114 - American - Summaries

[Mauk and Oakland, chapter 2; O'Callaghan: especially chs. 2-6, 9-10, 14-18]

The United States is a nation of immigrants. It may sound like a cliché, but it is as much true today as it was in 1609, when the first permanent colonies were established in Virginia. With the exception of the Native Americans, all residents of the U.S. today have an immigrant past in relatively recent history.

European settlement of the New World began with Columbus's "discovery" of America in 1492. Others had been there before him, the Vikings, for instance, but their attempts to establish lasting communities had failed. With the arrival of Spanish conquistadors, however, the continent would be forever changed.

Spanish settlement was characterized by a very centralized administration, an organized conquest, and limited immigration. Very few families travelled to America, so that priests, monks, civil servants, and soldiers dominated. This pattern contrasts starkly with the immigration patterns from Northern Europe, starting with the British and Dutch.

While the Virginia colony was established for purely business reasons, Maryland was established for religious reasons. Persecution of Catholics in Britain forced many to leave the country, and in the 1630s, Lord Baltimore established his American colony as a refuge for his fellow believers.

In Britain, religious toleration was not very prominent in the seventeenth century, so other groups besides the Catholics were also forced to flee their native country. The Pilgrims, who were Protestants who had separated from the Church of England, landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. About a decade later, the Puritans, who wanted to purify the Church of England, settled in Massachusetts Bay. There they lived and prospered in their efforts to create "A City on a Hill" - a utopian model community. Because the King of England did not establish direct rule over the American colonies, they were left to govern themselves. The pattern of self-government established in the New England colonies would serve as and important model for later colonies. Protestant values were the very roots of the developing American culture, even in Maryland, which remained a haven for Catholics for a very short time only.

However, although the Pilgrims and Puritans mainly left for religious reasons, they also considered the economic motives, and were very prosperous in America. Hard work was valued above most other things. Conformity was another virtue, as the colonies were governed very harshly. This was probably necessary to survive in the first, difficult decades of their American experience.

By this time, American colonists actively started recruiting immigrants from Europe. William Penn, for instance, printed folders in several languages, and distributed them in various European countries to attract people to the new colony of Pennsylvania. What had started out as a refuge for Quakers soon became a relatively multicultural society. But because of the Quakers' high degree of tolerance for others, Pennsylvania did become a tolerant and liberal society, something that is still true of the Mid-Atlantic states today.

A number of religious sects came to the United States in this period, such as the Mennonites and the Amish. They can serve as representatives of the early beginnings of an anti-immigrant movement that would peak in the late nineteenth century. Germans were recruited to the new English colonies because of their skills both as farmers and craftsmen. However, because the Germans were very quickly prosperous and kept largely to themselves, they were soon viewed with suspicion.

The Scots-Irish were another group that immigrated for religious and economic reasons. The majority of them were Presbyterians, and as such they were not accepted by the Church of England and their children declared bastards. After successive crop failures, rent increases, and other problems, they left Ulster (Northern Ireland) for America. Because they were poor, most arrived as indentured servants. This meant that they signed contracts of service in return for their passage to America. These contracts normally lasted up to seven years.

This wave is normally dated from 1820-1890. It was largely made up of immigrants from Northwestern Europe, including the Scandinavian countries, and these are normally referred to as "old immigrants". The old immigrants did not stand out in any stark contrast from the dominantly white population of the United States. They were Protestant farmers mostly, who believed in hard work, were literate and God-fearing. The majority had connections in the United States, and knew where they were going on arrival. Scandinavians and Germans tended to settle in close-knit ethnic communities, especially in the Midwest. After the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, cheap land was easily available in the U.S. However, although these immigrants for the most part assimilated easily, old stereotypes and prejudice still gave fodder to the rising nativist movement. With the shift in immigration patterns that occurred around 1890, this movement would reach its peak.

The "old immigrants" did not stop coming in 1890, but around that time their numbers decreased at the same time as other groups began a period of mass immigration to the U.S. The "new immigrants" were in many ways more visible than earlier groups had been, coming mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe. This made them more susceptible to attacks from Nativist groups. Religion, culture, language, and physical appearance were the most important factors that motivated public prejudice against the New immigrants.

By this time, the Nativist movement had gained ground in the states and in Congress, culminating with the passage of several laws that restricted immigration. Look in the course textbooks to read more about the legislation.

