_America is made up of the cultural strains of many countries.
The mere knowledge of this matchless wealth is an inspiration
to anyone who knows it._—ALLEN H. EATON.
Nature has blessed this country with great natural wealth, but
immigration has brought us even greater riches in the form of human
resources. Andrew Carnegie, himself an immigrant, was well aware of this
when he said, “Take away my factories, my railroads, my ships. Take away
my money, strip me of all these things, but leave me my men, and in two
or three years, I will have everything back again.”
_Priceless Gifts_
Transforming her immigrants as they have come, the United States has, in
turn, been enriched and transformed by them. The immigrant has played
an important part in our cultural as well as in our economic life. One
immigrant, Franklin K. Lane, who became Secretary of the Interior, wrote
feelingly of the contributions which the immigrant has made to American
life.
Their music—dirge and dance and wassail song, proud march
and religious chant, and their instruments for the making of
music.
Their poetry—winged tales of man’s many passions, folk songs
and psalm, ballads of heroes and tunes of the sea, lilting
scraps caught from the sky and field, or mighty dramas that
tell of primal struggles of the profoundest meaning.
Their art—fancies of the mind, woven in wood or wool, silk,
stone, or metal, rugs and baskets, gates of fine design and
modeled gardens, houses and walls, pillars, roofs, windows,
statues and painting—their art and handcraft.
Homelike familiar things—a favorite tree or fruit, an
accustomed flower, a style in cookery or in costume.
Hands with which to work.
Minds that could conceive.
Hearts filled with home—stout hearts to drive live minds; live
minds to direct willing hands.
Irish song and wit, German thrift and industry, Scottish virility and
genius, English love of law and order, Scandinavian honesty and love
of home, Negro fervor in song and story, Mexican enjoyment of life,
Indian customs and traditions, Slavic dance and folk song, neatness and
thoroughness of the Netherlanders, Italian love for art and music, and
philosophic tendencies of the Oriental for the beautiful, are but a few
of the strands that may be found woven into our national pattern.
_The Art of Living Together_
Barriers that once existed between racial and national groups in this
country are fast disappearing. Cooperative effort and healthy respect
are taking their place. We are “learning to understand other peoples to
understand ourselves.” The newcomers brought with them an ardent desire
to improve their conditions. They quickly availed themselves of the
opportunity which the public school offered them.
The school took “the child of the exile of Hungary, of the half-starved
emigrant from the Emerald Isle, and of the hardy Norwegian, and placed
them on the same bench with the offspring of those whose ancestors’
bones bleached upon the fields of Lexington.” The library, the church,
the motion picture, and radio are also powerful educational agencies in
molding the pattern of the New American.
_Milestones of Progress_
The immigrant has always been a firm devotee of the ideals of democracy,
for in most cases he has suffered religious, political, military, or
other oppression. Even in the United States, democracy did not begin full
tilt. But, just as the frontier has been conquered, so too the areas of
human rights and freedoms have been extended.
The abolition of slavery, universal suffrage, the grant of full rights
of citizenship to women, labor legislation, and property rights have all
been milestones in the onward march of democracy.
The immigrant has not been unmindful of the blessings conferred upon him
in this country. He has adjusted himself quickly to his new environment.
In every crisis, he has faithfully stood by our country and institutions.
He has striven to teach his children to love and honor the land which
harbors them.
All human history teaches us that the price of human liberty is the
continuous enlargement of that liberty. The only safe principle of
democracy is justice, equity, and equal respect among all our people.
Great unfinished tasks remain for us to solve. Our common loyalty must
hold high the torch and pass it on, with fire unquenched, to the citizen
of tomorrow.
[Illustration: IMMIGRATION FIGURES FOR SOME COUNTRIES FROM 1820-1936]
Recordings of “Americans All—Immigrants All”
Many organizations, churches, schools, and colleges have requested that
“Americans All—Immigrants All” be made available in recorded form.
The Office of Education, by special arrangement with the Columbia
Broadcasting System, the Committee on Scientific Aids to Learning, the
American Federation of Musicians, and the Music Authors and Publishers
Protective Association, have recordings for non-commercial use in both
33⅓ r.p.m. and 78 r.p.m. (suitable for use on phonographs). For complete
information regarding the recordings, write to: _Educational Radio Script
Exchange_, Radio Division, Office of Education, Washington, D. C.
[Illustration: _THEY HAVE BUILT A NATION_
_TYPICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN INDUSTRY AND CULTURE_]
Are People Really Different?
“_Democracy means not ‘I’m as good as you are’ but ‘you’re as
good as I am.’_”—THEODORE PARKER.
Immigration has made the United States the most composite nation on
earth. More peoples of widely different national and racial origins have
been brought together and welded into a single political, economic, and
social system than anywhere else in the world.
