Revision Questions (0)

1.  What is known  about the earliest settlers from Estonia to the territory of the 
present -day US? 
 
*The  first   immigrants from Estonia in the US =  
1627 – no trace of the “ Estonians and Livonians” who left their homeland to settle at the 
mouth of the  Delaware   River  (a Swedish   colony ) 
•  1654 – at  least  one Estonian in the settlement of New  Sweden  on the Delaware 
River – Johan Schalbrick, a drummer from Tallinn ( Reval ) 
•  New Sweden – Swedish colony on the Delaware River from 1638–1655  
•  1657 – Martinus Hoffman, born in Tallinn (Reval), came  to New  York  (New 
Amsterdam ), started  to  work  as a saddlemaker. 
•  His great-granddaughter  Cornelia Hoffmann (b. 1734 ) married Isaac   Roosevelt , 
which makes her the great-great-grandmother of Franklin  Delano Roosevelt, 
president of the US from 1933–45. 
•  Hans Rebane  =  1897  –  founded  the first Estonian- language   newspaper  in the US 
– Eesti Ameerika Postimees  (published in NY  until 1911) 
•   1898  – founded an Estonian Lutheran congregation in NY ( still  exists today ) 
 
2.  Signficant waves of  migration  from Estonia to the US in the  20th   century , their 
reasons . 
 
*The  failure  of the 1905 Revolution : The first significant wave  of  immigration   
•   Brought  a strong Socialist contingent to the United  States ; led to the formation of 
many Estonian American Socialist and Communist organizations.  
 *The  1920s –30s:  
•   Establishment of independent Estonia  
•  Tightening of American immigration  laws   
•  Estonian immigration to the United States slowed down dramatically 
1924 – The Estonian quota  fixed at 116;  even  this small annual quota was not used up 
*After World War II = In the post World War II years , all three Baltic nations 
maintained consulates in the United States  
•  About 15,000 Estonians came to the United States  
•  This group was strongly anti-Communist and nationalistic  
 
3.   Russian  colonization of America. What has preserved from this period  to the 
present? 
The Russian colonization of the  Americas covers the period, from  1732  to 1867, when 
the Tsarist Imperial  Russian Empire  laid   claim  to northern   Pacific Coast territories in 
the Americas. The Russians were primarily interested in the abundance of fur-bearing 
mammals on  Alaska 's coast, as stocks had been depleted by overhunting in Siberia.  
By the  middle of the  19th century, profits from  Russia 's American  colonies were in  steep  
decline. Faced with the  reality of periodic Indian  revolts, the  political ramifications of 
the Crimean War, and unable to fully colonize the Americas to their satisfaction, the 
Russians concluded that their American colonies were too expensive to retain. after less 
than  a month of  negotiations , the United States accepted  Emperor   Alexander  II's offer 
to sell Alaska. The  purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million ended Imperial Russia's colonial 
presence in the Americas. 
The Russian's legacy in Alaska (1784) can be  seen  in various  forms . The  introduction of 
new  tools and  technology helped with everyday tasks, and introduced new  ideas to 
adopt.  The use of larger farm  animals can be  beneficial in pulling larger sleighs and 
wagons, in comparison to the use of  dogs . Iron and  other  metals brought to Alaska were 
prized for trading and  making tools. Russia left a footprint in Alaska by establishing its 
first library and  museums , as well as introducing Russian Orthodoxy to the 
locals(Alaska natives) (Russian  Orthodox Church  in Ninilchik, Alaska and also Chapel 
in  Fort Ross , California ). Some of the  religious books  were  further   translated  into native  
languages . However , the Russians did great damage to the  local environment by 
depleting the sea otter population. 
 
4.  Significance of the Jewish element in Russian immigration to the US. 
Immigration from Russia to the US in 1881–1914:  Nearly 3.2 million immigrants from 
the Russian Empire. The most prominent Russian groups that immigrated in this period 
were the groups seeking freedom  from religious prosecution. Nearly half  of the 
immigrants were  Jews . Religion  of the Russian immigrants: Russian Orthodox, Jews, 
Nominal Jews (non-religious people of Jewish descent).  Eastern  European Jews 
dominated New York’s garment industry!!!  
Immigration in 1920–1939: A large wave of Russians immigrated in the short time 
period of 1917–1922, in the wake of October Revolution and Russian  Civil  War as 
refugees from the Bolshevik regime due to the hatred for the new Bolshevik regime in 
their homeland. Great emphasis was put on education. Most notable immigrants from 
the cultural sphere were Vladimir  Nabokov , Igor Stravinsky, and Isaac Asimov. 
Immigration in 1945–1955:  During the  Soviet  era, emigration  was prohibited, and 
limited to very few defectors and dissidents who immigrated to the United States of 
America and other  Western  Bloc countries for political reasons. Russians who had been 
deported to Germany during World War II (displaced persons). Approximately 20,000 
Displaced Persons arrived  in the US. 
Immigration in 1969-…: the Soviet Union temporarily loosened emigration restrictions 
for Jewish emigrants, which allowed  nearly 250,000 people leave the  country , escaping 
covert anti-semitism. Jews were allowed to leave Russia for Israel, but many had the US 
as their  real goal . Most had no  knowledge of Yiddish or Hebrew or the Jewish religion.  
Immigration after 1985: the Soviet  government  under Mikhail Gorbachev allowed 
anyone  to leave the Soviet Union. The  major  group of post-Soviet immigrants were the 
political refugees, persons who claim persecution or  reasonable fear of persecution in 
Russia. 
Largest Russian communities today are in New York, California and  Florida .  
 
