ABSTRACT
At the turn of the twentieth century the USA was inundated with voluntary and involuntary immigrants. An avalanche of 27 million voluntary immigrants from southern and eastern Europe arrived between the end of the Civil War and US entry into World War I. These new citizens settled in the cities and learned how to construct their lives as Americans. However, they often confronted people who had real misgivings about their “foreign ways” and insisted that they immediately adopt “American Ways.” These immigrants were expected to learn how to live their lives as ordinary American citizens. How did they do this? We suggest that they used narrative thought to construct their life stories as Americans, and figure out the meaning of “being American” (Bruner, 1986, 1990).
