American society:

• a “melting pot”

• a “salad bowl”

• a “mosaic”

Diversity

• society – a diverse mix of ethnic, racial, & religious groups because of its historical development & wide range immigration

• pluralism adds to the richness & strength of the nations culture

• diversity – a source of friction

• the nation’s motto – from many, one

Religious diversity

• the variety of religious beliefs in the USA surpasses the nation’s multitude of ethnicities, nationalities & races

• 83 % - identity themselves as Christian

• Christians belong to a wide variety of churches that differ on theology, organization, programs & policies

• Most Christians in America are Protestant, bur hundreds of Protestant denominations & independent congregations exist (Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Mormons, etc.)

• Roman Catholics – the next religious group in the USA

• The Eastern Orthodox Church – the 3^rd major group in the USA

• Judaism is the 4^th

• Other religions – Buddhism, Hinduism & Islam

• 8 % of the population of the USA are non-religious, atheists

• more than a quarter of the American population is unaffiliated with any church or denomination

• this mixture of multiple religious & secular points of view existed from the beginning of European colonization

Immigration as the major source of diversity

• The arrival of Europeans & Africans starting in the late 16^th century brought irreversible changes

• A native population that ranged from 1.5 million to 8 million was reduced to 243,000 by 1990

• By the 17^th & 18^th centuries French settlements – around the great lakes & the upper Mississippi river & at New Orleans

• Spanish – in Florida, the Southwest & California

• British – in New England & the South

• Russian – on the West Coast

• Swedish & Dutch – on the East Coast

• Scots, Welsh, Irish, Germans, Finns, Greeks & Italians as well as Maya, Aztec & African slaves

• European settlements depended on the skills & labor of indentured European servants & particularly after 1700 of enslaved Africans

• The 17^th & 18^th centuries – a growing importation of Africans

• After 1808 U.S. law forbade the importation of slaves abroad

• The insecure status of even free African Americans in the middle decades of the 19^th century caused thousands of blacks to emigrate from the USA to Canada

• After the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850

Restrictions on immigration

• Until the late 19^th century immigration to the USA was unrestricted

• Convicts & prostitutes – bared 1875

• Paupers, mentally defective & all Chinese immigrants – excluded in 1882

• Contract workers – banned in the 1880s

• Japanese immigration was stopped in 1907

• After 1917 only literate individuals were admitted

• Migration from Asia was placed under a separate quota system that applied only to the Far East

• By 1978 this provision was lifted, & all immigrants were treated equally.

• In 1921 & 1924 Congress mandated a quota system for immigration

• 80 % of the 150,000 annual visas – to immigrants from western Europe, 30,000 visas – from other countries

• the Great Depression of the 1930s sharpened feelings against foreigners

• more people emigrated from the USA that arrived during the 1930s – negative migration

• anti-Semitism in the early 20^th century

• during the 1920 – limited immigrations from countries with large numbers Jewish emigrants, colleges, professional schools & businesses barred Jews

• 102,000 Jewish refugees escaping Nazi Germany were admitted into the USA before WW II, but many more refused entrance

• Russians, Czechs & Byelorussians, Cubans, Vietnamese, Cambodians etc.

• Racial prejustice, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholic sentiment & other forms of discrimination became less acceptable at the end of the 20^th century

• Because of changes in the USA immigration law & in economic & political conditions worldwide, the number of immigrant to America resurged in the last quarter on the 20^th century.