Ronald Takaki, a History of Multicultural America

Contrary to the pilgrims of New England, those who settled in the Chesapeake area colonized the region for more economic purposes. Many people who settled in the Chesapeake were down-on-their-luck English citizens living in swamps and slums hoping to stake it out in the New World, because it couldn’t be much worse than the conditions they faced back in England. Most received their tickets to America through indentured servitude, paying for their trip with a few years of free labor for a wealthy master. Document C is a roster of indentured servants bound for Virginia who are all set to work for the same master. Indentured servitude had long lasting effects on the colonies, the most impactful being Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 (Document H). This uprising was caused former indentured servants who had no land or property of their own once their work contracts expired. Because the land westward was populated by Natives and therefore almost impossible to acquire, the dissenters focused against the rich and powerful members of the colonies. The successful uprising led to reforms such as work regulations explained in Document E, as well a shift away from indentured servitude and towards slavery of blacks. Other settlers besides indentured servants were aspiring traders and gold-hunters mentioned in Document F. While traders had little success early on and treasure hunters definitely didn’t find their fields of

“Virginia Laws Governing Servant and Slave” reveals the rebellions of servants and slaves who united to fight against their masters. Bacon’s Rebellion, in 1676, occurred in the Virginia Colony in opposition to Virginia's Indian policy (Roark, The American Promise, p. 79). Bacon’s Rebellion demonstrated that poor whites and poor blacks could be united in a cause, and it shows that they are capable of challenging the ruling class together. Virginia lawmakers enacted the laws to prevent the servants and slaves from uniting to fight against masters. According to "Document 2: Law Making Slave Status Inherited from Mother, 1662" the Virginia legislators punished interracial sexual relations, "And that if any Christian shall commit fornication with a negro man or woman, hee or shee soe offending shall pay double the ffines imposed by the former act"

In the history of the United States, African Americans have always been discriminated against. When Africans first came to America, they were taken against their will and forced to work as laborers. They became slaves to the rich, greedy, lazy Americans. They were given no pay and often badly whipped and beaten. African Americans fought for their freedom, and up until the Civil War it was never given to them. When the Civil War began, they wanted to take part in fighting to free all slaves. Their opportunity to be soldiers and fight along side white men equally did not come easily, but eventually African Americans proved themselves able to withstand the heat of battle and fight as true American heroes.

Takaki’s book, A Different Mirror, offers the multicultural history of the United States. This book provides the reader with the American experience of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Irish Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Jewish Americans. During this time, America demonstrated manifest destiny and the Master Narrative. They were led by the belief of “white purity,” which these ethnic groups threatened. America exhibited supremacy over all of these ethnic groups. Takaki’s work allows me to become aware of the history and the outcomes of manifest destiny and the Master Narrative.

Bacon’s Rebellion helped originate slavery in Jamestown, Virginia in the Chesapeake region. Nathaniel Bacon was a white land owner in this town who brought together indentured servants and other poor whites to overthrow their elites due to the

The key factor to the shift to African chattel slavery was the revolt known as Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676. Bacon was an English aristocrat who just came to Virginia Due to a disagreement with royal governor William Berkeley, he gathered support from both white and black indentured servants and began a series of revolts against the governor and the landowners. These revolts just added to the preference for black labor and slavery. Even though Bacon died before anything could happen, the threat of such a biracial alliance challenging the power of the master class prompted the colony’s elite to switch to an enslaved black labor force. The demand for black slaves rose and this caused an increase of Africans into the colonies. By the 1700’s, slavery was deep-rooted in the colonies’ government.#

Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 was major weight added to the scale that shifted Virginia’s plantation labor from indentured servitude to African slaves. Confrontation between the Native Americans and settlers in western Virginia spearheaded an uprising that demanded Governor Berkeley to provide more land to the poor whites. Berkeley stood by his decision to maintain peaceful relations with the local Native American population, which sparked a series of uprisings and massacres that grew into full rebellion against Berkeley and his men. Berkeley fled when Nathaniel Bacon and his ranks burned Jamestown to the ground, which led to Bacon’s rule over Virginia for a short while until England sent warships to regain control. This conflict altered the planter’s view on indentured servitude, understanding that slaves could never become free men, demanding land and creating successful rebellions. For fear of civil war among whites, the elite planters helped launch us into a racially divided slave society.

