Personal Ethnic and Cultural Background
Axia College, University of Phoenix

Being primarily of English and German decent, it was not easy to decide which ethnicity to write about. I decided that I was interested in learning more about the English because they were some of the first people to colonize the country, and have played such a big role in the history of the country. I also, as I will attempt to explain later, feel like I may identify better with their culture.

The English initially came to America to colonize The New World and stake their claim in what was and has always remained one of the most important resources: land. America at the time of their arrival was still a frontier land thus far only sparsely colonized by the Spanish. The English first landed at and founded Jamestown in 1607, and quickly became one of the dominant ethnic groups in America. By 1790 about 60% of White Americans were English, and being the “majority” ethnic group in the country they really experienced very little racism against them, though the early days of their colonization was far from conflict free. Many skirmishes with local Indian tribes, coupled with disease outbreaks, lead to high mortality rates for early colonies. These conflicts with Indians were not the only violent encounters they had with other ethnic groups as they were almost constantly at war with the Spanish. Though their wars with the Spanish were primarily politically motivated and not due to their ethnic differences, it did lead to a sort of forced segregation between the English and Spanish colonies early on. A similar segregation existed between the English and Indian tribes as well, and this was at least to some extent an ethnic issue.

The trend of the English being a “Majority” ethnic group, as opposed to a minority, has held true to this day for the most part. This has kept the English on the good side of most market trends within the economy such as the “dual labor market” and “environmental justice issues”. For the most part these did not negatively affect the English though they may have had a hand in the discrimination brought against other ethnic groups throughout the country. Some obvious examples would be slavery and racism against Indians and freed African Americans. Another good example of this type of discrimination that was perpetrated by the English would be the Salem witch trials. The notion of “witchcraft” was first brought about due to an Indian slave who tried to cure “strange physical symptoms” displayed by 4 girls from neighboring households. Her attempts at “counter magic” lead to a hysteria about witchcraft that nearly tore apart the Godly community of Salem Massachusetts. This seems to be initially a misunderstanding between differing cultures, the English representing a “Godly”, European ideal and the Indian slave who tried to “cure” the girls with counter magic represented more of an “ungodly” life. The religious differences born from the differences in how they were raised lead to the confusion and subsequent trials.

Being part of the majority ethnic group it would be correct to assume that most racism brought against the English since they colonized America was some form of “reverse racism”. Modern policies such as affirmative action and similar government policies aimed at giving the disadvantaged a “leg up” have been blamed by many for not getting jobs even when they may be just as qualified as or more so than the minority who was picked.

Personally I feel like I identify more with American mainstream culture than English culture, because I was raised in America and my family practices American traditions. I don’t feel as though the English Cultural identity is as unifying as many other ethnicities. This is not intended to down my culture or my heritage, I am just trying to say that English people do not tend to claim their “homeland” the way many other ethnicities do. Many people of other ethnicities have traditions be it festivals, food, a dialect or type of clothing. Many ethnicities come to America and still try to carry on their cultural traditions, but the English culture and traditions are similar enough to America’s that it almost seems like the same thing. I suppose that is reasonable since- again – the English had a big hand in colonizing this country.

References
Mintz, S. (2007). Digital History. Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database.article