German Americans: Immigration, relations and assimilation

This thesis explores the experience of the German-speaking people who have immigrated to the United States of America. It relates the history of German immigration including the first trickles of immigrants, the first settlements, mass immigration to America, and immigration in the 1900s up to the present. To understand the dynamics of German immigration, this thesis provides the push/pull factors of society that lead to immigration. At first, the German immigrants settled in the thirteen original colonies; later immigrations found the German-speaking people arriving in the west and south. This thesis looks at German American relations in the United States. In early America, Germanization of the country was feared by some because of the huge number of German-speaking immigrants, and there was some unrest in society. But relations deteriorated with World War I (1914-18), and a war on German language and culture began. This thesis explores discrimination against German Americans which is largely unknown. A South Texas community study depicting the experience of German immigrants and German Americans during World War II (1939-45) up to the present is a part of this thesis. This thesis is framed by Robert E. Park's theory of assimilation; however, old and new theories are discussed.