All historians would agree that America is a nation of nations.
But what does that mean in terms of the issues that have moved and
shaped us as a people? Contemporary concerns such as bilingualism,
incorporation/assimilation, dual identity, ethnic politics, quotas
and affirmative action, residential segregation, and the volume of
immigration resonate with a past that has confronted variations of
these modern issues. "The Columbia Documentary History of Race and
Ethnicity in America, " written and compiled by a highly respected
team of American historians under the editorship of Ronald Bayor,
illuminates the myriad ways in which immigration, racial, and
ethnic histories have shaped the contours of contemporary American
society.
This invaluable resource documents all eras of the American
past, including black--white interactions and the broad spectrum of
American attitudes and reactions concerning Native Americans, Irish
Catholics, Mexican Americans, Jewish Americans, and other groups.
Each of the eight chronological chapters contains a survey essay,
an annotated bibliography, and 20 to 30 related public and private
primary source documents, including manifestos, speeches, court
cases, letters, memoirs, and much more. From the 1655 petition of
Jewish merchants regarding the admission of Jews to the New
Netherlands colony to an interview with a Chinese American worker
regarding a 1938 strike in San Francisco, documents are drawn from
a variety of sources and allow students and others direct access to
our past.
Selections include
- Powhatan to John Smith, 1609
- Thomas Jefferson -- "Notes on the State of Virginia"
- Petition of the Trustees of Congregation Shearith Israel,
1811
- "Bessie Conway or, The Irish Girl in America"
- German Society in Chicago, Annual Report, 1857--1858.
- "Mark Twain's Salutation to the Century"
- W. E. B. DuBois, "Of Our Spiritual Strivings"
- NAACP on Black Schoolteachers'Fight for Equal Pay
- Malcom X speech, 1964
- Hewy Newton interview and Black Panther Party platform
- Preamble -- La Raza Unida Party
- Lee lacocca speech to Ethnic Heritage Council of the Pacific
Northwest, 1984
- Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, 1990
- L.A. riot -- from the Los Angeles Times, May 3, 15, 1992; Nov.
16, 19, 1992
- Asian American Political Alliance
- President Clinton's Commission on Race, Town Meeting, 1997
- Louis Farrakhan -- "The Vision for the Million Man March"