Natives and Strangers A Multicultural History of Americans

by Dinnerstein, Leonard; Nichols, Roger L.; Reimers, David M.

• ISBN13: 9780195090833
• ISBN10: 0195090837
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-09-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The United States is the most culturally diverse nation on earth, a magnet for people from all over the globe. This diversity has always been one of the great engines of our economic growth. It is a source of great pride and much celebration (even on such unlikely occasions as St. Patrick's Day in Savannah, Georgia, where schools close, the local dairy offers mint-flavored milk, and a parade ensues second only to that of New York City). And of course diversity is the cause of much tension and bad feelings, as seen in America's recurrent attacks on minority groups. Now, in Natives and Strangers, Leonard Dinnerstein, Roger L. Nichols, and David M. Reimers present a wide-ranging historical narrative that illuminates the shifting tides of America's ethnic past and present, from the English colonists of Jamestown to the Asians and Mexicans of the West. A sweeping, ambitious chronicle of our unique cultural mosaic, spanning over nearly four hundred years, Natives and Strangers surveys America's legacy of assimilation and difference, of poverty and economic advancement, of ethnic conflict and intercultural mingling, expertly weaving together these strands into an engaging and informative whole. The authors consider the changing fortunes of American Indians, slaves, and immigrants, describing how newcomers interacted and often clashed with native-born people, with government and law enforcement, and with one another in crowded tenements or on expansive farmlands. They paint a compelling portrait of the extraordinary range of immigrant experience in America: working conditions and family life, communities of religion and language, political aspirations and social repression. The authors also explore the spectrum of ethnic coalitions that have fought for equal access to scarce resources and the rise of individuals of distinct ethnic lineage to local, state, and national offices. And they discuss the periodic surges of nativism directed at those cultural groups considered at odds with mainstream society, from vitriolic attacks on the "hordes of wild Irishmen" in the early days of the American republic to the torrents of abuse heaped upon Asian immigrants until long after World War II. Finally, the book examines some of the anomalies of immigrant life in America: why, for instance, have the Germans and Scandinavians built strong communities in the Midwest, while Chinese populations have congregated in New York and San Francisco? And how did Japanese immigrants overcome decades of venomous xenophobia to become one of America's most successful, highly educated minority groups, while Puerto Ricans remain near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder? Natives and Strangers offers telling insight into the lives and history of immigrants, American Indians, and African Americans, providing readers with the most up-to-date, informative account of this nation's rich multicultural fabric.

Author Biography

Leonard Dinnerstein is Professor of History at the University of Arizona.

Table of Contents

Colonial Foundations (1600-1780S)

Coming of the English

Indians and Anglo-Americans

Attracting Settlers

Development of Slavery and Racism

European Minorities

Colonial Social Structure

Racial Minorities and the Revolution

Forging A New Nation: The South (1776-1840s)

A New Situation

Territorial Growth

Indian Relations

Southern Antislavery Falters

Southern Free Blacks

Slavery in the Old South

Poor Whites

Forging A New Nation: The North (1776-1840s)

Indian Relations

Northern Antislavery Succeeds

Immigration and Assimilation

Fear of Foreigners

The Movement West

Urban and Industrial Growth

Free Blacks in the North

Renewal of Immigration

The Mormons and Group Suppression

Manifest Destiny

A Surge of Immigrants (1840s-1880s)

Settlement Patterns

The Germans and the Irish

The Coming of the Civil War

Blacks and the Domestic Crisis

Postwar Immigration

Finding Employment

Living Conditions

Animosity Toward Blacks and Foreigners

Anti-Catholicism

Political Nativism

Burgeoning Industrialism and a Massive Movement of Peoples (1880s-1930s)

Industrial Expansion

Uprooted Peoples

Immigrant Settlement

The New Immigrants

Black Migration North

The Process of Adjustment (1880s-1930s)

Wages and Working Conditions

The Tenement Districts

Voluntary Associations

Black Associations

Cultural and Recreational Activities

The Churches and Parochial Education

Public Education

The Minority Press

Maintaining Old World ties

Politics

Social Mobility

Assimilation

Ethnic Groups and the Development of the West (1840s-1930s)

The Mining Frontier

The Chinese

The Railroads

Indian Wars and Reservations

The Mormons

Ranchers and Livestock Production

Farmers

The Japanese

The Koreans

The Mexicans

Other Immigrants

Ethnic Tensions And Conflicts (1880s-1945)

Pseudoscientific Racism

Triumph of Jim Crowism

Treatment of Indians

Attitudes Toward Asians

Attitudes Toward Europeans

Interethnic Conflict

Religious Bigotry

World War I

Immigration Restriction

The Mexican Experience

Economic Depression and Increased Tensions

""Concentration Camps U.S.A.""

Movement, Mobility, and Cultural Adaptation (1941-2003)

The Impact of World War II

Southerners Move North

Suburbs and the Rise of the Sunbelt and the West

Renewed European Immigration

Prosperity and Mobility

Retaining Ethnic Ties

Ethnic Groups and Politics

The Struggle for Equality (1941-2003)

The Deprived Minorities

Toward Civil Rights

The Movement for Black Power

The Hispanics

The Asians

The Indians

White Ethnic Groups

A New Multiculturalism

Beyond Europe: The Global Immigrants

Mexicans

The Cubans

Other Latinos

The New Asian Immigrants

Near Easterners

The West Indians

New African Immigrants

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