Working Toward Whiteness

In David Roediger’s Working Toward Whiteness, Roediger brings the reader into

the twentieth-century, when millions of European immigrants migrated from Southern

and Eastern Europe to the United States. Roediger inform the readers these newly arrived

immigrants want to achieve the status of being white, because the changes in urban race

relations, housing, and state police cause the new immigrants communities to want and

win a firmly white identity (Roediger, 17). There are series of factors that assist these

immigrants to achieve the statues, such as labor movement, New Deal reforms, home

buying and discrimination.

The individuals that are white-Americans today are not native to the country,

thereby, their ancestry can be traced back all around the world. Even though we might

refer to them as white-Americans in this generation, but decades ago they are refer to as

“dark white”, “off-white” or referred to in other racial slur. When the immigrants enter

United States, they discovered the racial landscape of America. During the twentieth-

century, race is divided in the country. The Americans put new immigrants and African-

American in the same category, both of the group are regarded as inferior. These

immigrants struggle to find an identity because they are considered “ inbetween people”.

They are neither white nor nonwhite.

According to Roediger, in order to make a homogenous nation out of the immigrants. The

immigrants must abandon their culture identity and take cultural forms of America. Thus,

these newly arrived immigrants want to achieve the statues as white. Race can help

immigrant access to full citizenship and well-paid jobs. It also clearly defined the

disabilities of excluded Chinese workers, Jim crowed African Americans, American

Indians confined to reservation (Roediger, 23). Race plays an important part in the

twentieth century because it defines who is fitting for certain jobs

In the beginning of, Working Toward Whiteness, Roediger gave us an example of

how the communities of the time will identity immigrants from other countries. If, for

example, an immigrant from Sicily walked around the city, she could accumulate racial

labels, referred to as “guinea” and “greaser”, while east European will be referred as

“hunky”(Roediger, 44). Guinea originated from guinea currency. This term was used to

identify slaves and free blacks; then later was used to identify other races. While greaser

is a class and occupational term, originated from those greased sheep in [preindustrial

England and those who lubricated ship and railroads (Roediger, 49).

Once immigrants arrived in the United States, they are taught their racial place in

the world through these racial slurs. These slurs are used to category the new immigrants

and other races together. Due to these racial slur and discrimination, Immigrants often

saw their racial fitness questioned, through discrimination connecting them with African

American, Native American, Asian American, and other races (Roediger, 46). Racial slurs

such guinea, greaser and hunky are meant to make fun and degrade others, and it creates

tensions between races. Some would believe the distinction between races is intended as

distinction of value.

Depending on race, workers are divided into different occupations because work

management created an economics of racial in-betweens that instructed new immigrants

on the importance of racial hierarchy (Roediger, 74). The labor markets contributed the

idea that competition was necessary in-between races. They are segregated by nationality

and race in order to compete against each other; they believe this will result in increase in

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productivity. Irish immigrants and Mexican immigrants worked as laborers around blast

furnaces. The native-born American consider blast furnaces as a hunky’s job, most of

them would not work in this field because they believed their statues are higher than that,

it is considered unfitting for a white man. Just like how Slavs did the tank house jobs that

white men refused to do (Roediger, 82). In addition, African-Americans and Italians

immigrants work in lumber companies. While, the native born Americans usually work in

construction, building company housing and towns. This puts immigrants and other races

at the bottom of the racial hierarchy because politics and the judicial systems are created

to benefit a certain race. The division by race into different occupation will create racial

hatred between different nationalities because races that consider non-white are treated

badly. This also explains why immigrants are working towards whiteness, because

according to the society at that time, white are considered the superior race.

In Working Toward Whiteness, Roediger states, when Latvians began to socialize

with African-Americans the white southerners offer to build houses for the immigrants.

The African-Americans the Latvians were becoming close and the white did not like that,

thus the white man wanted Latvians to get away from the African-Americans by

segregating these two community. Eventually, these Latvians will learn to discrimination

the African-American just like how the white does. Once immigrants enter the United

States they are taught discrimination against African- Americans. In addition, Thomas

Guglielmo claimed that immigrants during the twentieth century were white on arrival.

