Existing comment:
Stirring the Melting Pot: Immigration and Americanization:
As Indiana changes, so do the people who come here. Indiana's earliest settlers were farmers in search of land. Now they are workers in search of jobs.
Expanding factories and cities draw laborers. May are foreign born -- from Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere in southern and eastern Europe. Hoosiers do not generally welcome this new ethnic and cultural diversity. Their response, however, is not to keep out newcomers but to Americanize them, encouraging immigrants to abandon their language, customs, and traditional dress.
The aim is to erase differences, promoting what most Hoosiers see as a superior American culture. Many immigrants, having come in search of a new life, eagerly embrace Americanization... even while sustaining their heritage through ethnic organizations and churches. |