Before the melting pot
Subtitle: society and culture in colonial New York City, 1664-1730
By: Joyce D. Goodfriend.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1992
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
Subjects: Ethnicity -- New York (State) -- New York -- History; New York (N.Y.) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; New York (N.Y.) -- Ethnic relations
Description: From its earliest days under English rule, New York City had an unusually diverse ethnic makeup, with substantial numbers of Dutch, English, Scottish, Irish, French, German, and Jewish immigrants, as well as a large African-American population. Joyce Goodfriend paints a vivid portrait of this society, exploring the meaning of ethnicity in early America and showing how colonial settlers of varying backgrounds worked out a basis for coexistence. She argues that, contrary to the prevalent notion of rapid Anglicization, ethnicity proved an enduring force in this small urban society well into the eighteenth century.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.