this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
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They were. The American identity came later. Until the war of independence, settlers identified with the European countries of their heritage
...still do
It's weird. Someone once told me her husband was German after I mentioned I lived there for a while. So I asked where they're from, maybe I knew. "From Mississippi..."
I don't live in America but I think most would consider themselves Americans. They are proud of the flag and the constitution and stuff. In the 1600s, you wouldn't have figured a white person when someone said "American". The whites were Brits or Germans or French, but not American. The natives were Americans.
Americans consider themselves Americans, but especially in the early days of the melting pot, cultural identity, and specifically that heritage was important. That's why Americans are always saying they are Irish or Italian or whatever. The actual people from those countries laugh or get defensive about Americans who have never left the US claiming that heritage, but there's a reason behind it.
In america we refer to our families by their heritage. Italian American. Irish American. Etc.
this statement sums it up nicely. Anecdotally, when I lived in Buenos Aires, every single person was "second generation " Italian...lol
Lol yeah I've seen that before.
My point exactly. They aren't Italians who happen to live in America but Americans with Italian heritage. And I'm not talking about first or second generation but like "white" people in general. The concept of whiteness exists since they started to be Americans.
I'm not really sure what you're saying. There were no white people before the USA?
No, but white people didn't identify as Americans before that. Neither did they think of themselves as white but as Brits or what ever.
The concept of whiteness only makes sense when it's in contrast to other, non-white groups. "We are Brits and the Germans aren't" morphed into "We and the Germans are white and the natives and slaves aren't". Hope that makes sense.