Ethnic Groups and Discrimination: European-Americans

Written by: Kelly L. Hunter

The land that we now call the United States of America, once belong to the Native American Indians. These Native Americans came from many lands before settling in the continental region of North America; many came from parts of Alaska, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands. Explores started coming to the Americas long before people now known as Americans, began to emigrate here and before they began colonizing the land. In fact, some say that the first Native American group encountered by Christopher Columbus was in the year of 1492. They were known as the Taino of Boriquen; a land known to us today as Puerto Rico. (Native Americans in. 2007). “The European colonization of the Americas nearly obliterated the populations and cultures of the Native Americans.” (Native Americans in. 2007). “The White colonists prior to the Revolutionary War, though immigrants by one definition, did not consider themselves immigrants; rather, approximately 78% of the English population conceived themselves as Founders, Settlers, and Planters.” (White American Experience. 2007). The definition of a White American (not of Hispanic origin) is a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East. (White American Experience. 2007).
Back in 1850, describing what a White American was, seemed fairly simple. Most of these people were considered to be of Anglo-Saxon or Protestant backgrounds. It wasn’t until after the Civil War that immigrants began arriving from Central and Southern Europe. These individuals spoke different languages and came from many variations of cultures, they were nothing like the people who had come before them. This would explain how the American people of today have become so diverse. Our ancestors came to this land thousands of years ago in search of religious freedom, and in search of a better way of life for their families. This is the very reason that so many people to-this-day still want to immigrate to the United States. Unfortunately, greed and the dislike of people from different backgrounds have been passed through generation after generation of American’s; this is known as xenophobia. Xenophobia, (the fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners) led naturally to nativism (beliefs and policies favoring native-born citizens over immigrants). (Schaefer, R. 2006). The original “settlers” of this land wanted the Americas all to themselves, and had not planned on sharing it with the many immigrants that soon followed.
The Chinese would be the first immigrant group to experience the many restrictions that immigrants are still facing today. Before the year of 1851, official records show that only 46 Chinese people had immigrated to the United States. (Schaefer, R. 2006). That number would grow enormously to more than 200,000 Chinese immigrants during the next 30 years. The Chinese were lured to America through the discovery of gold and the many job opportunities that were opening up in the West. (Schaefer, R. 2006). Many other factors played a huge roll in the Chinese immigration to the United States as well, including overcrowding, drought, and warfare. The Chinese were considered to be a very valuable resource for filling manual jobs to the frontier lands such as California. (Schaefer, R. 2006). In the 1860s, railroad construction would provide the greatest demand for Chinese labor, that was until the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were joined at Promontory, Utah, in 1869. (Schaefer, R. 2006). According to Richard Schaefer, “The Union Pacific relied primarily on Irish laborers, but 90 percent of the Central Pacific labor force was Chinese because Whites generally refused the backbreaking work over the Western terrain.” (Schaefer, R. 2006). Schaefer also states that, “Despite the contribution of the Chinese, White workers physically prevented them from attending the driving of the golden spike to mark the joining of the two railroads.” (Schaefer, R. 2006).
The Irish would also face the same kind of xenophobia as the Chinese had already encountered. According to Schaefer, “Roman Catholics in general and the Irish in particular were among the first Europeans to be ill treated.” (Schaefer, R. 2006). There were very few Catholics in early colonial settlements, and they were faced with many limitations concerning their religious and civil rights. The anti-Catholic agenda originated in Europe and was later brought to colonial America by the Protestant immigrants who settled on this land. The Irish faced mob like violence as well as having their Catholic churches burnt to the ground. African-American’s experienced similar xenophobia after the abolishment of slavery. “The Irish were worse than Blacks, according to the dominant Whites, because unlike the slaves and even the freed Blacks, who “knew their place”, the Irish did not suffer their maltreatment in silence.”, says Schaefer. (Schaefer, R. 2006).
The African’s were sold by their tribal leaders to European-Americans and shipped to the United States in order to work as slaves. As we all know, slavery was not abolished until the end of the Civil War. And it seems that as time has progressed, many of the ethnic groups who originally immigrated to this country thousands of years ago; have been slowly accepted into this country. However, it seems that the African- American’s, at least in my opinion, suffered the most where discrimination is concerned. This was the only ethnic group that had been sold and bought as slaves. All the other immigrants came here on their own will, but the African’s were made to come here. They had no civil or religious rights, and it wasn’t for many years after slavery ended, that they actually started receiving any kind of benefits as people of this great country.
There have been many ethnic groups who have immigrated to the United States, and it seems that all have experienced many forms of xenophobia from White America. This xenophobia has come in the forms of institutional discrimination, dual labor markets, double jeopardy, redlining, the fight against affirmative action, glass ceilings, glass walls, institutional discrimination, and environmental justice issues, just to name a few. The average White American or European-American has encouraged people to come to this land and do the work that they do not want to do themselves for the fraction of the acceptable pay for these jobs. It seems that once these immigrants fight for equality or fair treatment, many of us want to deport them back to their homelands and pretend as if they were never here. I would have to say that I identify with the United States mainstream culture and not that of my fellow ancestors.

Reference(s)


“Native Americans in the United States”. Wikipedia. (2007). p.1-15. Retrieved on October 6, 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States

Schaefer, Richard T., “Racial and Ethnic Groups”. Prentice-Hall. (2006). p91.

“White American Experience”. Fort Gordon Equal Opportunity Office. (2007). P.1-9. Retrieved on October 5, 2007.
http://www.gordon.army.mil/eoo/white.htm.