American-Indian

My report, in this weak is about American-Indian through past to current status in American society.
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which are still enduring as political communities. They have described by various name like: American Indians, Indians, Amerindians, Amerinds, or Indigenous, Aboriginal or Original Americans


According to representation of map we perceived that indigenous people of American continent had concentrated in central and southerner America by crowded population.
But their populations were ravaged by the privations of displacement, by disease (Some historians estimate that up to 80% of some indigenous populations may have died due to European diseases), and in many cases by warfare with European groups and enslavement by them from the 15th to 19th centuries. It is notable that, the first indigenous groups encountered by Columbus were the 250,000 Arawaks of Hispaniola They were annihilated and some of them that remained were enslaved.
Not only decline diseases and wars the population of Native American but also reservation and removal policy accelerated this matter.
In the 19th century, the incessant Westward expansion of the United States caused large numbers of Native Americans to resettle further west, sometimes by force, almost always reluctantly. In 1830 Under President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the President to conduct treaties to exchange Native American land east of the Mississippi River for lands west of the river. As many as 100,000 Native Americans eventually relocated in the West as a result of this Indian Removal policy. But meantime was created some Conflicts which generally known as "Indian Wars", broke out between U.S. forces and many different tribes. Well-known military engagements include the Native American victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, and the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee in 1890.Though by defeat of Native American on January 31, 1876, the United States government ordered all remaining Native Americans to move into reservations or reserves

American policy toward Native Americans has been an evolving process. In the late nineteenth century, reformers, in efforts to "civilize" or otherwise assimilate Indians (as opposed to relegating them to reservations), adapted the practice of educating native children in Indian Boarding Schools. These schools, which were primarily run by Christian missionaries ( What Were Boarding Schools Like for Indian Youth?. authorsden.com. Retrieved on February 08, 2006.) , often proved traumatic to Native American children, who were forbidden to speak their native languages, taught Christianity instead of their native religions and in numerous other ways forced to abandon their various Native American identities(Long-suffering urban Indians find roots in ancient rituals. California's Lost Tribes. Retrieved on February 08, 2006) and adopt European-American culture. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 gave United States citizenship to Native Americans, in part because of an interest by many to see them merged with the American mainstream, and also because of the heroic service of many Native American veterans in World War 1.(Developmental and learning disabilities. PRSP Disabilities. Retrieved on February 08, 2006. &Soul Wound: The Legacy of Native American Schools. Amnesty International USA Retrieved on February 08, 2006 )
It is interesting that Native American still have preserved tribal shape of life.There are 563 Federally recognized tribal governments in the United States. The United States recognizes the right of these tribes to self-government and supports their tribal sovereignty and self-determination. These tribes possess the right to form their own government, to enforce laws (both civil and criminal), to tax, to establish membership, to license and regulate activities, to zone and to exclude persons from tribal territories. But Native Americans who make up 2% of the population, with more than 6 million people identifying themselves as such, just 1.8 million are registered tribal members

At last, I should hint they because of Military defeat, cultural pressure, confinement on reservations, forced cultural assimilation, outlawing of native languages and culture, termination policies of the 1950s and 1960s and earlier, as well as slavery have encountered to deleterious effects on their mental and physical health. Contemporary health problems include poverty, alcoholism, heart disease, diabetes, and New World Syndrome.

Black Americans

As all know, America is multiethnic country that people with different race immigrate to there. Following to last weak report, I want to discuss the situation of all ethnical groups that recognized in last weak in the Unite States, in my every weak report.


"The term Black or African American refers to people having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa." It includes people who indicate their race as "Black, African Am., or Negro," or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census of Population, Public Law 94-171 Redistricting Data File. Race Retrieved September 18, 2006)
So definitively, African American means an American of black African descent & in general, the cultural assumption is that if a person is black, native English-speaking and living in the United States, he or she is African American.
Any way, African-Americans are members of an ethnic group in the United States who are the descendants of enslaved Africans transported via the Middle Passage from West and Central Africa to North America and the Caribbean from 1609 through 1807 during the trans-Atlantic slave trade or some of them have arrived in the United States through more recent immigration from the Caribbean, South and Central America and Africa.
Most Blacks in America were slaves until the events of the American Civil War (1861–1865) and, in particular, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1865) resulted in the end of slavery in the United States. In this case, hint to discrimination and segregation of Black American during slavery times, and again during the Jim Crow era, seems to be important. However the African-American Civil Rights Movement scored a series of victories from the 1940s into the early 1970s that put an end to some of discrimination but nonetheless, even today African Americans as a group fall well below the country's average in income, wealth, business ownership, and levels of formal education.
In this case it is remarkable that governmental statistic about progress & contribution of African American people in US is completely different conclusion from the African American themselves statistic conclusion.
While governmental reports had displayed the high progress of Black people in specifically educational ground, black people themselves reported limited achievement in comparatively approach relative to whites.
In this case these sites conduct you to obvious conclusion:




http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/9AB4AC88-7301-43FF-81A3-EB94807B917F/0/AfAmer_Achivement.pdf#search=%22african%20american%20progress%20in%20US%22 (as an blacks approach)


http://brookings.nap.edu/books/0815728808/htm/30.html#pagetop (as an govrnmental approach)

