October is usually celebrated in Polish circles as POLISH HERITAGE MONTH but with October also being the Hispanic heritage month; the Poles don’t usually get any mention in the local papers even though in Detroit and Michigan, Poles are a sizable community.
Black History Month gets daily front page mention and schools have special days studying Black History but not the Poles who arrived in America before the Blacks (they were part of the original Jamestown settlement).
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to read that a local Polish organization that I support, the PIAST INSTITUTE rented a digital billboard on a local expressway to advertise that October is the Polish heritage Month and that Poles have contributed a lot more to our civilization than kielbasa and pierogi.
The billboard displayed the names of some famous Poles which included Pope John Paul II and astronomer monk Nicolaus Copernicus who was first to state that the earth circles the sun and not visa versa. This was a dangerous stand to make since the Catholic Church did not like to be contradicted and they firmly believed that everything circled the earth.
They also threw in film director Roman Polanski who besides being a good film director was convicted in the U.S. of having sex with an underage girl and can never come back to this country. He was set up by the girl’s mother who wanted her daughter to be a movie star but hey – you should know better. He was also the husband of the woman murdered by Manson!
Maria Sklodowska – Curie was better known as Marie Curie (she married a French guy) and was awarded a Nobel Prize twice for discovering radium or radiation (modern x-ray). She is always thought to be French when in fact she was POLISH.
They didn’t mention CHOPIN which I would since he contributed greatly to our music appreciation.
I guess they could have named many more famous Poles but I am most proud of the fact that they did something about the lack of recognition of Polish Heritage.
We represent nearly 10 million in the U.S. and close to a million in Michigan. Most Poles are home owners and respected members of their community. Unfortunately they are mostly Catholic but we can’t be perfect now can we.
Black History Month gets daily front page mention and schools have special days studying Black History but not the Poles who arrived in America before the Blacks (they were part of the original Jamestown settlement).
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to read that a local Polish organization that I support, the PIAST INSTITUTE rented a digital billboard on a local expressway to advertise that October is the Polish heritage Month and that Poles have contributed a lot more to our civilization than kielbasa and pierogi.
The billboard displayed the names of some famous Poles which included Pope John Paul II and astronomer monk Nicolaus Copernicus who was first to state that the earth circles the sun and not visa versa. This was a dangerous stand to make since the Catholic Church did not like to be contradicted and they firmly believed that everything circled the earth.
They also threw in film director Roman Polanski who besides being a good film director was convicted in the U.S. of having sex with an underage girl and can never come back to this country. He was set up by the girl’s mother who wanted her daughter to be a movie star but hey – you should know better. He was also the husband of the woman murdered by Manson!
Maria Sklodowska – Curie was better known as Marie Curie (she married a French guy) and was awarded a Nobel Prize twice for discovering radium or radiation (modern x-ray). She is always thought to be French when in fact she was POLISH.
They didn’t mention CHOPIN which I would since he contributed greatly to our music appreciation.
I guess they could have named many more famous Poles but I am most proud of the fact that they did something about the lack of recognition of Polish Heritage.
We represent nearly 10 million in the U.S. and close to a million in Michigan. Most Poles are home owners and respected members of their community. Unfortunately they are mostly Catholic but we can’t be perfect now can we.
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