American people(hu.stu)

1. 1
The Native Americans and the Immigrants
• American history is closely related to
the history of American People and
American geography
• Native Americans: Who are they?
Where are they from?
• USA is the nation of immigrants. Why?
• What do Americans love, hate, want
and believe in?
• What ‘s the American charater ? What
features affect their way ?
• Why does every American wear a
watch ? (punctuality/ hurry/ time is
money)
The Native Americans and the
Immigrants:
– The Native Americans living in the
north.
– In 1500s, Spain settled in Florida,
California, & Southwest & France
(The north)
– In 1600s to the birth of the US in
1776, most Immigrants from
Europe (majority from England)
• USA is the nation of immigrants. Why?
• In 1815, the pop. was 8.4 million;
however, after 100 years later – 35
million immigrants. 1882: 40,000
Chinese; 1900: 30,000 Japanese

2. 2
USA is the nation of immigrants
– The Native Americans and the
Immigrants:
• The Native Americans living
in the north.
• In 1500s, Spain settled in
Florida, California, &
Southwest & France (The
north)
• In 1600s to the birth of the US
in 1776, most Immigrants
from Europe (majority from
England)
• USA is the nation of immigrants.
Why?
• In 1815, the pop. was 8.4
million; however, after 100
years later – 35 million
immigrants. 1882: 40,000
Chinese; 1900: 30,000
Japanese
• the American Indians, 10 million
Indians populating- the Native
Americans, living in America long
before the white man.
• the First Native Americans arrived
during the last ice-age, approximately
20.000 - 30,000 years ago through the
Bering
The name “Indian was first applied to
them by Christopher Columbus,
(mistakenly)
• the Europeans started to arrive in the
l6th- and l7th-century & brought with
them diseases that hit the Indians
hard).

3. 3
History Immigrants
• the end of the 19th century, It was a
massacre in 1890 where Indian
warriors, women, and children were
slaughtered by U.S. cavalrymen at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
• The earliest settlers in America - the
Indians -- migrated from the Orient
because of severe climatic changes
When glaciers advanced, the sea level
blew, and the shallow waters of the
Bering Strait became a land corridor
which allowed Asians to walk to North
America.
• The Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth,
MA in 1620 came to America to avoid
religious persecution in England and to
worship according to their belief. In our
time, political persecution has replaced
religious persecution as a spur to
migration.
• Most 2Oth Century migrations have
been caused by tyrannical regimes.
• The Nazis killed millions of Jews and
also many others who did flot belong
to the so-called “master” race. Those
who were lucky escaped to England.
France and to North and South
America In 1956. Armenia received
Hungarian political refugees.
• in the 1970s and 1980s, thousands
fled the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
• Vietnamese and Cuba People also
move for economic reasons. They
abandon their homes to avoid
starvation or simply to improve their
economic status.
• Millions of Irish men and women came
to America in the middle of the l9th
Century to avoid starvation caused by
the potato famine

4. 4
The American charaters
• ☺ Six basic values :
• * individual freedom
• * equality of opportunity
• * material wealth
• * self-aliance
• * competition
• * hardwork
• Americans love to try something new 
newer may be better.
• (punctuality/ hurry/ time is money/ time waits
for no one…)
• → save time and handle work efficiently
→Americans to buy more machines.
• Materialistic
• Straight talks
• Pioneering spirits
• Desire freedom outside the control from
family.
• Loving science and technology
• Great consumers
• Education
• Americans love : comfort, cleanliness, novelty.

