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Spanish Americans

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Spanish American
[Hispano Americano] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
File:Everdugo.jpg
File:MarisolDeluna.jpgFile:Ali-landry-LA.jpg
Notable Spanish Americans:
Tony Moreno · Martin Sheen · Elena Verdugo
Marisol Deluna · Rita Hayworth · Ali Landry
Spain United States
Regions with significant populations
Languages
American English · Spanish
Spanish in the United States · Ladino
Religion
Predominantly
Roman Catholic · Protestant · Agnostic or Atheist · Jewish minorities
Related ethnic groups
 · French Americans · Italian Americans · Portuguese American
#Excludes those not identified as Hispanic or Latino.

Spanish American (Spanish: Hispano Americano, derived from [Hispania] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) now known as [España] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula including modern-day Portugal) is a citizen of the United States whose ancestry originates in the southwest European nation of Spain. Colloquially, the term is also commonly applied to people whose ancestry stems from the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America [2]. In the former context, it is colloquially understood as a synonym for White Hispanic, while in the latter arguably less-accurate context, the term is employed as a synonym to Hispanic regardless of racial background, including mestizos of Mexican-American background.

Spaniards are just one of over 20 Hispanic national groups — Spain being the only Hispanic country located in Europe, and in fact, the European country where Hispanicity has its origins. While other U.S. citizens or residents with national origins in any of the Hispanic countries of Latin America may be closely related to Spaniards in language, culture, and in most cases also blood ties, to avoid confusion, and for the purposes of U.S. census data collection, the term "Spanish American" is not officially used. Instead, specific most recent national origins are requested. In addition to stating Spanish/Hispanic/Latino, the respondents may then reply Spaniard to indicate that the most recent national origin of that person of Spanish ancestry was directly from Spain.

The southern provinces of Spain, which include Almería, Málaga,Granada, and the Canary Islands, have been another major source of Spanish immigration to the United States. A number of factors combined to compel citizens to leave these regions: the hot, dry climate; the absence of industry; and a latifundio system of large ranches that placed agriculture under the control of a landed caste.

Basques have also immigrated to the United States in large numbers. Traditionally both hardy mountain farmers as well as seafaring people, they may have reached the coasts of the New World before Columbus. Basques stood out in the exploration of the Americas, both as soldiers and members of the crews that sailed for the Spanish. Prominent in the civil service and colonial administration, they were accustomed to overseas travel and residence. Another reason for their emigration besides the restrictive inheritance laws in the Basque Country, was the devastation from the Napoleonic Wars in the first half of the nineteenth century, which was followed by defeats in the two Carlist civil wars. (For more information about the Basque, and immigrants to the United States from this region, please see the essay on Basque Americans)

Immigration Waves

In colonial times there were a number of Spanish populations in the New World with governments answerable to Madrid. The first settlement was in Florida, followed by others in New Mexico, California, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana. In 1598, when the first New Mexican town was established, there were about 1,000 Spaniards north of Mexico; today, their descendants are estimated at 900,000. Since the founding of the United States, an additional 250,000 immigrants have arrived either directly from Spain or following a relatively short sojourn in a Latin American country.

The earliest Spanish settlements north of Mexico (known then as New Spain) were the result of the same forces that later led the English to come to that area. Exploration had been fueled in part by imperial hopes for the discovery of wealthy civilizations. In addition, like those aboard the Mayflower, most Spaniards came to the New World seeking land to farm, or occasionally, as historians have recently established, freedom from religious persecution. A substantial number of the first settlers to New Mexico, for instance, were descendants of Spanish Jews who had been compelled to leave Spain.

Immigration to the United States from Spain was minimal but steady during the first half of the nineteenth century, with an increase during the 1850s and 1860s resulting from the social disruption of the Carlist civil wars. Much larger numbers of Spanish immigrants entered the country in the first quarter of the twentieth century—27,000 in the first decade and 68,000 in the second—due to the same circumstances of rural poverty and urban congestion that led other Europeans to emigrate in that period. In 1921, however, the U.S. government enacted a quota system that favored northern Europeans, limiting the number of entering Spaniards to 912 per year, an amount soon reduced further to 131.

