Who is An American?
Definitions of who is an American have been constantly shifting for more than two centuries. Parameters expand and contract as the political winds vary. Historically, race and racism have been central factors in determining who is an American. With changing demographic and immigration patterns, what are the implications of this important issue for the 21st century?
Recorded at the University of Colorado.
Speaker
Eric Foner
Eric Foner, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is a preeminent historian. He is DeWitt Clinton professor emeritus of history at Columbia. He is the author of many books including Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, The Story of American Freedom and The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.
Sasha Pyle –
When I was in school, the product of a family heavily weighted toward humanities and natural sciences, I thought of social studies as just a part of the game to beat. I had no idea that I would get more and more fascinated by history as I got older.
Listening to this breathtakingly informative and coherent talk by Foner, I wondered how different my intellectual life might have been, had I paid more attention to history class— or ever had a teacher like him!
I heard most of it on my car radio and just listened to it again twice on the KUNM website archive. At first I thought it was a brand-new talk inspired by current events, then realized it dated to the late 90s. Bravo to David Barsamian for re-airing this brilliant lecture in 2018.
It represents a kind of social analysis we need quite desperately.
Paul Beck –
I have just listened to the hour of
“Who is an American” and I was enthralled with the content…
Having my parents emigrate from Germany, separately, but from the same German Village, and landing in New Jersey… I arrived on this earth in 1934, and understand the time period when “Emigrants were from Europe”..
Your show makes me Appreciate, more than ever, what it means to be An American… at age 84, I think more about the joys I have had in life….
Keep up your good work…. I listen most every Saturday, on WHYO, Yellow Springs, Ohio…