Danish Americans

Like many other immigrant groups, Danish Americans also founded schools to educate their youth. Traditional Danish "folk schools," which focused more on learning outcomes than grades or diplomas, were operated primarily between the 1870s and 1930s in heavily Danish communities such as Racine, Wisconsin, Elk Horn, Iowa; Ashland, Michigan; West Denmark, Wisconsin; Nysted, Nebraska; Tyler, Minnesota; Viborg, South Dakota; Kenmare, North Dakota; and Solvang, California.[5] Omaha, Nebraska and neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa, had major colonies of Danes for many years.[10]

The one major still-operating historically Danish American college is Grand View University, founded in 1896 in Des Moines, Iowa. Grand View University continues to maintain a large archival collection of Danish American history. Another institution, Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, operated from 1884 until 2010, but closed its doors in July 2010 due to failing enrollment. The Danish American Archive and Library that once resided at Dana College is now independently situated in Blair. The archive contains the country’s largest and broadest collection of materials relating to the life experience, cultural heritage and vital contributions to North America of the people of Danish extraction.

Like other groups of Americans of Scandinavian descent, most Danes in America are Lutherans. Lutheran pioneer minister, Claus Lauritz Clausen, the first president of the Norwegian-Danish Lutheran Conference, traveled to Denmark and influenced religious leaders to send pastors to America. The oldest Danish Lutheran congregation is Emmaus Lutheran Church in Racine, Wisconsin, founded August 22, 1851. Nearby Kenosha is home to the second oldest Danish Lutheran congregation, St. Mary's Lutheran Church, which is the largest congregation in the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

In addition, a large number of Danish Americans belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Between 1849 and 1904, some 17,000 Danish Mormons and their children made the journey to the Church's settlements in Utah, making Danes second only to the British in number of foreigners recruited by the church to the state.

Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have the largest concentrations of non-Mormon Danish Americans. The states with the largest Mormon Danish American populations are Utah and Idaho—and in the case of Idaho, particularly the southeastern part of the state.

Smaller but significant numbers of Danish Americans have also become Methodists, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and Seventh-day Adventists.[5]

• Cowboy artist and sculptor Earl W. Bascom (1906-1995) was called the "cowboy of cowboy artists" having gained international fame as a cowboy turned artist. His Danish grandfather, C.F.B. Lybbert, was a Utah pioneer. Bascom exhibited with Olaf Wieghorst.

Gutzon Borglum chiseled Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, now a modern American icon.

• Sculptor and Ku Klux Klan-sympathizer Gutzon Borglum provided a staple of modern Americana when he chiseled Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. His brother, sculptor Solon Borglum, also gained fame for his representations of the American frontier.
• Another Danish-American sculptor of note is Christian Petersen, who was born in Denmark and emigrated with his family to New Jersey, where his interest in beaux-arts style sculpture began. Many of his well-known sculptures arose out of his later migration to the Midwest and teaching at Iowa State University. Among America's earliest oil painters of merit is Amadeus
• Christian Gullager, a premier painter in early Federal America, who also worked in terra cotta.
• The marine painters Antonio Jacobsen and Emil Carlsen left a considerable body of work which continues to draw strong art auction prices. Several Danish artists settled in the American West where they left their mark on the regional artistic genre. Not least among this group is counted Olaf Wieghorst, called the "Dean of Western Painters," and Olaf Seltzer.
• Johann Berthelsen was a prominent and prolific Impressionist painter known for his urban scenes, especially those of New York City. On the less formal level,
• Carl Christian Anton Christensen, is America's Danish-American equivalent of "Grandma Moses."
• Another early Danish-American artisan was Peter Hanson, a landscape painter, tulip authority, and daguerreian. Hanson was born in Denmark in 1821 and came to America c. 1847, when he settled in Brooklyn, NY, with a photography studio in the Bowery.
• Ib Penick (1930-1998), a native of Denmark, was known as "the creative mind behind the resurgence of pop-up children’s books in the 1960s and 1970s.[11]
• Roland Petersen born in Endelave, Denmark in 1926, a painter and printmaker. He is known for his distinctive and recognizable style of intaglio printmaking.
• Peter Sekaer (born Peter Ingemann Sekjær (1901) was a Danish-American photographer and artist. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sekaer came to New York in 1918 to seek freedom and opportunity. By 1922 he acquired a reputation as a master sign painter and later as a master photographer documenting the New Deal and the plight of America's Depression Era.
• William Mortensen, born to Danish immigrant parents in Park City, Utah, became an American art photographer, primarily known for his Hollywood portraits in the 1920s-1940s in the pictorialist style.

