Americanization Movement

Annis N. Shaver

Americanization has been defined as the instruction of immigrants in the English language and U.S. history, government, and culture. The push to Americanize immigrants has continually been a part of American society and education. However, at no time in the history of the United States was this effort as widespread as in the early decades of the twentieth century, particularly between the years 1914 and 1924, an interval referred to as the Americanization period. This entry looks at the roots of assimilationist ideas, the proponents and opponents of the movement, and the implementation and goals of Americanization. Americanization has been a key educational issue since Horace Mann's early nineteenth-century introduction of the concept of the common school. Mann believed the central and fundamental purpose of the public school was to teach good citizenship and democratic participation in order to produce a common culture for the good of society. The first ...

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