5.  From where did the Indians come  to America? 
 
*Native Americans aka. Indians, Red Indians, Redskins, American Indians, 
Amerindians, Namerind, First Nations people (Canada) 
 
*Origins of N-Am, theories =  
Bering Land   Bridge  theory =  North American Indians are the people whose 
ancestors were  living in North America when the Europeans discovered the Western 
Hemisphere. They often are called red men, or redskins, and they were  named  
Indians because  Columbus thought that he had reached the  East Indies in his voyage  
across the  Atlantic . Stone-age people who were to become American Indians began 
entering America at least 10,000 years ago. Most experts believe the first Indian 
ancestors arrived 30,000 or more years ago. Clovis, 13 500 years ago. 
They probably came from  Asia . It is supposed  that the  early Indians crossed into 
Alaska at what is now the  narrow  channel of  open  sea called the Bering Strait. This 
strait is believed to have been dry land in the distant past. From Alaska, maybe 
during or  before  the last great Ice Age, they gradually spread  down into the 
American continent .  These  people from  whom  the Indians descended  kept on 
entering America by way of the  region  of Alaska for many thousands of years. They 
moved and mingled throughout long periods of time. Eventually they were living 
across both  North and  South America. 
It seems likely that some of the first people to live  in America may have been 
speakers of Siouan languages. Some of the first Indians in America settled in the 
southeast. Last of all to  arrive , apparently, were the  Eskimo . Most recent arrivals 
though they are, however, they were living in their present homeland in what is now 
Alaska and Artic Canada more than 2,500 years ago. 
Coastal route theory = New research and  studies have prompted some 
anthropologists and archaelogists to present the theory that people from Southeast 
Asia traveled by boat along the coastline and settled in the Western portion of North 
America and the Northwestern portion of South America.  The theory also helps to 
explain how certain artifacts have been  found  so far from the Bering Strait region 
dating before and  around  the supposed time that  humans first came into contact 
with the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge. 
Atlantic  maritime  theory = One radical theory claims it is possible that the first 
Americans didn't cross the Bering Land Bridge at all and didn't travel by foot , but 
rather  by boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Though the  evidence  for this theory is 
minimal , proponents argue  that the artifacts were  developed  by an earlier and still 
more  ancient European group, known as the Solutrean culture. This style bears an 
uncanny resemblance to that of the Clovis tools found in the United States, which 
could  suggest that humans may have entered America from the east over a route that 
has been dubbed the Atlantic Maritime route. 
 
