Historical Encounters: Intergroup Relations in a “Nation of Nationsâ€

Threats to interests and values are the basis of inter-group conflicts. This article looks historically at conflict and cooperation in America to reveal the factors and events involved in both. Various groups—Dutch, Irish, blacks, Chinese, Jews, Italians, Hispanics, and others—are discussed, and interminority relationships in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, and elsewhere are analyzed. Competition over political power, jobs, neighborhoods, and cultural values was often an essential element of conflict, as were explosive issues that quickly and forcefully pitted groups against each other. Also a factor in an emerging conflict was a group's insecurity and defensiveness within the larger society, which had often been the result of nativistic or other attacks on the minority. Interminority affairs are complex, involving both the minority groups' perceptions of each other and their treatment by the majority.