The three Christensen brothers: Lew, Harold, and Willam are well known in the history of American ballet. The three carved out careers as choreographers, teachers and directors, and clearly helped ballet flourish in the United States. Willam Christensen (1902–2001) especially, was the founder of the San Francisco Ballet. The three brothers were born into a Danish-American Mormon family in Brigham City, Utah.

• In the early American decorative arts, one Danish-Afro-American stands out in particular - the accomplished Danish West Indies silversmith Peter Bentzon, who produced his masterpieces on both St. Croix and in Philadelphia.
• Jens Risom a craftsman from Copenhagen, who emigrated in 1939, was renowned for his furniture design, as co-founder of the Hans Knoll Furniture Company, and as a trustee at the Rhode Island School of Design.
• Tage Frid, another Danish furniture designer, who came to the United States in 1948, is likewise known for his wood furniture design and professorship at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1962-1985. In the field of metalsmithing,
• John Prip, who was born in New York to a Danish father and an American mother, performed his apprenticeship in Denmark and returned to the United States where he became known for his silverwork and design. Many years after creation, some of Prip's designs are still in production by the Reed & Barton Silver Company. Prip taught at both the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Rhode Island School of Design.

• According to Louis' Lunch, the hamburger was created by the owner, Louis Lassen (1865 Denmark - March 20, 1935 New Haven, Connecticut) in 1900 in response to a customer's hurried request for a lunch to go. Louis' Lassen's restaurant is recognized in the Library of Congress as the origin of the hamburger, but other claimants and detractors exist.

• Jens Clausen revolutionized the study of evolutionary genetics in botany, while Erik Erikson revolutionized developmental psychology with his theory on social development. Niels Ebbesen Hansen was a noted pioneer in plant breeding.
• Charles Christian Lauritsen was a physicist. In the final months of World War II he was part of the team of scientists who invented the atomic bomb.
• Mikkel Frandsen was a physical chemist noted for his experiments involving chemical thermodynamics, oil, and heavy water.
• Adam Giede Boving served as Assistant Curator of Entomology in the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen from 1902 to 1913 and after emigration became a Research Associate at the Smithsonian, in 1939 he joined the staff of the Bureau of Entomology at United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) until his retirement in 1945.

• James J. Ward (born in Denmark as Jens P. Wilson) stands as an early pioneer aviator and biplane exhibition flyer. He was among those who attempted the first transcontinental (New York to San Francisco) air race in 1911.

Battling Nelson, presumed early 1900s

• Oscar Mathæus Nielsen, also known as Oscar Battling Nelson, was a Danish boxer who held the world lightweight championship on two separate occasions. He was nicknamed "the Durable Dane". Nelson was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and emigrated to the United States in 1883.
• Another boxer, Peter "Black Prince" Jackson (1861–1901) was a heavyweight boxer free-born in Christiansted on the island Saint Croix, which was then the capital of the Danish West Indies. Later he emigrated to Australia in 1880 before becoming a boxer of international renown.
• Morten Andersen was a pro football kicker in the NFL for the New Orleans Saints from 1982 to 1994. As a kicker, he held the NFL scoring record until October 28, 2018, when it was broken by Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri. He also played for the Atlanta Falcons from 1995 to 2000, and then again from 2006 to 2007. Other NFL teams he has also played for are the New York Giants in 2001, Kansas City Chiefs from 2002 to 2003, and the Minnesota Vikings in 2004.
• Earl W. Bascom was a professional rodeo champion and rodeo equipment inventor. Called the "father of modern rodeo" and the "father of rodeo bareback riding," he invented the modern bareback rigging in 1924 which helped rodeo bareback bronc riding become an international sport. He was the first inductee of the National Bareback Riding Hall of Fame.
• George Nissen was an Americans gymnast and inventor who developed the modern trampoline and made trampolining a worldwide sport.
• Related to American sports culture, competitive swimming and sports apparel have never been the same since Danish-American Carl C. Jantzen and his partners founded the Jantzen Knitting Works in Portland, Oregon, in 1910.

