Ethnic diversity: North vs. South

[Taualumna]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I'm not sure what you mean about it being "just immigration patterns." I know plenty of people in the South (and in my own family) that readily identify with (for example) German, French (especially Huguenot), Dutch, Italian and even Lebanese heritage. These backgrounds can be especially noticeable in matters of religion (wherever the Germans settled, for example, many old Lutheran churches will be found) and food.

But in so many instances, the families have been here for so long that they all converge in a generic European Southerness.

Immigration patterns=countries people tend to come from/have ancestry from. For example, lots of people from Chicago are of Polish descent. Lots of Irish in Boston. etc...

I also don't think one necessarily becomes more "generic" the longer one is in a country. Sure, people integrate/assimilate to a degree, but later-wave immigrants seem to have a closer connection with the old country, even generations after they've settled. For example, Italian-Americans will probably continue to identify as Italian-American for generations to come.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

Immigration patterns=countries people tend to come from/have ancestry from. For example, lots of people from Chicago are of Polish descent. Lots of Irish in Boston. etc...

I guess I wasn't clear enough -- I know what immigration patterns are; I wasn't sure what you meant by your question.

I also don't think one necessarily becomes more "generic" the longer one is in a country. Sure, people integrate/assimilate to a degree, but later-wave immigrants seem to have a closer connection with the old country, even generations after they've settled. For example, Italian-Americans will probably continue to identify as Italian-American for generations to come.

Maybe, maybe not. I think you have to remember that, in regard to immigration patterns, later-wave immigrants have generally not come to the South in large groups, except for those from Latin America. Just to name a few examples, there have never, as far as I can remember, been large-scale immigragations of Poles, Italians, or Irish (not Ulster-Scots/Scots-Irish) to the South. (There are exceptions, like Greeks in Tarpon Springs and elsewhere.)

The large waves of German, French or other groups to the South were, for the most part, centuries ago, hence the loss of the ___-American identity and the prevalence of a more generic Southern identity.