[estheticianI]

On the other hand the US's immigration policy was largely European only, by the standards of the time Irish and Italians were considered ethnics. I understand it is the 1965 immigration act that really opened the door to non-Europeans immigrating to the US.

What do you mean by 'ethnic"? Or, you were socially "white" or not. To a certain period of American history, they weren't. The fanatical Catholicism of the Irish was one of the reasons for this phenomenon.

Come on, between from 1600 to 1800, millions of Amerindians and (Anglo, Dutch and a tiny number of German settlers) lived side by side in a relative friendly manner in US. And two centuries is a long time, on which admixtures happened also. The U.S. was relatively multiracial at those times.

And yes, that was before the mass migration of millions Germans, Scandinavians, Irish and Poles during the 1900 to the U.S. which changed completely the ethnic demography of that country.

However, by as early as the 50s the UK was a firmly multi-ethnic society with visible minorities that had choosen to move there, as opposed to the ancestors of ex-slaves.

Before;

In 1544, five Africans sailed from Africa to Great Britain with Captain John Lok. They were brought to England to train as interpreters and to help develop trade relationships between Africa and Britain. As Great Britain's involvement in the slave trade grew, more blacks came to the country and the interactions between Africans and Britains became motivated by prejudice and racism.

By 1596, a number of African slaves and free blacks were living in Britain. This prompted the queen, Elizabeth I, to order that all Africans be expelled from England in 1601 because she blamed them for creating social problems. The attempt to rid England of blacks did not work because blacks had become a part of English society. Many were free people, and many of those who were slaves were owned by wealthy families who wanted to keep their servants. http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire.../history.shtml