Different ethnic groups have reacted differently to the American experience, and indeed that experience has been different for people with different origins. An examination of the experience of three groups shows their idea of America and the experience that tested or shaped that idea. These concepts are reflected in writings by individuals who themselves experienced the America of their ethnic group. The Autobiography of Malcolm X reflects the experience and attitudes of black people in this century but relates this experience back to the reality of slavery and to the underlying racist attitudes that developed in American society. Mario Puzo in The Godfather tells the story of one particular Italian family, and in so doing he reflects aspects of the Italian experience in America. Oscar Hijuelos tells the story of a Cuban family in New York City and details the Latino experience of America.
The idea of America is similar for the Italian and Cuban immigrants who populate the novels by Puzo and Hijuelos, at least in the beginning--America is the land of freedom and opportunity. The idea of America is quite different for the black population, the one ethic population that did not come to America willingly and was not seeking any betterment in their lives by doing so.
Basil Davidson traces the development of attitudes on the part of European settlers not only toward black slaves but toward the Indian encountered on the frontier. The slave trade developed at the same time as Europe began exploring new realms and encountering new peoples, and it was necessary for the white European to develop some philosophical attitude which placed himself and the "noble savage" he encountered in the wild on some sort of scale. The idea of the noble savage would give way to the view that the savage was simply inferior. This attitude would be brought to bear in antislavery campaigns as some Europeans fought against the institution, and enn...