NOT QUITE WHITE: THE ETHNO-RACIAL IDENTITY OF A PORTAGEE

Rui Vitorino Azevedo

Charles Reis Felixs Through a Portagee Gate portrays the life of a rst generation
American of Portuguese descent and his fathers own immigrant experience. In
fact, it is Charless introspection into Joes (struggling) acceptance of American
society and values that resonate throughout this auto/biography1 as one of
the main themes. As Joes memories are imaginatively recalled and penned by
Charles, the uid alternation between voices exposes the underlying qualms
shared by both father and son. However, one main difference persists insofar
as Joes overwhelming pride in his Portugueseness is juxtaposed to Charless
own misgivings regarding his ethnic background. Thus, it is Charless
identication as an imperfect American (Felix 177) accompanied by the
growing fears of being exposed as a total imposter (275) that delineate the
terminus a quo for my reading of this narrative.
By concentrating essentially on the rst section of the auto/biography,
titled I Come to California, I will consider Charless initial inquiries about
his mode of self-identication and relate it to the historical denigration of
the Portuguese in America. It is therefore the connotation of the Portagee as
non-white or inferior that leaves Charles uneasy about his ethnic identication.
However, this leads further to the questioning of whether Charles is to be
considered an ethnic autobiographer. In other words, how can the authors
conscious decision to disguise his true ethnicity allow him to represent an
ethnic group? Hence, this brief discussion focuses on two essential premises:
rst, that the author questions his ethnic heritage ab initio because of the
discrimination that Portuguese immigrants and their descendents have
suffered; and second, that Charless battle with the social construction of
this racial or class categorization is a necessary requirement for him to be
considered an ethnic autobiographer.

19

The Hierarchization of the Portagee

Our point of departure towards understanding why Charles initially questions
and then hides association to his ethnic heritage is connected to the structure of
the rst section of the auto/biography. Although it begins in medias res as the
narrator moves westward to Escamil, California, and which can be equated
to his fathers own migratory experience from Setbal, Portugal to New
Bedford, Massachusetts in 1915 the opening chapter is actually centered on
Francis A. Walkers ethnocentric attitudes towards immigrants. Surprisingly
enough, it is an excerpt from Walkers essay titled Immigration, published
in the Yale Review in 1893, which inaugurates Felixs auto/biography.2 In fact,
every other chapter in the rst section gives voice to this prejudiced warning
against mass immigration into the United States with quoted passages from
the above essay, thus offering an intriguing oscillation between Felixs
story and Walkers chapters. Felixs narrative therefore begins in Walkers
chauvinistic tone:
So open, and broad, and straight, now, is the channel by which immigration
is being conducted to our shores, that there is no reason why every foul and
stagnant population in Europe, from Ireland to the Ural Mountains, should
not be completely drained off into the United States. The stream has fairly
begun owing and it will continue to ow so long as any difference of level,
economically speaking, remains; so long as the least reason appears for the
broken, the corrupt, the abject, to think that they might be better off here
than there. (19)

The books opening is not only strongly xenophobic, but also based on a
nativist ideal.3 Moreover, Walkers restriction on immigration relies on the
character traits of the new immigrants which he deems as being economically
and culturally inferior to that of the native American population.
This stereotypical notion of inferiority is indeed troublesome for Charles
and it rst surfaces as a hint about his ethnic misgivings in the exchange of
words with the rancher named Tom Post when his move to California might
be perceived as the need to get away from a community where he was labeled
as Portagee (Felix 22). In fact, the ensuing dialogue posits some differences
between us-Americans, to which Charles hoped to belong, and themforeigners. Furthermore, this division is routinely based on an economic and
class distinction between white Anglo Americans and the Portuguese. Thus,
it is at the outset of the auto/biography that we become well aware of the
stereotypical reputation that the Portuguese have gained for being stingy.
This is reinforced by Toms pernicious designation of the Portagee gate
which is understood as a hasty solution to a good gate since the Portagees
are too tight to spend any money and do the job right (22).
A predisposition for stinginess is not just the reason why anyone
should question his own ethnic heritage. In fact, what leads Charles to mask
20

