Textbook Treatment of Ethnic Groups

History of American Textbooks

In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the Bible served as a primary school text. Later, other school texts, such as the New England Primer, Noah Webster's Blue Back Speller, and the McGuffey Reader, were used in schools. These texts were written or heavily influenced by preachers and teachers. They presented an idealized image of the United States as a virtuous nation built on Protestant values of honesty, obedience, and hard work. Individuals who were not white were generally omitted from the textbooks or were portrayed in ways that reinforced beliefs about their inferior status and lack of success.

Throughout the 19th and much of the 20th century, certain European ethnic groups, such as the English, Scots, and Swiss, were described in textbooks as groups that exemplified positive American characteristics. Germans were also held in high regard, but their portrayal in textbooks had both positive and negative characteristics. Discussion about their military character, which was considered a negative characteristic, was balanced with their positive personal characteristics, such as honesty and diligence.

Not all European ethnic groups, however, were positively portrayed in textbooks. It was widely assumed that certain nationalities, ethnic groups, races, and civilizations were innately superior to others. Italians, Greeks, Russian Jews, and other immigrants from eastern, southern, and central Europe who came to the United States at the turn of the 20th century were considered inferior to northern Europeans. The children of immigrants were encouraged to repudiate their native cultures and adopt mainstream American values and culture. Textbook writers embraced those perspectives and drew clear distinctions between Americans who had immigrated to the United States from northern and western Europe and immigrants from eastern, southern, and central Europe.

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