The Spanish presence in the United States continued to diminish, declining sharply between 1930 and 1940 from a total of 110,000 to 85,000. Many immigrants moved either back to Spain or to another Hispanic country. Historically, Spaniards have often lived abroad, usually in order to make enough money to return home to an enhanced standard of living and higher social status. In Spanish cities located in regions that experienced heavy emigration at the beginning of the twentieth century, such as the port city of Gijón in Asturias, there are wealthy neighborhoods usually referred to as concentrations of indianos, people who became rich in the New World and then returned to their home region.

Beginning with the Fascist revolt against the Spanish Republic in 1936 and the devastating civil war that ensued, General Francisco Franco established a reactionary dictatorship that ruled Spain for 40 years. At the time of the Fascist takeover, a small but prominent group of liberal intellectuals fled into exile in the United States. After the civil war the country endured 20 years of extreme poverty. As a result, when relations between Spain and most other countries were at last normalized in the mid-1960s, 44,000 Spaniards immigrated to the United States in that decade alone. In the 1970s, with prosperity emerging in Spain, the numbers declined to about 3,000 per year. Europe enjoyed an economic boom in the 1980s, and the total number of Spanish immigrants for the ten years dropped to only 15,000. The 1990 U.S. census recorded 76,000 foreign-born Spaniards in the country, representing only four-tenths of a percent of the total populace. In contrast, the largest Hispanic group—Mexicans born outside the United States—numbered over two million, approximately 21 percent.

Areas of Settlement

Five areas of the United States have had significant concentrations of Spaniards: New York City, Florida, California, the Mountain West, and the industrial areas of the Midwest. For nineteenth-century immigrants, New York City was the most common destination in the United States. Until 1890 most Spaniards in this country lived either in the city itself, with a heavy concentration in Brooklyn, or in communities in New Jersey and Connecticut. By the 1930s, however, these neighborhoods had largely disintegrated, with the second generation moving to the suburbs and assimilating into the mainstream of American life.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Florida attracted the second largest group of Spaniards in the country through its ties to the Cuban cigar industry. Most of the owners of factories were originally from Asturias, and in the second half of the century they immigrated in substantial numbers, first to Cuba, then later to Key West, and eventually Tampa, taking thousands of workers with them. Several thousands of their descendants still live in the vicinity.

California is also home to descendants of southern Spanish pineapple and sugar cane workers who had moved to Hawaii at the beginning of the twentieth century. The great majority of those


In this 1933 photograph, Isabel Arevalo, a descendent of one of California's oldest Spanish American families, displays the four combs brought to America by her ancestors in the seventeenth century. immigrants moved on to the San Francisco area in search of greater opportunity. In Southern California's heavy industry, there have been substantial numbers of skilled workers from northern Spain.

The steel and metalworking centers of the Midwest also attracted northern Spaniards. In the censuses of 1920, 1930, and 1940, due to sizable contingents of Asturian coal miners, West Virginia was among the top seven states in number of Spanish immigrants. Rubber production and other kinds of heavy industry accounted for large groups of Spaniards in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. With the decline of this sector of the American economy in the second half of the twentieth century such centers of industry have largely lost their drawing power, accelerating the dispersal and assimilation of these Spanish communities.

Assimulation in the United States

The decrease in the flow of Spaniards to the United States in recent decades, combined with their ability and willingness to form part of both the Hispanic sector and the society at large, has largely obscured any specifically Spanish presence in the States. As the European segment of the American Hispanic population, and therefore in some ways the least different from the country's predominantly European cultural and racial origins, they are often perceived as less alien than Latin Americans, and are more readily accepted into American society.

The Spanish work ethic is compatible with the values of both pre and post-industrial Europe. While often working long, intensive hours, Spaniards have generally not felt work itself to be a pursuit that will guarantee either success or happiness. Instead, leisure has a primary value: it is used to maintain essential social contacts and is identified with upward social movement. Another element of the Spanish character is an aristocratic concern with a public image in harmony with group standards, even if at variance with the private reality. As in other cultures that motivate people through the fear of shame rather than the sting of guilt, the achievement of these goals is substantially validated through the opinions held by others. This notion is exemplified by the Spanish phrase ¿Qué dirán? (What will they say?).