Op. Cit. N. 12 (2010)

his ethnicity is the class distinction inherent in the designation of the term
Portagee along with its association to a status of inferiority that is also
racially felt as will be shown. This is reinforced by the terms usage as a
derogatory ethnic slur that relegates the Portuguese to an inferior standing
when compared to white Anglo Americans. In this context, the dialogue
between Charles and Harry is a good illustration of the issue. Harry is a
westerner who settled in California and expresses fears that his daughter will
elope with a Portagee. The prejudice betrayed by his words clearly affects
the autobiographer and at the same time shows that Harry is not aware of his
ethnic afliation:
I was traveling incognito. I had long since learned not to advertise my
nationality. But those chilling words were like a bucket of ice-cold water
dumped over me. I dont want a Portagee in the family. They cleared the head
of any fuzzy sentiments in a hurry. Just when I was lulled into thinking I
was a member of the club, I was being cast out.4 (42-3)

Although hurt, Charles admits that they should come to him as no surprise
given Harrys own attitude towards the Mexicans. The reason for this is that
the majority of rural Californians place the Portuguese and Mexicans on a
similar social scale: at the bottom are the blacks, followed by the Filipinos, the
Mexicans and the Portuguese, who are only slightly above them (43).
Placing the Portuguese on a social or class scale is not limited to those
who identify themselves as white American for the Spanish had similar
beliefs. In an attempt to ingratiate a Spanish lady who knew about Charless
ethnic background, he suggests that the Portuguese and Spanish people are
almost the same. To this he is reminded by the lady that the two people are
very different given the fact that Portugal is very poor and that they have
nothing (29). In other words, it is this economic meagerness that has shaped
Portuguese culture and character in the popular view. Moreover, it is this
economic difference that also allows the Spaniards to be placed above the
Portuguese on the social scale.
At this point in the narrative Charles questions himself on the connection
between Portuguese character and poverty. He tries to come up with an
answer by drawing on examples of Americanization from his home town,
in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which he illustrates through stories. The
stories told are of Portuguese men who changed their names for business
reasons and patriots who worked two shifts to support the war and elevate
their nancial wellbeing (31), thus offering testimonials as to why these
immigrants should be considered American. The presumption here is that
in order to become American meaning white and be treated equally,
one has to assimilate and achieve a high socioeconomic standing. However,
this example also demonstrates Charless initial move to accept his ethnic
Rui Vitorino Azevedo

21

background as he becomes cognizant of the social blindness that does not

provide any evidence on peoples actual traits (43).
Although Charles seems fully assimilated and enjoys his position as
an elementary school teacher in Escamil, it is noteworthy to mention that
he continues to feel this stratied divide between us and them. Here,
however, his disguise is not successful and he is consigned to occupy the
role of the latter. This kind of self-marginalization is exposed when he
decides not to attend a one day painting event at the principals house
because he couldnt afford to give up the day (36, emphasis added). Not
becoming one of the fellows takes on an interesting turn when he describes
another principal that he calls White-ass (37). He says: I called him
White-ass because I found his pale blue eyes, his wispy blond moustache,
and his general excessive whiteness to be an irritant (37). There is a clear
division presented here regarding the private and public sphere because such
designation is only used in the family setting. Nevertheless, we must also
consider that it is Charless constant dismissal from the us category which
ultimately places him as an inferior other that leads to his responding with an
infuriating reaction.
The focus on ethnic inferiority is also dealt with in the chapter titled
Polocks and Other People which can be found in the third section of the
narrative. This chapter looks at the epithets and negative stereotypes of
several ethnic groups including Jickies, Frogs, Polocks and Portagees, with
a sprinkling of Jews for avor (317). Despite Charless afrmation that they
were all equal because they were foreigners or children of foreigners,
the fact remains that the autobiographer was, at a time in his life, affected by
the way the Portuguese were described and identied as dumb. Felix writes:
I heard the two words dumb and Portagee put together so many times,
that I had periods of doubting my own smartness. Could they be right? Were
all Portagees dumb? (319).5 Such an uneasiness reveals someone who is
attempting to move beyond memories and experiences of manifest bigotry
and ethnic stereotyping.
As a matter of fact, these are stereotypes that have no critical foundation
as shown in Leo Paps The Portuguese-Americans, which is a book intent on
examining some of the inherent character traits attributed to the Portuguese
at the start of the twentieth century. Actually, the large number of sources that
he presents makes reference to the Portuguese as:
(1) Law-abiding, obedient, peaceful, orderly. Sometimes a negative
connotation is added: docile, subservient, lacking in initiative. In this
connection, also, crime statistics are cited showing the Portuguese ethnics
to have a very low crime rate. (But a rise in juvenile delinquency among
the second generation was noted on some occasions.) (2) Hard-working,
industriousparticularly in relation to farm work. They rarely turn to