• Carl Busch readily stands out as a Danish-American composer who embraced new musical themes, taking his artistic inspiration from "Western" Native-American tribal themes and melodies.
• The Danish-American tubist Anders Christian August Helleberg is remembered as not only a great symphony musician and virtuoso, but his Helleberg mouthpieces, which he developed, are still used throughout the world.
• Mose Christensen was a noted American violinist; he became a founder and conductor of the Oregon Symphony. A native of Salt Lake, Utah, Christensen's father emigrated from Denmark with the wave of Mormon pioneers in the early 1850s.
• Kai Winding was a popular trombonist and jazz composer.
• Lars Ulrich is the founder of Metallica and was born in Denmark. His father emigrated to California in 1980.

The Barrison Sisters reveal kittens beneath their skirts, at the conclusion of their notorious vaudeville cat dance, c. 1890s

• The Barrison Sisters were a risqué Vaudeville act who performed in the United States and Europe from 1893 to 1897, advertised as The Wickedest Girls In the World. The sisters, whose birth name was Bareisen, emigrated with their mother to the United States in 1886, joining their father who immigrated earlier.
• Victor Borge, known as the Great Dane and Clown Prince of Denmark, gained fame for his offbeat comedy and music routines.
• Buddy Ebsen, actor known from The Beverly Hillbillies fish-out-of-water TV series had a Danish father and Latvian mother.
• Lauritz Melchior was a Danish and later American opera singer. He was the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type.[12] His son, Ib Melchior is a screenwriter, dealing with science-fiction.
• Michael J. Nelson well known as the head writer of the series Mystery Science Theater 3000 and currently Rifftrax.
• Christine Jorgensen (born George William Jorgensen, Jr. in New York City to Danish immigrant parents), obtained a sex-change operation in Denmark in 1952 and made a celebrated return to the USA in 1953, after which she gave lectures, acted, and sang in nightclubs to the applause of ‘I Enjoy Being a Girl.’ Jorgensen's autobiography was made into a film and she became a spokesperson for transsexual and transgender people.
• Soren Sorensen Adams, who was known as "king of the professional pranksters," was an inventor and manufacturer of novelty products, including the Joy Buzzer.[13] He came to New Jersey with his family at age four. His other contributions to American popular culture include: Cachoo Sneezing Powder, the Exploding Cigarette Box, the Snake Nut Can, Itching Powder, the Stink bomb, and the Dribble glass

• Jacob Riis, a prominent socially conscious journalist and photographer, used his influence to help the less fortunate of New York City with his implementation of "model tenements. " As one of the first American photographers to use flash, he was a pioneer in photo journalism. His book How the other half lives: Studies among the tenements of New York (1890) has proven especially influential in studies on poverty.[14]

