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Old Posted Apr 26, 2017, 2:40 AM
Docere Docere is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007 View Post
Yes, it's interesting how some ethnicities keep at least some traditions going for quite a few generations while some seem to have largely abandoned them.

I've read several things which pointed out that the two World Wars killed a lot of the sense of ethnic pride certainly among Germans, but it even affected other immigrant groups such as the Dutch in western Michigan. Not sure why some groups, such as the Irish and Italian, were able to resist early 20th Century efforts to discourage "foreign-ness." I think the Irish got away with it because they already spoke English so nobody really minded them. Not sure why the Italians were able to resist it - maybe because they had such popular food?
The Italians arrived later than these other groups, mostly in the 20th century and there was a bigger cultural distance from the American mainstream than for those with northwest European ancestry. So they wouldn't have able to so easily "drop" their heritage.

Quote:
And yes, there are a few German neighborhoods and towns, in the Midwest and elsewhere. Of course they aren't what they used to be, but they're still there.
Rural towns where Germans settled, sure. But urban neighborhoods or suburbs? Where?
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