Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'

This article examines Finnish-American press debates on “Finnishness” in the United States in the aftermath of a 1907 miners’ strike on the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota. Finnish workers had an extremely visible presence in the picket lines. The strike helped in dividing Finnish migrants into t...

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Main Author: Aleksi Huhta
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Helsinki University Press 2014-12-01
Series:Nordic Journal of Migration Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal-njmr.org/articles/148
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author Aleksi Huhta
author_facet Aleksi Huhta
author_sort Aleksi Huhta
collection DOAJ
description This article examines Finnish-American press debates on “Finnishness” in the United States in the aftermath of a 1907 miners’ strike on the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota. Finnish workers had an extremely visible presence in the picket lines. The strike helped in dividing Finnish migrants into two hostile groups, conservatives and radicals, which disagreed vehemently on the question of how Finns should be seen by “Americans”, an often vaguely defined group of people. As the article concludes, Finnish migrants’ understandings of how “Finnishness” should be seen in the United States in the early 1900s were not uniform but a complex mix of different cultural and ideological strains. The paper has broader implications on studies of migrants’ contestations over their visibility in media.
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spelling doaj.art-a8993c6d75f1496f8b0cfbb89cbacc612022-12-22T03:39:12ZengHelsinki University PressNordic Journal of Migration Research1799-649X2014-12-014416817510.2478/njmr-2014-0028136Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'Aleksi Huhta0Department of European and World History, University of TurkuThis article examines Finnish-American press debates on “Finnishness” in the United States in the aftermath of a 1907 miners’ strike on the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota. Finnish workers had an extremely visible presence in the picket lines. The strike helped in dividing Finnish migrants into two hostile groups, conservatives and radicals, which disagreed vehemently on the question of how Finns should be seen by “Americans”, an often vaguely defined group of people. As the article concludes, Finnish migrants’ understandings of how “Finnishness” should be seen in the United States in the early 1900s were not uniform but a complex mix of different cultural and ideological strains. The paper has broader implications on studies of migrants’ contestations over their visibility in media.https://journal-njmr.org/articles/148visibilitymigrationfinnish americansracemedia
spellingShingle Aleksi Huhta
Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'
Nordic Journal of Migration Research
visibility
migration
finnish americans
race
media
title Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'
title_full Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'
title_fullStr Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'
title_full_unstemmed Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'
title_short Debating Visibility: 'Race and Visibility in the Finnish-American Press in 1908'
title_sort debating visibility race and visibility in the finnish american press in 1908
topic visibility
migration
finnish americans
race
media
url https://journal-njmr.org/articles/148
work_keys_str_mv AT aleksihuhta debatingvisibilityraceandvisibilityinthefinnishamericanpressin1908