Immigration in Nebraska

We attended a program at the Seward Memorial Library this afternoon where Humanities  speaker John Schleicher gave a program on “Immigration in Nebraska” The emphases was on the German Immigration which is the framework for the novel, “A Good American” by Alex George which is an “All Seward Reads Together”. I might have been the only one in the room of 50-60 people to not raise my hand when he asked those of German descent to do so. He did acknowledge the Czech immigration which along with other nationalities pales in comparison to Germans in this state. He did say that Nebraska has had a higher percentage of Czech immigrants per capita, than any other state in the Country. His personal heritage is of  Germans from Russia and was very close to his immigrant Grandmother who lived until he was a grown man. Some scholars now think of America more as a tossed salad than a melting pot  since ethnic groups tend to cling to many of their foods and traditions. One of the questions he always asks his students is: “How bad would it have to be, for you to leave?”. There was some discussion as to when illegal immigration became a major problem, and it was concluded that there were probably many illegals in this Country and not brought to light  until the time of Social Security Registration in the 1930’s. It was a good program as were the cookies afterwards.