Regaining ethnic ancestry and heritage: 'roots' identity as cultural citizenship of Lithuanian immigrant descendants in Texas

Case study of the application of identity empowerment and cultural citizenship by descendants of nineteenth century Lithuanian immigrants to Texas aims, first, to point out the issue of ethnic ancestry related to the group identity of the mainstream American population. In order to show the patterns of how cultural descent or ethnic background is perceived, felt and handled, the ways of Lithuanian ancestry and the enactment of ‘roots’ in Texas are considered. A further focus is on the activities of the Lithuanian descendants reclaiming local heritage associated with the ‘pioneers of Texas prairies’, who fought on both sides of the American Civil War and, over the generations and through intermarriage, almost merged, first into hyphenated German-American, and later into mainstream American society.