,
8 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Surprising to hear Tom Brokaw retailing so much historically illiterate myth about immigration and assimilation (to use his word). In the past, assimilation has been, more often than not, super-slow and uneven. 1/8
Take the biggest US ethnic group—German-Americans. Germans, here since the 1670s, began coming in a big wave between 1820-70. Their refusal to assimilate set off lots of political battles, esp in Wisconsin, which was >1/3 German in the late 19th c. npr.org/templates/stor… 2/8
Most 19th-century Germans in Wisconsin rejected public schools and instead sent their kids to German-language schools. Private foreign-language schools were banned by the Wisconsin legislature in 1890, probably unconstitutionally, sparking a German rebellion. 3/8
There were constant complaints by English-speakers that local officials in various bits of Wisconsin couldn't speak English. There were constant complaints by German Catholics and Lutherans that the prayers in the public schools contravened the teachings of their religion. 4/8
As late as 1910, ¼ of eastern Wisconsin’s population was German-only. Many had been there for 3 generations! The figures below, BTW, taken from the 1910 census at a time of anti-immigrant sentiment, surely underreport the number of German-speakers. 5/8 watermark.silverchair.com/ASp83.3.1Wilke… 
Here's the conclusion of the paper from which I drew that figure:
World War I was a big impetus for change. Suddenly Germans were suspect. There was lots of harassment. And Germans went so far underground that many people now of German descent don’t even know it. 7/8
So when you hear of somebody's grandparents who've been here for 30 years and don't speak English--it's okay! Sheesh, if anything it's the American way. 8/8
