Americanization (immigration)
Americanization is the process of an immigrant to the United States becoming a person who shares American culture, values, beliefs, and customs by assimilating into the American nation.[1] This process typically involves learning the American English language and adjusting to American culture, values, and customs. It can be considered another form of, or an American subset of Anglicization.
This article is about the process of acculturation by immigrants or native populations to American customs and values. For the influence the United States of America has on the culture of other countries, see Americanization.
The Americanization movement was a nationwide organized effort in the 1910s to bring millions of recent immigrants into the American cultural system. 30+ states passed laws requiring Americanization programs; in hundreds of cities the chamber of commerce organized classes in English language and American civics; many factories cooperated. Over 3000 school boards, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, operated after-school and Saturday classes. Labor unions, especially the coal miners, (United Mine Workers of America) helped their members take out citizenship papers. In the cities, the YMCA and YWCA were especially active, as were the organization of descendants of the founding generation such as the Daughters of the American Revolution. The movement climaxed during World War I, as eligible young immigrant men were drafted into the Army, and the nation made every effort to integrate the European ethnic groups into the national identity.[2]
As a form of cultural assimilation, the movement stands in contrast to later ideas of multiculturalism. Americanization efforts during this time period went beyond education and English learning, into active and sometimes coercive suppression of "foreign" cultural elements. The movement has been criticized as xenophobic and prejudiced against Southern Europeans, though anti-German sentiment also became widespread during World War I, as the United States and German Empire were part of opposing military alliances.
Background[edit]
The initial stages of immigrant Americanization began in the 1830s. Prior to 1820, foreign immigration to the United States was predominantly from the British Isles. There were other ethnic groups present, such as the French, Swedes and Germans in colonial times, but comparably, these ethnic groups were a minuscule fraction of the whole. Soon after 1820, for the first time, there began a substantial Irish and German migration to the United States. Up until 1885, immigrants were overwhelmingly Northwestern European (90% in that year) which brought a similar culture to that already existing in the U.S. maintaining stability within their bubble of natives and newcomers. By 1905, a major shift had occurred, and three-fourths of these newcomers were born in Southern and Eastern Europe. Their religion was mainly Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Jewish; Americanization became more difficult because of the notable contrasts of customs, habits, and ideals to those of Northern and Western European immigrants.[3]
According to the United States Census Bureau, in 1910, there were about 13,000,000 foreign-born and 33,000,000 residents of a foreign origin living in the United States. About 3,000,000 of the foreign-born over ten years of age were unable to speak English and about 1,650,000 were unable to read or write in any language. Close to half of the foreign-born populace were males of voting age; but only 4 out of every 1,000 of them were being educated to learn English and about American citizenship. In total, about five million people in the United States were unable to speak English, and of those two million were illiterate. World War I (which started in 1914) and the years immediately following represented a turning point in the Americanization process.[4] In 1910, 34% of foreign males of draft age were unable to speak English; about half a million of the registered alien male draftees were unable to understand military orders given in English. At the same time, more immigrants displaced by the war began arriving.[3]
A number of Americans feared the growing presence of immigrants in the country posed a sufficient threat to the political order. Americans' awareness of and attitudes towards immigrants and their foreign relations changed dramatically with America's increasing role in the world.[5] As Americans' views towards immigrants were growing more negative, fearful, and xenophobic, the United States resorted to programs of forced Americanization, as well as the immigration restriction acts of the 1920s, including the Immigration Act of 1924, primarily focused on restricting immigration from Southern and Southeastern Europe, in addition, to heavily restrict immigration of Africans, and a complete ban on immigration of Arabs and Asians. At the same time, a new positive outlook of a pluralist society began to progress.[6]
Immigrant groups[edit]
Cajuns[edit]
The French-speaking Cajuns of southern Louisiana were not immigrants—they arrived before the American Revolution in an isolated area that allowed little contact with other groups. The Cajuns were forcefully Anglicized in the 20th century. Children were punished in school for using French; they were called names like "swamp rat" and "bougalie", forced to write lines ("I will not speak French in school"), made to kneel on kernels of corn, and slapped with rulers.[19]: 18 French was also banned as a medium of education by the State of Louisiana in 1912.[19]: 18 English also gained more prestige than Cajun French due to the spread of English-language movies, newspapers and radio into Acadiana.[19]: 20 Wartime military service broke the crust of traditionalism for younger men, while automobiles and the highway system allowed easy movement to Anglo cities. Prosperity and consumer culture, and a host of other influences have effaced much of the linguistic and cultural uniqueness of the Cajuns.[20]
Dutch[edit]
Leonard Dinnerstein and David M. Reimers showed that immigrants who arrived during the 19th century in large numbers from western and northern Europe had mostly been assimilated. They call this process the loss of "Old World culture" including increasing rates of intermarriage outside the native ethnic group and not using native languages in daily life, church, school, or media. This process continues across generations and these immigrant groups have become more assimilated into the mainstream American culture over time.[21]
Irish[edit]
The Irish were the most influential ethnic group regarding the initial waves of immigration to the United States and of Americanization. Newly arrived immigrants in American cities had a hard time avoiding the Irish. There was no way around the Irish for the newcomers, as the Irish were present in every aspect of American working-class society. Between 1840 and 1890, more than 3,000,000 Irish immigrants had entered the United States, and by 1900, about 5,000,000 of their first and second generations were settled in. There were more Irish living in the United States than in Ireland. Irish Americans played a major role in the newcomer's Americanization. In other words, identity in the United States emerged from dynamic relationships among ethnic groups, as well as from particular groups' own distinct history and traditions.[22]
The newer ethnic groups were not directly assimilated to the American cultural mainstream, but rather, there was a gradual process of acculturation, where newcomer immigrants acculturated to a new way of life, learning new skills and habits through their unique experiences. This form of Americanization was a process carried out partially through force and coercion, that occurred in settlement houses, night school classes, and corporate programs, where these working-class immigrants were pressed to learn WASP values. "A key to understanding the multi-ethnic American city is that most immigrants came to understand their new world less through such formal programs, than through informal contacts with the Irish and other experienced working-class Americans of diverse ethnic backgrounds in the streets, churches, and theaters."[22] Historian James Barrett states, "Inside the labor movement, the Catholic Church, and the political organizations of many working-class communities, the Irish occupied vital positions as Americanizers of later groups."[23]
By the late nineteenth century, racism was genuinely rooted in the world views of many workers and was passed on to newcomer immigrants, expediting the process of class unity.[4]