Lifestyle 2000: new enterprise and cultural diversity

THE SOCIAL, economic, and political dynamics of a society will depend greatly on its economic system and the wealth accumulation of its citizens. In particular, the diversity and creativity of its population will serve to expand the horizons of those that have economic self-sufficiency and make it possible for those individuals and families who are not in the mainstream to be given realistic opportunities to achieve such independence. With this comes the basis for social and political stability and growth. The evidence is clear today as the daily papers report that the dramatic changes in Europe, Latin America, and Asia are driven by former totalitarian regimes not being able to answer and provide the basic needs of their people. Suppressing the individual creative and economic drives of a nation's populace dooms that country's ability to survive and meet the challenges of the future.

The U.S. was created through the ideas and needs of people from diverse cultures fleeing the oppressive political regimes of their homelands. The opportunity associated with expansion of this new nation created freedom and wealth for some and hardship and slavery for others. From the early 1600s to the early 1800s, more than 1,800,000 immigrants entered the country, mostly from England and Ireland. The 1790 census showed that 4,000,000 persons lived in the U.S.

As the nation expanded, new industries and wealth were created. Wealth from the soil proliferated as oil, gold, grains, tobacco, and cotton served a growing population as well as overseas markets. Rather than cultural diversity, however, Manifest Destiny subsumed those who couldn't assimilate fast enough. Whether Native Americans, African slaves, or Asian coolies, individual rights and cultural roots were severed as irrelevant in the scheme of things.

From 1820 to 1889, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, and France sent the most immigrants, fleeing from poor harvests and political unrest. Between 1841 and 1860, the U.S. accepted more than 4,300,000 newcomers. During the 1840s and 1850s, about 1,500,000 Irish came; between the 1840s and 1880s, approximately 4,000,000 Germans arrived; and 1,500,000 people from Scandinavian countries settled in America between the 1870s and 1900s. Public high school education in the U.S. was just getting off the ground by 1850 to accommodate those families that couldn't afford private lessons.

Railroads, steel, new power sources, and financial services were the main generators of economic, social, and political activity and control, but a new middle class of entrepreneurs also was being spun off in great numbers in the form of farmers, jobbers, wholesalers, retailers, and manufacturers. Owners and workers of these enterprises combined new skills with cheap (and often abused) labor, looking to this economic expansion as the means to achieve financial, social, and political self-sufficiency for the future.

During the last half of the 19th century, many issues of cultural diversity came to a head. Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asians were forced into trying to survive in an economic roller coaster that was clearly beyond their physical and cultural control. With the Emancipation Proclamation, Pres. Abraham Lincoln signaled the necessity for the U.S. to have a free and diverse society. However, he freed indentured individuals with little education and skills to compete in a socially biased, economically competitive society. There were nearly 4,000,000 black slaves in 1860, representing more than one-third of the population of the southern slave states.

The approach of the 20th century triggered still additional social and economic clashes as pogroms in eastern Europe brought boatloads of Jews seeking economic and social justice. Nearly 2,500,000 Jews arrived from eastern Europe, with about 1,000,000 non-Jewish Poles entering the U.S. between the 1880s and 1920s. Approximately 4,000,000 Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, and Slovaks sought a better life in America during this same period.

In 1907, the U.S. admitted a record 1,300,000 immigrants, 70% from southern and eastern Europe. About 4,500,000 Italians also came between the 1880s and 1920s to flee famine and poverty, accepting whatever duties others wouldn't perform. These individuals--lacking formal learning and clashing with existing Americans for the most menial, lowest-paying tasks--tried to blend and assimilate into the new culture. The U.S. population was placed at more than 75,000,000 in 1900.

Dealing with presumed ignorant Native Americans, immigrants, and former slaves from Africa--all with different cultures, colors, and/or physical appearances--became an anathema for those whose forefathers came to the U.S. only generations before, but had the good fortune, education, and drive to be at the starting gate of a unique economic expansion. It would be hard to imagine that the well-being of subsequent generations of these nouveau riche Americans would be tied to the successful evolution of these same peoples into the U.S. economic mainstream. The Depression years brought out the staying power and resiliency of these new Americans, contributing to the arts as well as labor and industry.