Ethan Wood Intro/Thesis/Outline Through the oral tradition of family history passed down from one generation to the

next, many American families learn of their ancestors wondrous journeys from the hellholes of the world to the shores of America . . . (Lindberg) Such is the sort of story Charles Lindberg tells of his father migrating from his homeland of Sweden to the new world. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Swedes had the third highest rate of immigration to the United States. The experiences of Swedes and other immigrants of Scandinavian descent to the United States bear very striking similarities with the experiences of other groups such as the Irish and Italians. They were drawn to American as the result of a culmination of push and pull factors. The primary pull was the availability of farm land, specifically in the Midwest, as well as relatively high paying jobs within major cities such as Chicago. In Sweden, the majority of potential emigrants were peasant farmers who were pushed from the country due to horrendous crop failures. Although there were a variety of hardships that Swedish immigrants faced when they arrived in the new world, there were certain factors that made life as a Swedish-American more amenable than for other immigrant groups. Swedish-Americans draws upon my own recollections of growing up as a first-generation Swedish American, caught between the customs and trapping of an old world I never knew and the desire to fit into the world in which I was actually living.

I.

II.

Push and Pull Factors. (Uprooted? Transplanted?) a. Push: Life in Sweden. i. The Peasant farmer experience. Crop blights and cheap land in America spurred Swedes into emigrating. ii. Religion: Lutheranism was an Erastian religion in Sweden. Those of other protestant denominations sought to emigrate in order to escape religious persecution. b. Pull: What was to be gained in America? i. Many Swedes had desirable skills. There were fairly high paying factory jobs available for them in America. Thus, improved living conditions. ii. Freedom from the aforementioned religious persecution. Swedish Heritage in America a. Popular views of Swedish immigrants from the perspectives of Natives i. Swedes were considered to be ideal immigrants. 1. They were white, the majority spoke English and was literate, and they came from a nation which generally had a political tradition similar to the United States. b. Views of Swedish-Americans about their heritage.

III.

i. Swedish-Americans, especially those of the first generation, held conflicting desires to assimilate into American society while still retaining their Swedishness ii. Lindberg refers to the fact that Swedes like to keep issues of their past and heritage to themselves. They are secretive. Swedes in Chicago a. Swedes formed their own distinct communities within Chicago i. North Park is one example. b. Swedes came to Chicago in order to take the high wage labor jobs that were available to them there.

Conclusion? http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/whiskey-breakfast http://www.jstor.org/stable/27502017?seq=1 http://www.augustana.edu/x14897.xml