Definition

• Assimilation-The process whereby a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture.

Germans in America• 50,764,352 Americans

– 17.1% of the US population (2006)– the largest ancestry group in the United States

• The first significant numbers arrived in the 1680s in New York and Pennsylvania

– Some eight million German immigrants entered the United States since then • The largest number of arrivals came 1840–1900

– Some came looking for religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, and others simply for the chance for a fresh start in the New World.

• push factors: worsening opportunities for farm ownership in central Europe, persecution of some religious groups, and military conscription;

• pull factors: better economic conditions in the U.S. (especially the opportunity for farmers to own land).

• California and Pennsylvania have the largest populations of German origin, with over six million German Americans residing in the two states alone.

• Germans have contributed to a vast number of areas in American culture and technology

• German settlers brought the Christmas tree custom to the United States

• The influence of German cuisine is seen in the cuisine of the United States throughout the country, especially regarding pastries, meats and sausages, and above all, beer.– Frankfurters (or "wieners", originating from Frankfurt and Vienna,

respectively), hamburgers, bratwurst, sauerkraut, and strudel are common dishes.

– Germans have almost totally dominated the beer industry since 1850

– German bakers introduced the pretzel.

German Culture in America• Germans have contributed to a vast number of areas in American culture

and technology• German settlers brought the Christmas tree custom to the United States• The influence of German cuisine is seen in the cuisine of the United States

throughout the country, especially regarding pastries, meats and sausages, and above all, beer.

– Frankfurters (or "wieners", originating from Frankfurt and Vienna, respectively), hamburgers, bratwurst, sauerkraut, and strudel are common dishes.

– Germans have almost totally dominated the beer industry since 1850– German bakers introduced the pretzel.

• The influence of German cuisine is strongest is the small town Midwest. – Among larger cities, Cincinnati is known for its German American annual festival

Zinzinnati, and Milwaukee is known for German Fest. • The two are among the largest German American festivals in the country.

• Oktoberfest, German-American Day and Von Steuben Day celebrations are held regularly throughout the country.

German immigrants boarding a ship for America in the late 19th century.

Italians in America• 17,235,187 Americans

– 5.6% of the US population (2005)• Most immigration from Italy occurred between 1880 and 1960.

– There were also smaller waves of Italian immigration in 1848 and 1861 after failed revolutionary movements• The main factor in Italian immigration was a poor economy in Italy, particularly in the southern

regions.• Italians settled in and dominated specific neighborhoods (often called "Little Italy") where they

could interact with one another, establish a familiar cultural presence, and find favorite foods.• Not all Italians left for economic reasons,

– Some prosperous Italians came to America adventure and prosperous opportunities– Some also left because of political reasons (especially in the 1930’s)

• Italian immigrants usually arrived with very little cash or cultural capital (that is, they were not educated or intellectually sophisticated) and generally performed manual labor.

• Their neighborhoods were typically slums with overcrowded tenements and poor sanitation.– Tuberculosis was rampant.

• Italian immigration peaked from 1900 until 1914, when World War I made such intercontinental movement impossible.

– In many cases, the Italian immigrants were subjected to severe anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant discrimination and even violence such as lynching.

Italian Culture• Many Italian Americans still retain aspects of their culture.• This includes Italian food, drink, art, Roman Catholicism, annual

Italian American feasts and a strong commitment to extended family.

• In movies that deal with cultural issues, Italian American words and lingo are sometimes spoken by the characters. – Although most will not speak Italian fluently, a dialect of sorts has arisen

among Italian Americans, particularly in the urban Northeast, often popularized in film and television.

• Among the most characteristic and popular of Italian American cultural contributions has been their feasts. – Throughout the United States, wherever one may find an "Italian

neighborhood" one can find festive celebrations such as the well known Feast of San Gennaro in New York City, the unique Our Lady of Mount Carmel "Giglio" Feast in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, the Ciciarata in Ambler, Pennsylvania or the lesser known Festa Italiana, in Seattle. The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival has been celebrated annually in Hammonton, New Jersey for over 125 years.

Mulberry Street, along which Manhattan's Little Italy is centered. Lower East Side, circa 1900

This sign appeared in post offices and in government buildings during World War II. The sign designates Japanese, German, and Italian, the languages of the Axis powers,as enemy languages.

Mexican Americans• Mexican Americans are citizens and/or residents of the United

States of Mexican ancestry• Mexican Americans account for 9% of the country's population • About 26.8 million Americans have listed their ancestry as Mexican

as of 2006• Mexican Americans trace their ancestry to Mexico and many

different European countries, especially Spain, which was its colonial ruler for over three centuries

• Most Mexican American settlement concentrations are found in metropolitan and rural areas across the United States, with the highest concentrations in the Southwest, and the Midwest. Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Phoenix, San Diego, Houston, Santa Ana, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio are particular areas for large Mexican American communities.

