Americanization is the process of an immigrant to the United States becoming a person who shares American culture, values, beliefs, and customs by assimilating into the American nation. This process typically involves learning the American English language and adjusting to American culture, values, and customs. It can be considered another form of, or an American subset of Anglicization.
The Americanization movement was a nationwide organized effort in the 1910s to bring millions of recent immigrants into the American cultural system. 30+ states passed laws requiring Americanization programs; in hundreds of cities the chamber of commerce organized classes in English language and American civics; many factories cooperated. Over 3000 school boards, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, operated after-school and Saturday classes. Labor unions, especially the coal miners, (United Mine Workers of America) helped their members take out citizenship papers. In the cities, the YMCA and YWCA were especially active, as were the organization of descendants of the founding generation such as the Daughters of the American Revolution. The movement climaxed during World War I, as eligible young immigrant men were drafted into the Army, and the nation made every effort to integrate the European ethnic groups into the national identity.John F. McClymer, War and Welfare: Social Engineering in America, 1890–1925 (1980), pp. 79, 105–52
As a form of cultural assimilation, the movement stands in contrast to later ideas of multiculturalism. Americanization efforts during this time period went beyond education and English learning, into active and sometimes coercive suppression of "foreign" cultural elements. The movement has been criticized as xenophobic and prejudiced against Southern Europeans, though anti-German sentiment also became widespread during World War I, as the United States and German Empire were part of opposing military alliances.
Background The initial stages of immigrant Americanization began in the 1830s. Prior to 1820, foreign immigration to the United States was predominantly from the British Isles. There were other ethnic groups present, such as the French, Swedes and Germans in colonial times, but comparably, these ethnic groups were a minuscule fraction of the whole. Soon after 1820, for the first time, there began a substantial Irish and German migration to the United States. Up until 1885, immigrants were overwhelmingly Northwestern European (90% in that year) which brought a similar culture to that already existing in the U.S. maintaining stability within their bubble of natives and newcomers. By 1905, a major shift had occurred, and three-fourths of these newcomers were born in Southern and Eastern Europe. Their religion was mainly Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Jewish; Americanization became more difficult because of the notable contrasts of customs, habits, and ideals to those of Northern and Western European immigrants.
According to the United States Census Bureau, in 1910, there were about 13,000,000 foreign-born and 33,000,000 residents of a foreign origin living in the United States. About 3,000,000 of the foreign-born over ten years of age were unable to speak English and about 1,650,000 were unable to read or write in any language. Close to half of the foreign-born populace were males of voting age; but only 4 out of every 1,000 of them were being educated to learn English and about American citizenship. In total, about five million people in the United States were unable to speak English, and of those two million were illiterate. World War I (which started in 1914) and the years immediately following represented a turning point in the Americanization process. In 1910, 34% of foreign males of draft age were unable to speak English; about half a million of the registered alien male draftees were unable to understand military orders given in English. At the same time, more immigrants displaced by the war began arriving.
A number of Americans feared the growing presence of immigrants in the country posed a sufficient threat to the political order. Americans' awareness of and attitudes towards immigrants and their foreign relations changed dramatically with America's increasing role in the world. As Americans' views towards immigrants were growing more negative, fearful, and xenophobic, the United States resorted to programs of forced Americanization, as well as the immigration restriction acts of the 1920s, including the Immigration Act of 1924, primarily focused on restricting immigration from Southern and Southeastern Europe, in addition, to heavily restrict immigration of Africans, and a complete ban on immigration of Arabs and Asians. At the same time, a new positive outlook of a pluralist society began to progress, as seen in the discussion around Israel Zangwill's 1909 play The Melting Pot.
History
The term "Americanization" was brought into general use during the organization of "Americanization Day" celebrations in a number of cities for July 4, 1915. Interest in the process of assimilation had been increasing for many years before such programs were designated "Americanization." The publication of a report of the United States Immigration Commission in 1911 marked the culmination of an attempt to formulate a constructive national policy toward immigration and naturalization and was the basis of many of the programs adopted afterwards.
The National Americanization Committee was established in May, 1915, with aid from the Committee for Immigration in America in the pursuit to bring all American citizens together as one to celebrate common rights as Americans, wherever born. The committee was so effective that it turned into a powerful organization, dealing with many aspects of American society, such as governmental departments, schools, courts, churches, women's clubs, institutions, and groups as units of co-operation. This committee was responsible for the standardization of Americanization work and methods, stimulating immigrant thought, interest and activity. Their many experiments were later incorporated into governmental, educational, and business systems of the country. Its services and publications were free.
