Chapter Review

Racial prejudice, materialism and militarism are three overwhelming factors that have contributed to the assimilation or non-assimilation of many ethnic groups in American culture including Jewish, African, Mexican, Chicano, and West Indian Americans.

Jew/Afr.Ð'--Jews were allowed to be GIs in WW2 and that allowed them to get GI loans after the war so that they could further their education and move out to the suburbs which automatically labeled them white. Southern and eastern Europeans became white the same way and the African Americans were not allowed to do the same.

Mex/chicÐ'--Mexicans embraced white culture, militarism and switched the order of their families to a male dominated household. This is why there are many Mexican military families today. Chicanos rejected militarism, especially the Vietnam war and embraced ethnic empowerment so that they would remain brown and not assimilate to become white.

WIndiÐ'--early 1900's their numbers were too small and they were seen as the same as African Americans. Especially during the Harlem renaissance, when black culture exploded there were just too few west Indians around to separate them from African American culture. After the immigration explosion and during the 1960's civil right movement they separated themselves from African Americans by celebrating their ethnic cultures. They connected with all the west Indian people living in the country and celebrated their similarities while still displaying their differences because they were not all exactly the same, there are differences among them as they are from Caribbean islands, Jamaica, and many other west Indian islands. Mention carnival and how it was developed after 1965 after the height of the civil rights movement.

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