America is a land made by many diverse faces all with the similar history of segregation and discrimination that cannot by forgotten. Through A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki makes clear the life of each ethnic that makes up America from the period when the Viking settled to today. The stories of the English, African, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, and Jews are all intertwined in this book for a nonjudgmental view of the neglected truth. Education plays a key role in the freedom of those who were oppressed by the early European colonizers and still lie vital to the break of success of all who seek freedom. By acknowledging the past atrocities and faults of our lands past, Americans can live to accept each others differences and come together as a community of one. Takaki speaks of each ethnicity in America and gives voices to their oppression by the Europeans when they lived in America.
The fight between Indians and Europeans existed since the day colonizers came onto Indian Territory and claimed their land. As colonizers expanded its land, they pushed the Indians further westward out of their homes. In the 1800's the whites destroyed buffalo, which the Indians depended on for survival while building tens of thousands of miles for railroads. Acceptance of Indians was finally given in the times of need during World War II. Indian-Americans began joining with America's armed forces, and supporting the financial crisis at home until the war ended.
One of the most talked about periods of America's history of discrimination lived in the story of Africans. In 1669, Slavery was made into property by law, so beginning the centuries of oppression by white Americans on people who were not "pure" enough. .
From there Africans were slaves the moment they stepped foot onto America. In the 1800's southerner slaves were kept "Sambo," or in other words ignorant and illiterate, to keep from them defending themselves.