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To: escapefromboston

The point I am trying to make is that the definition of what is considered “white” has changed over time and will change again and again.

Italians and Greeks as well as even to some extent the Irish were at one time treated as the “other” and discriminated against.

Simply search google for no Italian or no Irish need apply signs. They were treated this way because they were not considered “Real” whites at the time. The knowledge has just been lost to most younger people today.

But these groups eventually melted into the American pot and got thrown into the large “white category”

New immergrants are easy to identify by their accents, mannerisms and sometimes dress. But by the 3rd generation most are so fully American that most couldn’t guess their heritage even if given multiple guesses.

The majority of Hispanics have a lot of European in them to begin with, and self-identify in most cases as white. You may not consider them white enough for you, but their grandchildren will be indistinguishable from many European immigrants, especially darker ones from the mediterranean like Italians and Greeks.


92 posted on 10/02/2023 3:20:58 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: TexasFreeper2009
I have looked at some newspapers on microfilm from April 1865--classified ads specify that they want Protestant employees (probably to keep out Irish Catholics).

During the heyday of Eastern and Southern European immigration (1895 to 1921), a lot of Eastern Europeans were not considered "white" even though they looked white. The Slovene immigrant Louis Adamic wrote a lot about immigration--he tells of a man with a Polish surname who couldn't get a job as a high school teacher, but when he changed his name to "Sullivan" he got hired right away. A lot of immigrants changed their names to fit in more easily.

102 posted on 10/03/2023 6:13:08 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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