Analyze three groups comparatively in the post-Revolutionary period in the United States: Latino Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans. While each category certainly inscribes multiple ethnic groups, this essay should focus on how these groups are formed in relation to new social policies, and comparatively against each other. Begin by applying questions of “nationality”/citizenship to each group after the Naturalization Law of 1790 is federally established. How will this law uniquely establish differences across groups? In particular, how do historical contexts of indigenous identity (for Native Americans), annexation (for Latinos) and immigration (for Asian Americans) make these groups different from both white and African Americans, but also different from each other? Next, using explicit evidence from the Zinn chapters and the assigned Takaki chapter, discuss how labor and legislation separated these groups from each other. Be sure to include treaties and land allotment strategies–particularly for Native Americans and Mexican Americans. (Hint: Do not forget the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Links to an external site.)) and other policies to argue that race is constructed by social institutions. Bonus points if you can include arguments of gender as well (check out the Asian American “bachelor” experience as also a way that differences were constructed). Required Readings: Zinn, H. (2005). As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs Zinn, H. (2005). We Take Nothing By Conquest, Thank God Takaki, R. (1993) Searching for Golden Mountain: Strangers from a Pacific Shore (Links to an external site.), from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Little, Brown and Company.
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