For a diversity credit, I decided to take History 2200: Americanization. This class has taught me of the struggles that Immigrants had to go through to assimilate into American Society. Below is the Paper I wrote to explain some of the things that different societies had to go through to become "American".
Amy Pierce
History 2200 ePortfolio Assignment
African Americans
African Americans have been one of the, if not the, most marginalized group in America. They have been subject to slavery, racial attacks, riots, legal injustice, and so much more. African Americans originally started coming to America as indentured servant. Indentured servitude was, in most cases, a temporary set up to get started in the new world. This was not dissimilar to other immigrants from Europe. The difference was that with the African Americans, servitude began to change. In 1661 the state of Virginia extended periods of servitude to lifelong terms. (O&B pg 97) Other laws similar to this slowly got passed until 1705, Virginia passed another legislation stating that “all servants imported or brought into this country by land or sea who were not Christians in their native shall be accounted as slaves.” (packet pg 10)
Eventually, Africans were plucked from their native lands, transported as cargo, and sold as property to wealthy southern white men in America. In the late 1700’s and the early 1800’s, slavery was beginning to be a necessary evil to keep the south prosperous and alive. (O&B pg 101) The southern livelihood was tobacco, cotton, and other agriculture. Slaves were the best way for plantation owners to get cheap labor to work their large plots of land. They did everything in their power to keep them from leaving, including keeping them uneducated. (O&B pg 102)
Africans also had a very different view on religion, but white planters forced their own religion on them. Some ministers in the south preached that bondage was God’s will and talked about the importance of patience, submission, and gratitude. (O&B pg 104) Religion, which was something that was supposed to be pure and spiritual, became another tool of control over the African Americans.
Government was also a major tool to marginalize the African Americans. Because African Americans could not serve on juries or vote, (O&B pg 100) they could not influence government. This left their political fate completely up to the whites. Because of this, Supreme Court decisions were made to favor the white man over the black man, even when the favor should have gone to the black man. Examples of this were the Scott v. Sanford 1857 case, and Prigg v. Pennsylvania 1842. (packet pg 11) Even after the civil rights movement of the 1860’s, whites still did so much to prevent blacks from having any influence. You can see in Module 5 chapter 10 map 1 that some states had a rather high black population, even some greater than 50%. Because of this whites in the south didn’t want African Americans to gain political control and change their way of life. They did things to prevent them from voting like implementing a poll tax, a literacy test, and the grandfather clause. (O&B pg 206)
Another marginalization towards African Americans that the whites did to counteract the civil rights movement of the 1860’s was implementing segregation. Even though African Americans were now citizens, they were still thought of as second class citizens. They created separate schools, churches, bathrooms, modes of transportation, public places, etc. They claimed to be “separate but equal.” The Supreme Court case of Sweatt v. Painter 1950 proved that “separate but equal” was unrealistic and unattainable. (M5 supreme court cases) This was an incredible act of discrimination towards African Americans and they had to wait almost 80 years for real progress to be done regarding this issue. Slowly, the Supreme Court began passing laws towards ending segregation. The three main areas they focused on were Transportation, Education, and assembly in public places. The fight for desegregation lasted more decades and lead into the civil rights movements of the 1960’s. Now the final frontier African Americans have to face in terms of marginalization is in the individual minds of the people living within this country.
Native Americans
Overall, the Native Americans are the people that have had the most difficult time with marginalization within this country. The Native Americans were the original people in this country. People from Europe and other countries saw this as unclaimed territory and decided to come and colonize it. The Europeans thought that they “discovered” this continent and had a more “superior use” for it than the current residents. (O&B pg 65) The natives were living more primitively than the colonizing Europeans, so even though the natives knew the land, had a greater population, and were here first, they were at a disadvantage. With the colonies becoming independent from England and finding themselves as a new country on a new land, many of the founding fathers believed that it was best to send the natives living around them west to the other side of the Mississippi. (O&B pg 66)
One of the most well known acts of marginalization towards the Native Americans is the Indian Removal Act of 1830. It was signed by President Andrew Jackson (who was known for his fights with Indians) with the desire to relocate the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole nations in portions of the Louisiana Purchase. (packet pg 6) This was the beginning of the end for the Native Americans. The immediate result of the Indian Removal Act was the trail of tears, during which 100,000 Indian people were transported to Oklahoma. (O&B pg 67) Some of the different tribes resisted this order for a while, but eventually they all were forced to leave.
As settlers expanded more and more west, the Natives were pushed onto smaller and smaller areas. Some of the tribes responded violently and settlers were afraid. As a response, the settlers and government officials developed a mentality that the natives needed to be eliminated. Some of the ways that this was carried out was the Railroad Land Grants 1850-1871, the Homestead Act 1862, and the slaughter of the buffalo 1860-1900. (packet pg 7) The railroad land grants gave 181 million acres of land to the railroads to connect the west with the east. This brought more settlers to the west railroads got built in the middle of some tribal land, pushing the natives out. With the Homestead Act, settlers paid a registration fee to occupy 160 acres of land and would be given the land title if they either pay or make improvements to it. This also pushed the natives off their land, to which they never received compensation. And finally there was the slaughter of the buffalo. The buffalo was a very important part of native culture. It was a symbol of their religion, used in many tribal traditions, and a major source of food. Depleting the buffalo made the natives suffer and many died. These 3 things were major contributors to the marginalization of the Native Americans.
Another difficult thing the natives had to face was constant wars with the settlers. Because the natives lived a more primitive lifestyle, they were at a disadvantage in war. The settlers had better tools and weapons and the natives couldn’t compete with that. With the constant flow of immigrants and settlers coming onto their lands, and the quickly depleting number of natives, the tribes began to give up and move onto the reservations being created for them.
