Eth 125 Capstone Checkpoint

Capstone Checkpoint

Carmen Riggs

Eth 125

April 14, 2011

Emily Keniston

Capstone Checkpoint

These nine weeks have been informative and has changed the way I think about race and ethnicity. Learning and talking about prejudices and the different kind of prejudices have opened my eyes. Most prejudices come from friends and family, though as humans we are naturally judgmental. The same attitudes go towards discrimination. There has been so much discrimination in the past of the United States. Caucasians discriminated against African Americans and many still do today. African Americans have protested and fought for where they are today. Native Americans have been discriminated against and still are. They were put on reservations where they could barely survive and there still are many who live on the family lands with substandard living and accommodations. These are just two examples of minorities that have been discriminated against.

In week three in class I got the opportunity to look into the cultural history of my family. It was nice to find out that Germans had a lot to do with the way things are done today, including introducing new techniques to produce products, different ideals and creation of programs. For example, in the year 1620 four German millwrights erected the first sawmill in Virginia. Another example is that in 1743 the first bible was published, but it was not published in English – it was published in German.

As I researched deeper, I had already realized that Germans were persecuted, but I did not realize to what extent. Germans faced most of the discrimination during the World Wars. At this time, some German-Americans were imprisoned; some were forced to buy war bonds to prove their loyalty. Many Germans “Americanized” their names for fear of persecution. In the United States, nativism was common among native born peoples. By definition, nativism is a dislike for immigrants by native born peoples and the desire...