The New Americans : Races and Ethnicities in American Immigration History

I have often been asked questions related to how foreign ethnic people assimilate into the United States. In my studying of the subject, I have come across no better resource than Michael Barone's book, The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again. Because I often recommend this writing to others to read, I wanted to post some of the interesting points of this book here and supply some links for others who might like to read about this topic.

Barone reassures us that America's interracial, inter-ethnic frictions are no worse today than they have been in the past, and argues that these frictions can be overcome through assimilation.

Parallels between Different Races and Ethnicities

Barone's writing is divided into three sections: "I. Irish and Blacks, II. Italians and Latinos, III. Jews and Asians." This outline drives the book and explains it very well.

He goes on to explain and document the parallels between the nineteenth-century Irish and twentieth-century African Americans; earlier Italian and more recent Latino immigrants; and, finally, the Jewish immigrants of a century ago and Asian immigrants of today.

The parallels are instructive. Not so long ago, the Irish, Italians, and Jews were each viewed as unassimilable groups–separate races, in fact. Yet each was assimilated. So, Barone suggests, there is no reason to suppose that three groups–blacks, Latinos, and Asians–that are now also viewed by some as unassimilable cannot be assimilated, too, especially when he has shown that their cultures parallel those of their earlier counterparts.

Irish and African Americans

First, Barone discusses how the Irish and blacks both were denigrated as racially inferior, and characterized by unstable families, high crime rates, and substance abuse. Both had strong religious traditions but weak entrepreneurial ones, and abandoned rural roots to settle increasingly in cities, where they showed a knack for politics, sports, and entertainment and the arts.

Barone notes that the recent progress of African Americans has been spectacular, quoting Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom: "The black middle class is now proportionally as large as the white middle class was at the end of Dwight Eisenhower's second term, a time when American society as a whole was usually described as predominantly middle class."

Italian Americans and Latinos

In other ways, too, the two groups shared similar experiences that affected their social attitudes. For instance, Barone points out that Italians came from a politically corrupt country, as do many Latinos. Moreover, while both groups are nominally Catholic, they have "showed less than total attachment to the Catholic Church in America."

Barone concludes that it took the Italians about eighty years to be "thoroughly interwoven into the fabric of American life," forty years less than the Irish.

Jewish and Asian Americans

Jews and Asians, according to Barone, "were people of the book" who have always put great stock in educational achievement. Both have "traditions of strong family ties" and low crime rates, despite some involvement in organized crime.

Barone points out that the first Jewish Cabinet member was appointed in 1906, versus 1962 for the first Italian American. Barone concludes that it took the Jews, like the Italians, eighty years to be thoroughly interwoven into the American fabric, and that for Asians it "may take considerably less."

I find these studies to be quite insightful and accurate in how they play out in the real world, both historically, and in our current times. You can view the Google Books here.

Michael Barone, The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again (Regnery 2001)