Reservations were another huge act of marginalization towards the natives. The Native Americans love and respect the earth. Their ancestors had lived on this land for generations. They had land that they knew to be sacred and precious. The natives were stripped of their precious land and forced onto small and barren reservations. Now the tribes that live on these reservations are often dependent on the very government that put them there.
Since then, many acts of legislation have been passed to try to protect the Native American culture and their self-determination. Examples of this are the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 and the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. (class handout) However, nothing can repair the damage that was permanently done to the previous residents of this continent.
Asian Immigrants
The last group that had the most difficult obstacles in this country was the immigrants from Asian countries. When the Chinese first started immigrating to America, they still had a strong connection to their mother country and they never intended to stay permanently. (O&B pg 87) This mentality prevented them from feeling to need to assimilate in things such as learning the language, changing religion, and living the American lifestyle. This created suspicion and wariness from the people here, which marginalized the Chinese. Because they refused to meld into the American society, they were major contributors to ethnic towns like Chinatown in Southern California. In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed which excluded Chinese immigrant workers from entering the U.S. for about 10 years. (O&B pg 91)
Another huge way that Asians were marginalized was religion. The main religions that were brought over were Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism. (packet pg 12) The white Christian majority in America was already pretty intolerant of atheists and Jews since the beginning of the colonies, so of course they were weary of this new idea of religion that came mainly with the Japanese in the 19th century.
One of the largest acts of marginalization towards Asians was the Japanese internment camps during World War II. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was bombed by the Japanese Military. This immediately created large amounts of distrust towards the Japanese. California felt especially vulnerable because of their position on the west coast and the fact that 125,000 Japanese were living in their state. (O&B pg 174) Rumors began filling the press of another invasion and it began to spread fear in Americans, especially on the west coast. To try to calm their fears, the FBI began investigating and arresting Japanese Americans. Within a few months many thought that all Japanese Americans were a national security threat. In February 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order 9066 that relocated 110,000 Japanese living in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona. (loc.gov/Japanese/BehindtheWire) Many Japanese Americans were forced to sell and leave almost all of their belonging as they were taken from their businesses and homes to be moved onto internment camps for the duration of the war. Many went willingly to avoid tainting their family name, but this was a horrible thing to do to people living here, many of which were 2nd or 3rd generation Japanese Americans who had no remaining ties to Japan.
Another group of Asians that was marginalized greatly was the Koreans and Vietnamese in the latter half of the 20th century. During this time, our country was going through the “red scare.” Fears of communism spread across the country and many eastern nations began succumbing to the communist ideal. During the red scare people would accuse people they know of being a communist supporter, so of course new immigrants and refugees from an actual country struggling with this terrified them. Despite their ability to assimilate to the country with language and religion, many Vietnamese still lived below the poverty level. (everyculture.com/Vietnamese/AcculturationandAssimilation)
There have been many immigrants that have experienced marginalization while trying to make a fresh start in this country. These negative stereotypes tied to all these cultures should hopefully diminish as their presence here in America continues. We as a country should put the discrimination and intolerance is behind us so we can move forward as a country towards equality and respect of others.
Reflection Paper
How has this course increased your awareness of the difficulties that immigrants faced in America in their quest to be accepted and considered “Americans”? What information/knowledge from other courses you have taken has added to your experience in this course?
I really enjoyed this class. It opened my eyes to many of the struggles that immigrants have faced through history and still face today. One of the major struggles the immigrants faced was an identity struggle. These people were coming from countries that their ancestors had lived in for generations. Most came with the intention to stay, but some came with the intention to return to their mother country, so they didn’t feel as great of a need to be considered as an “American”. Either way, immigrants were still expected to conform to American society. Some had to hide their religion or learn English to survive here. These were difficult or painful, but doable. However, you can’t hide your race and how you look; so many immigrants were subject to persecution based on something out of their control.
I took an in depth American History class in high school, and that is where I learned about the Japanese internment camps in America during World War II. Prior to that class, everything America did was always painted in a more positive light. The school system throughout elementary made it seem like America was near perfect and that the only bad we had ever done was slavery. Even when I was taught about slavery they always focused on the end of the civil war and the creation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and made it seem like everything became perfect with that after those amendments were ratified. So my AP American History class in high school and Hist 1700 in college really opened my eyes and killed that elementary school idea of America. This helped me to begin this class with a more open mind to recognize mistakes on America’s history so I could better sympathize with the immigrants.
One of the things that I found interesting was I was able to learn and understand why some groups of people behave the way they do. For example, one commonly known stereotype is that Asians are really smart and are strict about school. Now I understand that stems from the immigrants from China having such a strong desire for American education, and that mentality has filtered down through the generations. Even something as simple as where the term “Old Bitty” comes from helps me to understand the current mentalities that exist across the country. Except for the Native Americans, people only have come here the last 500 years. So many countries contributed to what being an “American” means today.
This class also opened my eyes to better understand the marginalization that still goes on today. In reality, no group is exempt from persecution and judgment. I look at the history of my people, the Mormons, and they faced great marginalization and persecution as well. They were kicked out of town after town. There was even an executive order, Executive order 44 of Missouri, which was an extermination order. The order was signed by Missouri governor Lilburn W Boggs in 1838 claiming that “the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary”. (http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/ Extermination_Order) The order wasn’t even rescinded until 1976, just 40 years ago. This proves that we can all be a little more kind and understanding to everyone around us, regardless of race, gender, religion, etc. This class helped me to sympathize with others more.