6.   Different views on Columbus’ importance  in American history.  
NEGATIVE : Christopher Columbus' reputation has not survived the scrutiny of history, 
and today we  know  that he was no more the discoverer of America than Pocahontas was 
the discoverer of Great  Britain . *On the contrary, they view the arrival of Christopher 
Columbus in 1492 as an occasion to be mourned. The politically correct view is that 
Columbus did not discover America, because people had lived here for thousands of 
years. Worse  yet, it's claimed , the main legacy of Columbus is death  and destruction. 
Columbus is routinely vilified as a symbol of slavery and  genocide .  
Native Americans had  built great civilizations with many millions of people long before 
Columbus wandered lost into the  Caribbean . Columbus' voyage has even less  meaning  
for North Americans than for South Americans because Columbus never  set foot on our 
continent, nor did he open it to European trade. Scandinavian  Vikings  already had 
settlements here in the eleventh century, and  British  fisherman probably fished the 
shores of Canada for decades before Columbus. The first European  explorer  to 
thoroughly document his visit to North America was the Italian  explorer  Giovanni  
Caboto , who sailed for  England 's King Henry  VII and  became  known by his anglicized 
name, John Cabot. Caboto arrived in  1497 and claimed North America for the  English  
sovereign  while  Columbus was still searching for India in the Caribbean.  
Unable to celebrate Columbus' exploration as a great  discovery , some apologists now 
want to commemorate it as the great "cultural encounter ." Contrary to popular legend, 
Columbus did not  prove  that the world was round ; educated people had known that for 
centuries . The Egyptian- Greek   scientist Erastosthenes, working  for Alexandria and 
Aswan, already had measured the circumference and  diameter  of the world in the third 
century B.C.  
Did Columbus "discover" America? Yes--in every important   respect . This does not 
mean  that no human eye had been cast on America before Columbus arrived. It does 
mean that Columbus brought America to the attention of the civilized world, i.e., to the 
growing , scientific civilizations of Western  Europe . The  result , ultimately, was the 
United States of America. It was Columbus' discovery for Western Europe that led to 
the influx of ideas and people on which this  nation was founded--and on which it still 
rests. The opening of America brought the ideas and achievements of Aristotle, Galileo, 
Newton, and the thousands of thinkers, writers , and inventors who followed. 
Queen Isabella pawning her  jewels to finance Columbus' trip. This myth of the pawned 
jewels obscures the true and more sinister story of how Columbus financed his trip. The 
Spanish  monarch  invested  in his excursion, but only on the  condition  that Columbus 
would  repay this investment with profit by bringing back   gold , spices, and other tribute 
from Asia. This pressing need to repay his debt underlies the frantic tone of Columbus' 
diaries as he raced from one Caribbean island to the next, stealing anything of value. 
After he failed to contact the emperor of China, the traders of India or the merchants of 
Japan , Columbus decided to pay for his voyage in the one important commodity he had 
found in ample supply  - human  lives . He seized 1,200 Taino Indians, crammed as many 
onto his ships as would fit and  sent them  to Spain , where they were paraded naked 
through  the streets of Seville and  sold  as slaves in 1495. Columbus tore  children  from 
their  parents , husbands from wives. On  board  Columbus' slave ships, hundreds died; 
the sailors tossed the Indian bodies into the Atlantic.  
Because Columbus captured more Indian slaves than he could transport to Spain in his 
small ships, he put them to work in mines and plantations. His marauding band  hunted 
Indians for  sport and profit - beating, raping, torturing, killing , and then using the 
Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Within   four  years of Columbus' arrival on 
Hispaniola, his men had  killed or exported one-third of the  original Indian population of 
300,000.  
This was the great cultural encounter initiated by Christopher Columbus. This is the 
event we celebrate each  year  on Columbus Day. The United States honors only two men 
with federal holidays  bearing their names . In  January we commemorate the  birth  of 
Martin Luther King, Jr., who struggled to lift the blinders of racial  prejudice  and to cut 
the remaining bonds of slavery in America. In October, we honor Christopher 
Columbus, who opened the Atlantic slave trade and launched one of the  greatest waves 
of genocide known in history.  
  
        7. Indian gifts to the world – plants, household objects, etc. of Native American 
origin . 
*American Indian path to industrialization  
•  People ate more potatoes and milled less flour   
•  The energy could be used for making cloth  
•  American cotton  
*The food revolution  
•   Potato  – produces more food and more reliably than any grain  
•  Beans  
•  Peanut  
•  Sunflower (Russia – sunflower oil) 
•  Maize – Europeans used it for animals  
•  In America – start of the  breakfast cereal industry (Kellogg’s cornflakes) 
•   Sweet potato – China, its larger grower  
•  Tomatoes and sweet peppers – Italian cooking,  perfect for noodle dishes  
* Liberty , anarchism and the  noble savage  
•  European amazement at Indians’ personal liberty  
•  Living in  social harmony and prosperity without the  rule of a king 
•  The European Enlightenment – much of its light from the  torch  of Indian liberty  
The Indian – “the noble savage” living in the “natural state” 
Thomas  Paine = used Indians as models of how society might be organized  
 
7.  Which organization united the Indians of the eastern  part of what is now the US? 
How is this reflected  in the political organization of the US? 
The  Founding Indian  Fathers   
•  The Founding Fathers faced a major problem – how to make one country from 
13 colonies  
•  Reportedly the first  person  to propose a union of all colonies was the Indian  chief  
Canassatego  
*The American system of states is  based on the Iroquouis League  
*The Iroquois League: Founded  by Hiawatha and Deganwidah  between  1000–1450  
•   Five or six nations  
•  Each nation had a council   
•   Grand  Council where all delegates sat together to discuss issues of common 
concern   
Why did they surrender? 
•  Neglected the domestication of animals  
•  Indian metallurgy – decorative, not tools or weapons  
•  Epidemic diseases  
•  Alcoholic drinks  
•  Indians –  good  farmers and pharmacists  
•  Europe – the greatest arsenal of weapons  
•  Some information may have died forever   
*Trail of  Tears  = Forced relocation of Native American nations from the SE of  the US 
•  Indian Removal Act, 1830 
•  Opening lands for predominantly white settlement  
*Indian reservations = From  1851  
•  Relocating various tribes  from their ancestral homes  
•  Resulted in some of the bloodiest wars between Native Americans and the US 
*Wounded Knee was the last battle of American Indian Wars  
•  December 29, 1890 near  Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota 
 