Related literature:
The Reshaping of America from the Dallas Morning News
The New Americans a PBS series
People topics from the Census Bureau

Books:
Gjerde, J., Ed (1998) Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History: Documents and Essays New York: Houghton Mifflin Company
Kraut, A. M. (1982) The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921 Wheeling, IL: Harland Davidson, Inc.
Barkan, E. R. (1996) And Still They Come: Immigrants and American Society, 1920 to the 1990s Wheeling, IL: Harland Davidson, Inc.
Barkan, E. R., Ed. (1999) A Nation of Peoples: A Sourcebook on America's Multicultural Heritage Westport, CT: Greenwood Press
Ueda, R. (1994) Postwar Immigrant America, A Social History New York: St. Martin's Press
Lieberson, S. and Waters, M. C. (1988) From Many Strands. Ethnic and Racial Groups in Contemporary America New York: Russell Sage Foundation
US Bureau of the Census, decadal series and current population reports (CPR)
US Bureau of the Census (January 2001) The Foreign-Born Population of the United States (from CPR, March 2000)
US Bureau of the Census, Special Study (May 2001) Why People Move: Exploring the March 2000 CPR
US Bureau of Labour Statistics, annual reports

One of the consequences of the size and history of the United States is the enormous diversity of its people. But this is not a new development - already at the moment of European conquest, the continent was populated by a large number of indigenous tribes and nations.

Today, the number of Native Americans is insignificant compared to other ethnic groups, but as the indigenous people of North America they are accorded greater importance than their numbers would indicate.

Timeline:

1619	First blacks arrive as indentured servants
late 1600s	Hereditary slavery the norm in the South
1857	Dred Scott v. Sanford, where the Supreme Court decides that slaves are still to be regarded as property even if they have escaped to a free state, and must therefore be returned to their owner
1861-65	Civil War
1863	Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation
1865	Thirteenth Amendment ratified White Southern governments start passing restrictive Black Codes
1866	Congress passes Civil Rights Act (vetoed by President Johnson) Fourteenth Amendment approved by Congress, but later rejected by most Southern states
1868	Fourteenth Amendment ratified
1870	Fifteenth Amendment ratified
1896	Plessy v. Ferguson, where the Supreme Court decides that segregation of the races is legal so long as equal facilities are offered to blacks. Term: separate, but equal doctrine
1909	Founding of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
1954	Brown v. Board of Education, where the Supreme Court abandons the separate but equal doctrine and says that school segregation is unconstitutional.
1964	Civil Rights Act
1965	Voting Rights Act

In 1619 the first slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. America's first involuntary settlers were treated as indentured servants, but as the 17th century progressed more and more of the Africans were regarded as slaves for life, and an enslaved woman's child also became the property of her master.

By Independence slavery was recognized as a legal institution in all thirteen states of the Union. In the 18th century many slaves were needed on rice and tobacco plantations in Virginia and Maryland. A strong anti slavery movement swept over Virginia 1700s and early 1800s. In August 1800 a group of black and white freedom fighters captured Virgina's governor and almost managed to take control over the state capitol.

As rice and tobacco became less lucrative towards the end of the 18th century,the South experienced a veritable cotton boom. The cotton gin, which was invented in 1793 made quick and efficient cleaning of cotton possible. Cotton was in great demand in Northern and English textile mills, and the need for slaves increased on the cotton plantations.

Opposition to slavery was, however, strong, and in 1808 Congress made the importation of slaves illegal. Between 1808 and 1860 slaves were bred in captivity or imported clandestinely. By 1860 there were almost four million slaves within the states of the Union which allowed slavery.

The abolitionist movement grew strong in the industrialized northern states during the first half of the 19th century. In the South, the non-mechanized slave based agriculture continued to yield high profits and Southerners felt threatened by those who wanted to undermine their way of life. In the years between 1820 and 1860 Congress negotiated several compromises in order to maintain a balance between the number of states allowing slavery and free states.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free" Abraham Lincoln warned in 1858. Shortly after Lincoln was elected president in 1860, eleven southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. All the compromises made in order to maintain the Union had failed, and war broke out a short while after secession The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865 and ended in victory for the Northern states. In 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which gave all the slaves living in unconquered parts of the Confederacy their freedom. In 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment which prohibited slavery throughout the country was ratified.

The period immediately after the Civil War is called Reconstruction.It lasted from 1865 to 1877. During this period Northern troops were stationed in the South. Their job was tosupervise the rebuilding of the South and to develop good relations between blacks and whites. The occupation did not succeed. Despite the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which granted equal rights to all the country's citizens,southerners created discriminatory black codes which denied blacks their basic rights. Yet for the first time African Americans could practice their religion freely, learn to read and write, build their own homes and search for lost relatives.

Segregation became the norm in the decades following the Reconstruction period and continued into the mid-twentieth century.In 1896 the Supreme Court set an important precedent when it ruled that it was legal to provide "separate but equal" railway compartments forblacks and whites. (Plessy vs Ferguson) White southerners, determined to keep the races separate, adopted discriminatory laws popularly known as Jim Crow laws.

In 1909 a group consisting of black as well as white reformers created the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The organization fought for equal rights by challenging the "separate but equal" doctrine in the nation's courts.

A ground breaking victory for the NAACP came in 1954 when the Supreme Court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional in the case of Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. This decision was a complete reversal of the separate but equal doctrine. The efforts of desegregating the high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 caught the attention of the entire nation. Arkansas's governor had instructed the National Guard to hinder black students from entering the school, and president Eisenhower had to intervene, albeit reluctantly.