22

Op. Cit. N. 12 (2010)

public welfare or charity. (But some American-born descendants show

less industry and do apply for relief.) (3) Thrifty, frugal, sober. (4)
Honest, loyal. They dont like to go into debt and they pay promptly.
(5) Cleanly, neat. They keep their homes clean despite poverty and slum
conditions. (6) Quick-tempered, impulsive; melancholy, gentle;
generous, hospitable. (Pap 119)

Paps nding of the Portuguese as frugal is reected in Charless own

questioning when he states that the dening character of the Portuguese is
based on Aesops fable The Ant and the Grasshopper where the credo is to
save for a day in need (Felix 57). Nonetheless, Paps research clearly does not
reect the bigoted opinions of the many people Charles comes across in the
Californian section of the auto/biography. It merely shows that the spiteful
stereotypes of the Portuguese are not only unfounded but also fabricated.
Furthermore, it is demonstrative of how stereotypes based on ethnic or class
hierarchizations such as these affect the authors self-identication.

The Portagee as Colored

The rst section of Through a Portagee Gate focuses on the stereotypical
attributes that distinguish the Portagees in terms of class. Nevertheless, it can
be argued that this term also carries an embedded racial connotation that
affects social standing. In other words, it is the past meaning and usage of
Portagee as colored and its linkage to class that affects the way in which
Charles identies himself in the rst section of the narrative. Therefore, I
fathom the authors choice to masquerade his identity as a result, in part, of
how the Portuguese have been historically attributed with the racially charged
category of non-white along with all the ensuing implications this may have
on self-identication.6 Furthermore, I believe that it is Charless intent to ght
against this categorization that actually allows him to be identied as an
ethnic autobiographer.
What actually sets the stage for attributing the Portuguese a racial category
other than white is linked to the cultural and linguistic afnities between the
Portuguese and Cape Verdean immigrants. This is expressly shown in Leo
Paps work as he explains: since Cape Verdeans tended (until fairly recently)
to identify themselves as Portuguese, the popular impression arose among
many New Englanders earlier in this century that the Portuguese ethnic
group in general, including the Azorean majority, was more or less colored
(Pap 114).7 However, this classication was not limited to the United States
because Pap also observes that the Cape Verdeans were commonly known
as Portuguese Pokiki in older Hawaiian pronunciation not as Negroes!
in local statistics taken from the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1853 (32).

