For this assignment I have chosen to look more in depth at Immigration in the late nineteenth century until early twentieth century, and how this life changing experience was handled by different ethnic groups. In turn I will compare and contrast the essays of Victor Greene and Mark Wyman who both portray immigration in their own light. Victor Greens’s essay titled “Permanently Lost: The Trauma of Immigration” uses tools such as music and ballads to display how immigration effected certain ethnic groups and their families. While Mark Wyman’s “Coming and Going: Round - Trip to America” focuses on pamphlets given out in the workforce and more concrete evidence as to how and why immigration took place the way it did. To my mind Wyman’s use…
In search for job opportunities and freedom, about half a million black people leave for the north during the Great Migration. Yet, they still face unequal treatments there. An anti-German sentiment also arises during the first World War. Making up about ten percent of the white population, German-Americans are forced to forgo their culture, including language and music (Forner, 759). Above examples can hardly remind anyone of something like…
In the late 1800s, at the turn of the century, the United States experienced an influx of immigrants due to the industrialization occurring in large cities and states all over the country. However since the mid 1900s there was another rise in immigration, this time from the south. One of the large disadvantages of being a new immigrant is the lack of integration, not only that but immigrants face challenges every day. Apart from language skills, Immigrants in the United States face the loss of their cultural identity when they integrate into the mainstream society, and if they don’t, they may be subject to discrimination. This loss of identity then fuels various misconceptions of immigrants.…
The neighborhood’s cultural diversity can be attributed to the huge waves of immigrants, who remolded it with their values, ideals, and beliefs and developed the authenticity. During the early 20th century, a lot of Italians and Jews relocated to Bensonhurst. According to Foner’s “Transnationalism, Old and New: New York Immigrants,” former Italian and Jewish immigrants were compelled to come to America due to push and pull factors. They came in hopes of a better life for themselves and their families, and continued to maintain social relations in their societies of origin and settlement through transnational practices. In addition, they provided funds to support their family (Foner, 343).…
During the Antebellum period medicine was largely primitive and unsophisticated and unlike modern medicine today, much of the medical procedures doctors relied on then were unscientific. Many doctors at that time still followed primitive methods of curing illness, that dated back to medieval times. As examples, doctors still practiced procedures such as bloodletting, and herbal healing. Not only did these procedures not work, they also illustrated an inherent lack of medical knowledge and understanding of public health procedures. There was also no real public health system.…
In “Should immigrants assimilate?”, Alejandro Portes and Min Zhou address the pressure to automatically assimilate that continues to hound second generation immigrants. They weigh the costs of this automatic assimilation and the effects of evident discrimination of a second generation immigrant that follows if assimilation is refused. Mary C. Waters’ article, “Debating Immigration”, acknowledges the inconsistencies of public debate and credible studies dealing with second generation immigrants and their assimilation. Waters’ argument widens the scope of Portes and Zhou’s take on the process of assimilation by providing a positive perspective and hindsight on the topic. Waters takes into account Portes and Zhou’s argument on how a second generation…
Discrimination is an unavoidable oppression that transpires across the world. The U.S., a country known as the “Land of Opportunity,” is perceived by immigrants, people of different origin from different countries, as a gateway to obtaining a better life. However, immigrants may encounter many obstacles and ill-treatments that will keep them from progressing. “Our Fear of Immigrants,” an article by Jeremy Adams Smith, unveils why the United States government and some of its native-born citizens are prejudiced towards immigrants. Smith’s proclamation is to correct people’s irrational fear of immigrants and to develop a higher sense of empathy in people.…
Americans took note of specific characteristics that they believed were more desirable than others. A perfect example of this favoritism is the American opinion of the Nordic “race”. In The Passing of the Great Race, Madison Grant says that “the nation must chiefly depend [on the Nordic people] for leadership, for courage, for loyalty, for unity, and harmony of action… and devotion to an ideal” (Doc G). This example and glorification of a certain “breed” of immigrants is counteractive to the norm of shunning and putting down immigrants for their…
Compare and contrast racial conflict in the South and the West. This essay will discuss and analyze some of the racial conflict that happened in the South as well as the West. There continues to be racial conflict throughout the world and it has been that way for quite some time now. So does racism, racial profiling and racial conflict differ depending what part of the world or country a person is from?…
Twelve million immigrants who were processed through Ellis Island ended up having tens of millions of children and grandchildren, who heard many different stories about their life as an immigrant (Yans-McLaughlin 59). They sacrificed everything to start a better life in America for themselves and their family. The majority of the time, they did it even if it meant they would have nothing and would be struggling to begin their life in America. Passing as an immigrant through Ellis Island was not easy because they faced many hardships, the immigration process was tough, and life was a struggle even after passing through the island. Ellis Island was originally a 3.5 acre area located on the coast of Manhattan Island in the New York Bay.…
The human population consists of all different ethnicities that are confronted with the desire to be free and not labeled to a stereotype because of their religious belief or skin color. The harsh treatments for not fitting in to what is known as the normal melting pot continues to be a reality for past, present, and possibly future immigrants. Emma Lazarus the poet of “The New Colossus” paints a vision from inside the Statue of Liberty that expresses the desire of many immigrants to join what America refers to as the greatest country. Lazarus is an active voice for her Jewish background and continues this pattern in several of her writing pieces. Jewish families persecuted by rape, murder, and arson cause Lazarus to form the Society for the…
In her book At America 's Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943, Erika Lee convincingly argues that the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is the start of the United States of America becoming a “gatekeeping” nation, no longer imagining itself as a nation open to all immigrants but instead a nation that carefully monitors who should be allowed to enter America and who should not. Yet Chinese Exclusion did more than simply display American desire to limit the immigration of a specific ethnic group; it created the very concept of “illegal immigrant.” However, this construction was not simply limited to those who entered the country illegally; it disproportionately targeted the Chinese due to their race. The use of racial discourses…
The Alienist Essay The Alienist, a novel written by Caleb Carr, takes place in 1896 New York City. The novel follows John Moore, a reporter for the New York Times and an unlikely candidate for the events that proceed in this novel. With the help of Teddy Roosevelt, an alienist named Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a couple of young detectives and a secretary within the New York State police department, Moore finds himself deeply involved in his increasingly dangerous pursuit of a serial murderer. Through the misadventures of John Moore, Caleb Carr argues that late 19th century New York City and America as a whole was on a collision course for disaster. This period of time, coined the ‘Gilded Age,’ is marked by intense social oppression of foreign children.…
Since I had visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time, I had wanted to go to the Cloisters. During the afternoon in the back of my father’s Honda civic, I sat wondering what the Cloisters would have inside or even look like. From my neighborhood of Jackson Heights to Washington Heights, the demographics changed throughout. Along northern boulevard from Jackson Heights up until Long Island City, I had noticed the demographic change. Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst remained, for the most part, a Latinx populated area.…
The Melting Pot “The Melting Pot” – the United States nickname, yet we are constantly shunning and shaming those that enter the country as immigrants. Native-born individuals scrutinize the immigrants for stealing the jobs, lowering the wages, and every other negative outcome of the economy. Americans generalize the face of immigrants as either Mexican or Asian; however, the United States receives immigrants from several other places as well. As a matter of fact, immigrants account for a large part of our population. They “accounted for 13 percent of the total 316 million U.S. residents” (Zong & Batalova). It does not seem along the lines of much, but is approximately “41.3 million immigrants” (Zong & Batalova).…