The metaphor "melting pot" came from the title of a 1908 play by Israel Zangwill. This is one of a few metaphors used to describe the mixture of race and ethnicity, other labels like "fusion cuisine" or "salad bowl" are similar in topic but the definitions may vary. This brings a question to mind. Is a "melting pot" the breakdown of a group or the beginning of a stronger one?
             A combination of ingredients is what makes America a "melting pot". Different races, ethnicity and cultures co-existing and combining into one civilization are how America developed this identity. Foreigners who enter this country to settle are immigrants and immigration has an affect on both Americans and immigrants themselves. The immigrants who have migrated to America who are trying to find a better life and a fresh start are only parts of the picture. In the early history of America, African Americans and Asian Americans were used for slave labor while the Hispanics and Native Americans were almost being exterminated or pushed out of America. These groups are now the minorities in this country and have intergraded with immigrants forging new cultures by crossing their ethnicities. Whether we like it or not, the combination of America's minorities will sooner or later become the majority of the population and the combination of these minorities creating the "melting pot" needs to be accepted.
             After immigrants, minorities and European groups have co-existed for some time it was inevitable that a new cross breed of ethnicity would emerge from integration, for instance African-Asian American and Irish-Hispanic American. These are just two of many possible combinations that are now a large part of the modern American population. I believe having more than one ethnic background is due to "cultural pluralism" one of four topics in "Models of American Ethnic Relation
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