one hundred percent American

English

Noun

one hundred percent American (plural one hundred percent Americans)

1. (dated, politically incorrect) An American who is white, native-born, and Protestant.
   • 1972, Myron A. Marty, Retracing Our Steps: Studies in Documents from the American Past, Canfield Press, →ISBN, page 211:

     On the other hand, a man with the external earmarks of the old American stock is accepted uncritically as a one hundred percent American. […] For the average Klansman, apparently, one hundred percent Americanism is often identified with the crude and unreasoned emotional enthusiasms that are excited by external symbols such as the flag, the soldier's uniform, or the words of the Declaration of Independence.

Usage notes

• Used by the Ku Klux Klan and other nativist organizations.