Germans in America

Walter D. Kamphoefner

doi:10.5771/9781442264984

Germans in America

A Concise History

Published 2021

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doi.org/10.5771/9781442264984
ISBN print: 978-1-4422-6497-7
ISBN online: 978-1-4422-6498-4
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham

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Abstract

This book offers a fresh look at the Germans—the largest and perhaps the most diverse foreign-language group in 19th century America. Drawing upon the latest findings from both sides of the Atlantic, emphasizing history from the bottom up and drawing heavily upon examples from immigrant letters, this work presents a number of surprising new insights. Particular attention is given to the German-American institutional network, which because of the size and diversity of the immigrant group was especially strong. Not just parochial schools, but public elementary schools in dozens of cities offered instruction in the mother tongue. Only after 1900 was there a slow transition to the English language in most German churches. Still, the anti-German hysteria of World War I brought not so much a sudden end to cultural preservation as an acceleration of a decline that had already begun beforehand. It is from this point on that the largest American ethnic group also became the least visible, but especially in rural enclaves, traces of the German culture and language persisted to the end of the twentieth century.

Schlagworte

World War I Civil War German American Churches German American Schools German Forty-eighters German Immigrant Entrepreneurship German ethnicity German language press

Chapter Expand | CollapsePage
Preface
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
1–8 Introduction 1–8
9–24 1 Before the Great Flood 9–24
25–46 2 Sources and Causes of Nineteenth-Century Emigration 25–46
47–74 3 German Settlement Patterns in Nineteenth-Century America 47–74
75–106 4 Religion, Education,and Interethnic Relations 75–106
107–136 5 The German-Language Press and German Culture in America 107–136
137–164 6 German Niches in the American Economy 137–164
165–182 7 Women’s Roles and Women’s Work 165–182
183–208 8 German Political and Military Roles in the Civil War Era 183–208
209–228 9 Race, Culture, and Politics in the Late Nineteenth Century 209–228
229–242 10 The Radical Side of German America 229–242
243–262 11 The German-American Experience in World War I 243–262
263–276 12 Into the Twilight of Ethnicity 263–276
277–286 A Note on Sources 277–286
287–300 Index 287–300
301–302 About the Author 301–302

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