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Embracing English Ancestry and England
It's about damn time.
English Americans, also referred to as Anglo-Americans, are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England.
According to the American Community Survey in 2010 data, Americans reporting English ancestry made up an estimated 9.0% of the total U.S. population, and form the third largest European ancestry group after German Americans and Irish Americans. However, demographers regard this as a serious undercount, as the index of inconsistency is high, and many, if not most, people from English stock have a tendency (since the introduction of a new 'American' category in the 2000 census) to identify as simply Americans or if of mixed European ancestry, identify with a more recent and differentiated ethnic group. In the 1980 United States Census, over 49 million (49,598,035) Americans claimed English ancestry, at the time around 26.34% of the total population and largest reported group which, even today, would make them the largest ethnic group in the United States. Eight out of the ten most common surnames in the United States are of English origin or having possible mixed British Isles heritage, the other two being of Spanish origin. Throughout the 19th century, England was the largest investor in American land development, railroads, mining, cattle ranching, and heavy industry. Perhaps because English settlers gained easy acceptance, they founded few organizations dedicated to preserving the traditions of their homeland.
Well, my friends, the time has come to found such organizations. Why? Because Americans of English descent are losing their influence in this country. Other ethnic groups have risen to the top. Since the United States beginning, Americans of English descent have been seen as boring or not exotic because many Americans are of English descent. We should remember that even though there are a lot of us, our influence is waning and we still don't make up 50% of Americans. A lot less than that. So the majority of Americans are not of English descent, even though English is the largest ethnic group. One thing I have noticed with Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans etc. is that not only do they have organizations dedicated to preserving the traditions of their homeland, but these people usually know enough about Irish or Italian politics and even cheer on sports teams from these countries. There are English-Americans that cheer on English sports teams and have a knowledge of English politics, but not many. And there aren't any organizations dedicated to preserving the traditions of our ethnic homeland.
English is the largest ethnic group in the United States, so there are many Americans who share this heritage. I say it's time we get together and found an organization or two dedicated to preserving the traditions of our ethnic homeland and I say we should celebrate and embrace our English heritage. Allow me to say this, to those who are skeptical, you should remember that it was OUR ancestors and families that helped build English society, long before they came to the new world. We share the same family history with the native English, they are our overseas cousins or blood brothers as you may. It was OUR ancestors and families that helped to shape the image of ENGLAND and without OUR ancestors and families there would be no England or a free England. Our families helped shape the image of modern England and without our families there would be no England! Think about that now. Our ancestors fought in wars for England and their sons fought in the American revolutionary war, World War I and World War II for the U.S.
Remember that not every American can say that their ancestors and families did all this, and even though we are speculated to be the largest ethnic group in this country, we are still not the majority. And it doesn't matter whether we are the majority or not. We have a proud heritage and history and we shouldn't ignore it. It's time to embrace our English ancestry just as Irish-Americans embrace their Irish ancestry and Italian-Americans embrace their Italian ancestry. We are ENGLISH AMERICANS! And also, I'll just say that we do not claim to actually be English, except in an ethnic sense. So people who are actually from England should not get offended by this. It's just all other ethnic Americans get to be proud of their families history so why can't we? This is OUR family history! Many Americans are raised with a knowledge of their English ancestors...it's just time they embrace that.
On sports teams and politics, I will say that those of us who have ancestry in England have every right to cheer on English sports teams as a way of showing our pride in our families history and also get involved in English/British politics just as Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans do with Ireland's and Italy's politics. Remember that it was OUR families that contributed to England's history and helped create modern England so we have every right to.
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Originally Posted by Jägerstaffel
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And being from Ipswich chances are that you are part wizard too!
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