Assimilation and acculturation patterns of German Ohioans

Area 10 – Scienze dell'antichità, filologico-letterarie e storico-artistiche

The present essay examines the German ethnicty in Ohio, made up of two different categories: the first consists of German settlers mainly coming from Northwestern Germany. The vast majority of them moved to Ohio in the 1840s and 1850s. The most frequent reason behind their migration to North America ought to be sought in the serious economic crisis that struck their homeland, whereas the second group of Germans comprises Pennsylvania Germans moving westwards. This study, moreover, focuses also on Cincinnati, an essentially German city, whose inhabitants consist of numerous settlers. The fundamental objective of this essay is to analyze the acculturation and assimilation patterns of Ohio’s German ethnicity.

SINTESI