In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress from Montgomery Alabama and an active member of the NAACP, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. This sparked a year long boycott of the bus company led by the young Baptist minister Martin Luther King. In November 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transport was unconstitutional.

The bus boycott was King's first victory. He initiated peaceful, but provocative demonstrations which would create disturbance and attract attention. In August 1963 more than 250 000 demonstrators gathered in Washington D.C. In front of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King delivered his acclaimed and inspirational "I have a Dream" speech. Images of blacks and whites marching together made many white Americans sympathize with the Civil Rights movement. In In 1964 King won the Nobel Peace prize. He continued his fight for Civil Rights until an assassin's bullet killed him in 1968.

Other black activists deemed it necessary to take up arms in the struggle for civil rights. Malcolm X became the leader of the Black Muslims, a group which tolerated the use of weapons in self defense. As one of their spokesmen put it: "If someone puts a hand on you, send him to the cemetery." Malcolm X moderated his views towards the mid 1960s, and angry Black Muslims who felt that he betrayed their cause shot him to death in 1965.

The Civil Rights Movements set focus on discrimination and social injustices and Congress passed several acts aiming at improving conditions and ensuring equal opportunities for blacks and other minorities. Yet promises on paper are not always fulfilled in real life. Conditions for unskilled blacks worsened rather than impproved in the 1970s and 80s when industrialization stagnated and the number of blue collar jobs decreased. Yet the black middle class expanded, and in 1980 about one third of blacks with a high shool degree pursued further education.

The African Americans still have a long way to go before their dream of equality is achieved. One third of the black population still lives below the poverty level, and many face discrimination in the job- and real estate markets. Many high school or university graduates find it hard to break through the glass ceiling, an invisible barrier created by white employers' ignorance or prejudice. There are, however, some who have made it all the way to the top. Colin Powell is America's first black Secretary of State. Upon his nomination he expressed hopes that his new position would: "give inspiration to young African Americans coming along that no matter where you began in this society, with hard work and with dedication and with the opportunities that are presented by this society, there are no limitations upon you."

One of the great American holidays, Thanksgiving, is celebrated to commemorate how the Indians shared food and survival skills with the newly arrived Pilgrims during the winter of 1620. Despite this amicable beginning, the story of relations between Native Americans and whites is one of bloodshed, cultural suppression and broken promises. Mauk and Oakland point out decisive trends that were formed as far back as the Colonial era:

The British settlers were of both sexes. Few of them chose to marry Indians, and there was little social interaction between natives and newcomers. After the initial phase when the settlers needed the Indians to show them how to subsist in the new country, cultural differences began to take their toll, and mutual resentment arose. Attempts by the Indians to expel the settlers failed. The numerically and technologically superior whites mobilized and retaliated. After winning a battle, the settlers often induced the Indians to move to a different area. This policy of forced separation is a forerunner of the reservation system. There were attempts at Christianizing the relocated Indians and teaching them the ways of the white man.

During the 18th century, the French and the British fought for control over North America, and both sought the help of Native Americans to gain new land. Many tribes preferred to support the French whose hunters and fur traders seemed less dangerous than the British empire builders. During the French and Indian Wars, the British attracted Indian tribes to their cause by promising that British settlement would not reach beyond the Appalachians. This move gave the British enough Native American support to gain control and get rid of the French. Settlers, however, did not heed the British promise to stay away from Indian land, and the establishment of an 'Indian Country' was one of the issues in contest when the colonists tried to break away from Britain.

Both England and the rebellous Colonists wanted Native American support during the War of Independence. Many tribes decided to side with the British. When the war was over, England ceded power over its North American territories and recognized the United States as an independent nation. The United States regarded the Indian tribes which had been Britain's allies as 'conquered nations' and required them to give up claims to their land.

In the following decades, the tribes of the eastern woodlands, southern marshlands and great plains had to fight with settlers and soldiers to maintain control of their land. In 1794, United States troops defeated a strong Indian confederacy in the Ohio Valley. For the first time, however, when forced to cede their land, the Indians received an annual payment of money and goods. There was a marked shift in policy towards the Indians at the beginning of the 19th century. Strategies of conquest and submission were replaced by attempts to assimilate the Indian into mainstream America. Teachers and missionaries went to stay with the tribes to teach them the religion and ways of the white man.

To try to stop the white man's westward migration, the two Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (The Prophet) created an alliance of the tribes east of the Mississippi. Tenskwatawa lost many of his followers in the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, and Tecumseh was killed while helping the British in the war of 1812. Their two strong leaders gone, many of their tribesmen fled to relative safety further west.

