Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination 1





Ethnic Groups and Discrimination












Cultural Diversity, ETH 125
         


          Ethnic Groups and Discrimination 2

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

The question was asked to choose an ethnic group to which you personally

belong. I seem to have many groups to which I belong from both sides of my parents

heritage. I chose to pick my last name to be the deciding factor on which group I

would like to learn more about. The name Peters originates from that of German. The

German immigration seemed to begin in the 17th century and continued into the late

19th century at a rate exceeding that of any other country people suggest. The reasons

were not the same as with other countries. According to Immigration a journey to

America the reasons were quite different. “Unlike most immigrants, German

immigrants did not immigrate for political reasons. In fact, the country was repeatedly

being attacked by armies of various nationalities. Inhabitants of the southwestern part,
          Ethnic Groups and Discrimination 3

especially, were constantly robbed and tortured. Entire villages were often burnt down

and their inhabitants killed.”

The German Americans prospered wherever they went but it seemed that they

were the main reason that they were segregated from the rest of the population. Once

German immigrants came into America they sought out farmlands and blended in with

the population. The Germans were easily accepted as ‘white’ and they kept to

themselves. Throughout America ‘Little Germanys” were popping up for those

Germans who wanted to remain close to others of their ethnicity but most were

content to live the farm life (Wagner, 2006). The most dominant English groups in the

colonies which were primarily in Pennsylvania where I was born, viewed the colonial

Germans as dangerous elements in... [continues]

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