I’m from Germany and after noticing that many American personalities have German backgrounds I recently looked up that apparently German is the biggest ethnic group in America and that like 12% of all Americans have German ancestry so basically more than 1 out of every 10 people.

I knew that there are some people in America with German ancestry but I never thought it’s that many. I always thought that there were other way more common ethnic groups such as UK, Irish or something Asian/African and thought Germans are a minority. I never thought that Germans are so prevalent in America though and that they’re actually the biggest ethnic group. I wonder if that is a topic in American conversation cause I assume many Americans are curious about their ancestry and many might even have had contact to family members that are directly from Germany. And I wonder if they identify as American or German or both? (For example I always hear “African-American” being used but I’m not sure that I heard “European-American” that often)

  • queermunist she/herEnglish
    11•1 day ago

    I grew up in a former German community/colony that still has a lot of German speakers and still celebrates Octoberfest and Maifest. I’m part German but also part Scottish, part Spanish, part Sioux, and part Cherokee. I know some German and a lot of Spanish, but I wouldn’t consider myself German-American or Hispanic or something (even if I guess I technically am?) Ethnically? I’m just “white” (unless I get a lot of Sun exposure, then people will walk right up to me and ask “Are you ethnic?” Like, what the fuck??)

    “African-American” came about because a lot of Black people didn’t know where their families originated, because their ancestors were kidnapped from their homes and stripped of their language, culture, and religion. “European-American” doesn’t really make sense in the same context, because generally speaking we all know the exact countries our ancestors came from. Whiteness, itself, is intended as a social construct to unite all the disparate European identities into a white USAmerican identity, so they’d stop having loyalties to their ancestral lands and so they’d recognize themselves as part of a privileged racial cast. It’s a whole thing.

    • 97xBangEnglish
      9•1 day ago

      Africans and their descendants were also traded like property, so many lost contact with their families. They weren’t allowed to talk about their heritage, so the next generation had no idea. If anyone here hasn’t seen Roots, give it a watch. It’s was hard for me, but I needed to see it. There’s a lot of tragedy, but even in that, there’s impressive resilience.

      “European-American” doesn’t really make sense in the same context, because generally speaking we all know the exact countries our ancestors came from. Whiteness, itself, is intended as a social construct to unite all the disparate European identities into a white USAmerican identity, so they’d stop having loyalties to their ancestral lands and so they’d recognize themselves as part of a privileged racial cast. It’s a whole thing.

      Thank youuuu! I wish there was a European ancestry movement to get White people to stop thinking they’ve been the “default American” since George Washington. Some people act like they own the country because they’re White and have the White accent, yet their ancestry got here two generations ago. Plus, this dichotomous model of ancestry and culture based on skin-tone is lacking. I want more cool cultures.