Diversity in American Culture and Civilization

America is greatly influenced and enhanced by the many versatile cultures which inhabit it. Cultural diversity has added to our economy in such a way that it brings innovated ideas and contact structures throughout the world. International cuisines have come to America through subcultures, have expanded the food industry, and have allowed English Americans to try new foods and flavors. Immigrants have brought with them religious values that greatly differ and vary from those at which were natural in the main stream American culture. The educational development through foreign nationals has led America, as a nation, to excel and be deemed one of the most intelligent nations in the world! Consequently, the subcultures have kept our

The United States of America is a perfect example of cultural diversity. Starting with the Mayflower landing in Massachusetts Bay in 1620, to the Great Migration from 1915 to 1930, to the continual immigration into our country today this country has seen its culture grow and reshape itself over the years. The culture of the United States is diverse but understanding and appreciating various cultures does not always exist within today’s classroom or in today’s society. Understanding or even defining cultural diversity , identifying the challenges cultural diversity brings, or how to face cultural diversity are all issues educators face in today’s classroom.

Diversity exists all across the United States. It is defined as the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Along with the ever-growing diversity in America, brings along intercultural communication. Intercultural communication can be defined as a situated communication between individuals or groups of different linguistic and cultural origins. Due to the limitless amounts of diversity and intercultural communication across the United States, misunderstandings and clashes between cultures are bound to occur. These clashes have been as extreme to be used to explain violence and crime not only in the United States, but also throughout our entire nation. On the other end, these cultural clashes can be so personal in our everyday lives because of our expectations of a certain behavior coming from our own cultural backgrounds, as many others have very different cultural backgrounds and expectations of us.

The diversity of America’s past has laid the foundation for the flourishing culture we have today. Even in colonial America, we were one of the most diverse places in the world. The first federal census in 1790 recorded that one-fifth of the entire population was African-American. Those that composed the white populations had ancestries of three-fifths were English, one-fifth Scottish or Irish, and rest was of Dutch, French, German, Swedish, or other backgrounds. With such a varied foundation, it’s no surprise that those who came here felt a feeling of belonging in the new land. The belonging and acceptance did not stop at ethnicity but extended to religion as well. In fact, in colonial America, there were religious groups such as the Pilgrims, Separatists, Anglicans, Catholics, Puritans, Quakers, Lutherans, Jews, Baptists, and others. With so many

Throughout the world social problems such as illiterate, elderly, handicapped, minority groups, and poverty have been the biggest part in our society for many years. Some of our social problems had died off, meanwhile, they’re still many problem that we are still facing as a society. One of the major social problem we face is people being illiterate. Being illiterate is meaning a person can not read nor write, and it can also mean that a person is grammatically incorrect. There is as much as 23% of the adult population that are ignorant to basic skills of the 4th grade level. In the U.S. the ethnic group that is most affected by not being able to read or write is

Malcolm Forbes once said, “Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.” The same diversity that shaped the United States going back to the sixteenth century when immigrants landed in North America. Diversity of people and species, but their real differences were religion, politics, economics, social issues, and the fantastic ways they dealt with those issues.

To begin my personal informative essay on diversity in the United States, I would like to point out what information has had the most influence on how I better understand and relate to others different from how I did in the past. I do not feel as though this class taught me any more than I already know about other races and ethnicities, in terms of, how their ancestors came to America, or what hardships particular racial or ethnical groups have grown through in the group’s history in the United States. What I do feel like this class has done for me is, put into prospective of how often and frequent prejudice and

The presence of Latinos in the United States challenges the notion of there being only one specific type of American citizen, an English-speaking person who lives only in relation to an "Anglo" heritage. Alongside other minority groups, Latinos tend to believe in the notion that the United States must be made up of one bounded territory, within which people speak a singular language and experience one culture. So, when the Anglo groups are faced with Spanish speaking people who are in touch with their Latino heritage, they feel threatened by the people who can speak both Spanish and English. The response to this sense of threat involves marginalization and the obvious exclusion of Latino groups in the United States. At the

"As a Texan, I have known many immigrant's families, mainly from Mexico, and I've seen what they add to our country. They bring to America the values of faith in God, love of family, hard work, and self-reliance; the values that made us a great nation to begin with (Ortiz)". One of our great president, George W. Bush, said these enhancing words and it now concerns me in this day of time. That now the world wants to imprison the Hispanic culture all for varies stereotypes. With President Trump theory of the wall this will cause many more issues not only with Hispanic immigrates but within America itself. Without the construction of the wall, America wouldn’t be wasting money, it will keep generating diversity and wall wouldn’t go against our founding father's rules and regulations.

The United States population continues to increase in racial and ethnic diversity, therefore, it is pertinent that mental health professionals tailor their services to the needs of various cultural populations (Constantine, Kindaichi, Arorash, Donnelly, & Jung, 2002). The awareness that ethnic minorities experience negative consequences from being oppressed, resulted in the multicultural competence pedagogy and has helped counselors identify effective strategies to generate social change (Hage, 2003; Vera & Speight, 2003). Social norms that cause these injustices are identified, allowing for ethnic minorities to constitute and embrace empowerment. Moreover, this consciousness helps prevent therapists own bias’ from playing

New land meant new opportunity for the Europeans, but they soon discovered that they were not alone in the new world. The native inhabitants of what is now the modern day Americas had no idea what to expect from these strange people, but this marked the beginning of the rocky relationship between the Native Americans and the European explorers; This would have a big impact on the Native American’s way of life. The Native Americans are often generalized and put into one big group, but this could not be more wrong; each tribe had their own religions, and customs. Their diverse cultures are often overlooked in favor of the stereotypes that are usually placed on them.

Historical scholars, critics, and archaeologists have thoroughly analyzed and developed often conflicting opinions on the superiority of religious perspectives of American Indian culture versus European culture. However, in American Colonies by Alan Taylor, Taylor notes that it is futile to claim that one culture was better or worse than the other because of the religious ideologies that shaped their societies, and instead claims that both shared faults and strengths that should be considered before making generalizations (Taylor 4). Alan Taylor identifies important comparisons between the cultures of American Indians and Europeans, particularly in reference to religion, which include their shared involvement in persistent warfare, their similar yet different arrangements of social order, and their contrary approaches to spirituality in regards to the natural and supernatural world that in turn shaped their

You made some very valid point in your discussion. This country was founded on social and economic diversity in which it does tend to categorize everyone into a certain group to feel a sense of validation of whom they believe they are or should be. European Americans did this categorization as a means to ensure that society will embrace them as the superior race and blacks and Indians as the inferior race. This segregation of humanity was denoted as “high” and “lower” class groups that became interconnected within the social and racial institution. Additionally, these distinctions such as skin color differences in America today are thought to explain perceived differences in intellectual, physical and artistic temperaments and to justify the

I was thirteen years old when my mother and I migrated to America. All I could think about was the way in which our lives were going to change and the fact that I would no longer have to worry about my education. I am an immigrant that used to think that the American dream was “something” that everyone could achieve by being persistent and hard working. Of all the nations around the world, the United States of America is the nation that has always been portrayed as the dreamland where all dreams “come true”. Millions of people all around the world, including myself, see America as our only opportunity for a better life; perhaps we perceive this nation in such way because of the nation’s imposing power and presence. We Americans and immigrants

Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history.