Mexican Immigration• Mexican American history is wide-ranging, spanning more than four

hundred years and varying from region to region within the United States• In 1900, there were slightly more than 500,000 Latinos living in New Mexico,

California and Texas.• Most were Mexican Americans who arrived in the Southwest in the mid

1800s while others were descendants of Mexican, Spanish, and other hispanicized European settlers who arrived in the Southwest during Spanish and Mexican colonial times

– Approximately ten percent of the current Mexican American population can trace their lineage back to these early colonial settlers

• Since 1900, there have been many uprisings, failed revolutions, and failed economic policies that have been HUGE push factors in Mexican immigration

• The US has also offered work, both legal and not so legal, in the form of government programs and shady backdoor deals, which have been big PULL factors

– Since 1900, millions of Mexican nationals have immigrated to the US– The largest wave is probably occurring right now

• NAFTA is indirectly responsible for much of the current immigration

• Pew Hispanic Center estimated the undocumented population ranged from 11.5 to 12 million individuals. – Pew estimated that 57% of this population comes from Mexico; 24%

from Central America and, to a lesser extent, South America; 9% from Asia; 6% from Europe, and the remaining 4% from elsewhere.

• People become illegal immigrants in one of three ways: entering without authorization or inspection, staying beyond the authorized period after legal entry, or by violating the terms of legal entry

• The continuing practice of hiring unauthorized workers has been referred to as “the magnet for illegal immigration.”

• Illegal hiring has not been prosecuted aggressively in recent years: between 1999 and 2003, according to the Washington Post, “work-site enforcement operations were scaled back 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which subsequently was merged into the Homeland Security Department. Major Illegal employers have included: – Wal-Mart, Swift & Co. (meat), Tyson Foods (chicken processing)

Mexican Influence on Culture

• Nationally more salsa than catsup is purchased now

• Border Culture– Mexican influence on culture near the US-

Mexican Border• Our area is subject to this influence• It can be seen in the food we eat, the words that

we use in our dialect, and in music and TV– The farther north you travel, the less the border

influences culture

Cinco de Mayo

• May 5• Celebrates “Mexican

Independence”• An Americanized holiday-

September 16th is actually Mexico’s Independence Day

• Celebrated all of the US as a day of Mexican heritage and pride

Asian American• An Asian American is generally defined as a person of Asian ancestry and American citizenship

– group of people in the United States who can trace their ancestry to one or more countries in Asia • 15,000,000 people in America or close to 5% of the population• In 1763, Filipinos established the small settlement of Saint Malo in the bayous of current-day

Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships. Since there were no Filipino women with them, the Manilamen, as they were known, married Cajun and Native American women.

• Chinese sailors first came to Hawaii in 1778, the same year that Captain James Cook came upon the island. Many settled and married Hawaiian women.

– Some Island-born Chinese can claim to be 7th generation. – Most Chinese, Korean and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii arrived in the 19th century as laborers to work

on sugar plantations. – Later, Filipinos also came to work as laborers, attracted by the job opportunities, although they were limited.

• Numerous Chinese and Japanese began immigrating to the U.S. in the mid-19th century for work,

– Many of the immigrants worked as laborers on the transcontinental railroad. A surge in Asian immigration in the late 19th century caused some Americans to fear the change represented by the growing number of Asians. This fear was referred to as the "yellow peril." The United States passed laws such as Asian Exclusion Act and Chinese Exclusion Act to limit Asian immigration

World War II• During World War II, the United States government declared Japanese

Americans a risk to national security and undertook the Japanese Americans Internment,

• This controversial action forced the relocation of approximately 110,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, taking them from the west coast of the United States to hastily constructed War Relocation Centers in remote portions of the nation's interior.

• This shameful chapter in US history was a result of war hysteria, racial discrimination, and economic competition. Sixty-two percent of those forced to relocate were United States citizens. Starting in 1990, the government paid some reparations to the surviving internees in recognition of the harm it had caused them and their families.

• Despite the internment, many Japanese American men served in World War II in the American forces. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion, composed of Japanese Americans, is the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history. The 442nd/100th fought valiantly in the European Theater even as many of their families remained in the detention camps stateside. The 100th was one of the first units to liberate the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau

• The largest ethnic subgroups are:1. Filipinos (4.0 million), 2. Chinese (2.8M), 3. Asia Indians (1.9M), 4. Vietnamese (1.5M), 5. Koreans (1.2M) , 6. Japanese (1.1M).

Other sizable groups are Cambodians (206,000), Pakistanis (204,000), Laotians (198,000), Hmong (186,000), and Thais (150,000)

Stereotypes

• In the 1890-1920 period Italian Americans were often stereotyped as being "violent" and "controlled by the Mafia". In the 1920s, many Americans used the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, in which two Italian anarchists were wrongly sentenced to death, to denounce Italian immigrants as anarchists and criminals.

• During the 1800s and early 20th century, Italian Americans were one of the most likely groups to be lynched. In 1891, eleven Italian immigrants in New Orleans were lynched due to their ethnicity and suspicion of being involved in the Mafia. This was the largest mass lynching in US history.