Is the USA a melting pot of nations or salad bowl?
In 1908 Israel Zangwill wrote a play, The Melting Pot. The hero, a refugee from persecution in Czarist Russia, escapes to the US. In the final scene he speaks with enthusiasm about the mixture of peoples in his new homeland. Zangwill’s play was a great success. It was comforting for Americans to be told that their country could turn the newcomers into Americans like themselves. In fact this never really happened. The Us turned out to be more a salad bowl than a melting pot. Groups from similar national and ethnic backgrounds often stayed together, keeping alive their old customs. ->Chinatowns, Little Italys (even toady).