This study examines short stories written by ethnic and women writers between the 1880s and 1920s and focuses on these stories' reflection of changes in the United States, particularly those caused by (im)migration and emancipation movements. Ethnicity and gender are the guiding categories in the analysis of migration, miscegenation, and transculturation in cultural contact zones. This detailed investigation gives voice to a broad spectrum of writers from Native, African-, German-, Jewish-, Chinese-, and Mexican-American backgrounds, ultimately leading to a reconsideration of the canon of American literature. The evolving patterns developed in Migration - Miscegenation - Transculturation provide a context for the analysis of ethnicity and gender in Western societies in the twenty-first century.