2. Americans' Basic Feature

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` American People is the product of

Immigration and Diversity

` Is USA a µmelting pot¶ or a nation with agreat variety of nationality?

` Positive Effects of Diversity

Parlindungan Pardede

Universitas Kristen Indonesia Jakarta



IMMIGRATION

DIVERSITYNationality vs Citizenship

Melting pot vs Diversity

EFFECTS:Enrich American Culture

Increase Human Resources

Enliven Volunteerism/risk-

taker for new things

Highten independence &

optimism

5 34,000-30,000 BC: EARLIEST IMMIGRANTS: Asian intercontinental

wanderers (Indians· ancestors) crossed Bering Strait before the

ice melted.

5 8,000 BC: Primitive Agriculture (Central Mexico

5 3000 BC: Early irrigation (New Mexico)

5 300 BC: First Sign of early village5 100 BC: Housing (pyramid-like moulds) in Phoenix, Arizona, and

Mexico

5 1492: Columbus ¶discovered· America (Bahamas Islands); Indians=

1,500,000

5 1600s: A great tide of immigrant from Europe :

1) To escape political oppression

2) To seek freedom for practicing religion

3) To grasp adventure/opportunities/material comfort they

couldn·t achieve in Europe.

5 1619-1809: Unwilling ImmigrantsAfricans brought as slaves

5 1620-35: 14,000 Englishmen came to America due to Economic

difficulties triggered by industrial revolution5 1780: 75% Europeans living in America were of English & Irish

descent. English prevalent American language

5 1892-1954: Ellis Island (New York) received 12 mil. Immigrants;

and now still receives 675,000 / year

5 Today there are about 5,000,000 illegal immigrants



ICE AGE (34,000-30,000 BC):

Asian intercontinentalwanderers (Indians¶ ancestors)

crossed Beringia, the land

bridge (± 1500 kms. wide)

In thousand years the wanderers continued their way through up to the present U.S.



51492: Columbus µdiscovered¶ America

(Bahamas Islands); Indians= 2-8 millions

51920: Indians¶ number decreased to

350,000due to: (1) war with µnewcomers¶

from Europe (2) diseases brought byEuropeans, like smallpox.

51900s: the government µforced¶ Indians

to live in reservations.

51990s: Indians = 2 million (0.8 % of thetotal U.S. population), and only about

one-third of them still live on

reservations.

5Countless words in US are derived from

Indian¶s language, includingMassachusetts,Ohio, Michigan,

Mississippi,Missouri, and Idaho.5 Indians taught Europeans how to

cultivate crops that are now staples

throughout the world: corn, tomatoes,

potatoes, and tobacco.

5Canoes, snowshoes, and moccasins are

among the Indians¶ many inventions.



The Golden Door

1491: Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbeanlooking for a western route to Asia.

1497 a Venetian sailor, John Cabot arrived inNewfoundland on a mission for the British king, which

was later made the basis for British claims to NorthAmerica.

In 1600s a great tide of emigration from Europe (of whom English were dominant) to North Americabegan. They emigrated in order to:

escape political oppressionto seek the freedom to practice their religion

to find opportunities denied them at home.



Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyescommandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.´Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!µ cries sheWith silent lips. ´Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-lost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!µ

(Emma Lazzarus)

93 M



Unwilling Immigrants

In 1619 to 1808, about 500,000 Africans werebrought over as slaves into the U.S.

The process of ending slavery began in 1861 withthe outbreak of the American Civil War betweenthe free states of the North and the 11 slave statesof the South which had left the Union.

Slavery was abolished in the U.S. with the passageof the Thirteen Amendment to the countrysConstitution in 1865.

In 1963, U.S. Congress passed laws prohibitingdiscrimination in voting, education, employment,housing, and public accommodations.

Now, African Americans constitute 12.9 % of thetotal U.S. population.

Martin Luther King, Jr.



U.S Ancestry1790 (estimate) 2000

1790 2000Ancestry group Number % of

total

Ancestry group Number % of

total

English 1,900,000 47.5 German 42,885,162 15.2

Af rican American 750,000 19.0 Af rican American 36,419,434 12.9

Scottish Irish 320,000 8.0 Irish 30,594,130 10.9

German 280,000 7.0 English 24,515,138 8.7

Irish 160,000 5.0 Mexican 20,640,711 7.3

Scottish 160,000 4.0 Italian 15,723,555 5.6

Welsh 120,000 3.0 French 10,846,018 3.9

Duth 100,000 2.5 Hispanic 10,017,244 3.6

French 80,000 2.0 Polish 8,977,444 3.2

NativeAmerican 50,000 1.0 Scottish 4,890,581 1.7

Spanish 20,000 0.5 Dutch 4,542,494 1.6

Swedish 20,000 0.5 Norwegian 4,477,725 1.6

British (Total) 2,500,000 56.5 Scottish- Irish 4,319,232 1.5

TOTAL 3,929,326 100.0 NativeAmerican 4,119,301 1.5

Swedish 3,998,310 1.4



0-18 years,

68,424,915,

26%45-64

years,

51,019,410,

20%

19-44

years,

108,579,77

0, 41%

>64 years,

33,489,664,

13%

White,

82.9%

Black,

12.6%Asian,

Pacific

Islander,

3.7%

Hispanic

Origin,

10.1%

American

Indian,

Eskimo,

Aleut,

0.8%

US PopulationbyAge(1995)

US PopulationbyRace(1995)

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2. Americans' Basic Feature