Rui Vitorino Azevedo

23

Conjoining the Portuguese and Cape Verdeans into the same racial
category is further complicated, as Marilyn Halters ethnographic study duly
notes, because the Cape Verdeans or Afro-Portuguese population is seen as
never having belonged to a clearly dened racial or ethnic group given their
ability to traverse the worlds of black and white (Halter xiv). In fact, Charless
father Joe also makes reference to the Cape Verdeans by distinguishing them
from the blacks in Philadelphia who are truly black and bad. In his
understanding: What we call blacks here are in reality Cape Verdeans. They
are not very dark, are more brown-like, and they live at peace with us (Felix
115). What is interesting about this afrmation is that Joe is not abiding by
the dualistic racial system in America where people can only be identied as
either black or white. Moreover, it is suggestive that the racial categorization
of the Cape Verdeans is socially constructed as opposed to a sole reliance on
biology or rigid racial structures. In other words, Joes perception of the Cape
Verdeans is based on his own validation of the cultural similarities between
the two ethnic groups, as opposed to the exclusively physical constitution.
Although Charles never identies himself as colored, he is quite
cognizant of how physical appearance can be a cause for marginalization or
prejudice.8 This can be seen in the auto/biography when Charles encounters
a woman named Lois Bonhoffer. Being a former Navy wife, she had divided
society into a ranking of three classes, meaning her superiors, her equals and
everyone else (Felix 47). Unsure of where to place Charles because of her
own unawareness as to his lineage, she seems to be uneasy. Charles points
out that what must be bothering her is his physical appearance: the dark
suspicion rose in her head that I was some bizarre specimen, an Arab perhaps
or a Jew, God forbid, a Mexican. Was I masquerading as an American? (48,
emphasis added). This womans insistence on satisfying her own curiosity
leads her to ask him about his surname. To this, she is told that it is a French
name pronounced Fay-leaks. Although Charles is accepted as someone who
belongs to the right sort of people by means of this subterfuge, a series of
questions on why he assumes a different identity is suggested.
A further illustration of Charless need to disguise his Portuguese heritage
is provided by his given Portuguese proper name and its Americanized
version. His father has strong feelings against it: You know, you shouldnt
call yourself Charley It is not your name. Your name is Carlos. That is what
it says on your birth certicate (Felix 200). Although Charles states that his
parents only called him Carlos on special occasions, he recognizes that he
has had a hard time proving who he is (Felix 201). Once again, this entails
his initial desire to become an invisible white American which is based on
the belief that he must assimilate into the dominant society in order to be
accepted and valued as an equal.
24

Op. Cit. N. 12 (2010)

This idea of assimilation is highly connected to the melting pot9 concept

of identity which reverts to Crvecoeurs Letters from an American Farmer. In
these letters, we see the formation of a new race of men as the immigrants to
the United States lose their old identities and leave behind ancient prejudices
and manners (Crvecoeur and Manning 44).10 However, Crvecoeurs
melting pot stressed the supremacy of a white Anglo American society
and way of life which conicts with valuing a persons ethnic culture or
language.11 By making this distinction and excluding many ethnic and racial
groups that today comprise the hub of Americanness, this concept of identity
can be interpreted as an indicator of discrimination as opposed to effective
integration. Indeed, this is applicable to Charles who tries to assimilate and
by doing so is confronted with discrimination.
Regarding the relationship between the Portuguese and the melting pot,
Clyde W. Barrows historical account of Portuguese immigration into the
United States shows that many Portuguese-Americans have also embraced
this concept since it allows them to be simultaneously Portuguese and
American (30). However, Barrow further illustrates in his surveys carried out
between 1999 and 2000 that about a third of Portuguese-Americans have felt
discrimination based on their ethnicity or race (29). He also explains that there
seems to be an even divide between the respondents when asked if applying
for minority status would lead to any real benet regarding education or job
opportunities (29). The minority status that is being referred to dates back
to the Ethnic Heritage Program enacted into law in 1972, which as Robert
Harney reveals: atly described Portuguese as one of the nations seven
ofcial ethnic/racial minorities. This was in addition to Negro, American
Indian, Spanish-surnamed American, Oriental, Hawaiian natives and
Alaskan natives (117). Adhering to this minority status clearly presented the
Portuguese with a dilemma because it entailed not only how the Portuguese
are identied by others, but also how they come to identify themselves.12 In
other words, accepting this status meant embracing a non-white identity,
while most ambitioned to become American and join mainstream society.
However, I believe that this is more in tune with the consideration of
the Portuguese as hybrids or non-whites throughout the world and more
specically how their racial categorization is socially created and based on
a class distinction as opposed to an actual color division. One such example
is given by Robert Harneys study of the Portuguese in Bermuda who have
been phenotypically distinguished from other white settlers. Once again,
the Portygees, term often used to refer to Cape Verdeans as well, were not
seen as real whites by both English-speaking North Europeans and free
Afro-Caribbeans, but rather as indentured labor or peons, another variety of
coolie-men (Harney 115). Harveys argument moves on to demonstrate that
Rui Vitorino Azevedo