In 1830 the Indian Removal Act, signed by president Andrew Jackson,required Indians to settle in what was to be a permanent "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma. Many tribes opposed this forced relocation. The primary targets for resettlement were the so called "Five Civilized Tribes" in the south, The Seminoles, Creeks, Chocktaws, Chicasaws and Cherokees. These tribes had gone to great lengths in trying to comply with requests for assimilation. They had established systems of government, successfully taken up agriculture,adopted Christianity, married white people and some owned slaves. The Cherokee had created a written language, and the Bible was available in Cherokee. The tribes' efforts to be like the white man, were not recognized. In 1831 the removal of the Chocktaw began. They walked barefoot in sub zero weather and had only one blanket per family. The Cherokee tried to contest removal and a forced sale of their lands by appealing to federal courts. In 1831 and 1832 the Supreme Court ruled that an Indian tribe could neither be seen as a foreign nation nor a state, yet their land holding rights could not be questioned and the whites could only get their lands if the Cherokees sold it to them voluntarily.

The president, and the state of Georgia chose to ignore the rulings of the Supreme Court. Realizing that the Court possessed no means to enforce its ruling, Jackson ordered removal. Those who refused to comply were held in detention and marched to Oklahoma with military supervision. About one fourth of the Cherokee tribe died of exposure during the long trek west. Life in Oklahoma proved difficult for the newcomers. Traditional enemies had to live side by side, the land had an unfamiliar flora and fauna and the people had to live off a much smaller piece of land than they were used to. Many had to rely on the government to survive.

By 1850 a substantial number of whites had reached the far west. The 1862 Homestead Act granted 160 acres of land to each settler, and large sections of the "Great American Desert" were claimed, tilled and fenced in. The trans-continental railroad completed in 1869, provided easier access to the plains and put pressure on the Indian tribes living there. Their land base diminished, and so did their food supply, as hunters and sportsmen killed off thirteen million buffaloes in the span of a few decades. Most of the carcasses were left to rot on the plains, and in 1880 there were only a few hundred animals left.

Despite being outnumbered by white settlers, many Indian tribes fought valiantly to defend their homelands. An 1868 treaty granted the Dakotas sovereignty over their sacred Black Hills forever, but the sanctity of the hills was honored only until gold was discovered there in 1874. Thousands of fortune seekers arrived. In 1876, Dakota warriors led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse annihilated George A Custer's troops at Little Big Horn in the Black Hills. Their victory gave Congress and excuse to invalidate the treaty.

The massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 is another sad chapter in the conflict between whites and Indians. Disillusioned Lakotas, having virtually given up armed struggle, found solace in the prophecies of the spiritual leader Wovoka. He vowed that the Ghost Dance would help them atone for their sins. The intruders would flee and game would be plentiful. Alarmed by the popularity of the dance, government agents called for help. Believing to have found a party planning an uprising, the Seventh Cavalry arbitrarily shot down three hundred men, women and children.

In the last decades of the 19th century, the official Indian policy shifted its emphasis from active removal to attempted assimilation. Mauk and Oakland point out three main strategies for making the Indian become like the white man. First there were organized attempts to weaken tribal structures. Government agents were sent to every reservation to supervise daily life. The agents withheld provisions and could threaten to bring in soldiers if the Indians attempted to secure weapons or practice their religion.

Secondly, the government passed the Dawes General Allotment Act in 1887. Friends of the Indian believed that owning land would teach them to be thrifty and self-sufficient. Others who did not have the Indians' best interest in mind also wanted distribution of allotments because "surplus" land would go to the highest bidder. The Act granted Indian families 160 acres each to farm. If they refused, the government agent could accept the land ownership for them. Nationwide, the Act that promised the Indians land had by 1900 robbed them of half their 1881 land holdings. Ownership of land gave the right to citizenship, and by 1917 two thirds of all Native Americans were citizens. In 1924 Congress granted all Indians citizenship. Being able to vote did not make the situation better for the Indians. They were still subject to strict government regulations, and unable to practice their religion or have a say in the upbringing of their children.

The third assimilation strategy was to take Indian children away from their parents to be educated in boarding schools. There they would learn the ways of the white man, Christian values and get rid of their former life style. The children got academic and vocational training intended to suit them for a life in the white man's world. Yet assimilationists were disappointed by seeing that great numbers of boarding school children remained loyal to the ways of their ancestors. They returned to their reservation, let their hair grow long and refused to give up tribal ceremonial practices.

Reservation life was hard in the 1920s. Diseases such as tuberculosis and trachoma were spreading, and many lacked the experience and equipment to become successful farmers. The Meriam Report, published in 1928, exposed immense health problems, poor housing and sanitary conditions, inadequate education and a very high mortality rate. The report stated that many of the problems were due to hasty assimilation and the allotment policy. In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) marked a change in the official Indian policy. The Act revoked the allotment laws, and surplus land was returned to the tribes. The commissioner of Indian Affairs proclaimed full religious freedom for the Indians. The Indians were included Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs and received health education and medical aid. Day schools on the reservations replaced the boarding schools. World War II, however, put an end to the reforms.

