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The myth of the melting pot essay
The myth of the melting pot essay
Concepts of the cultural melting pot
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Tucking in the sleeping giant
Winston Churchill is misattributed with the proverb “History is written by the victors” this is easily seen within most history classes of the U.S. The lessons that are reiterated to the youth of the country remain carefully ethnocentric to preserve the image of America the Great. Beginning in grade school “American” students are taught to celebrate the moments of Anglo colonialism viewing them as glorious events in the building of the country, although they are mostly devoid of any mention of the marginalized groups of people whose back the country was built upon it is continued to be called the Melting Pot. While history textbooks will go on to tell the tales of Stephen F. Austin and Davey Crockett the achievements
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When any marginalized group is excluded from the white washed story that is American history it takes away the sense of belonging to its people. This can lead to a citizen or immigrant in the U.S. not identifying as American (Tovanche). Mexican Americans are often noted as outsiders in the U.S., regardless of being the original conquerors of native lands in the northwestern territories of what is now the area expanding from Texas to California (Foreigners In Their Own Land). Educating people in the contributions and historical holdings of Mexican people in the U.S. would help to bring a broader sense of belonging and communal appreciation of the sleeping giant, the Mexican American community …show more content…
As a community Mexican Americans are the least likely to actively vote or participate in local, state and federal elections or politics(Tovanche). With this action the American population goes misrepresented in government. Policies to aid the education systems and infrastructure of Mexican American communities cannot be passed if there are not sufficient votes in support of such laws. As a whole the Mexican American community cannot prosper without representation in legislation. With the education of Mexicans in U.S. history a sense of belonging and civil responsibility is brought on. With this new found sense of belonging and responsibility the majority minority should be provoked into a social awareness and duty of voting and using the government to further the community’s progress, rather than remaining victims of the laws and bills passed to stunt their
On the national civics assessment, “two-thirds of 12th graders scored below ‘proficient’…and only 9 percent could list two ways a democracy benefits from citizen participation” (O’Connor and Romer 4). The information provided clarifies just how little students know about democracy. Without education on the subject, they are unaware as to how their government contribution is beneficial and why it is needed in the first place. The students, because of their lack of understanding, therefore choose to not take part in their government and fail to carry out their duties as a citizen. The authors provide more research that shows “the better people understand our history and system of government, the more likely they are to vote and participate in the civic life” (O’Connor and Romer 8).
Our history books continue to present our country's story in conventional patriotic terms. America being settled by courageous, white colonists who tamed a wilderness and the savages in it. With very few exceptions our society depicts these people who actually first discovered America and without whose help the colonists would not have survived, as immoral, despicable savages who needed to be removed by killing and shipping out of the country into slavery. In her book, The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity, Jill Lepore tells us there was another side to the story of King Philip’s War. She goes beyond the actual effects of the war to discuss how language, literacy, and privilege have had lasting effects on the legacy that followed it.
In the years following the Spanish conquests, the southwest region of the United States developed into Spanish colonial territory. Indians, Spaniards, and blacks occupied this territory in which the shortage of Spanish women led to the miscegenation of these cultures. The result of mixing these races was a homogenization of the people of various cultures that came to be called mestizos and mulattos who, like present day Mexican Americans, inherited two distinct cultures that would make their culture rich, yet somewhat confusi...
After having viewed a few films in Chicano History class like A Class Apart, A Struggle for Educational Equality, and Latin and African Americans: Friends or foes, one cannot help but wonder how it is possible that you might be learning about the intense racism towards Latinos in the United States for the very first time after having devoted your life to the American country. I, myself, was born and raised in Arizona, a state south of the United States, in the city of Tucson that lies only about an hour away, or around 68 miles away from the Nogales, Sonora, Mexican border. One would assume to know a sufficient amount of history of the neighboring land or at least be aware of some fundamental facts about America and Mexico’s relationship throughout time.
America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on over glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride.
The political future of Texas has been widely debated since the 2012 election of Pres. Barack Obama, since the state has always played a significant role in impacting national elections. Nationally, there was uneven support among minority voters in favor of the president and Democrats, and as a result there has been an increasing interest in the Hispanic population growth in Texas (Lawrence.) The speculation regards how the changing complexion of Texas voters will influence the political process, with political pundits broadly predicting that since the Latino population typically votes for Democr...