8.  The  status of Native Americans in present-day American society. 
•  American Indians and Alaska Natives – 2,932,248 
•  In combination with one or more other  races  – 2,288,331 
•   Total  – 5,220,579 
•  78% of Native Americans live  outside   reservations  
*Navajo – the largest tribe if  full -blood individuals are counted – 286,000 
•   Mining of coal and uranium (uranium mining prohibited in 2005) 
•  Arts and crafts shops  
•  From 2004 – casinos  
 
High  unemployment   
*Cherokee – the largest tribe – total 819,000 (284,000 full-blood individuals) 
•  Three federally recognized tribes  
–  The Cherokee Nation (in  Oklahoma ) 
–  Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (North Carolina) 
–  United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians (in Oklahoma) 
•  Over 200 groups claim to be Cherokee nations, tribes and bands  
Traditional activities  – agriculture, ranching, forestry, fishing , mining  
•  Nontraditional land-based activities –  tourism , manufacturing, providing  
dumping sites for  solid  and  hazardous  wastes  
•  Non-land based activities – providing services for the passersby, wage  labor  off 
the reservation, bingo and  casino gambling  
*Native Americans in the White Mind =  
•  19th century – Native Americans  perceived as museum pieces, destined to 
disappear completely  
•  Hippies – became interested in Native American cultures, a valuable model for 
alternative lifestyles  
•  Images of the noble savage, peaceful and harmonious communities  
•  Negative images of drunken, violence - prone , lazy Native Americans  
•  At the  turn  of the 20th century, the Indian was  literally headed for  extinction . 
•  At the turn of the  21st century, the Indian has not only survived, indeed he – and 
she – has become a viable, even  necessary factor  in the life of the nation and the 
world.  
 
9.  When did the Spanish colonization of America begin? Which areas of the present 
US belonged to Spain? 
Colonial expansion under the  crown  of Castile was initiated by the Spanish 
conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and 
missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the 
Catholic   faith through indigenous conversions. It lasted for over four  hundred  years, 
from 1492 to 1898. 
* Beginning  with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus, over nearly four centuries 
the Spanish Empire would expand across: most of present day Central America, the 
Caribbean islands, and  Mexico ; much of the  rest of North America including the 
Southwestern , Southern coastal, and California Pacific Coast regions of the United 
States; U.S. states of Alaska, Washington, and  Oregon ; and the western half of South 
America. 
In the early 19th century the  revolutionary  movements resulted in the independence of 
most Spanish colonies in America, except for  Cuba and  Puerto   Rico , given up in 1898 
following the Spanish-American War, together with Guam  and the  Philippines in the 
Pacific. Spain's loss of these last territories politically ended Spanish colonization in 
America. Though the Spanish did not  impose their language to the extent they did their 
religion, some indigenous languages of the Americas evolved into replacement with 
Spanish. 
10. Three main groups of  Hispanic Americans. Their countries of origin, reasons for 
their migration to the US. Main regions in the US where they live. Illegal  
immigration to the US. The  economic  and  social status of the Hispanics; the 
reasons why Cuban Americans have been more successful than other groups of 
Hispanics. 
*Three largest groups of Hispanic Americans = Mexican Americans (in the  West ), 
Puerto Rican Americans(in the Northeast), Cuban Americans(in the South) 
•  More likely than non-Hispanic Whites to live inside central cities (inner cities) of 
metropolitan areas  
•  Family households tend  to be larger  
•  Education lower  
More likely to be  unemployed  
•  More likely to work in  service  occupations, less in managerial or professional 
occupations  
•   Earn  less than non-Hispanic white laborers. More likely to live in  poverty  
*Mexico = Three ethnic divisions: People of European descent – c. 10% - tend to be 
among the wealtlhy elite  
•   Pure -blooded Indians – about a third of the population – at the other end of the 
income  scale  
•  Most people –people of mixed Spanish and Indian blood  
 