The war worsened conditions on the reservations considerably, and there was a shift in the political climate. Despite the favorable results of the IRA, leading politicians again lent an ear to those who wanted the Indians assimilated into mainstream America. During the war, many Indians settled in the cities, and assimilationists pointed to their successful integration. The new key words were "termination" of the Indians' status as wards of the government and "relocation" to white communities. In the 1950s there was little tolerance of Indian ways and religios ceremonies. Some reservations had made deals with the government for sale of timber or other commodities. Termination meant a loss of the contracts. In order to pay off debt, the Indians had to sell their land and were thus ready for relocation to the cities. The termination policy had devastating effects on the Indians involved, and many ended up in poverty and destitution. Children were again taken away to boarding schools to be better equipped for life in the white man's world.

The Kennedy Administration revoked Termination, but its ill effects were widespread and visible. Dissatisfaction with political leaders gave rise to Native American military activism. Demonstrators occupied the closed down Alcatraz federal penitentiary claiming the right to take over the island on the basis of an old treaty which granted them free use of surplus federal land. The focus on how the whites had tricked them out of ancestral lands was maintained in the "Trail of Broken Treaties" march to Washington. In 1973 heavily armed members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized the village of Wounded Knee and were surrounded by white soldiers for ten weeks before a cease fire was negotiated. The siege brought enormous attention to past and present injustices that the Indians suffered.

The president that many Indians remember most fondly and think highly of is, quite surprisingly, Richard Nixon. He supported Indian "self-determination" and advocated cultural diversity. Despite warnings that the administration would be flooded with demands for return of ancestral lands, Nixon backed Congress in returning substantial areas and sacred shrines to a number of tribes. The other post war presidents have taken a stand against assimilation, but have not shown Nixon's eagerness to amend past wrongdoings. Nixon was president during the years when Indian military activists were most active, and this may have accelerated the positive changes.

In the 1980s the Reagan Administration made dramatic cuts in the federal support for Indian reservations. Economic cuts would, his supporters believed, force the Indians to become enterprising and productive. Yet they were given no time to develop networks of private enterprises. Yet inventive Indians found a way to handle the difficult situation. Gambling, or gaming as it is often called, became an important source of income for many tribes. Most of the reservations that get gaming revenues have spent the profits on housing, education and health care.

Living conditions on the reservations are still very poor today. Unemployment and alcoholism are great problems. The number of Indians who have chosen to live off reservation has grown steadily throughout the past decades. The work opportunities are greater in the cities, but there is still much poverty and racism. Mortality rates are, however, declining,levels of education are rising, and people of all ethnicites take a greater interest in learning about Indian heritage, art and ceremonialism.

This is a very diverse group consisting of people who immigrated to America in the nineteenth century and others who have arrived recently. They are lumped together conveniently on the basis of continent of origin regardless of their religious beliefs, history and how many generations their families have lived in the United States. In 2000 there were more than 10 million Asian Americans in the US. They are the minority with the second fastest growth rate.

Most of the Chinese and Japanese second wave immigrants settled on the west coast or in Hawaii. Contract laborers were in great demand on the Hawaiian sugar plantations. The working days were long, the wages low and the foremen merciless. Workers were encouraged to bring their wives and children in order to promote a decent life style and to make them stay after their contract expired. Despite tough working conditions and limited opportunites to form labor organizations, the workers fared better than those on the mainland. The plantation owners provided room and board, health services, schools and places for worship.

On the mainland, it was difficult for the early Asian immigrants to become accepted and find work. As opposed to in Hawaii, they were a small minority and victims of racism and discrimination. They were ineligible for citizenship, not allowed to marry whites, forced to live in segregated ethnic communities and subject to discrimination in the labor and land leasing markets. White Americans afraid of the large influx of eastern immigrants deemed them unassimilable. In 1882 the "Chinese Exclusion Act" banned all Chinese from entering. In 1908 "The Gentlemen's Agreement" excluded Japanese men, and the "Ladies Agreement" of 1921 no longer allowed Japanese women access to the United States. It was, however, possible to find loopholes in the land leasing laws as well as in the exclusion acts, and the Asian Americans fought for their rights through strikes and in the courts.

World War II became a watershed. By this time, Asian Americans had to a great extent found acceptance as members of the society. Chinese, Korean, East Indian and Filipino Americans experienced a lot of sympathy as their countries were loyal to the United States. Many young boys of Asian backgrounds joined the armed forces. The Japanese Americans were in an altogether different situation. Their country was an enemy power and they were looked upon with distrust even if their families had lived in the USA for almost a century. In 1942, 120 000 Japanese Americans were sent to detention centers or virtual concentration camps. Most of these camps were located in remote areas of the West. Young Japanese boys who had signed a loyalty pledge, were allowed to leave the camps and become soldiers in the US army.

After World War II, the courts repealed the discriminatory laws against Asian Americans. The new immigration law of 1965 made it possible for new generations of Asians to enter America in huge numbers. In 1965 there were one million, and in 1985 there were five million people of Asian descent in America.

Due to good academic results, high median family incomes, low crime rates and few people dependent on welfare, white Americans often call Asian Americans "the Model Minority." Yet the perfect image is based on false assumptions. It must, for instance, be taken into consideration that more members in each family contribute to the family economy and that they work longer hours than whites normally do. Despite a generally high level of schooling, most work in lower paying and less prestigious jobs than whites, and have like all other minorities had trouble breaking through the "glass ceiling." The myth of the "Model Minority" may have caused more harm than good, as the positive media coverage of Asian Americans led to anti Asian riots, lootings and assaults during the 1980s.