One of the largest challenges Americans are facing today is coming to an agreement on the issue of immigration. Based on readings from Ruane and Cerulo and Fadiman, evidence of tensions between Americans and immigrant groups has spanned generations, affecting the way our culture perceives and reacts to “the Other,”1(167) cultures outside of our Western thought that we fail to understand due to continuous preconception and unrecognized self-entitlement as the ‘in-group.’ This segregation only continues the relentless cycle of economic and social barriers between an ‘us’ and a ‘them.’ The grand conflict between the Hmong versus the medical staffs in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down highlight the ethnocentrism that incurs blind

Even though Bacon died before anything could happen, the threat of such a biracial alliance challenging the power of the master class prompted the colony's elite to switch to an enslaved black labor force. The demand for black slaves rose and this caused an increase of Africans into the colonies. By the 1700's, slavery was deep-rooted in the colonies' government.#

In American society, there are multiple cultures and races exist. Since immigrants bring the various cultures to America, Americans face a highly controversial problem. Some of the Americans believe all of the ethnic groups assimilate into a common culture can help Americans distinctly identify themselves. Others argue that ethnic groups should not abandon their cultural heritages background. As a result, merging different cultures into one new culture will cause America lose its cultural diversity which is one significant charm of this country. On the contrary, if every ethnic group only focuses on building their own community and resists communicate with others, it will aggravate the separation of a nation. Although people often argue about these two ways which one is more appropriate to Americans, I think Richard Rodriguez's idea is more realistic in nowadays American society. Rodriguez resists the idea of the melting pot, and believes that assimilation is inevitable and reciprocal. In the essay Does America Still Exist?, Rodriguez explains his thought to us through his experiences.

“American Dreamer” by Bharati Mukherjee scrutinizes the problems involved with culture fusion and identity. Within the essay, Mukherjee provides her story of traveling to the United States to expose America’s problem with the fusion of other cultures. Fusion, according to Mukherjee, stands as the idea of multiple cultures uniting together within the context of a country under one supreme set of ideals regardless of previous beliefs and cultural influences. However, both resident countries and immigrants struggle to coexist with their conflicting societal influences. The refusal to accept cultural differences provokes division within society.

Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 was the first rebellion in the colonies and it largely resulted in the hardening of racial lines with slavery. The plantation owners and farmers now saw it as a dangerous asset to have white indentured servants as workers and also saw having slaves as a much higher profit. By the establishment of the Virginia colony and its use of producing the tobacco cash crop, boatloads of slaves were brought to work and profit the upper class plantation owners. What became known as the Middle Passage became nothing more to the white upper-class than profit and population increase. At the end of the seventeenth century, it was established that 40,000 people lived in Virginia however the number of slaves brought to the colony was unknown.

2) Bacon’s Rebellion, King Phillip’s War, and the Pequot War all derided from the yearning of land, and land agreements with both local landowners and Natives. Bacon’s Rebellion essentially was due to the inadequate amount of land now-freed indentured servants could attain. A few large families or companies owned all of the land leaving none for future businessmen in hopes of making a profit off of agricultural endeavors. The impact of Bacon’s rebellion was the end to Indentured Servitude within the colonies and, more importantly, the introduction of Slavery within Virginia.

Bacon’s Rebellion made a huge impact on the people of Virginia which changed the people’s views and also the society. Before Bacon’s Rebellion

Lawrence W. Levine approaches the issue of ethnic relations in a slightly different light in his book, “The Opening of the American Mind”. He focuses on the two central components of the entire matter: One-way Assimilation (the melting pot ideology) and Cultural Pluralism, given that the two other models (Ethnic