*Mexican Americans =  
•  The lands ceded by Mexico in 1848 contained only 75,000 Spanish speakers  
•  For years the border was unpatrolled  
•  People worked in  Texas , but there  was no mass migration further north  
•  Great migration to the US began in the  1960s  
•  2011– 35.6 mln Mexican Americans – about  64% of all Hispanics in the US 
•  Often begins as a sojourner  migration – a father  or single young man leaves to 
work in the US 
•   Typically most of his earnings are sent home  
•  Much back-and- forth   movement   
*Illegal Immigration = About 11.5 illegal immigrants in the US 
*Undocumented aliens = heavily concentrated in the border states from Texas to 
California 
*Impact of illegal immigration =  Critics : drive down wages and  place  financial burdens 
on  schools and other public  institutions   
Proponents: undocumented aliens create additional jobs  and without them some 
businesses (e.g. garment industry) would move to third-world countries  
 
*Life on the line between El Paso  (US) and Juarez (Mexico) 
El Paso and Ciudad Juárez lie together uncomfortably like an estranged couple, 
surrounded on all sides  by mountains and  desert . The cities are separated by the  thin  
trickle of the Rio Grande , which flows through concrete channels, built to put an end to 
the river’s natural habit of  changing course  and muddying boundaries. One side is 
Texas(US); the other, Mexico. The recent war among various gangs and drug cartels has 
made Juárez one of the world’s most dangerous cities, while across the way, El Paso 
remains calm, even eerily prosperous. It consistently ranks as one of the safest cities in 
the United States.  
Giving birth in El Paso (US side) would deliver their children a precious advantage: it 
would make them Americans. Any child  born at  Arnold ’s birth center  would possess 
American citizenship, courtesy of the  14th Amendment , and with it the  ability to cross 
freely back and forth. El Paso, with its large, willing, cash -paying clientele, made an 
ideal destination for  students . Though heightened security has put an end to the  easier  
days, it is relatively easy for a resident of Juárez to obtain a U.S. border- crossing card, 
which permits short trips for social visits or  shopping , and there is nothing illegal about 
crossing while pregnant  — at least for now. While American nationality has always been 
a desirable asset in Juárez, it has become much more valuable — sometimes a matter of 
life and death —  since  the drug violence erupted in earnest three years ago. The children 
would eventually be  able  to attend  better schools,  find  better jobs and, if necessary, seek 
haven .   
The war began in Juárez around 2008. Since then, conflict has spread across much of 
Mexico’s north, as various cartels, street gangs and crooked  police   units battle in a void 
of legitimate  authority .  President   Felipe  Calderón has tried to smash the cartels by 
deploying the  army , and he has sent thousands of  soldiers into Juárez. The assault has 
eliminated some drug lords, but that has in turn encouraged turf and succession 
struggles, making for increasingly bloody upheaval. The conflict has claimed some 
40,000 lives in Mexico since it began, and Juárez has seen a tenfold  increase in its 
murder  rate, reaching more than 3,000 homicides last year. El Paso, by contrast , had 
only five murders. It is estimated that some 230,000 Mexicans have fled the violence, 
about half of them to the United States. Since 2009 the El Paso metropolitan area’s 
population has grown to around 800,000 residents, up by 50,000, an undetermined but 
significant percentage of them coming from Juárez.  
El Paso has been among the nation’s best  economic performers through the  recession  — 
its gains coming, in part, because of Mexico’s losses. There has been a positive influx of 
capital, people and  money into El Paso. El Paso’s population is 80  percent Hispanic. No 
one outside  really understood this crisis they were living through.  
*Puerto Rico = *Indigenous people = Taino-Arawak  
•  Boriken – Land of the Valiant Lord  
•   Although  the Taino Indians are long gone, DNA tests show that more than 60% 
of Puerto Ricans have a Taino ancestor  
Nowadays = languages: Spanish, English (both  official , although Spanish is the  dominant  
language) 
•  chief of State: President of the US 
•  head of Government: Governor elected for four years  
monetary unit: US dollar  
•  80% of Spanish  heritage   
•  the rest – Afro-Caribbean  
•  Participates as an independent nation is sporting events (its own  Olympic team ) 
and  beauty contests  
*NOT as state for the US = Individuals and businesses do not pay federal income  taxes , 
but  Cannot  vote for President. They elect a Resident Commissioner to the House of 
Representatives, but that person has no voting  rights . 
*using “we” about Puerto Rico and “they” about the US 
•  poorer than any state of the US 
* Massive  migration to the US – from 1950 
•  “Circular migration” –  moving back and forth, getting the “best of both worlds” 
•  Poorer than other Hispanic groups in the US – Puerto Ricans with professional 
and  entrepreneurial  talents can make an affluent living in Puerto Rico  
•  More Puerto Ricans live in the US (4.6 mln, 9% of the US Hispanic population) 
than in Puerto Rico (3.8 mln) 
•  Mostly in New York and New  Jersey  
•  In New York – esp. in East Harlem, South Bronx, Brooklyn   
 