Latinos, or Hispanics are people who come from countries influenced by the Spanish language and culture and their descendants. Many seem to prefer the term Latino since Hispanic gives a more direct association with Spain. The word Latino describes men and mixed groups of men and women of Latin American descent. Women often use the feminine ending a and are called Latinas. The Latinos in the United States are a diverse group. They descend from Native Americans, African slaves or European and Asian Immigrants to Latin America, or they can trace several of these origins due to intermarriage.

About two thirds of the Latinos in the United States come from Mexico. They are often referred to as Chicanos. In 1848, after the Mexican American War, Texas and the South West became parts of the United States. These areas had a large Spanish speaking population. During the Mexican revolution of 1910, many Mexicans fled their country. Between 1910 and 1930, a time of labor shortage in the US, one out of every eight Mexicans moved to the USA. When depression hit the USA in the 1930s, the government authorized mass deportations of Mexicans. Some of the deportees were even US citizens! When labor was in demand again during World War II, Mexicans were welcomed again. Most of them were needed for menial work. They faced discrimination and their children did not receive education adapted to their language and cultural background. The minimum wage or labor laws did not apply. In 1962, Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) which fought for higher wages, better working conditions and a higher standard of living for the workers. His non violent methods and charismatic leadership made him famous across the Nation. He effectively encouraged consumers to boycott grapes picked by non-union workers and the growers had to relent and admit new rights to their workers. In 1975, as a cause of Chavez' rallying, California passed a labor law which improved the situation for farm hands considerably and allowed for election of Union Members by secret ballot. Simultaneously other Mexican leaders made an effort to strengthen cultural identity and pride in their heritage. Despite their efforts, the majority of Mexican Americans still work in low paying jobs and have to face negative stereotypes at school or in the workplace.

According to the 2000 census, 13 percent of the people of the United States regard themselves as Latinos. They are thus the country's largest minority group and also the fastest growing one. The influx of immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries surpasses that of every other ethnic group, and the birth rate among Latinos is high. The Latinos who have entered the country legally are joined by millions of illegal aliens who stay for shorter periods or permanently. The border between the USA and Mexico is two thousand miles long and fairly easy to cross in many places. Thus the Latinos are the most important sub culture and foreign language community in the United States. Due to lack of education, language problems and prejudice the Latinos are the least socially mobile ethnic group in the country. A 1986 law which made it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants made it more difficult for newcomers in search of a better life. Opinion polls from the 1990s showed that two thirds of Americans thought there were too many Latinos in the country and favored further restrictions on immigration.

In late 1999, the custody battle over a six year old boy became the target of a heated debate which divided America. Elian Gonzales and his mother were shipwrecked off the Florida coast in an attempt to flee Cuba. His mother died, but Elian managed to stay afloat by holding on to an inner tube. Local fishermen spotted the boy and brought him ashore. His relatives in Miami took care of him and wished for him to grow up with them. Elian's father, who remained in Cuba, wanted him back, and he was backed by Fidel Castro and thousands of protesters in the streets of Havanna. Attorney General Janet Reno, and Bill Clinton also supported the boy's return to Cuba. Opinion polls showed that the majority of Americans wanted the boy reunited his father. Yet other people flocked to the home of Elian's relatives, and wrote emotional letters about Elian's right to remain in the country which his mother had sacrificed his life trying to bring him to. In April 2000, armed federal agents stormed the house where Elian was staying and brought him to his his father. In 2001, Alan Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize for a photograph of a masked and helmeted man poining a gun at the screaming boy. It is a scary reminder of the human side to the enormous and emotional political and legal battle in which Elian was a mere pawn.

As a counterweight against unfavorable stereotypes the young generation now grows up with glamorous and successful Latino and Latina role models. The excuberant rhythms of Latin American music have for a long time made stiff northerners get up and dance, and some singers of Latin music became rather popular in the past decades. However, in the late 1990s Latin and Latino pop began to attract larger American audiences. Ricky Martin was in the forefront of the commercial explosion of Latino music with his catchy rhythms and songs in English interspersed with Spanish words. The most profiled Latina woman these days is actress and singer Jennifer Lopez who grew up in New York. She has, however, been criticized for choosing film roles where she does not emphasize her Latina background. In one of her latest films she played an Irish police officer. Colombian born singer Shakira is also being accused of making "non-racially-specific- art without thorns." Yet maybe some concessions had to be made to reach the American mainstream. The Latino wave is a strong phenomenon, and many aspiring actors and singers are ready to use their background as an asset. Hopefully this positive trend may reach other areas of society as well. Shakira said in an interview in 1999: "Latino people have a golden key in their hands, a common treasure. That treasure is fusion. The fusion of rhythms, the fusion of ideas. We Latinos are a race of fusion, and that is the music we make. And so at the dawn of a new millennium, when everything is said and done, what could possibly happen besides a fusion?"