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/achieve/report-card-aa.html

http://www.jbhe.com/features/52_degree-attainments.html

America,The Blend Of Ethnical Groups

"What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. . . Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world."
-- Michel St. John De Crevecoeur (1782)

The core American culture that took shape in the first two centuries was a blend of English, Scottish, and Welsh ethnicity and at its heart stood the English language, English common law, and Protestantism. But it is remarkable American core of culture has not shown just British presence, other European is effective too, like German, Hispanic or Greeks. The German presence is extents that close to become their language, official American language.
Moreover the Native Americans who lived in America continent are still inhabitant of America. Blacks or African American that had taken as slaves in primary century of American existence are other intensive ethnical group of America.
Meantime, the render of American ethnical group statistics seem interesting.


African American / Black :751
Asian / Pacific Islander :847
Hispanic :959
Native American :65
White :10,278
Other :239
Not Specified :195

So as we see, America is built by a hundred different ethnic groups; American history is the history of its ethnicities who immigrated to America. But meanwhile, the important point is, perception of these ethnical group thought and values; if these ethnical thought have melted to the core American culture or in other hand as Israel Zangwill said become part of “melting pot” or a salad bowl (mixed but not melted)?!
Whether we should still believe Israel theme that mentioned “all immigrants can be transformed into Americans, a new alloy forged in a crucible of democracy, freedom and civic responsibility”. Or we should consider the new waves in American culture which challenge with new immigrants?
Today, the United States is experiencing its second great wave of immigration, a movement of people that has profound implications for a society that by tradition pays homage to its immigrant roots at the same time it confronts complex and deeply ingrained ethnic and racial divisions.
The immigrants of today come not from Europe but overwhelmingly from the still developing world of Asia and Latin America. The are driving a demographic shift so rapid that within the lifetimes of today's teenagers, no one ethnic group – including whites of European descent – will comprise a majority of the nation's population.
This shift, according to social historians, demographers and others studying the trends, will severely test the premise of the fabled melting pot, the idea, so central to national identity, that this country can transform people of every color and background into "one America."

Hear, maybe hint to James J. Zogby`s research, America — still an ethnic mosaic is remarkable.
He chose for his study the groups collectively make up 40 per cent of American society. African Americans and Hispanics each represent more than 12 per cent of the country. Italian Americans are another 10 per cent. And Asian, Jewish and Arab Americans combine for six percent of the US population.
“Knowing how members of these distinct ethnic groups think is important. Not only is the United States not a homogeneous society, but in many parts of the country, one or more of these groups form a significant percentage of the population and with America becoming more, and not less, diverse, understanding how different groups define themselves, and knowing what they value and how they feel about important issues becomes increasingly vital for policy-makers.”
He found in his study that ethnicity remains an important factor in shaping people's self-definition. More than 85 per cent of all of the individuals in his study express pride in their ethnic heritage; this includes those who are second and third generation Americans. And this heritage, and the shared sense of history, culture and concerns that it represents, does, in fact, have a measurable impact on attitudes.
When more than four in five say that they are proud of their heritage, and when one-third to two-thirds of all of the respondents say that this heritage is very important to their self-definition, then ethnic pride and identification are strongest among immigrants, and only somewhat less strong among college-educated and wealthier native-born Americans, the pull of this force remains quite strong.
More than 50 per cent of all of our respondents retain a “strong emotional tie” to the land of their “heritage”, and almost 20 per cent of those surveyed send money to family in the countries of their background. Instead of a “melting-pot”, America can best be described, as Jesse Jackson would say, as “a mosaic” or a carpet woven of many colours and patterns. While there is an American culture and there are shared American values, this study shows that these coexist with strong distinct ethnic identities that remain a vital factor in shaping values.

This weblog trace back to one course (Cultural Studies and Ethnology of America) in MA period in Institute for North American Studies at Tehran University which is rendered by Professor Said Reza Ameli.
This course will cover first series of discussion on conceps and main theories of cultural studies and will be about variety of ethnic groups in the USA.
Therefore in this weblog I will peform weekly report about the current issues related to the class course discussion.