What constitutes a race? Does each race have certain hereditary
characteristics which determine its mental life and social behavior?
Is there a racial stock which is superior—physically, mentally, and
morally—to other racial stocks? Just what differences, if any, exist
between those who were born here and those who have adopted this country
as their home land?
There is no such person as a native American, nor was there ever such
a person if we are to be strictly accurate. We are told that even the
American Indian is an immigrant who came from far-off Asia by way of the
Bering Straits and Alaska. Our ancestors may have come on the Mayflower
or in the steerage, we may be descended from immigrants who settled here
generations ago, or we may have come direct from other lands, yet one
fact remains crystal clear—WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS.
_Physical Characteristics_
From the physical standpoint, races do have certain very definite
differences that are obvious. One of the most obvious is that of color.
White, black, yellow, red, brown, and yellow-brown are the colors we
usually associate with certain racial types. Some of us are tall, blond,
and blue-eyed. Others are short, dark, and brown-eyed. Some people
have long, narrow heads while others have short, round heads. However,
the same physical differences may be found not only between racial and
national groups, but also between individuals within the nation, tribe,
or family.
_Mental Characteristics_
In answer to the contention that certain racial groups are mentally
superior to others, Franz Boas, an outstanding scientist, says, “No one
has ever proved that a human being through his descent from a group of
people must of necessity have certain mental characteristics.... If
we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and
emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be represented.”
Hooton, another scientist, is even more emphatic. He declares that “each
racial type runs the gamut from idiots and criminals to geniuses and
statesmen. No type produces a majority of individuals from either end
of the scale. There are no racial monopolies of either human virtues or
vices.”
Carefully controlled intelligence tests given by educators and scientists
to different racial groups show that, where environment and social
conditions are the same, no group can claim mental superiority. In
fact, it has been clearly apparent that “man, everywhere, is basically
and fundamentally similar” and that his differences, be they physical,
mental, or moral, are determined not by race so much as by the social
conditions and opportunities around him.
_Important Findings_
The assimilation of different groups within the United States would seem
to show that:
=_1. Under favorable conditions of equal opportunity, all racial groups,
whatever their original homeland conditions and status, are capable of
rapid social change both as individuals and as groups._=
“It can easily be shown,” says one scientist, “how dependent mental
differences are upon social conditions. For instance, exact observations
have been made on Negroes who have moved from the country to the city and
it has been shown that assimilation of these people to the behavior of
the city population takes place within a few years.
“Likewise, it has been shown in the case of Italian immigrants that they
grow to resemble the Americans in behavior the longer they have been
in this country, provided they do not remain isolated. One of the most
instructive illustrations of this assimilation is the ease with which
children adopt the dialect and manner of expression of their environment.”
=_2. All groups, under the stimulus of opportunity and contact, have
capacity to produce exceptional individuals of high creative ability or
genius and thus help build up and perfect human culture._=
The Nordic and Slav, the southern European and Jew, black, white, brown,
and yellow have all produced men and women of outstanding brains and
genius. To confirm these statements it is only necessary to read, in the
pages that follow, the contributions of the immigrant and his descendants
to American life.
Research studies, conducted on an objective basis, prove that individual
brilliance may be and is, found in all groups.
=_3. Under the influence of a common environment, physical and cultural,
the offspring of different racial and national groups in a democracy tend
toward a common culture with common customs and ideals._=
John Dewey has emphasized that, “in a democratic society, individuals
give freely to others of the peculiar value, essence, quality, and
contribution of the group to which they belong, and receive freely the
corresponding treasures of other groups, and this without violence to the
complete uniqueness of the group.”
At birth, no individual has any culture and so the culture he eventually
acquires is the one he finds around him and is capable of assimilating.
However, “new conditions bring the need of new ideals and new emphasis
on certain aspects of old ideals.” Civilization itself is not only
safeguarded but advanced when a nation, composed of many races, finds it
possible for each racial group to “function creatively in building the
culture of the race into the whole culture pattern.”
=_4. Within the framework of common political and economic institutions,
a variety of cultural elements makes for a richer and more active social
culture._=
In all history, some of the most advanced civilizations have been the
product of a mixture of cultures. No great nations or civilizations have
been born in isolation. Inbreeding inevitably results in one-sidedness
and, eventually, in stagnation and decadence.
Spain was at its greatest “when the mixture of peoples was at its
height.” England grew great because the ingredients of many racial groups
ran in the Englishman’s blood. The United States will continue to be
great because the intermingling of many groups tends to build a culture
or civilization that unifies the best of their contributions.
=_5. A civilization of many different elements develops religious,
social, and cultural tolerance. It also creates ability which may permit
it to grow and change._=