Summary

This handout provides an overview of immigration to the US, covering the first and second waves. It discusses factors driving migration, the experience of immigrants, and societal impacts. This includes detailed information about European, Asian, and Hispanic immigrants, as well as impacts on the US demographics.

Full Transcript

**The Home - Immigration** "America is God's crucible, the great melting pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming! " **First Wave of Immigration** April 1607 - three ships in the Chesapeake Bay Until the early 1800s, immigration primarily from the British Isles. The Scotch-Iri...

**The Home - Immigration** "America is God's crucible, the great melting pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming! " **First Wave of Immigration** April 1607 - three ships in the Chesapeake Bay Until the early 1800s, immigration primarily from the British Isles. The Scotch-Irish in the late 1700s From about 1820 to 1880, it was the Irish and Germans. The Irish arrived poor - menial jobs, while the Germans went into printing, banking, painting, etc. Many Germans moved to the Midwest, set up farming communities, and maintained old-country traditions. **Second Wave of Immigration** From 1880-1924 some 26mil immigrants arrived -- the largest migration in world history. From eastern and southern Europe Between 1900 and 1909 two-thirds of immigrants came from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. By 1910 - immigrants from Mexico and Japan had moved to the West Coast and Hawaii, but also from the West Indies **Migration** Immigration to the US was part of a world-wide movement Causes: population pressures, land redistribution, and industrialization Religious persecution - pogroms and military conscription against Jews Technological advances in communications and transportation made travel cheaper, quicker, and safer. **Situation in the US** Fear from "new immigrants" - more alien than previous newcomers. Language barriers, new immigrants entered primarily working-class community - increasing industrialization, growing cities with big factories the US was in need of cheap labor. **The Family** Aid from relatives who had already immigrated - obtain jobs, resources to maintain and improve their standard of living. **Melting Pot** A [**salad bowl**] with discrete units may be more accurate. Each group affects and is affected by the preexisting culture, yet the result is more or less a homogenous society that speaks the same language and abides by the same laws. **Migration within the country** Each year millions of families move elsewhere „Restless nation" - migration affects every region Migration - an escape to improved opportunity -- remaking oneself occupationally - advance up the social scale though better jobs **The American Dream** Non-manual jobs and the higher social status and income were attainable (white-collar jobs). Rates of upward occupational mobility were slow but steady between 1870 and 1920 (eg.: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Omaha - one in five manual workers rose to white-collar or owner's positions within ten years. In older cities such as Boston and Philadelphia, upward mobility averaged closer to one in six workers in ten years) **Women and the American Dream** Fathers' or husbands' economic standing usually defined the social position of women. Laws limited what women could inherit, educational institutions blocked their training in such professions as medicine and law, and prevailing assumptions restricted their economic independence. **Non-white citizens** African Americans, American Indians, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans -- their opportunities were even scarcer. Asians particularly encountered discrimination and isolated residential experience in the late 1870s - „The Chinese must go" Result: the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Laying railroads, digging canals, and mining -work was available - possibility. Between 1870 and 1920 the US transformed from a Protestant nation into a diverse collection of Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Muslims. Immigrants from Italy, Hungary, Polish lands and Slovakia joined Irish and Germans to boost the proportion of Catholics in many cities. German and Russian immigrants gave NYC one of the largest Jewish populations in the world. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 - set yearly immigration allocations for each nationality. Annual immigration of a given nationality could not exceed 3% of the number of immigrants from that nation residing in the United States in 1910 (preference for Anglo-Saxon Protestant immigrants) In 1924 Congress replaced it with the National Origins Act -- law that limited annual immigration to 150 000 ppl and set quotas at 2% of each nationality residing in the US in 1890 The Asians were banned completely. By 1960s only 5,7% of Americans were foreign-born (compared with approx. 15% in 1910 and 12.4 in 2005) In 1950, 88% of Americans were of European ancestry; 10% of the population was African American; 2% was Hispanic; and Native Americans and Asian Americans each accounted for about one fifth of 1%. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 ended the quota system that favored some nationalities over others. Later decades - immigrants from Cuba, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and India. Between 1970 and 1990s the US absorbed more than 13 mil new arrivals, most from Latin America and Asia. **Hispanics** Latinos - the fastest-growing group of Americans. In 1970 Latinos comprised 4,5% of the nation's population; it jumped to 9% by 1990s, when one out of three Los Angelenos and Miamians were Hispanic Hispanics created a new hybrid culture that became an important part of the American mosaic - "We want to be here, but without losing our language and our culture. They are richness, a treasure that we don't care to lose." Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 -- to discourage illegal immigration by imposing sanctions on employers who hired undocumented workers, but also provided amnesty to millions who had immigrated illegally before 1982. In 2002 the foreign-born were 11.5% of the US population, a rising trend in recent decades, though still below the 14.5% of 1910.\ \ "The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems," Trump, 2016.

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