• William Leidesdorff, the son of a Danish West Indies planter and a racially mixed part African mother, arrived in San Francisco in 1841 and became both wealthy and arguably the first mixed-race U.S. diplomat in United States history. As the United States subconsul, he played a significant role in the turnover of Mexican California to the United States.
• Charles Walhart Woodman, who was born in Aalborg, Denmark, served as a U.S. Representative for Illinois from 1895-1897.
• Jacob Johnson, who also emigrated from Aalborg, Denmark, in 1854 and later served one term as a U.S. Representative for Utah from 1912-1915.
• Niels Juul a lawyer, State Representative, and U.S. Representative from Illinois, was born in Randers, Denmark, and served in Congress from 1917-1921.
• Parley P. Christensen, a Utah politician and son of Danish immigrants, ran as a nominee of the Farmer-Labor Party for President of the United States in 1920.
• Andrew Petersen, a U.S. Representative from New York, was born in Thisted, Denmark, and emigrated with his parents to Boston in 1873, the family later moving to New York. Petersen served in Congress from 1921-1923.
• Charles Gustav Binderup, from Minden, Nebraska, and who was born in Horsens in 1873, represented Nebraska's 4th District in the Congress from 1935-1939.
• Herman Carl Andersen, a U.S. Representative from Minnesota, was born in Washington state and after a career in Minnesota politics served in the House of Representatives from 1939-1963. Andersen's father emigrated from Denmark in the late 1870s and later moved his family to a Danish immigrant enclave in Tyler, Minnesota.
• Jo Jorgensen, the 1996 candidate for vice president for the Libertarian Party, and first female Libertarian presidential candidate in 2020. Jorgensen is also a Psychology Senior Lecturer at Clemson University, a public, land-grant university in Clemson, South Carolina.
• Hjalmar Petersen, an emigrant from Eskildstrup, Denmark, Midwest journalist, and onetime mayor of Askov, Minnesota, served in the Minnesota Legislature, and later as the Lieutenant Governor. Upon the death of Governor Olson in 1936, he became the 23rd Governor of Minnesota.
• George A. Nelson, the 1936 Vice Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America, was born to Danish parents in rural Wisconsin.
• Morgan F. Larson, of Perth Amboy, NJ, the son of a Danish immigrant blacksmith, served as governor of New Jersey from 1929-32.
• Esther Peterson, the daughter of Danish Mormon immigrants, grew up in Provo, Utah, and later served as Assistant Secretary of Labor and Director of the United States Women's Bureau for President John F. Kennedy, Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981 and was named a delegate the UN as a UNESCO representative in 1993.
• Ted Sorensen, the 8th White House Counsel had a Danish father.
• Lloyd Bentsen, was a four-term United States Senator (1971–1993) from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for vice president in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1948 to 1955. His father was Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Sr. (referred to as "Big Lloyd"), a first-generation Danish American.
• Janet Reno, served as the United States Attorney General, from 1993 to 2001. Her father, Henry Olaf Reno (original surname Rasmussen), was an emigrant from Denmark, who was a reporter for the Miami Herald for 43 years.
• Steny Hoyer, a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and the present House Majority Leader, is a native of New York City, but grew up in southern Maryland. Hoyer's father emigrated from Copenhagen, Denmark. Hoyer was bestowed a knighthood by the Queen of Denmark in 2008.
• Leo Hoegh, decorated U.S. Army officer, lawyer, and politician who served as the 33rd Governor of Iowa from 1955 to 1957.

During the early days of Hollywood film making, numerous Danes and children of Danish emigrants directed, or acted on the silver screen, to include: Ann Forrest, Anders Randolf, Bodil Rosing, Benjamin Christensen, Carl Brisson, Carl Gerard, Ellen Corby, Gale Sondergaard, Gwili Andre, James Cruze, Janet Leigh, Colleen Gray, Jean Hersholt, Johannes Poulsen, Karl Dane, Lillie Hayward, Max Ree (1931 Oscar), Otto Mathiesen, Robert Andersen, Seena Owen, Svend Gade, Tambi Larsen, Torben Meyer, Winna Winfred and William Orlamond.

