There are an estimated one million people of Romani descent living in the United States today, though anthropologists and sociologists have often labeled them “the hidden Americans.” As a 2020 report from Harvard University observes, Romani Americans are members of “a largely invisible community which, when focused on, is often described by simplistic and racist stereotypes.”
Nevertheless, from time to time, certain Romani Americans have sought greater visibility to advocate on behalf of their communities. One such individual was Steve Kaslov (ca. 1888–1949), who, not surprisingly, was both emblematic and controversial. Kaslov sought to improve the civic status and rights of Romani people in the United States, attracting the attention of both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Yet, even while corresponding with members of the First Family, Kaslov was under criminal investigation. The prosecution of Kaslov, together with his sympathetic treatment by the Roosevelts, seems to exemplify the conflicting tendencies of exclusion and inclusion among Romani Americans.
First, some definitions. Romani is the preferred term for referring to a diverse group of people who may call themselves Kalderash, Lovara, Michwaya, Rom or Roma, Romanichal, Sinti, Vlax, and more. Most descend from peoples who migrated from India to Europe in the eleventh century. According to scholar Ian Hancock, they “have been in the Americas since 1498, when Columbus brought some on his third voyage to the West Indies.” As the Harvard report explains, “Romani Americans are heterogeneous: they speak different Romani dialects, have different religions, identities, and customs, and migrated to the US at different times and for different reasons. Thus, broad generalizations distort the rich history and diverse cultural identity of Romani Americans.” Some sources still use “Gypsy” as an umbrella term to describe these diverse cultures—as Kaslov himself did during his lifetime—but many people today regard the “G-word” as pejorative.
Kaslov told one source that he was born in rural Georgia around 1895, but more reliable research published in 1995 by Sheila Salo in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society indicates that “Kaslov was born in Russia in 1888” and emigrated with his Russian Roma family in 1901—first to New Brunswick, Canada, and subsequently to the United States. He lived in northeastern Pennsylvania, coastal South Carolina, the Texas-Mexico border, and Baltimore, Maryland, before settling in the area of New Jersey and New York City in 1919.