How German is American?

In the article published by the Max Kade institute I was prompted with numerous examples of how German has influenced American culture, and vice versa. This symbiotic relationship really began in the mid 1800's, when Germans began emigrating to the United States in record numbers. I had never learned (or perhaps I learned and forgot) the motivation for the mass immigration during this period. The author identifies a primary motivator: land. It was at this time that, what one might call 'cross-culturization', really began. And, although I normally think of the U.S. as being the sole perpetrator of stereotyping groups of people, both sides were guilty. Fictionalized descriptions of American Indians spread quickly to Germany.

These sorts of characterizations were not all that spread across the Atlantic. For example, one fact I really had never learned was that a group of German-Americans, the Milwaukee Turners, were responsible for the development of gymnastics as a sport in the U.S. I also did not know that in the early 20th century, many churches in states such as Wisconsin held services exclusively in German. This might have been the most surprising fact I learned - perhaps because I do not live in an area where a large part of the population identifies themselves as German.

Finally, I had always assumed that the decline of recognition of German heritage only a result of World War I and II. But, the declining recognizable German heritage appears to be a more recent phenomenon. In the article, the author points out that there has been a dramatic increase in people who simply identify themselves as 'American'. Perhaps it is this, the increasing recognition of the U.S. as home rather than the place from which one's family emigrated, that is decreasing recognition of German heritage.