Prejudice can be defined as “Antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group as a whole or toward an individual because he/she is a member of that group.” (Handout. Race and Ethnic Definitions.) For example, when America was being colonized, Europeans were exploited by Anglo- Saxons. “Europeans, although welcomed for their wealth or potential labor, also suffered from English domination." (Handout. Race and Ethnic Definitions.) In Pennsylvania, where the majority of German immigrants settled, German leaders feared the settlers due to their dislike for English customs and language. (Leonard Dinnerstein. Natives and Strangers. P. 20) Europeans such as Germans

were discriminated against through stereotyping, which can be defined as “an overgeneralization associated with a racial or ethnic category that goes beyond existing evidence.” (Handout. Race and Ethnic Definitions) Anglo-Saxon Americans also stereotyped Africans and Native Americans. The prejudice went far beyond generalizing people based on their race, however. The early Americans also acted on their hatred.

Africans and Indians received the worst type of racism. Africans became the property of others, and Indians were slaughtered all over the country. Although not as tortured as these groups, Mexicans were also tormented by racism. “Though they were not as oppressed as Native Americans, who were subjected to genocide as their lands were invaded…the Mexican population nevertheless suffered many indignities.”(Manuel Gonzales. Mexicanos. P. 85) After years of being tortured due to cultural differences, these ethnic groups became stronger. And, eventually, the next generations began to fight against it.

These examples show how prejudice played a key role in United States history. The prejudiced ideas about subordinate ethnic groups often led to racism as feelings of hate got stronger. Racism is “an ideology or belief system which considers a group’s unchangeable physical characteristics to be linked in a direct causal way on psychological or intellectual characteristics, and which on this basis distinguishes between superior and inferior racial groups.”(Handout. Race and Ethnic Definitions) In other words, traits that one is born with can be held against them because they

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