Before they were in America they already carried racism in their cultural baggage, thus

they can pick up of America’s racist view quickly.

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 An example of how immigrants began to pick up racial discrimination against

African-Americans, is when Toni Morrison, an African-American girl was teaching an

immigrant child to learn to speak and read English. When the immigrant child learns the

racial ground rule in the country, he eventually turns his back on Morrison’s friendship

(Roediger, 110). Thus, the ticket for immigrants became white is to become Anti-Black.

In order for the European immigrants to become white, it required the immigrants to buy

into the notion American blacks as the real aliens (Roediger, 43). For the immigrants to

become white they must also accept norms of the white society. Immigrants are taught

that you should not socialize with African-Americans, because if you socialize with them,

then you are lowering your social statues.

As new house in the 1920s were constructed the idea that African-Americans

were anitineigbors are developed, due to the segregation of neighborhood. In Working

Toward Whiteness, Roediger states, immigrants would go to nay extent to own a home.

Some would even starve their children to save money for a home. To the immigrants,

home is a security capture and a step closer to whiteness (Roediger, 169). We have to take

into consideration that immigrants migrated from another country to the United States,

and owning a home at another country mean you are forming another identity. To the

immigrant owning a home in the U.S is becoming part of the community, which is a step

away from the label inbetweeness. Owning a home also shows the native, they are worthy

of joining their community, and because it should that they accomplish something most

of the native-white cannot, it also prove financial security. Since, the percentage of

immigrants owning a home is higher than the percentage of native born owning a home.

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 The New Deal and Fair labor Standards acts all spoke to the rights of labor,

however, they all excluded coverage sectors from workers of color. The idea of fairness

and economic citizenship is a matter of race; they also constructed the idea that African-

Americans were anitineigbors. In 1938, Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Acts,

which provide minimum wage, maximum hours, and overtime protections to most of the

American wageworkers (Roediger, 218). However, this labor act excludes the color

people. The Fair Labor Standards Acts; left out domestic workers and farm laborers,

which majority consisted of African-Americans, and Mexican American workers. In,

Working Toward Whiteness, Roediger argues conservatives demanded that these workers

to no come under the rubric of fair treatment (Roediger, 219). In addition, the 1939 Labor

Standards Act’s limitation regard to color worker is heavier than women workers. The

society placed restriction on color people so they do not have the same benefit as the

white men.

Similar to Fair labor Standards acts, the New Deal also exclude the color people

and benefit the certain races; it is preferential towards white men. The New Deal and

industrial unionism help the immigrant’s communities to mobilized as white and exclude

other individual. In Working Toward Whiteness, Roediger defined the New Deal housing

policy as both racist and whitening. The New Deal typically addressed itself directly to

neither racial oppression nor discrimination based nation origins (Roediger, 211). The

New Deal will provide public housing to serve the low-income workers. But, government

support for private housing only benefited the white homeowner. African-Americans did

not get any housing. The New Deal was not fair racially, because it did not benefit the

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color people, only white races benefit form it during the depression. It promotes

segregation, because the New Deal is for a certain group of people.

In conclusion, according to David Rodger’s Working Toward Whiteness; the

process of immigrants becoming white was through labor movement, New Deal reforms,

home buying and discrimination. When immigrants arrived in the United States they

often faces discrimination, they also learn the heavily empathize discrimination toward

color people. In order form them to escape discrimination, they need submit to the white

race and become white. In addition from labor movement, home buying, and the New

Deal, the immigrants realized they need to separate themselves from the color races

because if you associate with them, the you are lowing you statues. They also learn that

only the white men benefit form the society, and the color men are always going to be at

the bottom of the food chain. Thus, they accepted the white men’s norm of discriminating

the color people. Thereby, the process of immigrants becoming white was through labor

movement, and New Deal reforms; but the main process of the immigrants becoming

white is discrimination again color men.

Web Cited

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 Roediger, David R. Working toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants 

Became White: The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs. New York: 

Basic, 2005. Web.