Melting Pot or Salad Bowl
- The population in the USA is a mix between many different cultures and ethnic groups.
- Many people see the USA as a melting pot where many different cultures have been mixed into one single culture. Others see it as a salad bowl where the different cultures has been mixed but still keeps some of its identity.
- Since 1776 many different cultures have come to the USA.
The Establishment of the Dominant Culture:
- First census of the new nation, conducted in 1790 counted about 4 million people.
- Most of the white
- 8/10 of the white traced their ancestry back to England.
- African Americans, 20 percent of the population
- About 700.000 slaves and about 60.000 “free Negros”
- The white population, who had the money and the political power
The Assimilation of Non-Protestant and Non-Western Europeans
- Most of the settlers who came from Europe came from poverty and they spoke other languages than English and many of them were Catholics and Jews.
- Many Americans were worried when the settlers came. They were afraid that the settlers couldn’t understand the Americans believe in freedom, self-reliance and competition.
The African-American Experience
- The process of assimilation in the United States against has been much more successful for white ethnic groups than for nonwhite ethnic groups.
- African-American was brought to the United States against their will to be sold as slaves.
- Except for the American Indian tribes who inhabited the United States before the first white settlers arrived.
- Other ethnic groups came to America most as immigrants who wanted to better their living conditions.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s
- In 1954 the United States Supreme Court decided that separating different cultures did not provide equal education so therefore it was made illegal to separate students.
- MLK led thousands of people in nonviolent demonstrations until his assassination in 1968.
- Malcolm X believed that blacks had to separate themselves from the white and build their own society.
- Kings activities passed two laws which made great changes in the South.
- In 1984 and 1988 Jesse Jackson, a black leader who had worked with MLK was the first black man to run for president of The United States. He didn’t win but he received significant national attention.
A Universal Nation
- By the 1920s Americans decided to close the border so the mass immigration would slow down a bit.
- The new comers enriched the cultural diversity of the nation and they didn’t cause major changes to the system of government, the free enterprise system or the traditional values.
- In 1965 the United States changed the immigration laws so more immigrants could come.
- Despite the new immigration laws many immigrants are in the United States illegal.
- The United States will be described not as a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl” but as a mosaic – a picture made up of many tiny pieces of different colors.
- The United States will be described not as a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl” but as a mosaic – a picture made up of many tiny pieces of different colors.
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