5. 5
The American charaters
• The great American humorist,
novelist Mark Twain pointed out the
difference between the conservative
European and the experimental
American :
‘Englishman as a person who does
things because they have done
before ;
and American as a person who
does things because they haven’t
done before’.
• * USA is not an aristocratic society.
• * Equality of opportunity is considered
a basic traditional American value.
• American etiquette :
– Not rigid about right or wrong way to
behave .
• Ex : Americans become annoyed when a
person pretends to understand but doesn’t
really & then creates problems b/c of
misunderstanding
 if you don’t understand what is said, admit it
and ask s/b to repeat or explain.
– Show respect & consideration for
others (smile+ thank you + you are
welcome!)
• It’s rude to converse with a companion in
your native language & leave them standing
alone+ feel stupid.
– How to make introductions :
• Apology : Pardon me ; excuse me ; I’m sorry

6. 6
☻ Marriage
Proverb: “Marriage halves our griefs, double our joys, and quadruples our
expenses”
• Contemporary American marriage:
husband + wife share financial +
domestic responsibilities. (nowadays:
annual income at least $40,000)
• Choosing a mate/ a spouse (feeling of
love; not arranged by parents)
• How old are they to begin dating?
(High school) – blind date?
• Engagement and wedding customs.
(groom:26; bride: 24).
Some simply go to the City Hall and
have a local judge perform the
ceremony. (to get a license); medical
examinations.
• Divorce and alternative lifestyles
 Divorce: One of every 4 marriages
ends in divorce. Why? What goes
wrong?
☻ Do they consider marriage a casual,
unimportant relationships?
 No. They expect a great deal from their
marriage.
• Some typical Americans think: “ The end
one marriage in hope that the next will
be happier.”
• Re marriage (reconstituted family) or
creation of new ones is very common in
USA.
• 4% men & 1.5% women (homosexual)
 Divorce: whose marriage? Usually
marriages between people with low
incomes; limited education or teenagers.
 Single parent & Non-traditional
families

7. 7
The American life
• ☻The role of the child
• “A child-centred culture », parents
are busy earning money
→ give them more material things to
compensate for the lack of attention.
• Children have more freedom (very
young)
• Parents want them to have the
development & welfare of them as
individuals.
• Children leave home after high school
(18 years old)
• Parents (fathers are not rulers of the
family), they have social equality
between parents & children.
• → Some Americans worry that there is
too much democracy in home.
• the Family → the forms of
relationships between men and
women.
• American families are less stable or
lasting.
• Stepfamilies or blended families :
complicated & stressful relationships.
• Single parents → 1990s : 1/3 new
babies were born to single mothers
• Nowadays, some gays or lesbians
have adopting children
• FUN: ( John !quick ! your children and
my children are beating up our
children)
The role of the Family in society

8. 8
Family
• « Young children are in daycare
centers ; teenagers are often in
trouble ; Mothers are at work ; divorced
fathers rarely see their children ;
widowed grandparents live alone;
great grandparents live in nursing
houses »
• Do they care for each other ? Yes,
families still give them the most
important experiences and values.
• Children : Out-of-wedlock ; only one-
parent
• Many Americans like their
independence, enjoy freedom, and do
not want to be a burden.
• Most senior citizens choose to move to
Sun Belt (S. States) where the climate
is milder.
• They live far away ; however, special
occasions : birthdays, graduations,
marriages, anniversaries, funerals, K-
mas ... all re-unite families.
• Who’s the breadwinner ? (in
1940 :15% women working outdoor ;
today : 55-60%)
• Who’s in charge ? Americans create :
A child-centred culture » so parents
spend a great deal of money on the
children’s education and hobbies.
• ☻ In sum, family is the best place
for children to learn moral values &
a sense of responsibility.

9. 9
Where do they live ? What to eat?
– Urban, rural, or suburb…offer
advantages of living.
– 2/3 of Americans live in homes/
apartments. But many rent their
living quarters.(condos – coops)
– 10 million Americans live mobile
homes.
– Americans often live different
places in 5-6 years. Why? new
job opportunities, pioneering
spirit and adventure inspire the
move.
Luncheon; brunch; hot dog; cafeteria;
barbecue; …
• American flavours: pizza, hamburger,
sandwich, roast turkey, French fries, hot
dog; ketchup, chicken, sweet sauce,
macaroni and cheese and coca/ soda…
barbecue
– Having three square meals a day. But
most add snacks (quality and quantity)
– Many fast food restaurants: Mc Donalk,
KFC…
– The biggest meal of a day: “dinner”
– Doggie bags; take-away-meals;
• Food & drinks: Beer, Soda pop and tonic
water Sangria (homemade or already made)
Lemonade Iced Tea (sun tea or traditional
teabags)