25

other peoples who resented acknowledging the whiteness of the Portuguese

include the African and the Indian populations of Guyana who referred
to them as Potagees, and the Afrikaans who referred to the Portuguese
settlers in South Africa as wit-kafrs (white-niggers) (116). Moreover, this
study evinces that the classication of the Portuguese in Bermuda as nonwhite was socially constructed, given their status as unskilled laborers. In this
manner, it allows us to see that racial categorization can also be based on a
class distinction as opposed to an actual color divide. That is, the role that the
Portuguese played in the local economies of where they settled along with the
intrinsic social structure of each land is what has allowed them to be racially
classied.
The non-white typology of the Portuguese can also be found in a study
carried out by James A. Geschwender, Rita Carroll-Seguin and Howard
Brill concerning their ethnic making in Hawaii. In this particular case the
Portuguese were not called Haole, which is a term that referred to any white
foreigner. Curiously enough, they had their own racial category which was
classied as Local meaning Caucasian and Other (Geschwender et al. 515).
According to these authors, ethnicity is not automatically attributed when a
group is different in terms of their physical and/or cultural characteristics
but it is rather based on a class struggle and structure. This social distinction
between the Haoles and Portuguese thus stresses the relationship between
class and ethnicity. It also permits us to understand how a racial category can
be constructed at the margins of a color divide based on phenotype.
At the same time, as this study shows, a problem of lexicon arises
between the concept of being white and Caucasian. As Matthew Frye Jacobson
discusses in Whiteness of a Different Color, the history of racial classication
has changed with each successive wave of European immigration.13 In other
words, people are not born Caucasian but somehow made so (3). Race
then has to be understood as an invented category that changes as societies
evolve. And so there is a misuse of the term colored when referring to the
Portuguese because it represented an assumption at a particular time that
being white could not include cultural or class differences. Therefore, the racial
connotation attributed to the term Portagee resides in both a cultural and
economic sphere of difference. This means that the class marker that relegated
the Portuguese to a poor and uneducated status is what should be understood
as Jacobsons designation of inborn racial characteristics (21). Further to the
point, the use of race as an identity marker does not rely solely on a subjective
identity. In this particular case there are objective criteria which are used by
others in categorizing the Portuguese and it is these racialized biases that lead
Charles Reis Felix to initially question his ethnic background.
Nonetheless, it is quite clear in Through a Portagee Gate that a matter of
26

Op. Cit. N. 12 (2010)

choice persists regarding Charless mode of self-identication.14 Viewing

racial or ethnic identity in this manner simultaneously problematizes and
reveals the malleability of these categories for many ethnic groups, including
the Portuguese, and Charles Reis Felix in particular. It further shows how
enigmatic race relations may be envisioned in these days, a situation that leads
Richard Alba to the following conclusion: fundamental changes to ethnoracial cleavages can take place (Blurring the Color Line 6). One of the ways
in which this is achieved is through social mobility where socioeconomic
success can ultimately lead an ethnic minority to identify with and be fully
incorporated into white mainstream American society a position that
Charles apparently enjoys.15 However, Albas reference to the ethno-race
combination is also important because the current use of racial and ethnic
identities in the United States allows race to signify an ethnicity or vice-versa.
In this sense it seems that ethnicity is still being used to replace race when
distinctions need to be made.

