Essay On American Identity

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AMST 2011
Midterm II
G33328796

The “American” Identity… For Those Who Had One
The concept of identity is central to the conception of self. National identity is something that became increasingly important as the world became more integrated, as the various cultures of the world began to interact. The culture of the individual is thereby a concept that is constructed both internally and externally through interactions with one’s country and also the world around it. Herein, the concept of the American identity will be explored related to the period of 1870 to 1930. As will be demonstrated, over the course of this period, American identity became a concept that was particularly difficult to achieve for African Americans given the lingering racial tension and racism lingering from the Civil War.
The period prefacing 1870 was that during which the American civil was experienced. The Civil War over the course of the 1860s would witness the nation torn apart. The Civil War was the first experience of mass death, and is considered by many the first modern war in relation to the scale of destruction. In fact, in just 1 hour of a Civil War battle more casualties were realized than in the entirety of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Civil War resulted in a substantial shift within the confines of society, altering the role of gender, religion, culture, economy, and family (Lecture Notes, 1/16). Clearly, 1870 was a turning decade for the United States, and thus its citizens and their conception of the “American identity,” especially after the Civil War.
Following the Civil War, within the United States the issue of race was highlighted in importance. Travelling through the South, Booker T. Washington claimed to be...

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...the institution of slavery, and to support equality amongst Americans. However, during the period of reconstruction members of the Confederacy and the Union alike adopted a stance of male-centric White superiority. The United States was meant to be the land of the free, yet the only individuals in control of the resources and power of the nation were White men of European descent. Rather than advancing the equality of women and Blacks, instead the ruling elite composed exclusively of White men of European descent endeavored to further differentiate the women and Blacks and exclude them from the fold of politics and power. The period of 1870-1930 thereby witness the clarification of the American identity as being held exclusively by White men of European descent, at the expense of Blacks, women, and individuals of alterative heritage.

Henry Newberry

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