I was privileged to grow up in a family that included a live-in maternal grandmother and great aunt from Ireland.
My paternal grandmother was from the Danish West Indies.
This Baby Boomer learned geography by listening to those ancients tell stories of their extended families. And those of my friends' extended families.
Unlike the ethnically diverse NYC neighborhoods, my paper route included immigrant and first generation Marks (German Jewish), Hodaps (Hungarian), Peverly (English), Collins (Irish), Lorello (Italian), Diaz (Cape Verdean), Pecula (Czech), Rosbitski (Polish), Touravich (Russian) to name a few.
All took great pride in their ethnicity; more than willing to vamp on their ethnic backgrounds.
As an adult, I traveled for business and was amazed that most white people in the Midwest and South, when asked about their ancestry would say "I'm an American."
They had a vague idea of their European ancestry, or even downplayed it. This was the 1980s through the 20teens.
My point is that three or four generations away from the immigrant ancestor's arrival in the U.S., most Americans don't give a fiddler's fuque about their own bloodline connecting to the aspirations of current immigrants.
Well, a lot of the most vehement anti-immigrants in my area (the Philly burbs near South Jersey) are descended from the ethnically diverse peoples you cite, and are acutely aware of that fact. They just want to pull the ladder up behind them, and continually moan about how *their* forebears allegedly came the тАЬrightтАЭ way, that is, via Ellis Island.
Re: Immigrants
I was privileged to grow up in a family that included a live-in maternal grandmother and great aunt from Ireland.
My paternal grandmother was from the Danish West Indies.
This Baby Boomer learned geography by listening to those ancients tell stories of their extended families. And those of my friends' extended families.
Unlike the ethnically diverse NYC neighborhoods, my paper route included immigrant and first generation Marks (German Jewish), Hodaps (Hungarian), Peverly (English), Collins (Irish), Lorello (Italian), Diaz (Cape Verdean), Pecula (Czech), Rosbitski (Polish), Touravich (Russian) to name a few.
All took great pride in their ethnicity; more than willing to vamp on their ethnic backgrounds.
As an adult, I traveled for business and was amazed that most white people in the Midwest and South, when asked about their ancestry would say "I'm an American."
They had a vague idea of their European ancestry, or even downplayed it. This was the 1980s through the 20teens.
My point is that three or four generations away from the immigrant ancestor's arrival in the U.S., most Americans don't give a fiddler's fuque about their own bloodline connecting to the aspirations of current immigrants.
Well, a lot of the most vehement anti-immigrants in my area (the Philly burbs near South Jersey) are descended from the ethnically diverse peoples you cite, and are acutely aware of that fact. They just want to pull the ladder up behind them, and continually moan about how *their* forebears allegedly came the тАЬrightтАЭ way, that is, via Ellis Island.