[MPLS]: Minneapolis Public Education

[Jim Bernstein]

The fact is the Scottish, English, Irish, Welsh, 
French Canadians, Germans, Prussians, Bavarians, Rhinelanders, 
Swedes, Finns, Danes, Norwegians, Italians (and all of the other
Europeans not mentioned) were all white people - which made a huge
difference in how they interacted with each other.  

While they may have spoke different tongues and had somewhat different
traditions, they all pretty much looked the same and most had a common
religious heritage (Christian) and many enjoyed a common political and
social tradition.  

To suggest that Europeans at the turn of the century "were just as
different from each other as the Somalis, Hispanics, and Hmong are from
today's Yankees" is simply oblivious to history.

Jim Bernstein
Fulton

Laura Waterman wrote:

> Just a couple of reminders about 1910:
> 
> Women did not have the right to vote.
> Racial segregation was in place. Ethnic segregation 
> (Jews, other Eastern and Southern Europeans) was in place.
> American Indians were not citizens and thus could not vote.
> Immigration laws prevented Africans, Asians, (including South 
> Asia and the Middle East), Mexicans, Central and South Americans 
> from immigrating whereas Western Europeans were welcome.
> 19th Century Minnesota handbills printed to recruit 
> immigrants were in German.

So you are arguing that the Minnesota of the early 1900s 
was not as diverse as we are now?  I think that many people 
fail to realize that the Scottish, English, Irish, Welsh, 
French Canadians, Germans, Prussians, Bavarians, Rhinelanders, 
Swedes, Finns, Dakota, Ojibwa, Yankees, Danes, Norwegians, 
Italians, etc. who resided in Minnesota at the turn of the 
century were just as different from each other as the 
Somalis, Hispanics, and Hmong are from today's "Yankees."
People fail to see that what makes us blind to these
facts is that our ancestors and their progeny are
Americans, that their differences have been overwhelmed by 
their similarities and that this is a very good thing.