During the period of mass immigration, the main target group of Americanization projects included Jews and Catholics and from southern and southeastern Europe. Churches, unions, and charities attempted to Americanize the new immigrants both formally through structured programs and informally at work through the environment created by management. Americanization also suggests a broader process that includes the everyday struggle of immigrants to understand their new environment and how they invent ways to cope with it.James R. Barrett, "Americanization From The Bottom Up: Immigration and the Remaking of the Working Class in the United States, 1880–1930." Journal of American History (1998) 79#3 pp. 996–1020. in JSTOR
"During the late nineteenth Century, skilled Germans, British, Irish and native-born male workers built strong craft unions and settle into comfortable communities. Through their craft unions, churches, fraternal organizations, and other institutions, they created their own cultural worlds, ones that often left little room for newcomers."
Private agencies also gave high priority to Americanization projects. The Ford Motor Company had an especially well-publicized program. Among the religious groups carrying on systematic programs of work among immigrants were most of the larger Protestant denominations, the National Catholic War Council, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., the Knights of Columbus, and the Y.M.H.A. Extensive campaigns were also conducted by old stock patriotic organizations such as the National Security League, the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Colonial Dames of America. The National Chamber of Commerce and hundreds of city chambers also did systematic work. Public libraries also embraced Americanization as a patriotic duty during and after World War I. The National Federation of Women's Clubs and the National Council of Jewish Women also adopted definite and comprehensive programs of work. The organizations assisted newcomers with naturalization papers, helped reunite families, provided interpreters, warned about fraudulent offers, provided access to lawyers, and provided information about employment.Paula M. Kane, Separatism and Subculture: Boston Catholicism, 1900–1920 (2001) pp. 39–40.
In the aftermath the target populations learned English and adopted American life styles in speech, clothing and recreation. They clung to their historic religions. They not only retained their traditional cuisines, but they also introduced the wider American public to the taste for pizza, bagels and tacos. Historian Vincent Cannato adds: "From sports and food to movies and music, they haven't just contributed to the culture, they have helped redefine it."Vincent J. Cannato "How America became Italian," Washington Post Oct 9, 2015
Social workers generally supported the Americanization movement, but not all of them. Edith Terry Bremer strongly opposed Americanization programs before the war and wrote that Americanization stimulated fear and hate. She then served as a special agent for the United States Immigration Commission Bremer was concerned that the existing public and private agencies serving immigrants largely ignored women so she made her most important contribution by establishing the first International Institute in New York City as a YMCA experiment in December, 1910.
World War I
Interest in the foreign born in the United States was quickened by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Although the United States remained neutral until April 1917, the war in Europe cast attention on the many recent immigrants in the United States. Of special concern was the issue of their political loyalty, whether to the United States or to their mother country, and the long-term tension regarding assimilation into American society.
Numerous agencies became active, such as the Councils of National Defense, the United States Department of the Interior, the Food Administration and other federal agencies charged with the task of uniting the people of the United States in support of the war aims of the government. The National Americanization Committee (NAC) was by far the most important private organization in the movement. It was directed by Frances Kellor. Second in importance was the Committee for Immigrants in America, which helped fund the Division of Immigrant Education in the federal Bureau of Education.McClymer, War and Welfare pp. 110–11 While John Foster Carr, a publisher and propagandist for Americanization, was convinced that the American public library was the most effective Americanization force. He joined the American Library Association in 1913, with the hope that American libraries would use his publications in their Americanization work with immigrants. A year later he founded the Immigrant Publication Society of New York, which published his guidebooks for immigrants as well as handbooks and pamphlets on Americanization topics for librarians and social workers.
Frederic C. Howe, Commissioner at Ellis Island, asked mayors nationwide to make July 4, 1915, Americanization night in their communities.
Impact of war
Millions of recently arrived immigrants who had originally intended to return to the mother country were unable to return to Europe because of the war from 1914 to 1919. The great majority decided to stay permanently in America, and foreign language use declined dramatically as they switched to English. Instead of resisting Americanization they welcomed it, often signing up for English classes and using their savings to buy homes and bring over other family members.Thomas J. Archdeacon, Becoming American (1984) pp. 115, 186–87