VERTICALIZATION, WARTIME AMERICANIZATION EFFORTS, AND THE GERMAN-TO-ENGLISH SHIFT AMONG THE MENNONITE BRETHREN OF HILLSBORO, KANSAS
Journal: Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Year: 2019

In the early to mid-twentieth century, the Mennonite Brethren (MB) community of Hillsboro, Kansas, underwent a systematic language shift from German to English. Many attribute this shift to the anti-German sentiment and resulting discriminatory governmental measures caused by the World Wars. However, like many American communities in the early twentieth century, the MB in Hillsboro also underwent a process of community change called verticalization. Verticalization refers to the process by which