What is an American: Part 1

     In American Lit this week we've read four pieces for our new unit, What is an American? The authors were Edwidge Danicat, a Haitian-American, Lorraine Hanberry, an African-American, Walt Whitman, and Chief Seattle, a Native American. I believe these selections were chosen to demonstrate the diversity of America, and to broaden the definition of American. Only one of them was white; one wasn't even born in the U.S. This sparks the question to be answered later in our papers: What do these different people share to be  brought into one group classified as American. Many Americans today don't think of the minority when defining an American. They think of themselves as the "real" Americans, and think America belongs to them, not to someone born  in another country. Another question brought up by this is what is the definition of America? To use Haiti as an example, it's not the U.S. but it is part of "the Americas". It was founded upon the same values as the U.S. Being the  first nation to abolish slavery, Haitians won independence from the French in 1804. Most other countries in the New World went through a similar process: fighting to send their colonizers back home and gain their freedom. Though the United States may have been one of the first to do it, this is one of the main ideals our nation is based on, and one of the defining ideals of an American.