The Turning of the Page

In the current context of Portuguese immigration, the cultural values of the
more recent immigrants are not the same as their predecessors. The same can
be said of their children whose detachment from their ethnic heritage arises as
they choose the language and customs of their adoptive society. Nonetheless,
even though American identity is and has always been an opening process,
there seems to be a gap that naturally leads people to search for their ethnic
self. This seems to be the case for Charles Reis Felix who, in Through a Portagee
Gate, chooses to reveal his true identity to a family from the Azores when
he begins to speak to the elementary-age children in Portuguese. By doing
so, he is acknowledging the importance of language in retaining his ethnic
identity. This can also be illustrated in the encounter with Mr. Oliveira who is
the janitor at his school, as shown in the following passage:
Strangely enough, I did not mind the interruption. I welcomed it. I wanted
to hear Portuguese spoken. That language which had surrounded me
in my childhood, as plentiful as air, not valued, and then lost, forgotten,
had come back in his person, with phrases and expressions, echoes from
my childhood, precious slivers of memory, now valued, coin of the realm,
gold. In his speech I felt an overwhelming sense of loss, a world now gone
forever. (53)

It is the search for this lost world that becomes one of the central themes in the
book as Charles gives voice to his immigrant father and lets him tells his own
life story in Parts II and III, thus showing how ethnocentric categorization and
negative stereotyping towards Portuguese immigrants is misleading.

Rui Vitorino Azevedo

27

Charles is therefore capable of crossing boundaries by giving life to

his fathers stories of immigrant experience and his own as an American of
Portuguese descent. In this sense, the title of the autobiography becomes an
appropriate metaphor for the authors reconciliation with his ethnic identity.
Furthermore, as Charles builds on and creates his fathers as well as his own
memories, his own self-identication as an imperfect American shifts
and transforms as Americanization begins to look more like ethnicization
as opposed to becoming white. In other words, being an imperfect
American no longer entails a negative connotation, but rather includes a
newfound richness that he is intent on expressing, by recapturing and feeling
comfortable with his ethnic identity.
If Charles Reis Felix can be considered an ethnic autobiographer, then he
has been called upon to be the voice of the majority of Portuguese immigrants,
who like so many other ethnic groups have felt the need to assimilate based
on the belief that ethnic differences were demeaning and prevented a social
climb or wellbeing but then slowly moved to a rediscovery of their ethnic
identity in the more pluralistic era of the 1970s. In fact, Charless autobiography
becomes the story of a representative character as his experience may describe
that of many Portuguese-Americans in the past as well as in the present day.
These are lives that have perhaps gone through their own ethnic revival in an
attempt to free themselves from the strictures of what has been historically
considered a subordinate ethno-racial identity.
Thus, American identity cannot but be a complex conguration when
we consider the successive waves of immigration into the United States. The
motivation for those who rst arrived entailed a spiritual struggle that crossed
over into an economic one for ensuing generations. However, each of those
immigrant populations faced the same challenge of self-denition which has
always been a complex mediation between their cultural backgrounds and
the newfound experiences in their adoptive society. American identity and
society today has to be understood as an admixture of immigrant peoples
and cultures. Furthermore, the creation of a culturally pluralistic nation is not
effortless with the juxtaposition of so many inherent differences regarding
class, ethnicity, race and religion. And yet, it has been the race issue that has
marked American history and sparked literary debate time and time again.
With each successive new wave of immigration, we can only assume that
authors like Charles Reis Felix will continue to give us the opportunity to
address the ever-expanding boundaries of ethnic identity and inquire into
societal relationships in this age of postracial issues.

