Immigrants coming from other countries to America in the 1900s had a hard time becoming successful because they did not have an American culture. Also, many immigrants did not have the right skills for most jobs, and they were racially and/or culturally discriminated against so that they could not find decent places to live or jobs with fair hours and fair pay.
The influx of immigrants into America in the early 1900’s brought many different cultures, but these cultures were not accepted into the overall “American culture” of the superior whites. The government wanted to change the culture of immigrants to be successful Americans, but really, “While they are expected to shed the undesirable and unfamiliar aspects of their culture, the flavor …show more content…
Immigrants were typically poor from only doing “piecework...doing work that paid them by the piece, such as stitching together garments or hand-assembling machinery”, and could not afford a home or find a seller who was willing to sell to them, so “...most immigrants, lived in tenement houses, narrow, low-rise apartment buildings that were usually grossly overcrowded by their landlords. Cramped, poorly lit, under ventilated, and usually without indoor plumbing, the tenements were hotbeds of vermin and disease…” (). These living conditions were inhumane and unfair to immigrants, and showed how discrimination truly affected their success.
Immigrants each had their own culture that was formed and shaped by how and where they lived. This culture was different than that of white Americans, and; therefore, was unwanted, for the goal of the government was to Americanize and change the culture of immigrants. Immigrants were discriminated against for not originally having an American culture - even if they did Americanize, so they were not sold land or buildings or given certain jobs or
The influx of immigrants into America in the early 1900’s brought many different cultures, but these cultures were not accepted into the overall “American culture” of the superior whites. The government wanted to change the culture of immigrants to be successful Americans, but really, “While they are expected to shed the undesirable and unfamiliar aspects of their culture, the flavor …show more content…
Immigrants were typically poor from only doing “piecework...doing work that paid them by the piece, such as stitching together garments or hand-assembling machinery”, and could not afford a home or find a seller who was willing to sell to them, so “...most immigrants, lived in tenement houses, narrow, low-rise apartment buildings that were usually grossly overcrowded by their landlords. Cramped, poorly lit, under ventilated, and usually without indoor plumbing, the tenements were hotbeds of vermin and disease…” (). These living conditions were inhumane and unfair to immigrants, and showed how discrimination truly affected their success.
Immigrants each had their own culture that was formed and shaped by how and where they lived. This culture was different than that of white Americans, and; therefore, was unwanted, for the goal of the government was to Americanize and change the culture of immigrants. Immigrants were discriminated against for not originally having an American culture - even if they did Americanize, so they were not sold land or buildings or given certain jobs or