Quote Originally Posted by cajunscot
Chris,

Perhaps I'm not understanding your meaning here: are you saying that those early immigrants who maintained their connections to Scotland through Scottish culture, such as Highland attire, while at the same time became citizens of the Republic, were not "Scottish-Americans"? I certainly see them as that; proud of their past, but also proud of being citizens of the United States. Please correct me if I am interpreting this wrong, as I have been known to do that on many occasions (just ask my dear wife!)

As far as Wikipedia goes, just because it is easily accessible doesn't mean that it is a good source. Part of my job as a librarian is to educate students that there are much better resources out there than it; they may not be as easily accessible, but from an accuracy standpoint, they are much, much more reliable. As someone who attended college, I'm sure you value accurate and reliable resources just as much as I do. That was my point.

Todd
Todd,

Certainly those first folks you specified were the original Scottish-Americans, I didn't mean to deminish them in any way. I think the disconnect between us is that I'm referring mostly to folks more like me, generations removed from the first immigrants in my lineage. The "Great Melting Pot" is a very slow melt at best and its effects are seen more profoundly by later generations, partly because 2nd, 3rd and on generations begin to see themselves simply as American, often unaware of their own heritage. It's that slow melt that I think produced the Texas Outfit I've referred too ... my kids actually think it is all original Texan, oblivious to the fact that all parts of it were derived from somewhere else.

It's this phenominon that I'm trying to articulate, not very well, I'm afraid. I'm at least 5 generations from the first Webb in my own lineage to come over here from Ireland. In between the first and myself are whole generations who lived in different States finally showing up in Texas in 1890. All these different heritages blended together pretty much to make me the Texan I am now ... I've really nothing to show for my Scottish heritage but a SportKilt in the Stuart Royal Tartan. My son has no interest in the least about his own Scottish heritage. In a sense I'm the last in the line of Scots-Irish in my family, my son is simply a Texan.

I don't believe my experience is unique. Maybe my son will eventually be more interested but the fact is that he is only half as Scottish as me and I'm barely Scottish at all ... Begining from the first immigrant from the period you described until me the Scottish heritage in my blood has been so thoroughly blended with the Irish, the American Indian, the American Southerner, the Confederate rebel and finally the Texan that I've become exactly what I've been trying hard to describe, a member of the generation on the brink of forgetting where it all started.

So we come to the kilt. In the center of the world of Scottish Tradition and heritage is the Scottish National Dress, the whole kilt outfit. No doubt a few, maybe many, of the first immigrants showed up with an outfit just like it. But for me, two centuries later, all that is really left of the outfit is the kilt itself and it isn't even made like the original. Some are not even tartan, they're solid, cotton, Americanized, distilled, mere cousins of the Scottish Dress my distant relative once wore. The modern kilt is only a little more Scottish than I am. We both share the same heritage, but just as my own heritage consists of elements from outside of Scotland so do the elements that make up the SportKilt I'm wearing right now. We are both danged close to just being plain ole American. I really don't like that for either of us.

Possibly I can truly be accused of wishful thinking, as Mike said ... it is my wish to honor my own heritage, even honor the Scots for bringing me the kilt, but my personal heritage is a long distance from Scotland both by time and space. My kilt is a tie to that distant past, but even more it is an answer to a health issue, a weapon against the relentless heat of Texas, a clothing option far more comfortable than most any other and a garment that shouts confidence and masculinity. It has evolved beyond a simple reminder of my heritage and become a tool of daily use, a common denominator of my daily dress, it has become part of my modern wardrobe. I don't wish for the kilt to become just another wardrobe choice. I don't wish for it to be simply Scotish ... I'd like it to be as much mine as it is anyone else's. What I call Scottish American, I guess.

Some here strive hard to keep the Scottish in the kilt. Some, like me, whose Scottish heritage is almost too distant to measure have tried to attach the concept of Freedom to the kilt, believing that this love of freedom is inherited from Scotland. I truly think the kilt is diminshed when it is just another piece of clothing, just another option ... whether for Heritage or for Freedom, both camps see the kilt as more than the cloth it is made of.

As for Wikepedia you are absolutely correct. Still, it's a common source for the common man and it is common men who are increasingly wearing kilts. I don't know for certain how they get their articles but I think it would serve us all well if you and others more informed than myself would look at it and send Wikepedia whatever corrections are necessary. I'm really no scholar, I'm an over-educated blue collar working man who moonlights as a poet. I'm more feelings than facts, I suppose.

Todd, sorry I droned on ... I really don't know if all this will help you and Mike and others to make sense of me or not. I'm just trying hard to describe what I'm seeing. I can't compete with you guys on a scholastic level but much of what I write really does make sense if you can only hear it as coming from the slow talking, laugh easy Texan that I am. Thanks again for your posts, I read and enjoy every word.

Kilt On.

Chris Webb