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Professor: Dr. Peter Vellon
peter.vellon@qc.cuny.edu
Instructional Technology Fellow: Caroline Erb-Medina
cerb@gc.cuny.edu
Category Archives: February
GABRIELLA DEANE’S “Clearing the Slave Owner’s Conscience”
What I found interesting while reading these articles was the mindset of the people who had slaves. I had always been unclear as to how exactly the settlers in North America had come up with the concept that there were humans … Continue reading
Posted in February 19, Gabriella Deane
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Comments on “Slaves in Colonial NY”
During our class discussion last week, we talked about African Americans being excluded from the melting pot of races that is present in New York, and the Harris reading blatantly states this point and highlights the beginning of racism in … Continue reading
Posted in February 19, Simranjit Kaur
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From the beginning African Americans were excluded from the Melting Pot
While reading these articles, I kept thinking about our discussion in class – how African Americans are excluded from the melting pot. It is evident now that they probably are. Their major disadvantage to being accepted was right from the … Continue reading
Posted in February 19, Uncategorized
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Pluralism and Assimilation, Part 2
Last week, we discussed the concept of the American melting pot and the distinction between pluralism and assimilation. Binder and Reimer’s “All the Nations Under Heaven” also discusses the assimilation of Manhattan’s early immigrants. The ethnic and religious diversity and … Continue reading
Posted in February 19, Serinna Bradfield
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Outcast Ghettos and External Forces
Although blacks have been here the longest, their rate of inclusion into society has been the slowest. Why is that? In his paper, Gary Gerstle asks “Were individuals and groups free to fashion an American identity of their own choosing … Continue reading
Posted in February 12
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The Construction of the African American Identity
In Thelma Wilis Foote’s Black and White Manhattan: The History of Racial Formation in New York City, she notes, “According to the Manichean symbolism of darkness and light, whiteness symbolizes moral purity and blackness moral pollution” (Foote 184). This quote … Continue reading
Posted in Evan Lefkovitz, February 19
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Walzer’s “What Does It Mean to Be American”?
Walzer’s “What Does It Mean to Be ‘American’?” discusses the many aspects of being “American.” An interesting point that Walzer brings up is his comment about patriotism. He says, “[p]erhaps [loyalty to the patrie, or father/motherland] isn’t assumed here because … Continue reading
Posted in Christopher Pringle, February, February 12
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Losing or Gaining an Identity? – Danielle Cohen
In Liberty, Coercion and the Making of America, Gary Gerstle discusses the assimilation of immigrants. He looks at the different approaches that scholars have taken to the topic over the years: Was Americanization, as Crevecoeur sees it, the best thing … Continue reading
Posted in February 12
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What Does it Mean to Be an American in NYC?
A critique of Lena Dunham’s popular HBO show, Girls, often focuses on the lack of diversity in the cast. To paraphrase one snarky reviewer, “A group of 20-something year olds living in NYC in 2012 and they don’t have one … Continue reading
Posted in February 12, Tzipora Nissan
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The Future Melting Pot
Were immigrants able to create their own identity or was their identity shaped by “social structures and historical circumstances over which they had little control”(Gerstle 527)? While Gerstle sides with the group arguing that uncontrollable conditions shaped the lives of … Continue reading
Posted in February 12
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