During the 1970’s, Mexican Americans were involved in a large social movement called the "Chicano movement." Corresponding with the great development of the black civil rights movement, Mexican Americans began to take part in a series of different social protests in which they demanded equal rights for themselves. Composed mainly of Mexican American students and youth, these activists focused on maintaining a pride for their culture as well as their ethnicity to fuel their political campaign. Left out of this campaign initially though were Mexican immigrants.
There are not many positive outcomes expected to arise from this major shift in Texas’ population. In recent years, the Texas Hispanic population has shown to have lower education levels when compared to other races within society. “The average income of an undocumented immigrants’ family is 40% lower than that of native born families or legal immigrant families, causing most people from illegal immigrant background to be the first in their family to attend school.” (Glidersleeve, 41). By having a lower education, this can cause a majority of Hispanics to have low wage jobs which causes a vast amount the Hispanic population to rely on government support for assistance in health care and child care. This issue could be resolved by the Texas government by pushing and expanding the field of education to ensure that a majority of the Hispanic population obtain at least high school diplomas. This may not be an easy goal to obtain but can be done by making education more accommodating to the Hispanic population through the expansion of Spanish speaking schools and through scholarships for college. Ultimately education is the basis of everything in a person’s life and it is vital for a society that a majority of a population attends
The Chicano Movement, like many other civil rights movements, gained motivation from the everyday struggles that the people had to endure in the United States due to society. Mexican-Americans, like many other ethnicities, were viewed as an inferior group compared to white Americans. Mexican-Americans sought to make a change with the Chicano Movement and “the energy generated by the movement focused national attention on the needs of Mexican-Americans” (Bloom 65). The Mexican-American Movement had four main issues that it aimed to resolve and they ranged from “restoration of la...
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1948 would have lasting negative effects on Mexican Americans. The Treaty was signed after America had won the Mexican American war. America gained possession of the southwest states that had been part of Mexico for the price of around eighteen million dollars. In Article IX of the Treaty, it states that the Mexicans "shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction"(Vargas 139). And as Rachel Rivera points out Article VII promised the Mexicans the right to keep their land which previously belonged to Mexico. However, the Treaty would not grant the Mexicans the rights it offered. For the next hundred and twenty years the Mexicans would be oppressed and discriminated against because of the Treaty. The Treaty was the beginning of the hardships for the Mexicans. They would have to survive in the developing white society. The white society would grow and grow in the southwest, turning the Mexicans into a minority. In Zaragosa Vargas’s book Major Problems in Mexican American History, Vargas delves deeper into the problems of Mexican American History. In our Latinos in the U.S. class, we have discussed the fact that Mexicans in the United States have dealt with many problems which have gone ignored by mainstream society. The website Chicano Park illustrates how Mexican Americans have used art as a collective voice. The documentary Chicano! focuses on how the people found their voice. In the film we see that the social movements of the 1960’s allowed Mexican Americans to raise their voice against the discrimination they had lived with for over a centu...
Many people see history as a set of facts, or as a collection of stories. The reality, however, is that history is a fluid timeline. Each act of an individual or a group has an effect on others. Each moment in history is a building block that, good or bad, contributes to the stability of the next. This can be seen clearly in American history, as there have been several developments since the 1800’s that have played major roles on the growth of the nation.
Crouch, Ned. Mexicans & Americans : Cracking The Cultural Code. NB Publishing, Inc., 2004. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
The Production Code attempted to censor sex and violence in film of the 1930's and 40's. Instead of impairing, it encouraged directors to use artistic ideas and integrity to surpass the viewers' expectations -- actively involving them in the film despite Hollywood's censorship. Howard Hawks is one such director who used the restrictions of the Production Code to his advantage. His screen adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel The Big Sleep portrays the same amount of sexuality and violence apparent in the written word, using a distinctly subtle style, which develops broader themes. Comparisons with the extremely dull 70's remake by Michael Winner further suggest the superiority of Hawks' film noir. While Hawks masterfully creates an original world of sexuality and suspense, Winner unsuccessfully focuses on violent and sexual images in a vain attempt at filmmaking.
Bibliography:.. Becoming Mexican-American by George Sanchez, Oxford University Press, Inc. 1993.
The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress from the force of globalization. Globalization has followed the trends of conflict and contradiction forcing ethnic Mexicans to adjust their culture and combat this force. While Mexican Americans are in the struggle against globalization and the impact it has had on their lives, e.g., unemployment more common, wages below the poverty line, globalization has had a larger impact on their motherland having devastating affects unlike anything in history.