section two.ppt

? Section TwoAmerican People A country of immigrants or the descendants of immigrants from almost every country in the world I. Major racial and ethnic groups 1.American Indians (first Americans) ·1492, Columbus discovered America ·helping the first white settlers to survive ·drive them into “reservations” (保留地） ·1924, became American citizens 2. WASPs: (first colonial people) The most privileged（有特权的） group in U.S.=White Anglo-Saxon Protestants（新教徒） = the American ·dominate（支配） every aspect of American life ·17th century, the earliest British settlements ·1607 British settlements in Jamestown, Virginia materially motivated. New Englanders---Yankees ·1620. Pilgrim Fathers, sailed from England in the Mayflower, landed of Plymouth, Massachusetts, hoped for freedom to practice Puritanism. ·indentured servants(契约奴) ·criminals, try their luck instead of serving their terms in prison. 3、Other Whites: ·19th—20th centuries, Germans, French , Irish. ·to escape different forms of persecution（迫害） or to run away from hunger and hardship. ·After the failure of the 1848 revolution, Germans moved to U.S. ·1840s, a million Irish peasants driven by the potato famine（饥荒） ·Jews escaped pogroms（大屠杀） in Russia in 1875-1900 ·Germans, French, Dutch relatively easy to be assimilated（同化） into the dominant WASP society ·Irish, Jews, new comers from southern and eastern Europe feel more difficult in assimilation. ·2 or more generations, upper and middle classes succeeded in becoming part of the main stream. ·2 Presidents of Irish origin: John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan. ·large portion still retain their ethnic identity. Little Italy, Little Warsaw. ·WASPs and other whites numbered 193.5 million in 1995, 73.7% of the total American population. John F.Kennedy (1917-1963) The 35th President(1961-1963) The youngest Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004) The 40th president(1981-1989) Two terms The oldest Actor 4. Blacks The largest minority group, 31.6 million in 1995, 12% 1619, the