*Cubans = Indians –  almost entirely eliminated  
•  White population – mostly of Spanish descent  
•   Black Africans – first brought to Cuba in 1522 to work on  sugar  plantations  
•  2002 census – whites 65%, blacks 25%, mulattoes 10% 
*1961 – President Dwight Eisenhower  broke diplomatic relations with Cuba  
•  1962 – the Kennedy administration  imposed an embargo, breaking all economic, 
financial and commercial relations  
*Cuban Americans = 1.8 mln (2010) – 0.6% of the US population  
•  The third-largest Hispanic group in the US 
•  Many viewed their stay in America as temporary  
•  Miami – 65% Hispanics of any race   
 
*Why they tend to be better than other Hispanic Americans? =  
•  Enclave economy  – beneficial to both owners and  workers  (An enclave economy 
is defined as an economic system in which an export based industry dominated 
by international or non-local capital extracts resources or products from  another  
country.) 
•  More active politically than other Hispanic groups  
•  Tend to be politically conservative, mostly identify with the Republican  Party   
•  Tensions between Cubans and Blacks (e.g. service  jobs require Spanish language 
skills ) 
*Spanglish = Used by Hispanic-Americans(ME) to speak  to other Hispanic-Americans 
whom can  understand  both Spanish and English. When a person can't remember  how to 
say a word in spanish, they say in English, and  vice -versa  
 
11. From where, when and under what circumstances did most African Americans 
come to America? 
The Spanish began slave trading in the West Indies in the 1600's. Then a British 
Company got into it and bought, kidnapped and sold the African people into bondage 
under the  approval of Queen  Elizabeth who only ask if any of them were 'taken against 
their will'. African Americans were brought by ship  to be slaves on plantations and 
factories. African Americans came to America because they were either kidnapped or 
purchased from  Africa  or they were brought their from tribes that owned  slaves. 
 
*Slavery = 1619 – first blacks were brought to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia  
•  1640-80 – Virginia and other southers colonies drifted  toward  the system of slave 
labour   
•  Relatively few slaves were brought to New England and Middle Atlantic colonies, 
but their ports and shipowners prospered on the slave trade. 
•  The slave was a chattel – could be sold and bought like an  animal   
•  No stable family life  
•  Prohibited to learn to read and write  
•  In conflict with the growing revolutionary idea  – all men are created equal  
 
*Free Blacks = About 1/10 of the black population  
Originated from: 
•   former  indentured servants  
•  free black immigrants from the West Indies  
•  blacks freed by individual slave owners  
 
12. Where did most of them live during the period of slavery? What work did they 
do? 
*Slavery = 1619 – first blacks were brought to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia 
•  1640-80 – Virginia and other southers colonies drifted toward the system of slave 
labour  
•  Relatively few slaves were brought to New England and Middle Atlantic colonies, 
but their ports and shipowners prospered on the slave trade. 
•  The slave was a chattel – could be sold and bought like an animal  
•  No stable family life  
•  Prohibited to learn to read and write  
•  In conflict with the growing revolutionary idea – all men are created equal  
 
13. The abolitionist movement. After which event was slavery abolished in the US? 
Who was the president then? 
*Abolitionists =  
•  “the  underground  railroad” 
•  “depots” – hiding places   
•  “conductors” – guides who helped runaway slaves  
•  “ bounty hunters” – people who got rewards for escaped slaves  
1860 
–  Abraham   Lincoln  was elected president on  an anti-slavery platform  
 
*Abolition of Slavery = Sept. 1862  – Emancipation Proclamation, which  stated  that 
slaves in states at war against the US were free as of Jan. 1, 1863   
-  13th Amendment to the Constitution (1865) – abolished slavery except as 
punishment for a crime  
-  14th Amendment (1868) –  gave  blacks full citizenship rights  
 
*Blacks = Mass migration of blacks into the area – from  1904  
•  Were met by hostility, fear and opposition  
•  As blacks moved in, white residents left  
•  High population  density in Harlem; the neighborhood began to deteriorate to a 
slum  
 