American politicians have also realized that Latino voters could become pivotal in elections, and both parties have formed outreach committees to reach prospective voters. Traditionally many Latinos have voted for the Democrats, but in the 2000 presidential election the GOP made an effort to show that their emphasis on conservative, Christian values would suit the Latinos. Both presidential candidates made special visits to Latino communites and George W. Bush even tried to speak Spanish. It was, indeed, Florida, one of the states with the largest Latino population that decided the outcome of the election. In local elections the number of Latinos elected to office is growing. Nolo Martinez, director of the Governor's Advisory Council on Hispanic-Latino Affairs in North Carolina says: "Many recent immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries at first resented being labeled as simply Latino, with no acknowledgement of their country of birth. Suddenly we were grouped, and we didn't like it. We felt like we lost identity. But then we realized that this [new] identity gives you some political influence in a democracy. It's kind of like an awakening of how the political process works."

The First American Women
The first women came to America more than thirty five thousand years ago. Native American women across the continent were essential in securing the prosperity and well-being of their band. They were the ones responsible for much of the food gathering and -preservation, and many were skilled at treating diseases and ailments because they knew the medicinal properties of various roots and plants. Women also made utensils, clothes, footwear and furnishings for their dwelling. Mothers, grandmothers and aunts took responsibility for child rearing, told stories and from an early age, gave the children chores to perform. The men were hunters and had to protect the band and hunting grounds from enemy warriors. They were often gone for days or weeks. While they were away, the women had to fend for themselves, and there are many stories of how angry women have chased away intruders. In many Native American tribes women to a great extent chose her own partner. If she wanted a divorce, she could simply put her husband's things outside the dwelling and expect him to leave. Among the Iroquois, the women had a special position. Clan mothers were extremely powerful. They were the heads of the household and owned the land and the crops. Although they were not part of the tribe's governing body, it was their job to pick the candidates for the council. As keepers of provisions, they could hold back food supplies from people who did not listen to them. Their influence over political decisions regarding their people, was quite unique, and it has been a century long struggle for American women of other ethnicities to acquire similar rights.

Women in Colonial Times
The first Europeans who came to America were male explorers,but as soon as colonies were established, women began to join their husbands in the New World. The European immigrants perceived women as inferior to men. God had installed power and wisdom in the man so that he could guide his wife and make all the important decisions concerning the family, or as John Milton says in his poem Paradise Lost: "He for God only, she for God in him." As head of the family, the man was the only one who could own land, and women were not allowed to sign contracts or keep the wages that they earned. These limits did not extend to widows or single women. They had the right to own property or earn money.

Women reared children, tended animals, grew vegetables and cooked for the entire household. Their legal and political rights were limited, but they exercised a considerable influence on their local community through social networks and informal channels. Sarah M. Evans writes this about the power of women in Colonial times: "Privacy was virtually nonexistent and social control of matters from sexuality to economic transgression remained primarily external - often in the hands of neighbourhood women whose gossip could create or destroy reputations. Sometimes even the overt power of male-dominated governmental and religious institutions paled before the informal powers of female voluntary association and gossip."

Yet women who became too assertive or dared to challenge the authorities were at risk. In 1637 Anne Hutchinson was brought before the General Court of Massachusetts on charges of treason and heresy. She was an outspoken and literate mother of twelve who worked as a nurse and midwife. The court charged her with spreading apostatic interpretations of the Holy Scripture. She refused to yield and was banished from the colony. Puritan men often saw women as so mediocre in morals and intellect that it was easy for evil forces to lead them astray. Witchcraft trials were quite common in Colonial America, and they reached their apex in the infamous Salem Witch Trials in 1692 when nearly two hundred people were accused, in fact a number of men too were caught in the backsweep. Twenty of the accused were executed.

With industrialization, there was a great need for factory workers. It had been the young women's job to spin and weave on the farms, but their skills were no longer needed as manufactured fabrics became available. Young men were needed on the farm, so it was the young women who left home to work in the textile mills. Other unmarried women found work as teachers,nurses or housekeepers.

The 1862 Homestead Act gave a person the right to obtain 160 acres of farm land. Women had the right to get their own land. Many married women chose a piece of land next to her husband's, but also unmarried women claimed land. An 1886 estimate shows that women held one third of the homestead claims in the Dakota Territory. Life on the frontier was hard. On the plains where trees were scarce, the families often had to live for an extended amount of time in dark and leaky sod houses. Isolation was often a problem for pioneer women. Many had to endure childbirth or other crucial moments alone.

Middle and upper class women were admitted into higher education after 1860 when schools in the western states became co-educational. Vassar, Smith, Wellesley and Radcliffe were colleges open to women only. The primary goal was not to educate women for a professional career, but to make them better suited for the growing demands on the home scene, and as the founder of Smith College put it: "to develop as fully as may be the powers of womanhood, and furnish women with the means of usefulness, happiness and honor, now withheld from them." Yet some aspired for more than an educated motherhood. Elizabeth Blackwell completed medical school in 1848 and helped organizing a school where women could get medical training in 1868. The first woman lawyer in the US was Arabella Mansfield in 1869.