Stereotypes of Spanish immigrants derive in part from the leyenda negra, the "black legend," created and spread by the English in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when the two countries were rivals for European domination. Revulsion is expressed at the alleged cruelty of bull fighting, a sport that is believed by supporters to exalt individual worth through the demonstration of almost chivalric courage. Other stereotypical images, including exaggerated ideas of wild emotional intensity, create the misperception of Spain as the land of the tambourine and castanets, fiery flamenco dancing, and the reckless sensualism of Bizet's opera heroine, Carmen. Most of these elements are only connected, and in a much attenuated degree, with the southern region, Andalucía. As in matters of religion, northern Spaniards often view the character of life in their own regions as profoundly different.


Dance

Though known throughout the world as a "Spanish" style of music and dance, flamenco is mainly associated with the southern region of Andalucía, where Arabic and Gypsy influences are strong. Flamenco music is characterized by rapid, rhythmic hand clapping and a specialized form of guitar playing. The dancing that accompanies this music is typically done in duet fashion and includes feet stomping and castanet playing. Dancers generally wear the traditional Andalucian costumes described above: ornate, ruffled dresses for women and short, tightly fitting jackets for men. Although flamenco has not become widely popular in America, it can be found—especially in restaurants in major urban areas that have significant Spanish American populations.

Language

As Spanish becomes more and more the second language in the United States, the American-born generations of families that emigrated from Spain have been increasingly likely to retain it in both its spoken and written forms. Current communication with Hispanic countries is highly developed, including such media as newspapers, magazines, films, and even Spanish-language television networks. Consequently immigrants arriving in recent years have found themselves less obliged to learn English than did their counterparts of 30 years ago. These newcomers integrate easily into the new Latin American communities that in several parts of the country function mainly in Spanish.

Strong believers in the value of their culture, Spanish Americans make every effort to keep the language alive in the home. Many, however, are opposed to bilingual education in the schools, a position grounded in their awareness of the need to assimilate linguistically in order to compete in an English-speaking society.

A common greeting among Spaniards is ¿Qué hay? ("kay I")—What's new?", and Hasta luego ("ahsta lwego")—See you later. Spaniards can easily be distinguished from other Spanish speakers by their ubiquitous use of vale ("bahlay"), employed identically to the American "okay." Two commonly heard proverbs are, En boca cerrada no entra mosca ("en boca therrada no entra mosca")—Don't put your foot in your mouth (literally, "If you keep your mouth shut you keep out the flies"), and Uvas y queso saben un beso ("oobas ee keso saben un beso")—Grapes and cheese together taste as good as a kiss. A customary toast before drinking is Salud, dinero y amor, y tiempo para disfrutarlos ("saluth, deenayro, ee ahmor, ee tyempo pahra deesfrutahrlos")—Health, wealth, and love, and time to enjoy them.

Family Structure

The structure of the Spanish family has come to resemble the American and European pattern. Grandparents often live in their own house or a retirement home; women frequently work outside the home. The obligation of children to personally care for elderly parents, however, is somewhat stronger among Spaniards—even those raised in the United States—than among the general American population; a parent often lives part of the year with one child and part with another. The traditional practice of one daughter not marrying in order to live with and care for the parents during their last years has not been maintained in this country. The traditional pattern of Hispanic mothers being completely devoted to their children—especially the boys—while fathers spent much of their time socializing outside the home has diminished. Despite various changes within the family structure that broadened women's roles, most community leaders are men.

At one time, young Spanish women were allowed to date only when accompanied by a chaperon, but this custom has been entirely discarded. Family pressure for a "respectable" courtship—a vestige of the strongly emphasized Spanish sense of honor—has been largely eroded in both Spain and the United States. Long engagements, however, have persisted, helping to solidify family alliances while children are still relatively young, and giving the couple and their relatives a chance to get to know each other well before the marriage is formally established.

