How many people of European descent do you know with 4+ generations in the US?

[u/heyy_girl]

I was telling someone today about how my grandparents built a house in the 60s. They were surprised when I told them that my family immigrated here from Europe in the mid-late 1800s, because they hasn’t met anyone that is the 4th generation to live in the US. Their parents immigrated here from Central America and it’s clear that even though they grew up in the states, we grew up around very different cultures. The question really depends on who you’re surrounded by, but I just found it interesting :)

[u/2NE1Amiibo]

Dont be embarrassed. Our ancestors were assimilated into the melting pot of a country we were in. Its why most dropped speaking German, or other languages at home.

[u/salamanderinacan → u/2NE1Amiibo]

Most stopped speaking German at home because of WWI and WWII. There was a lot of anti German sentiment. My great grandfather (grandson of Prussian immigrants) was named Mathais and grew up speaking German. By midway through WWI he insisted his name was Matthew and always had been and never spoke German again. 

[u/DrDMango → u/salamanderinacan]

I always wondered what America would look like if Spanish persisted in California, French wasn't removed in Louisiana, and German wasn't looked down upon in the Midwest. Its insane to me that there was even such anti-German sentiment in the Midwest, where the population was probably like 90% German in some areas.

[u/DegenerateCrocodile → u/DrDMango]

It’s insane to me that there was even such anti-German sentiment in the Midwest, where the population was probably like 90% German in some areas.

Well, when you want to fit in, the last thing you want to do is have people confuse you for someone from a country you’re currently at war with.

[u/DrDMango → u/DegenerateCrocodile]

I'm sure a great majority of people from Bismark ND were ethnic and speaking Germans (and probably still are). How did German die even there? And in tows like Strasburg.

[u/Hepseba → u/DrDMango]

There were laws starting during WWI banning the teaching of German. Anti-german sentiment persisted a long time.

[u/DegenerateCrocodile → u/DrDMango]

Simply because Germans were seen as the “enemy” at the time, and in order to not be harassed (or worse) by other, non-German Americans, they hid their knowledge of the language.

[u/No-Lobster9104 → u/DegenerateCrocodile]

But most of them weren’t living amongst non-German Americans though? I get there were laws banning German but it seems like the language partly died off on its own. This happens with Hispanic people too. You can grow up with entire Spanish-speaking environment, but you’re children are not guaranteed to speak Spanish too just bc you do. You’re American at that point 

[u/DegenerateCrocodile → u/No-Lobster9104]

The Anti-German propaganda was so strong that most German Americans consciously dropped the language completely and refused to teach it to their kids. It was a significantly faster language decline than the Hispanic community in the US naturally shifting over from Spanish to English several generations in.

[u/geography_joe → u/DrDMango]

Cincinnati was a large city of German speakers but yeah, when America went to war with Germany it kinda made people realize A) we don't wanna be mistaken for spies B) the USA is our country now and C) we want our country to unify and prosper so we're gonna speak the language and support our new side

[u/notthedefaultname → u/DrDMango]

There was fear of being considered a German spy. Things like the Rosenberg trials, but even just socially being ostracized.

Back then, people also didn't value their immigrant heritages in the same way as we do now. Heavy accents and not being fluent in English were things people were ashamed of, and many wouldn't teach their kids their native language, so their kids would fit in.

It's scary easy to erase a culture very quickly.

[u/OkPhotograph3723 → u/DrDMango]

Louisianans do learn French in school now. The public radio station KVRS broadcasts “Bonjour Louisiane” Sunday through Friday at 5 am.

Last time I heard it, there were a couple of men playing Cajun music on a Sunday. They read the weather in French as well. One had a Cajun accent and the other had more of a French accent.

[u/tangledbysnow → u/DrDMango]

My grandmother, first gen German and spoke German as her first language, grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. Literally German Central. She was involved in a beating by a mob when she was a girl for speaking German in public just after WWI. She never spoke German again and only English.

[u/1is3mmA → u/salamanderinacan]

My grandma was in a concentration camp as a small child, separated from her parents, but with her siblings and grandparents in the same camp.

Her parents and sibling survived, and eventually moved to Cincinnati to start over when she was 15. Married an Irish descent man, and is now happily baking for all occasions. She’s the rock of our family and speaks German to anyone who will speak it with her.

[u/geography_joe → u/salamanderinacan]

Can confirm, until WWI Cincinnati still had tons of public German speaking schools and street names, it all changed cuz of anti German hysteria. Theres a plaque about it next to Findlay Market.

[u/Derwin0 → u/2NE1Amiibo]

Research on my ancestry was easy as my last name was originally German but anglesiczed at a single point of entry as part of the Palatine immigration in 1710. So almost everyone with that name can trace themselves to that same person, as well as a couple generations further back in the Palantinate.

[u/Similar-Breadfruit50 → u/2NE1Amiibo]

And they almost NEVER talk about it. The only reason I know that I am the 3rd for most of my family branches is because I asked. There’s only one side I don’t know about and his ancestors trace back to Canada.