Introduction

Nordic scholars have shown how the historical legacies of Nordic colonial mentalities and outmoded race theories have influenced media, policy making, and professional practices within Nordic welfare states. In recent years, Nordic poetry collections have begun to include the study of whiteness in the creation of Nordic national identities. Between 1820 and 1924, approximately 1,168,000 Swedes emigrated to the United States, making up the largest emigrant contingent of any Nordic country. A majority of immigrants from the Nordic countries settled in the Upper Midwest, including the states of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. A number of immigrants from the Nordic countries also settled in other parts of the United States. In the United States during the eighteenth century, whites enjoyed special privileges in an already multi-ethnic republic. The proclamation that "all free white persons" had citizenship rights, according to the 1790 Naturalization Act, underscored this privilege.