American Melting Pot

Francisco Tejada
Danielle Rhodes
English 1102
2/10/14

The Melting Pot

When people think of the United States, they think of a way of life that can be different or not so different to their way of life. The United States is said to be the melting pot of the world. A melting pot is a place where different ingredients are mixed to create one thing. The world thinks of the United States as a melting pot of cultures, religon, music, and way of life. Even though people in the United States are biased and do not think that people are accepting of other cultures, The United States is a melting pot and not a salad bowl because the United States has many different cultures and ways of life and music, society, and people's idea show that
the United States is a blend and mix of cultures and people. My family and many other immigrant families show that the United States is a melting pot. When people migrate to the United States, they bring their own cultures as well. Many immigrants embrace the culture that is here but also do not leave their own culture in their hometown.

To an extent, there is cultural assimilation.
Cultural assimilation is the blending of cultures so that there is one “supreme” culture. Many people in today’s world will not want to just leave their culture behind and take up the “American” culture, but they will take some elements from different cultures and place it into their own. There is only a slight assimilation of culture but the majority of a person’s beliefs come from their own homes. This is the melting pot. When my family came to the United States from El Salvador, we kept a lot of traditions and beliefs that my father was taught and that his brothers all share. But when we moved here we did take up some traditions that are not originally from El Salvador. America’s Independence Day was not a big celebration for my family back in El Salvador. But when we moved to the United States, we began to celebrate it because we lived here and because of that what happened on July 4th 1776, my family had the opportunity to come to America and better themselves for the future. On the Fourth of July, my family celebrates and comes together which is unlike many families that are American. This is a huge example of cultural assimilation and the melting
pot.

Another big example of cultural assimilation is music and society.
Today’s youth is being raised differently than the way my parent’s generation was raised. This is because today’s parents were taught different things when they were growing up and inturn place this intro their children. This allows cultural assimilation throughout time and keeps cultures expanding and growing in time. In the late 1960s, America received a flood of immigrants into the country and each of these immigrants came from different cultures with different styles of music. For example, during this time period, the United States swung into a new era of music.A big style of music became Motown. Motown was a style of music that incorporated African American soul and blues with modern day rock and roll. Motown was a key genre of music that helped bring the music in America to where it is today. With the blend of different traditional African tunes and the jazz and blues that was already in place, music became a melting pot because it incorporated different cultures and ways to express yourself. Another example is a latino genre called Bachata that first started in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Bachata was a style of music that was traditionally very classical but when Bachata was brought to America, it exploded with a beat that was a little more uptempo and instrumentation that is common to the United States. With the changing music taste and flavor people will always be changing the style of
music. This is just another example of how our country continues to change over time and with more and more people in the population.

It will not be a shock if in the future we see more and more of mixed races and different backgrounds from different people. Nowadays, if you walk out into the street you will see a lot of primarily caucasian people. With the assimilation I expect there to be an increase in the number of mixed families there are in the United States. Also, there are so many things that we as a country have not seen. In the future, there could possibly be even more differences coming into America. Different cultures that we may or may not have heard of. It is weird to think what kind of people will exist in the future.

My family alone stands as an example of assimilation. It shows us that the United States really is a place for cultures to come in and exchange. The United States is a marketplace for cultures. If someone comes into the United States, they could easily find a new culture or just pick and choose things from other cultures that they seem to like and add them into their own beliefs. Diversity is very common in the world and in the United States. For example, Georgia State University is a ver diverse campus. Georgia State University is only a small part of what is happening in this county. At Georgia State University you can see any type of person walking down the street. There are so many different cultures and so many people of different colors that all come together and can either embrace another’s beliefs and culture.