28

Op. Cit. N. 12 (2010)

NOTES
1

Auto/biography refers to the actual situation of Felixs book as an autobiography,

the story of his life, which frames the biography of the father as told by the
autobiographer. For more on the interrelatedness between these two genres see
Sidonie and Watsons (2010) proposed denition and distinction (256).
2
It should be noted that Francis A. Walker (1840-97) was president of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology at the time of this publication and was considered a
distinguished economist and educator. For a more elucidating commentary see
Francis A. Walker on Restriction of Immigration into the United States which
was published in the Population and Development Review in 2004.
3
This is echoed in another article by Walker which was published in the June 1896
issue of The Atlantic Monthly and is titled Restriction of Immigration. In it he
iterates the need to prevent new arrivals from Europe in order to protect the
American rate of wages, the American standard of living, and the quality of
American citizenship from degradation through the tumultuous access of vast
throngs of ignorant and brutalized peasantry from the countries of eastern and
southern Europe (822).
4
What is interesting and rather contradictory in the autobiographers feelings about
being cast out is that it also helps Charles come to terms with his identity. He
writes: I confess, I felt a secret pleasure in being cast out, a verication. It was
where I wanted to be, where I felt at home. Anywhere else and I felt inauthentic
(Felix 43).
5
This can be compared to his fathers own fears of being identied as a dumb
greenhorn (86) or a simpleton (96).
6
A study that reects this non-white categorization and which may have affected
the type of racism that Charles encounters can be found in Donald Reed Tafts
Two Portuguese Communities in New England, which was rst published as a
Ph.D. dissertation in 1923. This study, subsequently published in book form,
focuses on the mores and racial constitution of the Portuguese as a semi-negroid
type (18). Taft arrives at this conclusion by tracing the physical characteristics
or anthropology of the Portuguese in the mainland which he believes differs
from those in the islands. Furthermore, he suggests possible differences in the
racial types of different islands (22). Attributing to the Portuguese this racial
composition and distinction clearly entails Portugals contact with the Moors,
along with the colonization and slave trade period during the sixteenth and
following centuries.
7
The reason the rst generations of Cape Verdeans immigrating to the United States
identied themselves as Portuguese is related to the fact that Cape Verde only
achieved independence from Portugal in 1975. Thus, in terms of citizenship
and national identity they were Portuguese (see Williams xvi). Although this
association may have reinforced the perception of the Portuguese as non-white,
it was also a reection of the concept of race in America in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth century where most immigrants who were not Nordic or
Anglo-Saxon were seen as being biologically different and inferior. For further
discussion on this scientic racism and how Jews and other Europeans were
denigrated, see Paula S. Rothenberg (2008).
8
By way of comparison, Francisco Cota Fagundess memoir, Hard Knocks: An AzoreanAmerican Odyssey, presents many similarities to Charles Reis Felixs in that both
attempt to overcome their inferiority status by creating a mask that allows them

