1920s, The Genius of America (1924)
“For this reason neighborhoods should be American and a combination of the best of all the races that live in them. It is here that the school can become the conference center and the council chamber. It is the one American institution to be found in every town free, neutral, and powerful. During the daytime it has the children who can interpret it; during the evening it may have the parents who need it for their community expression. From the schoolhouse come the beliefs that living conditions should be decent, that laws should be enforced for all alike, that there should be no racial discriminations. From participation in neighborhood activities and in governing their own communities, the immigrant will grow into the larger responsibilities of State and nation. In order that American political ideals should be understood by him, they must be lived within his consciousness, in the small radius of his neighborhood, and in that way he must see exemplified whatever American literature, art, music, and science have to give.”
What is Americanization? (1919)
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Frances Kellor 37
American sociologist 1873–1952Related quotes
First address to Congress (24 February 2009)
2009
2010s, 2016, June, Speech about the Orlando Shooting (June 13, 2016)
1920s, Whose Country Is This? (1921)
1920s, The Genius of America (1924)
Context: It is my belief that those who live here and really want to help some other country, can best accomplish that result by making themselves truly and wholly American. I mean by that, giving their first allegiance to this country and always directing their actions in a course which will be first of all for the best interests of this country. They cannot help other nations by bringing old world race prejudices and race hatreds into action here. In fact, they can best help other countries by scrupulously avoiding any such motives. It can be taken for granted that we all wish to help Europe. We cannot secure that result by proposing or taking any action that would injure America. Nor can we secure it by proposing or taking any action that would seriously injure some European country.
Source: Wu Cherng-dean (2016) cited in " On A Rural Taiwanese Island, Modern China Beckons http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/09/11/493255462/on-a-rural-taiwanese-island-modern-china-beckons" on NPR, 11 September 2016.