14. The civil rights movement. Two most famous leaders of African Americans in the 
1960s, their religious background. 
The African-American Civil Rights Movement were social movements in the United 
States aimed  at outlawing racial discrimination against black Americans and restoring 
voting rights to them. The phase of the movement was between 1955 and 1968, 
particularly in the South. The movement was characterized by major  campaigns of civil 
resistance . Between 1955 and 1968, acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience 
produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities. Forms of 
protest and/or civil disobedience  included  boycotts such as the successful Montgomery 
Bus Boycott (1955–56) in  Alabama ; "sit-ins" such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins 
(1960) in North Carolina; marches a wide  range of other nonviolent activities. 
Noted legislative achievements during this phase of the Civil Rights Movement were 
passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination based on "race, color , 
religion, or national origin" in  employment practices and public accommodations and 
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that restored and  protected  voting rights. 
1.) Martin Luther King = (1929-1968)  
As a  Christian  minister, Martin Luther King's main  influence  was Jesus Christ and the 
Christian gospels, which he would almost always quote  in his religious meetings and 
speeches at church; but also in public discourses. King's faith was strongly based in 
Jesus' commandment of loving your  neighbor  as yourself, loving God  above  all, and 
loving your enemies, praying for them and blessing them. His non- violent thought was 
also based in the injuction to turn the other cheek in the Sermon on the  Mount , and 
Jesus' teaching of " putting your sword back into its place". In his Letter  from 
Birmingham Jail, King inspires himself  with Jesus' "extremist" love, and also quotes 
numerous other Christian pacifist authors , which was very usual for him.  
•  Impressed by the teachings of Henry David Thoreau and  Mahatma  Gandhi 
•  1964 – the youngest recipient of the  Nobel Peace Prize  
•  Assassinated by sniper  James Earl Ray in  Memphis on April 4, 1968 
 “I have a Dream ” speech 
 
2.)  Malcolm  X = Malcolm  Little  (1925-1965) 
•  adopted the Islamic religion (Nation of  Islam )  
•  X represents his “true African family name” 
•  in 1964 – broke with the Nation of  Islam  and began building the Organization of 
Afro-American Unity  
From a 1960 radio interview: 
•  the black man has to do for himself what the white man has done  for himself  
•  the only minority who is asking  for integration is the Negro because it is inferior   
 
15. The economic and social status of African Americans in present-day America. 
The  rise of the black middle class , affirmative action . 
*African Americans =  
•  About 40.7 mln (13.1%) in 2011, the second largest minority group after 
Hispanics  
•  About half of them in the South; also in the large industrial cities of the North  
•  Black majorities in Washington D.C., Atlanta  
The Black American Middle Class  consists of African Americans who have middle-class 
status within the American class structure. It is a societal level within the African 
American community that predominantly began to develop  in the early 1960s, when the 
ongoing African-American Civil Rights Movement led to the outlawing of de jure racial 
segregation.  
Despite modest increases in  wealth , the Black American Middle Class still faces societal 
and institutional forms of  racism  and discrimination, which constrains the upward 
mobility of African Americans. These societal and institutional forms of racism and 
discrimination are reflected in the racial wealth gap (According to a 2011 study , whites 
possess 20 times  more wealth than African Americans and 18 times that of Latinos. 
Whereas the average  white family has accumulated $113,149 of wealth, the  typical black 
household has only accumulated $5,677 in wealth), housing discrimination (no blacks 
allowed in white area neighbourhoods), education (The  achievement gap is deeply alive 
in the black middle class. Middle-class black children lag behind  their white and  Asian  
peers, with the gap the largest among the college-educated. According to scholars on the 
middle-class black-white education gap, black middle-class  performance  is closer to 
poor  white children), poverty (As of 2010, the poverty rate among non-Hispanic whites 
was 9.9%, whereas the poverty rate among African Americans was 27.4%) and more. 
Moreover , the historical implications of slavery and marginalization has made race a 
proxy for disadvantage, which many African Americans face even despite achieving 
professional and educational success . 
The rise to the middle class for African Americans throughout the 1960s, however, 
leveled off and began to decline in the following decades due to multiple recessions that 
struck America throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Blacks and other lower-class groups 
suffered the brunt of those recessions.  
16. Asian Americans – their countries of origin, areas in the US where most of them 
live. 
*Asian Americans = A rapidly growing minority 
•  1960 – 891,000 
•  1980 – 3.7 mln 
•  2006 – 13.1 mln (4.4%) 
•  2011 – 18.2 mln (5.8%) 
•  projected number by 2050  – 33.4 mln (8%) 
The largest Asian population in California – 5.8 mln, followed by New York – 1.7 mln 
•  2.8 mln people speak Chinese  at home – after Spanish, the most widely spoken 
non-English language in the US 
*Historical background =  Legends about Chinese discovery of America   
•  Emigration from Asia began in the 19th century – discriminatory legislation  
against Asians  
•  Since the 1960s – more immigrants from Asia than from Europe  
•  Substantial migration to Hawaii  
*Hawaii = Native Hawaiians – of Polynesian origin  
•  Chinese, Japanese , Korean migration to Hawaii 
 
Mostly live in the east and western coast of North America, large groups in Atlanta, 
Washington DC., Florida, New York, San Fransisco, Los Angeles . 
 
