bakhtale rromentza
Open, God, your black doors So I can see my family
To go on long roads
To wander with happy Roma
The celebrations that day came on the back of a resolution by the US Senate celebrating the 'heritage of Romani Americans'. S. Res. 124, agreed in December 2022, opens with a brief statement on the history of the Roma, noting their origins in India and that 'Romani people have been a part of European immigration to the United States since the colonial period and particularly following the abolition of the enslavement of Romani people in the historic Romanian principalities'. It acknowledges that Romani Americans live throughout the United States, and that they 'have made distinct and important contributions in many fields, including agriculture, art, crafts, literature, medicine, military service, music, sports, and science'. It officially recognises and resolves to commemorate the Samudaripen, and it praises the US Holocaust Memorial Museum for its efforts to promote education on the topic. The resolution also recognises 8 April as International Roma Day and commits to support it as an opportunity to celebrate the culture and history of the Roma throughout the United States.
Among the many ancient traditions the Roma brought with them to America was the practice of fortune-telling. In the land of opportunity, many Americans were drawn to the fortune-tellers, eager to learn what opportunities the future held in store, so it became a lucrative business for Romani practitioners. It was, however, controversial. Many thought that the practice was fraudulent, and various states introduced anti-fortune-telling laws and bans from the late nineteenth century. It was not only associated with trickery but almost always viewed through a racialised lens, and linked to Roma as well as African Americans - members of both groups were frequently arrested for telling fortunes. In Britain in 1735, the Witchcraft Act prohibited the practising of magic and witchcraft, while in 1824 the Vagrancy Act outlawed fortune-telling and explicitly connected it with trickery. Both these laws inspired similar restrictions across the pond. In Front Royal, Virginia, for example, as in many other places, it became illegal for 'any company of gypsies' to tell fortunes. While this stipulation of the Municipal Code was finally repealed in Front Royal in 2014, the practice is still banned in other cities and states. In New York State it is illegal to tell fortunes in exchange for a fee, though it is permissible to do so as part of a show or an exhibition.