Rui Vitorino Azevedo

29

to disguise themselves. In Fagundess case, this entailed the Americanization of

his name when he moved to California. Yet, even more remarkable is that he
felt racially inferior as his natural tawny color (13) seemed to symbolize his
low-born status (37). In this line of thought, it seems only natural that his
godmother who aspired his social prominence would attempt to bleach him
in the Azores by forcing him to wash his face in urine (22). Another example of a
Portuguese immigrant who has experienced racial discrimination is Manuel Mira.
He writes: I left Portugal and immigrated to Brazil where I lived for ve years.
Although the language is the same, I was discriminated against and recognized
that I was not one of them because I had lighter skin. After ve years in Brazil,
I came to the United States in 1957 and then to Toronto, Canada, where I lived for
the next 16 years. Again, I felt discrimination because of the language difference
and the color of my skin. I was not blonde; I had dark brown hair and brown eyes.
In Brazil, I stood out because I was lighter, and in Canada, I stood out because I
was darker (Mira xv-xvi). Despite this personal account, Miras book focuses on
the Melungeons and relates the discrimination and prejudice they experienced.
9
Lynette Clemetsons article, which appeared in a Newsweek special report,
Redening Race in America, claims that Americans are melting together like
never before as the growing rate of interethnic marriages are reshaping current
concepts of ethnicity (62). Although invisibility has its rewards, the couples
she interviews state that whether or not future generations are a part of the
melting pot depends on how American diversity develops, thus emphasizing the
malleability of ethno-racial categories. For a more recent study on assimilation and
intermarriage that stresses the importance of ethnicity over race, see Morgan (2009).
10
This is suggested in Crvecoeurs opening question What is an American? in
Letter III to which he replies: He is neither an European, nor the descendent of
an European: hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will nd in no other
country (44). However, this follows the no less pertinent question whence
came all these people? which arouses the following response in Crvecoeur:
They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, and Swedes.
From this promiscuous breed, that race, now called Americans, have arisen. The
Eastern provinces must indeed be excepted, as being the unmixed descendents of
Englishmen. I have heard many wish that they had been more intermixed also:
for my part, I am no wisher, and think it much better as it has happened (42,
emphasis added).
11
In this manner, the melting pot can be compared with classical assimilation theory
which Dulce Maria Scott argues has been criticized for the blocked mobility
experienced by exploited minority ethnic groups that have been prevented from
assimilating due to racism, discrimination and segregation (Scott 44).
12
This is argued in Miguel Monizs recent essay which refers to the debate on whether
the Portuguese should accept this minority status as late as 1973 in the Portuguese
Congress in America (409).
13
This can also be seen in Warren and Twines essay which shows how the Irish
historically occupied a separate racial category. According to them, the Irish
are classied as people of color prior to the Civil War given their physical
distinctiveness, including eye and skin color, facial conguration, and physique
(203). In addition, they revert to some of the adjectives previously used to describe
the Irish, such as: low-browed and savage, groveling and bestial, lazy and
wild, [and] simian and sensual (Warren and Twine 203). For more on the Irish
and their racial identity see Ronald Bayor (2003). For a look at other European

30

Op. Cit. N. 12 (2010)

immigrant groups that were placed above African and Asian Americans but
below whites such as the Sicilians and southern Italians who came to the
United States as contact laborers and were called guineas, term also used to
designate the Portuguese but originally used in reference to African slaves from
the northwest coast of Africa, see Barrett and Roedigers article Inbetween
peoples: Race, Nationality, and the New Immigrant Working Class.
14
On the other hand, it can be argued that racial or ethnic identity does not involve a
choice since race has long been understood as pertaining to biology and ethnicity
to culture. This common distinction is made in the Websters Unabridged Dictionary
(see Alcoff, 103) and is also supported by both Morgan (2009) and Browder (2000).
However, there lies an intrinsic connection between both concepts as shown in
the entries for ethnic/ethnicity in the Oxford English Dictionary (1961) and its
supplement (1971): pertaining to or having common racial, cultural, religious or
linguistic characteristics, esp. designating a racial or other group within a larger
system (quoted in Sollors 5, emphasis added). This is accompanied by references
to gentile, heathen, [and] pagan, along with inferences to exotic and foreign
(quoted in Sollors 3-5). According to the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, its
entry for ethnicity is dened as identity with or membership in a particular
racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that groups customs, beliefs,
and languages (Hirsch, Kett and Trel 432). As ethnicity and race become nearly
interchangeable in these two dictionaries, with the notion of foreign or unAmerican persisting in the former, the latter is more inclusive by concluding
with references to minority groups, immigrants and an indication for the reader
to compare with the entry for melting pot, which as we know can also be a
source for discrimination.
15
This can be understood within the current construction of race in America, [where]
the Portuguese are considered to be white and as such do not face racial barriers
as they integrate socially, economically and biologically into American society
(Scott 47).

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