You are here:
Part
1: Cultures in Contact: Melting Pots or Not?
Middleburg Plantation House, South Carolina
We've all heard America referred to as a "melting pot" of cultures from
around the world. Each immigrant group contributed customs and traditions
to the ever-changing American culture, and slowly or quickly lost their
distinctiveness as they became American. Yet Americans today celebrate a
multicultural heritage in ethnic celebrations held across the continent,
in the varied foods that we all enjoy, and in the value systems we embrace.
We see signs of this diversity everywhere.
Is America a melting pot or not? Is there one American culture or many?
What does it mean to be, or to become, an American? These questions lead
to more general ones about what happens when people of different cultures
come in contact with each other, and why. Anthropologists, historians, and
archaeologists write of assimilation, acculturation, ethnicity, and the
creation of Creole cultures. But these terms have acquired a confusing array
of meanings, particularly because of differences in the nature of these
contacts.
Some people immigrated to America voluntarily, others came forcibly. Some
were enslaved, others conquered, and most expected women and children to
submit to men's authority. All faced decisions, and factors that limited
their choices, as they proceeded to redefine themselves and others in a
new world. Historical archaeologists have the rare chance to explore these
contacts, choices, and identities through time, from the unique perspective
of material culture.
Projects in the Book
(Click on bold link to view an excerpt)
- European Exploration
- Jerald T. Milanich – Spaniards and Native Americans at the Missions
of La Florida
- Clark Spencer Larsen – Bioarchaeology of the Spanish Missions
- Emergence of African-American Cultures
- Leland Ferguson – African Americans on Southern Plantations
- Terrance Weik - Black Seminole Freedom Fighters on the Florida Frontier
- Lu Ann De Cunzo - Sidebar 5: Fort
Mose, St. Augustine, Florida
- Pacific Immigrants
- Roberta Greenwood – The Chinese in the Cities of the West