Ethnic United States since the Civil War

Return to main page

Michael Trotti
History Department
412 Muller
 (607)274-1591

"What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descendant of an European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. . . Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world."

-- Michel St. John De Crevecoeur (1782) 

America was built by a hundred different ethnic groups; American history is the history of its ethnicities. Period.

In this course, we explore the ethnic dimensions to the American past. We discuss waves of immigration and reaction, the experience of immigration, of acculturation, of rejection and acceptance. We compare different ethnic experiences and contrast them as well, finding much that is similar and much that is unique to each. Students will investigate the history of their own ethnicity and their family's experience of American in the 20th century, writing a paper tying your ethnic past into the themes we discuss in class.

The story of immigration to American has been told as a history of loss (heritage, language lost as we became generic Americans), of a melting pot (de Crevoceur's "new man"), or a salad bowl ("unmeltable ethnics" mixed but not melted), but usually told as some version of the triumph of Americanization and American opportunity (bitter first years yielding the fruit of a new generation with more opportunities than the first immigrants could imagine). But it is much more complex, perhaps a mixture of all of these stories. For certain immigrants, the American experience has been unusually harsh - who, for example, is left out of De Crevocoeur's American mixture above?

Below are some of the readings, and an idea about what written work is required for the class. At the end are some very interesting websites I've found relevant to this course and its themes. Contact me if you have any questions!

Readings:
 
If you find the reading challenging and are having a hard time keeping up or getting what you need out of the texts, see if any of my advice on solving the book blues helps.

McBride, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (1996). A moving and complex story of one family that ties into most of the major themes of 20th century immigration.

Hart, Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child (1999). Wonderful autobiography of a young Mexican-American girl raised in the fields of Texas and Minnesota.

Puzo, The Fortunate Pilgrim (1964). A gripping novel (perhaps Puzo's best) about an Italian family in New York (inspired by his own family's experiences) and the strains they feel between generations, particularly between their heritage and American life.

Takaki, A Different Mirror: a History of Multicultural America (1994). Our overview of immigration and ethnic history and one of the mainstays of the course.

Additional readings available on the web -- you can get to them by clicking here . . .

. . . if you have access to JSTOR (you can then print them or read them on the screen):

[note: computers on the IC network -- which has a paid subscription to these services -- will all arrive at the articles by clicking above. The library has recently had problems with computers on ResNet reaching these sites, so if you have a problem, use a computer in a lab or at the library. Home computers will not go to these sites, because these databases will not recognize you as a subscriber. You can get to them, but you have to go to the IC library website, enter your password and all to gain access to these databases, then search the databases for the articles. If you do this, be sure you are printing off the correct article by checking the bibliographic data I give above for each.]

Other articles that I'm not using in the course this time, but are very good:

. . . if you have access to JSTOR:

. . . if you have access to Project Muse:

. . . if you have access to Proquest:

Recommended Reading for all my classes:

Writing:

In this class, I ask students to explore various sides of the experience of immigrants and different ethnic groups. Some of that exploration will be in class, others will be in short assignments, "ventures" outside of class.

At the end of the course, students will turn in an 8-10 page paper on the history of their own family in relation to their ethnic group(s) in the last few generations. The paper will be based upon class readings, outside material that might be helpful, and oral interviews with parents, grandparents, and other relatives. This can be a very eye-opening and exciting assignment, but it needs to be analytical (not simply stories a grandfather told you).

Essay exams -- two midterms and a final -- are the other writing assignments.

I have developed two webpages giving:

Please look into them (and/or come see me) if you need/want any further help.

Venture (ven´-cher), n. - 1. an undertaking involving uncertainty as to the outcome, esp. a risky or dangerous one. 2. a business enterprise or speculation in which something is risked in the hope of profit. v. - to take the risk of, brave the dangers of, dare [late ME var. of adventure]

On several occasions in this course, I will ask you to venture into a particular situation, text, or sources in an attempt to broaden your understanding of the experiences of various ethnic Americans. These assignments will not be as analytical as our other written work - the goal here is not so much to test your critical thinking skills as to get you to connect with this material.

Venture A (when underlined, you can connect here to the webpage for the venture)
Explore one of two websites concerning the coverage in Harper's Weekly of two different ethnic groups and respond to this coverage.

Venture B (when underlined, you can connect here to the webpage for the venture)
After learning about Ellis Island, I will ask you to explore some relevant websites and write a brief piece about the experience of immigration.

Venture C (when underlined, you can connect here to the webpage for the venture)
Using census data on your own ethnic background (or one you choose), write a brief evaluation of the place of your ethnic group in the wider trends of American history we've discussed.

Venture D (when underlined, you can connect here to the webpage for the venture)
After listening to a relevant episode of This American Life, write a brief response about the ways, if any, that the show changed your view of themes in the course.

Venture E (when underlined, you can connect here to the webpage for the venture)
This is an exploration into race, geography, and income, using data from the 2000 Census. 

External Links to Sites Relevant to this Course

Online Exhibitions (these have very interesting materials, but generally the web offers very little context or content -- prose is short and style is as important as analysis. That makes for bad history. History needs a rich context, strong evaluation, and that is rare on even the best web pages. So, with that caveat, explore these sites, but remember that this will mostly be "snapshots" of historical materials that give brief, attenuated views of the past.):

Primary Documents (this is a strength of the web for history -- creating a platform for dissemination of primary materials around the world. Again, these sites offer almost no context -- you have to interpret their data): Other Sites:
Return to top of page 
This website is occasionally maintained by Michael Trotti.
(Last update: 12 September 2006).