Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the greatest wave of Irish immigrants made a transatlantic journey to America in the hopes of starting a successful life abroad. The post-famine era brought not only physical change as mass exodus occurred, but also social, economic, and political change that had never before been observed. Colonial, Pre-famine, famine, and post-famine immigrants all made the same journey with comparable intents of improving their socio-economic standings. However, the attitude and demographic of post-famine individuals differed in that they were all self-determined and self-sufficient individuals, whereas the majority of pre-famine and
Most immigrants who came to the U.S had high expectations that they would find wealth but once they arrived they realized their expectations weren’t what they expected. Although, they were disappointed in not finding wealth the conditions in which the U.S was in by the late 1800s were still a lot better than the places they all had left behind to come. The majority of the immigration population anticipation was to find profitable jobs and opportunities. When the large numbers of immigration were migrating to the U.S, it was during the “Gilded Age”, which was the prime time for the country’s expansion of industrialization. This rapid expansion of new industries led to the need of workers which motivated people from other countries to come to
Immigration to America had its benefits and downside. America was the place to go in the 19th century people all around the world immigrated to the US. The US needed rules and regulations on entering the country due to types of things that were happening in Document 2.
As can be seen in documents A-H, from 1880 to 1925, immigration went from being the staple of the American culture to the common enemy of “native” Americans.
The United States of America has, and will always be, a country where immigrants and refugees can migrate to, internally and internationally, to vastly improve their lives. During the late 19th century in the US, there was a massive influx of immigrants from all over the world, as well as movement of people already living in the US to different areas. These people were primarily seeking better job opportunities due to numerous economic issues in foreign countries and social tensions in the post-Reconstruction US. Therefore, the US became much more culturally diverse and areas were inhabited to form mini “hubs” for people of similar ethnicities and races to live together. Although internal migration in the US had a big impact
In the nineteenth century, rates of immigration across the world increased. Within thirty years, over eleven million immigrants came to the United States. There were new types of people migrating than what the United States were used to seeing as well. Which made people from different backgrounds and of different race work and live in tight spaces together; causing them to be unified. Not only did they immigrate to the United States, there were cities all over the world attracting all sorts of individuals. In this essay, I will discuss the variety of people who migrated, why so many people leaned towards immigration, and why the majority of immigrants populated the cities instead of rural areas like their homelands.
The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families. Most of these jobs were labor-intensive, and oftentimes, very dangerous. “These urban immigrants
Urban areas pulled in an assorted populace made up of many ethnicities from around the world. European immigrants filled America amid the late 19th century, pulled in by unrestrained stories of the great American way of life. Three meals a day, the opportunity for a free life, and equality for the social population. Unfortunately, none of these American
The “discovery” by the United States that Europe had inferior and superior races was a result of the large amount of immigration from southern and eastern Europe in the late nineteenth century (Brodkin, 1994). Before this wave of immigration took place, European immigrants had been accepted into the white population. However, the European immigrants who came to the United States to work after 1880 were too numerous and too concentrated to scatter and blend in. Rather, they built working-class ethnic communities in the United States’ urban areas. Because of this, urban American began to take on a noticeably immigrant feel (Brodkin,
An Italian immigrant once said, "I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, found out three things: First, the streets weren't paved with gold; second, they weren't paved at all: and third, I was expected to pave them” (Immigrant). The 1930s in America were a time of hardship for the many migrant workers immigrating to America. During this time, many immigrants wanted to come to America for better job opportunities and for a better life in general. Many American Immigrants were very poor and left everything to come and relocate to the United States, and were not greeted well when they arrived. The three major events that show the struggle of these migrant workers include The great depression,
During the Great Dust Bowl years and through the Great Depression, the terrible weather and severe poverty led to a large number of migrants; in the meantime, they upheld justice, struggled a lot for food and freedom, and they also tried their best to fight for their
For many decades, immigration has been one of the crucial forces in American society. Immigration has had a significant impact on the process of re-shaping American cities, families, education system, culture, racial dynamics, politics, as well as the American labor market. The influence has been shown in the historical evolution of immigration policies. Immigration to America and the changes in the American immigration policies are accompanied by both economic costs and benefits. The immigration policies have had various effects on the performance of the American economy as well as the immigration process itself. The most renowned policies that changed the course of immigration are discussed in the chapters “Immigrant Voters in a Partisan Polity: European Settlers, Nativism, and American Immigration Policy, 1776-1896” and “Two-Tiered Implementation: Jewish Refugees, Mexican Guest Workers, and Administrative Politics.” These policies arguably changed the course of American history and offered a platform that governed immigrant agendas.
American history certainly supports the view that the contribution by immigrants to American society and culture has been enormous. Between 1880 and 1940, many immigrants were derided as “undesirables,” and there was a crescendo of arguments to limit their number. Yet many of these people moved to the top of their professions in the worlds of art, entertainment, sports, law, medicine and business. In the American vernacular, they “made it
Driven by industrialization and urbanization, the United States in the late 19th century was developing in an astonishing speed, and soon became the “promised land” in the eyes of millions of immigrants from different nationalities (Oskar 1). This wave of new immigrants started from 1880 and ended in 1914, the start of the WWI, and mainly consisted of people from southern and eastern Europe, including Italians, Hungarians, Russians and Greeks (Aboukhadijeh 2). To what extent did these immigrants assimilate into American culture is always a controversial topic. In my opinion, between two prevailing models, melting pot and salad bowl, the latter is a more accurate description of the immigrant cultural situation * in this era.
As a nation built on immigration, the history of citizenship in America can be seen as a series of immigration waves from different ethnic groups, and their initial struggles in the United States, resulting in eventual assimilation into American society. Each immigrant group, whether the English, Irish, Italians, Germans, Vietnamese, etc., began life in their new nation on the bottom of the social ladder, but eventually mostly overcame the hardships of immigrant life en route to assimilation. German immigration to America peaked during the Civil War era, in which approximately 1.5 million Germans came to the United States between 1840 and 1860, making them the most prolific ethnic group to immigrate to America during this time. This paper will