German Discrimination (ETH 125)

Essay by MATHDUDE1College, UndergraduateB, February 2009

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The ethnic group in which I personally belong to is German. In this paper I will discuss and explain if German immigrants colonized or if they immigrated to the United States. I will also use factual information to determine if Germans faced prejudice, segregation, racism or any combination of the three. I will also explain if Germans participated in forms of discrimination such as; environmental justice issues, affirmative action, redlining, double jeopardy, institutional discrimination, reverse discrimination, and glass ceiling, glass walls, or glass escalator.

Germans immigrated to the United States of America in a significant capacity around the late 1600's. Germans wanted to escape the violent hardships they faced. Germany was attacked repeatedly by armies of various nationalities and German citizens wanted to escape violent robberies, being tortured, murder, and villages being burnt down killing numerous people who inhabited them. Germans also wanted to flee their country because of poverty, persecution by their government, and overcrowded population growth.

German rulers attempted to put a stop to the flow of German citizens leaving Germany, but this had little to no effect.

The development of a settlement by Germans immigrating to America began in the 17th Century. Pioneer Francis Daniel Pastorius, born in Sommerhausen (near Wurzburg), together with 13 Mennonites & Quaker families from Krefeld, are the founders of the first German settlement in GermantownPennsylvania near what is now Philadelphia on October 6, 1683. The first Germans to arrive in the United States of America can be traced back to the year 1608. The first Germans settled in the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. During 1709 approximately 15,000 Germans left for Britain and 3,000 crossed the Atlantic to New York. In 1745 there were an estimated 45,000 Germans living in Pennsylvania alone. German immigration continued during the nineteenth century with the largest arrivals...