Race and America's immigrant press : how the Slovaks were taught to think like white people / Robert M. Zecker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zecker, Robert, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slovak American newspapers--History.

Slovak American newspapers.

Racism in the press--United States--History.

Racism in the press.

Minorities--Press coverage--United States--History.

Minorities.

Immigrants--Press coverage--United States--History.

Immigrants.

Slovak Americans--Race identity.

Slovak Americans.

Slovak Americans--Social conditions.

Immigrants--United States--Social conditions.

Immigrants--Press coverage.

History.

Minorities--Press coverage.

United States.

Social conditions.

United States--Race relations.

Race relations.

Physical Description:

xii, 348 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Continuum, 2011.

Summary:

Zecker (history, Saint Francis Xavier U., Canada) provides a somewhat surprising and well-documented account of how immigrants in the United States learned about the country's racial system--how race relations worked. The author focuses on Slovak-speaking immigrants and how they were informed of race relations by the Slovak language press. He also notes that while the Slovak immigrants may have been unsure of the status of their "whiteness" in their newly-adopted country, it becomes apparent that they were not strangers to prejudice in their native countries. For many, the acculturation they experienced meant to varying degrees that they traded long-standing prejudices against Jews and Gypsies for prejudices against black Americans and others with whom they were unfamiliar. The book will interest a variety of readers, from researchers to those with an interest in different perspectives in American immigration history, culture, and society. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

"Let each reader judge" : lynching, race, and immigrant newspapers

Spectacles of difference : notions of race pre-migration

"A Slav can live in dirt that would kill a white man" : race and the European "other"

"Ceaselessly restless savages" : colonialism and empire in the immigrant press

"Like a Thanksgiving celebration without turkey" : minstrel shows

"We took our rightful places" : defended job sites, defended neighborhoods.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781441134127

1441134123

OCLC:

657602802