10. 10
Shopping
• Black Friday is the Friday
following
Thanksgiving Day in the United States
often regarded as the beginning
of the Christmas shoppingseason,
• similar to Boxing Day sales in
many Commonwealth nations. In
Canada, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, and some states of
Australia, Boxing Day is primarily
known as a shopping holiday,
• Wearing
• People in America wear all kinds
of clothes depending on their
personal trends, beliefs,
backgrounds, or the trends of their
peers
• For casualty, blue jeans and neat
shirts are worn throughout the
America by people in all walks of
life.
• On normal days, they both wear
shirts or sweaters and jeans or
shorts.

11. 11
Religious
• Are they religious ?  Most Americans
think religion very important.(65%)
• Freedom of religion in the USA
• The belief that individual/ not
organized church/ should be
the center of religious life.
• Christianity; Roman catholic; protestant;
Jewish; or Atheists
• On the US currency: “In God We
Trust.”
• One nation under God.
– Protestants: from Europe and
England ( they took away from
Catholic)
– Roman catholic, Christians: North
USA
– Hindu, Confucianism, Buddhism:
from Asia
– Religion provides a personal
identity, social contacts, and
important rituals.
• (the customs and ceremonies that mark
life’s most events: birth, marriage, death)
• Americans believe life after death.
Recent survey: 95% of Americans
believe in God; 2% never pray.
• Science  explained mysteries.
• religious people say that one cannot
blame God for the sins committed
by people.
• Most believe the afterlife (they never
believe in waiting for God to do the
job).
 For them, faith in God lives side by
side with a strong belief in free will
& an admiration for self-reliance.
• Americans do not believe in simply
accepting misfortune and calling it
God’s will.
→Americans believe that religious
freedom must be protected, they have
the right to practice his/her religion
without the interference by the
Government or anyone else.

12. 12
New Year’s Day January 1
Martin Luther King Day third Monday in January
Presidents’ Day third Monday in February
Memorial Day last Monday in May
Independence Day July 4
Labor Day first Monday in Sept.
Columbus Day second Monday in Oct.
Veterans’ Day second Monday in Nov.
Thanksgiving Day fourth Thursday in Nov.
Christmas Day December 25

13. 13
Public holidays
• 1. New Year’s Day: 1st
Jan.New Years Eve and New
Years Day: New Years Resolutions
• 2. Thanks Giving Day: Thanksgiving dinner almost always
includes some of the foods served at the first feast: roast turkey,
cranberry sauce, potatoes, pumpkin pie (the 4th Thursday of
November)
• 3. Christmas Day Thanksgiving & Christmas: Christmas
shopping is a major activity of many Americans in the month
of December.
• 4. Independence Day the Declaration of Independence on
July 4, 1776. The day of picnics and patriotic parades, a night
of concerts and fireworks

14. 14
Other American holidays
1. Easter Day - March 22 and April 25.
Children receive Easter baskets filled
with candy Easter eggs, chocolate
bunnies and jelly beans.
2. Martin Luther King Day (January 15)
3. Presidents’ Day: Presidents’ Day,
the third Monday in February.
– the February 22 birthday of
George Washington.
– In addition, the February 12
birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
4. Memorial Day: the fourth Monday of
every May
5. Labor Day: first Monday of
September
6. Columbus Day: the second Monday
in October.
7. Veterans’ Day: November 11,
• Other Celebrations
• Valentine’s Day: February 14,
• Flag Day on June 14, 1777.
• Mother's Day : Second Sunday in
May
• Father's Day : the third Sunday of
June.