<p>All the coverage of the Royal Wedding made me think about something I’ve often wondered about: Why do British Americans not celebrate their heritage the way other ethnic groups do? The Irish have St. Patrick’s Day, the Italians have Columbus Day, the French have Bastille Day. The Greeks, Poles, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, etc all fly flags, have festivals and so on. I hardly ever see the Union Jack flown in the U.S. My ancestors came over from England but my family never calls themselves English or British. True, it has been many generations, but I wondered if anyone else has ever thought about this, particularly other Americans of British descent?</p>
<p>Because it’s simply not done. One does not advertise one’s background. ;)</p>
<p>My ancestors are English, Scottish, and Swedish. There are numerous Scottish Festivals/Highland Games types of things all across the United States. I was always aware growing up about my heritage. I think most people ,including English, tend to be proud of where they come from. I loved visiting England,Scotland, and Sweden as an adult. I’ve been to other countries as well but making sure I got to see England,Scotland, and Sweden was a real priority.</p>
<p>Similarly, some here in U.S. like to call themselves hyphenated Americans.
We’ve all heard of Irish-Americans, German-Americans, African-Americans, etc.
My personal belief is this hyphenated designation should be reserved for naturalized citizens.
My ancestry is English and German with a wee touch of Irish.
I just think of myself as American. My great-grandfather felt that way too, when he legally immigrated here from Ireland.</p>
<p>The Revolutionary War was “goodbye to all that”. And I agree with Booklady, “one does not advertise one’s background”, it’s not in our nature.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, British ancestors on my dad’s side came over in 1650 and on me mum’s side they came over in 1932. The last thing I would think of would be flying a Union Jack.</p>
<p>Advertising one’s background is a little different than having an awareness of where you’ve come from.</p>
<p>Ah, Booklady you made me smile. Well said! Sevmom, Scottish and Welsh pride are different than that of their English cousins. The other piece of English American culture is there are times it is a bit uncomfortable. For example, when my wonderful Irish friends find out I am English, they are either quite displeased or even outright hostile (I have an Irish sounding name). Some Indian Americans are a bit put off as well. </p>
<p>Please understand, I am a proud American. Period. (My ancestors fought for the U.S. in the Revolutionary War and every war thereafter) But I do wonder why being of English heritage is not celebrated in the same way other cultures are.</p>
<p>Most of these celebrations have their roots in communities that were one time or another marginalized and oppressed. There were not any “British Slums”, or any sections of large cities called “Brit-Town” where you would get a damn good scone. :)</p>
<p>‘younghoss’ stated it well. I don’t understand why anyone would state they’re ‘(nationality)’ when they’re not - they’re actually American. I also don’t understand why people would choose to hyphenate - especially when not a first gen.</p>
<p>Also, how can one have ‘pride’ in something they had no influence in? How can, for example, an American of Mexican descent who was born in America have any ‘pride’ in Mexico if they’ve done nothing to influence it? Why would I have any ‘pride’ in being of Irish/Scottish/English descent when I had no control over any of that?</p>
<p>The term ‘pride’ is misused when it comes to things like ancestry, race, etc.</p>
<p>So I don’t wonder why Americans of English descent don’t display some of the flag waving some others do as much as I wonder why those other do the flag waving and identification themselves.</p>
<p>HeartArt, As I said, I am English AND Scottish. My grandfather on one side was English. Have some neat pictures of him in a Little Lord Fauntleroy type getup with his whole family posing for a family portrait. VERY proper looking. His wife(my grandmother) was Swedish. Other side of family was all Scottish and I grew up hearing lots of heavy Scottish accents. No way anybody could not have figured out they were Scottish, advertising it or not. By the way, for anybody with Swedish ancestry, the Swedish Museum in Philadelphia is very interesting. And yes, I am a proud American as well.</p>
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<p>Exactly. Instead, they named entire cities and states and regions after themselves and their monarchs – New York, New Jersey, New England, New Hampshire, New London, New Britain, Newark, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, the Carolinas, and so on ad infinitum.</p>
<p>They hardly needed a parade to show British pride, did they?</p>
<p>St. Augustine ,Florida actually has a British Night Watch Parade, commemorating the history of the British in St. Augustine.</p>
<p>The dominant culture in this country is evolved from England. What’s to celebrate? But also I think an awful lot of people with English backgrounds go so far back it’s hardly relevant. I too, have British ancestry going back to before the revolution including someone who signed the Constitution. (I also have German ancestry from a Grandfather who came through Ellis Island.)</p>
<p>I think it’s actually interesting that some of the ethnic stuff, religious stuff is being maintained. Even on CC, we have threads devoted to Jewish issues, issues of black families,etc. I think those threads are great and are obviously meeting the needs of alot of folks on these boards. The reality is that most people do identify with where they came from to an extent. I would never in a million years think to identify myself as a Scottish-American-I am an American- but I can appreciate that I know a thing or two about things British because of my ancestors. I like things like Greek festivals, Italian festivals,Oktoberfest,etc. So what if some groups want to have a parade now and then to celebrate things? Parades, celebrations are great. The English probably like a good parade as much as the next person. They seem to love military massed bands, military tattoos. The increase in interest in history, geneaology has been going on for awhile .There’s even a show on currently that has had stars like Gwyneth Paltrow tracing her roots. I see nothing wrong with learning about and being aware of one’s history.</p>
<p>Even though my family has been in the US for 4 to 6 generations (depending on which branch of the family you are talking about), all my ancestry traces back to Britain. Not a German or even an Irishman in there anywhere. So in that sense I’m genetically 100% British. But I’ve never felt like I’m any knd of “British-American,” just a generic vanilla American. But I have been known to jokingly boast that my family still speaks our native language from the old country even though we immigrated many generations ago. </p>
<p>I guess I regard the Brits as sort of distant cousins but not ones I feel particularly connected to. But if England is playing say France or Italy in the World Cup, I’ll root for England.</p>
<p>coureur, Great example about the World Cup. I’m 75% British though, not 100%! I think there is sometimes a vague identification that you can feel sometimes, even with your distant cousins.</p>
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You just haven’t traced back far enough - those British ancestors may (likely) have arrived in britain as Romans, Germans (Germanic tribes), Scandinavian (vikings), French (Normans), or any of a number of other places. </p>
<p>So it really comes down to where one wants to stop on the ancestry tree to decide who they want to identify with. I figure we’re probably all Africans as long as we go back far enough.</p>
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<p>Coureur, I highly doubt this – remember we are two nations divided by one language!</p>
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<p>Pretty funny question coming from someone whose screen name is taken from his kids’ colleges. One thing I’ve learned on CC is that we have no control over where our kids end up!!</p>
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<p>True enough. But as you point out, we’re all 100% African if you choose to look back far enough. But in the case of the British, unless you are in the royal or at least a titled family (which I’m not), it’s usually not possible to reliably trace your ancestry much prior to the late 16th or early 17th centuries. This is because commonly no records were kept. That changed in the reign of Henry VIII who ordered all births and deaths to be recorded in the register of the local parish churches (for taxation purposes).</p>
<p>My family name is said to be of Norman origin and was first brought to England in 1066 by one of William’s knights. But no direct connection (other than the name) can be established between that knight and my family due to the 600 year gap in the records. (BTW, the Normans were not French but rather French-speaking Vikings.)</p>