------------------ The Czechs in America 1633-1977 by Vera Laska -------------------- Part 4 The characteristic features of Czech immigration to America were: A high percentage of skilled labor and literacy rate. The ideological division between Catholics and freethinkers, much more pronounced in America than in the homeland. This contributed to a duplication of fraternal and cultural organizations, the benefit of which to the Czechs or to America is highly debatable. From America the group contributed immeasurably to the creation of an independent republic in the former homeland by lobbying to influence American public opinion and by financing the liberation of the country, whose Declaration of Independence and Constitution bear striking similarities to the American documents of freedom. Vera Laska Regis College Weston, Massachusetts -------- end of Forward ---------