17. The economic and social status of Asian Americans. The reasons for their relative 
success. Have all the groups of Asian Americans been equally successful? 
*Chinese Americans =  
•  The first Chinese immigrants – 1820 
•  1849 – California gold rush  
•  Immigration and Nationality Act – 1965 – beginning of large-scale Chinese 
immigration  
•   Highly educated intellectuals, scientists and engineers –  image  of “model 
minority” 
•  ABCs – American-born Chinese – “bananas” 
•  FOBs – recent immigrants – “ fresh  off the boat” 
*Chinatowns in New York, Manhattan etc. 
*Education =  
•  Comparatively greater  investments in children’s education  
•  Disproportionately highly represented at top  universities   
•  Often take more difficult courses in mathematics and  sciences   
*They are generally very well (the best out of Asian Americans) accepted in the society, 
because of their achivements in  politics , science, engineering etc. Wisdom  at its best! 
 
*Japanese Americans =  *Historical background = Isolation of Japan from the Western 
world  
•  1868 – the first group of Japanese laborers in Hawaii 
•  1869 – the first Japanese settlement on American mainland, in California 
•  Strict restrictions on emigration from Japan until the 1880 
•  Significant number of Japanese workers arrived after 1890, esp. in San  Francisco  
and Los Angeles. 
•  Alien land laws (1913) prevented the Japanese from owning land  
*They are not so successfully accepted in the society since the  Pearl Harbor   case has 
distained their image and made bad prejudice about them. Despite not  having anything 
to do with the war, Japanese Americans still feel responsible for it and stay low and try 
to prove their trustworthiness to Americans. Even before Pearl Harbor (1941) Japanese 
Americans were portrayed as disloyal, as potential spies. Beginning of acception. From 
enemy to ally!  Competition in the engineering, industry field .  
 
*Vietnamese Americans = *Vietnamese Americans = Before 1975 – numbers of 
Vietnamese Americans insignificant  
•  The first wave of immigration – 1975 – had  close  ties with the American  military   
•  1979–81 – mostly from rural backgrounds, with limited education  
•  Largest numbers in California and Texas (Westminster, California) 
•  Rapid  adaptation  to American society  
•  Low unemployment  
*They are the least successful among Asian Americans. Have very limited education, no 
skills, mostly have low- paid  jobs that require no specific education. Low unemployment 
rate  comes from the  fact that they accept everything, even the lowest job  positions  in 
order  to support their families .  
 
18. Treatment of Japanese Americans by the US government during World War II. 
 
*World War II = Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7, 1941 – US  entry into World 
War II 
•  Near the end of World War II, the US dropped  atomic bombs on Hiroshima 
(August 6, 1945) and  Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) 
•  San Francisco Peace  Treaty  – signed on September 8, 1951, went into effect on 
April 28, 1952  
*Internment of Japanese = Japanese American internment was the World War II 
internment in "War Relocation Camps" of about 110,000 people of Japanese heritage 
who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States. The U.S. government ordered the 
internment in 1942, shortly after the Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The 
internment of Japanese Americans was applied unequally as a geographic matter: all 
who lived on the West Coast were interned, while in Hawaii, where 150,000- plus  
Japanese Americans comprised over one-third of the population, only 1,200 to 1,800 
were interned. Sixty-two percent of the internees were American citizens. 
*Feb. 19, 1942 – President Roosevelt designated military strategic areas on the West 
coast  
•   March  18, 1942 – order to relocate all individuals of Japanese ancestry from the 
stragegic areas  
•  Up to 120,000 Japanese were transported to 10 relocation centers  
•  The larger Japanese  population on Hawaii (about 150,000) was mostly not 
interned  
Of 127,000 Japanese Americans living in the continental United States at the time of the 
Pearl Harbor attack, 112,000 resided on the West Coast. About 80,000 were nisei 
("second generation"; Japanese people born in the United States and  holding American 
citizenship) and sansei ("third generation"; the  sons or daughters of nisei). The rest 
were issei ("first generation"; immigrants born in Japan who were ineligible for U.S. 
citizenship). 
•  1988 –  Congress passed a bill apologizing for the internment. The legislation said 
that government actions  were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a 
failure of political leadership ". The U.S. government eventually disbursed more 
than $1.6  billion  in reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned 
and their heirs. 
 
* Changes in Stereotypes = From enemy to ally  
•  “just like whites”, “successful citizens” 
•  Japanese competition with the US in world trade