At the turn of the 20th century, the January Uprising of 1863 was one of the focal points of Polish collective memory, shared by the Polish communities abroad. Their press marked the subsequent anniversaries of the Uprising with due solemnity, highlighting its importance for the history of the nation and seeking to engage its readers in a common show of respect. Editors of the Polish-language newspapers in the USA followed the same line, using the commemoration as a means to consolidate the unity of the Polish-American community.

Confronted with a natural tendency of marginalization national/ethnic minorities and immigrant communities respond by adopting two diverse strategies of showing their presence in the public sphere of the host country. Depending on the level of their integration and the goals they want to achieve, they can either stress their links (affinity) with the majority culture or the differences that mark them out. However, some minority communities succeed in achieving a distinctive presence in the public sphere already at the stage of launching its own media.