Because careers outside the home are now the norm for Spanish women, differences in the schooling men and women pursue are minimal. A large segment of the community stresses higher education, and, in line with the sharper class distinctions that differentiate Spain from the United States, professional pursuits are highly respected. A significant number of Spanish physicians, engineers, and college professors have become successful in the United States.

Spanish Communities

Spanish communities in the United States, in keeping with their strong regional identification in Spain, have established centers for Galicians, Asturians, Andalucians, and other such groups. Writing in 1992, Moisés Llordén Miñambres—the specialist in emigration patterns from Spain—regarded this as a given, a natural condition, and referred in passing to the "ethnic" grouping of recent Spanish emigrants reflecting the individual characteristics of the "countries" from which they come. But these were certainly not the only type of community organizations to spring up in the United States; a variety of clubs and associations were formed. The listing by Llordén Miñambres shows 23 in New York City, eight in New Jersey, five in Pennsylvania, four in California, and lesser numbers in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York State, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Florida.

Religion

Many Spanish Americans are less active in Catholic church activities than was common in past generations in Spain; they rarely change their religious affiliation, though, and still participate frequently in family-centered ecclesiastical rituals. In both Spain and the United States events such as first communions and baptisms are felt to be important social obligations that strengthen clan identity.

Employment & Economics

Since Spanish American entrance into the middle class has been widespread, the employment patterns described above have largely disappeared. This social mobility has followed logically from the fact that throughout the history of Spanish immigration to the United States, the percentage of skilled workers remained uniformly high. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, for example, 85 percent of Spanish immigrants were literate, and 36 percent were either professionals or skilled craftsmen. A combination of aptitude, motivation, and high expectations led to successful entry into a variety of fields.

Number of Spanish Americans

In the 2000 Census some 2,187,144 Americans reported "Spanish" as their ancestry, although this also includes persons whose recent or ancestral national origin might not have been directly to the U.S from Spain, (they are still of only Spanish descent nevertheless) and whose Spanish ancestry was via a Hispanic country of the Americas. eg: Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans [3]

Also in the census, 299,948 Americans specifically reported their ancestry as Spaniard, which was a significant decrease from the 1990 Census, where those who reported "Spaniard" numbered 360,858. In addition, the 2000 Census reported 861,911 Spanish Americans who identified as "Hispanic or Latino." The Census Bureau attributes the decrease to the trend among increasing numbers of Hispanics of all national groups, including those of Spanish ancestry, of identifying themselves with general labels such as "Hispanic" rather than a specific national origin.

It should be noted however that the majority of Spanish Americans are descended from the settlers of New Spain. Also, people who specifically responded "Spanish American" were not tabulated with those who responded "Spanish" or "Spaniard", and were instead tabulated as "Other Hispanic response" along with people who wrote responses such as Latin American, people of mixed Hispanic ethnicities (only collected in Census 2000), and people who checked the Other Hispanic box but did not provide a write-in entry.

Spanish Americans are Americans who have predominantly, or at least traceable, Spanish ancestry. This includes individuals who may also possess other European ancestry as well as those of multiracial descent where Spanish ancestry was one of their ascendancies, such as mestizos (White/Amerindian ancestry) and mulattos (White/Black ancestry). If one were to further include all those who did not identify either as "Spaniard" or "Spanish," although were of Spanish or partial Spanish ancestry via a Hispanic country of the Americas which was reported as such, the number of White Hispanics would more than likely surpass 16 million people. These would then include criollos (White Hispanics for U.S. Census purposes). Americans from the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Western Sahara, and the British territory of Gibraltar who are of Spanish descent are sometimes included in the statistics. [1]

Term

The term Spanish American can be defined in at least two different ways:

  • The first definition is citizens of the 'United States' who are of Spanish descent (Spanish of Spain).
  • The second definition is inhabitants of Spanish America (though incorrect usage of the words), which is a term for the parts of Latin America where Spanish is spoken as the official language. Another term for this area is Hispanic America.

A disproportionate number of Spanish Americans in the first sense of the term, mentioned above, as well as Mexican Americans, and possibly some other type of Hispanic Americans, who live in the American Southwest and the subject could give much controversy.

In Spanish, the word [Hispano] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is used as the first element of compounds referring to Spain and the Spanish people.