More to modern times, many Danes are actively involved in the movie industry. However today's air transportation no longer necessitates a Dane moving to America to be an artistic part of Hollywood. Among the few Danes who have moved to the U.S.A. to pursue acting careers is Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen, who was born in Denmark and today lives in Sausalito, California. Additionally, a few stars claim connection to Denmark via their Danish-American parents. For example, actors Leslie Nielsen, Viggo Mortensen, the siblings Virginia Madsen and Michael Madsen were born to Danish fathers and American mothers. Likewise, actress Scarlett Johansson was also born to a Danish father. Director and cinematographer Mikael Salomon was born in Sweden to a Danish mother and father.

Christian Febiger was an American Revolutionary War commander, born on Fyn, he became a confidante of General George Washington and was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Known by the moniker "Old Denmark", Febiger also served as Treasurer of Pennsylvania from November 13, 1789 until his death nearly seven years later.[15]

Chris Madsen, the famous lawman of the Old West, was born Chris Madsen Rørmose in Denmark. After emigrating in 1876, he served for 15 years in the U.S. Army in the Fifth Cavalry and fought in many major Indian campaigns. After his discharge in 1891, Madsen became a deputy U.S. marshal in the Oklahoma Territory, where he apprehended or killed many outlaws. In 1898, he joined Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, serving as Quartermaster Sergeant. After more service as a U.S. marshal, and at the outset of World War I, he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army but was rejected due to his age

Robert A. Arensen, FM1, USN, lost his life on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor when the U.S.S. Helena was torpedoed. Arensen came from Perth Amboy, NJ.

Dale M. Hansen, Pvt., USMC, earned his nation's highest military decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his outstanding heroism on 7 May 1945 in the fight for Hill 60 on Okinawa. He was killed by enemy sniper fire three days later. Hansen came from Wisner, Nebraska. Camp Hansen, one of the ten Marine Corps camps on Okinawa, is named in honor of Pvt. Hansen.

William S. Knudsen, an emigrant from Copenhagen, Denmark, and leading executive in the automobile industry, accepted President Franklin Roosevelt's urging to manage the task of overseeing America's vast wartime military armament and supply production. In 1942, Knudsen accepted a brevet commission and served for the duration of the war as a Lieutenant General in the U.S. Army.

Danish born Congressional Medal of Honor recipients

• James Miller (Medal of Honor) (1865), Quartermaster, USN, U.S.S. Marblehead, for action on St. John's Island on 25 Dec 1863. Born Denmark.
• John Brown (Medal of Honor) (1866), Captain of the Afterguard, USN, for rescuing two seamen of the U.S.S. Winooski off Eastport, ME, on 10 May 1866. Born in Denmark.
• James Benson (Medal of Honor) (1872), Seaman, USN, U.S.S. Ossipee, for lifesaving on 20 Jun 1872. Born Denmark.
• Claus Kristian Randolph Clausen, (1899) Coxwain, USN, for heroism connected to the sinking of the U.S.S. Merrimac, Santiago, Cuba, on 2 Jun 1898. Born Denmark.
• Frederick Muller (1901), Mate, USN, U.S.S. Wompatuck, for action at Manzanillo, Cuba, on 30 Jun 1898. Born Denmark.
• Gotfred Jensen (1906), Private. Co. D, 1st ND Vol. Inf. for action at San Miguel de Mayumo, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on 13 May 1899. Born Denmark.

• Christensen, Thomas Peter. Dansk Amerikansk historie, Cedar Falls, IA: K.C. Holst Pub., 1927.
• Garde, H. F.. Peter Bentzon -- en vestindisk guldsmed, Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift 1993:1, pp. 68–83.
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• Sønnichsen, Ole, Rejsen til Amerika (Fortællingen om de danske udvandrere), Bind I: Drømmen om et nyt liv (Gyldendal 2013)
• Sønnichsen, Ole, Rejsen til Amerika (Fortællingen om de danske udvandrere), Bind II: Jagten på lykken (Gyldendal 2015)
• Vig, Peter Sørensen. Danske i Amerika, Minneapolis: C. Rasmussen Pub., 1907.
• Vig, Peter Sørensen. Den danske udvandring til Amerika, Danish Luth. Pub. House, 1915.