Ethnic_Groups_and_Discrimination

I have never given a great deal of thought in regards to my ethnic background. I cannot recall any of my family members ever discussing any issues of how whether or not any of our ancestors came to America from other countries. I have heard that on my mother’s side of the family there is a distant relationship to President Martin VanBuren, but the authenticity of that has never been validated. I never knew anyone on my father’s side of the family; his mother and step-father were killed in an automobile accident when I was an infant. While my dad never knew his biological father we do know that his ethnic background was English and I have chosen to research this part of my ethnic background. Most of the research I was able to locate on English American immigrants indicated that the English were basically the first non-Native Americans to settle in areas which would later become the United States. The first permanent English settlement was Jamestown, VA which was founded in 1607 and later Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay in 1620-1622 (Hanft, S. 2009). Native Americans often attacked the new settlers and between the years of 1622-1644 some 850 colonists were killed. (Chao & Spencer, 1990) This information might cause an individual to imagine what the prejudice, segregation, and racism must have been like between the Native Americans and the English settlers. I did not find any definite indications that the English immigrants were directly affected by any forms of discrimination. The majority of the research indicated that many Englishmen came to America to exercise their own religion while others seemed to be drawn by the economic opportunities and cheap land. (Hanft, S. 2009) The English immigrants brought a wide variety of tradesmen, craftsmen, and merchants to America. In later years, after the revolution here in the United States, the English seemed to experience less difficulty adapting to American life. In 1606, a group of puritan clergy held a meeting to discuss the separation of the Church of England. The majority of these men were regretted by the Church meaning they were unemployed for delivering a message to the congregation differing from the Church doctrine. The outcome of the meeting determined the group would relocate to the Netherlands. (Spurr, 1998) The puritans stayed in Holland until the year 1620 at which time the leaders decided to move the congregation to North America. By moving to North America, they could worship the religious principles set by the elders. “The earliest settlers to come to North America mainly for religious reasons were the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts.” (Powell, 2005) It seems as though religion was one of the first prejudices. The puritans or colonist government seemed to be a sort of dictator ship. It appeared that if groups were of a different understanding of the bible then that of the puritans these individuals were not welcome. In 1656, some of the first Quaker missionaries came to the colonies. Boston quickly jailed and deported them, but many more missionaries replaced them. Eventually Massachusetts instituted punishments for preaching or sympathizing with Quakers. Some of the punishment or penalties were imprisonment, to whipping, bodily mutilation, and, in 1658, death by hanging. Persecution reached its height in 1659–61, when four Quakers were hanged. (Jaycox, 2002) As the colonies continued to grow, the different religious groups learned to reside together. There were still many prejudices and segregation among the leaders but battles with the Native Americans and the new settlers continued to exist. Eventually, over time, missionaries were able to communicate with the Native American Indians. Some of the Native Americans were converted over to puritan groups and one of the requirements for this conversion was to have the Indians dress in the common dress of the colonies (Jaycox, 2002). Today we see that the majority of the remaining Native Americans dress the same as does almost everyone else in our country. As I consider the question of whether or not I identify with the English ethnic group, I am really uncertain. Because I grew up not knowing anything about my ethnic background, I can’t really say that I identify with the English any more than I do with any other ethnic group. I am not the type of person who focuses on what country someone is from or what color their skin is, or even what shape their eyes are. I focus more on the person they are inside, how kind or thoughtful someone might be. I do think that the English had a great deal of influence in many locations of our country, especially in the areas of the original colonies. Taking into consideration that the Revolutionary War occurred because our country wanted to separate from the English crown, we still show a good amount of English influence in our nation today.