Map

Spanish Ancestry Italian Ancestry French Ancestry English Ancestry

Numbers

2006 Community Survey

These statistics show only Spanish Americans who identified as "Hispanic or Latino." If it were to include all Americans who identified having Spanish ancestry, then the total would be much higher.


2000 U.S Census

The Twenty-Second United States Census, 2000 shows the states with the largest Spanish populations:


Self-identify as Hispanic

Early Spanish settlers often self-identify as: ("Hispano," "Spanish," or "Hispanic;" but generally not as "Mexican," "Mexican American," or "Chicano." )

Puerto Rico is an overseas (United States territory), which had 2.1% identify as Spaniard.

1990 U.S Census

The Twenty-first United States Census, 1990 figures show that there were 2,024,004 persons of 'Spanish' and 360,858 of 'Spaniard' origin although this number could have been higher, if including persons of Spanish ancestry via mixed ethnicity Americans and Latin/Hispanic immigrants. Census figures indicated that California had the highest number of people of Spanish origin (434,759) or (21.5% of group) out of the top 8 U.S states.[5][6]

Immigration statistics may vary since some of the immigration took place within the US still gaining its statehood or Admission to Union. In 1850 California was admitted as the 31st state of the Union so numbers may not apply before. Mexican rule lost its last territory to the U.S., Arizona on Wednesday, February 14, 1912, although emigration from Spain was negligible since 1850.

1980 U.S Census

The Twentieth United States Census, 1980 was the first U.S census that asked someones ancestry.

Spanish Americans are found in relative numbers throughout America, particularly in the Southwestern and Gulf Coast. According to the 1980 US census, the 8 states with the largest populations of Spanish Americans are:

62.7% reported Spanish/Hispanic as their main ancestry.
66.4% reported Spaniard as their main ancestry.[7][8][9]

Immigration from Spain to the United States

Years Arrivals
1820–1830 2,688
1831–1840 2,004
1841–1850 2,091
1851–1860 9,038
1861–1870 6,390
1871–1880 5,266
1881–1890 4,419
1891–1900 6,662
1901–1910 48,944
1911–1920 102,954
1921–1930 41,954
1931–1940 4,945
1941–1949 3,287
Total (1820-1949) 240,642

These figures show there was never the mass immigration that Latin America had from Iberian settlers. However, it is evident in the figures that Spanish immigration peaked in the 1910s and 1920s; the majority settled in Florida and New York, although there was also a sizable Spanish influx to West Virginia at the turn of the last century, mostly made up of zinc workers from Asturias. Spanish Americans have intraethnic connections with Hispanic groups, other European Americans and even African Americans. In addition, they may choose not to answer the "Hispanic or Latino" category in official surveys. Since "Spaniard/Spanish" ethnicity is often classified under this category, their total population is often greatly underestimated.

The first ancestors of Spanish Americans were Spanish Jews who speak Ladino, a language derived from Castilian Spanish and Hebrew. In the 1930s and 1940s, that mostly consisted of refugees fleeing from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and from the Francisco Franco military regime in Spain, who ruled until his death in 1975. The majority of these refugees are businessmen and intellectuals, as well union activists, all held strong liberal anti-authoritarian feelings. The Spanish American population also has Basques, Galicians, Catalans, Canarians known as Isleños, Gypsy, Chinese, and Portuguese ethnic groups. [citation needed]

Notable Spanish Americans

See List of Spanish Americans

For further information on other Americans who may be of Spanish ancestry via a Hispanic country of Latin America and are not accounted for in this article, please see the articles:

See also

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"columns-list" No Yes {{columns-list}} (wraps div col) – –
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References

  1. ^ Spanish/Spaniard 2006 American Community Survey Figures
  2. ^ Definition Of Spanish American
  3. ^ 2000 U.S Offical Cencus
  4. ^ 2006 U.S Spanish Origin Statistics
  5. ^ 1990 U.S Census population by "STATE"
  6. ^ The Hispanic Role In America
  7. ^ 1980 Census of Total U.S Population
  8. ^ 1980,U.S Census by State
  9. ^ 1990 & 1980 State population comparisons


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