ABSTRACT
The extensive research on Norwegians in Chicago as presented in a Century of Urban Life: The Norwegians in Chicago before 1930 forms much of the basis for the article. The majority of Norwegian immigrants hailing from rural communities in the homeland and in Chicago dealt with a multi-ethnic urban environment. In discussing whiteness, the article agrees with Ronald Bayor that white racial identity has been overstated and that ethnicity still must be considered, even though groups considered white benefitted in American society in regard to wages and occupational mobility. An urban colony of Norwegians dates from 1836. Their numbers increased greatly from the late 1850s and even more with the immigration of the 1880s. A succession of settlements occurred, the first one on the swampy canal land on the north side of the Chicago River, thereafter in the Milwaukee Avenue area on the northwest side of the Chicago River and finally Humboldt Park and Logan Square, known as “Little Norway.” The most prosperous Norwegians resided in luxurious residences in Wicker Park. Social distinctions among Norwegians in Chicago were more pronounced than in other urban areas. White privilege was on full display among members of the Norwegian elite who made their way into American circles of influence. The series of changing Norwegian neighborhoods became a major factor in upward mobility and social acceptance, from an in-between status to a favorable position in the American ethnoracial hierarchy (Lovoll 1988a; Bayor 2009).