The Women's Rights Movement
During the 1830s and 40s many women got involved in social reform movements. Often recruited through their church, they started working to ameliorate the lives of orphans, prostitutes, prisoners and minorities. Some became active abolitionists. Despite the fact that they possessed a a lot of knowledge about the African Americans' situation, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott had to remain silent behind a curtain during the Anti-Slavery convention in 1840. This compelled them to initiate a series of conferences advocating Women's rights. The first convention took place at Seneca Falls in 1848. The women present issued a "Declaration of Sentiments" based on the Declaration of Independence where they called for changes in women's legal and political rights.

In 1869 Elizabeth C. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association. When the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution were adopted, and women were not mentioned the organization split in two. The faction led by Anthony and Stanton fought for equal rights in the workplace and courts as well as suffrage. The other faction called the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) wanted woman- and African American suffrage to be separate issues, and wanted to lobby on the local level rather than nationally. in 1869, Wyoming Territory was the first part of the United States that granted women suffrage. Yet women did not obtain universal suffrage until 1920 when the 19th amendment to the Constitution was ratified.

The Twentieth Century
During the first two decades of the twentieth century, the American woman redefined her role and position in society. The chastity cult of the Victorian era crumbled. Women threw their corsets away, wore lipstick and rouge and began to expose legs and shoulders. Shyness and an aptness to blush were no longer seen as assets. The new woman was quick witted, self assertive, sensual and flirtatious. Girls of the 1920s had their own ambitions, and a good marriage was not necessarily the key to success.

As women's conceptions of themselves changed, so did their place in society and within the family context. New household appliances made the house work easier and less time consuming. Pre fabricated food could be obtained more easily. Yet among middle class families, a man was regarded a failure if his wife had to work, and the parental generation still wanted girls to get an education and work until they married.

After World War I, the number of working women increased steadily. In 1930 almost 11 million women worked full time. Most held positions that were seen as typically female. They were teachers, nurses, typists, book keepers, store clerks and hair dressers. The average wages for women were less than half of the men's average.

World War II gave women work opportunities that had been barred before. The need for military equipment was great, and few men were available for work in the defense plants. Many women chose to stay in the work force once the war ended. They enjoyed their financial freedom and self sufficiency.

The feminist movement lay dormant after the introduction of universal suffrage in 1920, but came to life again in the 1960s. Women were dissatisfied with the traditional gender roles, and radical feminists introduced the term sexism to signify prejudice and discrimination on the basis of gender. They lobbied for equal wages and job opportunities, wanted political influence and easier access to birth control. Their struggle was in many respects successful. The 1964 Civil Rights Act banned discrimination based on race and gender. In the 1970s, Congress passed legislation which granted women equal rights in the workplace and equal pay for equal work. Abortions became legal in 1973.

In the 1980s maternity leaves (usually unpaid) became common, and many employers started accomodating working mothers by offering day care facilities near the work place. Yet equality has not been achieved. In year 200 working women only earn two thirds of the wages of their male counterparts. This "feminization of poverty" is due to the fact that there are fewer women than men in leading positions, and professions with a high proportion of female workers are usually less lucrative than professions that attract men.

In national politics, women are still far outnumbered, but some milestones have been reached. Geraldine Ferraro's nomination as vice-presidential candidate in the 1984 election would have been unthinkable only a few decades earlier. In the elections of 1992 the number of women in the House of Representatives almost doubled, from 28 to 47, and the number of female Senators tripled, from 2 to a still very unimpressive 6. In 2002 the number has risen to 14. The most famous female senator is Hillary Rodham Clinton, former president Bill Clinton's wife.

External materials:
The Census Bureau

Further reading:
Norton, M. B. and Alexander, R. M. Major problems in American Women's History (1996) Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath
Ruiz, V. L. and DuBois, E. C., Eds. Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (1994) London Routledge
A. L. Hurtado and Iverson P., Eds. Major Problems in American Indian History (1994)Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath
Oswalt, W. O. and Neeley, S. This Land was Theirs. A Study of North American Indians (1996) Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company
Franklin, J. H. and Moss, A. A. From Slavery to Freedom, A History of Negro Americans (1987) New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Berry M. F. and Blassingame, J. W. Long memory. The Black Experience in America (1982) Oxford, England: Oxford University Press
Takaki, Ronald Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans (1990) London: Penguin Books
Cordova, C. B. and del Pinal, J. (1996) Hispanics-Latinos: Diverse People in a Multicultural Society Washington, D. C.: National Association of Hispanic Publications
Acunã, R. Occupied America: A History of Chicanosn (1988) New York: Harper and Row
McWilliams, C. (1990) North from Mexico: The Spanish Speaking People of the United states Westport, CT: Greenwood Press