19th Century Immigrants

We have always known that the United States of America was built by immigrants. However, have we thought about the immigrants’ lives after they immigrated, specifically after mid-19th century? Were there any similarities or differences between their experiences. This paper will answer these questions by analyzing primary sources that link to the experience of Arab, Armenian, Jewish, and other immigrants. Indeed, analyzing primary sources is one of the methods that provides a window into the past to determine the significance, reliability, and make a viable interpretation of the historical events.
The tired, poor, and religiously oppressed immigrants came to the United State seeking for a better life and economic condition. Between 1880 and …show more content…
Comparing the experience of Salom Rizk [1] in his book “Syrian Yankee” and Lee Chew [2] in his book “Biography of a Chinaman”, it is clearly obvious the amount of the struggle that they had to go through during their immigration experience. In his first job experience after arriving to America, Rizk had been called names and treated prejudicly by his boss. Rizk states “------ ------ you foreigner (to Rizk)! Who ever sent you here? You foreign runt”(Rizk, 131 ). Rizk was unwelcomed, and this incident made him “shrink and quiver inside” (Rizk, 132). The phrase “foreigner” used the boss indicates he is a third or fourth generation American that …show more content…
Some immigrants were assimilated. America’s absorption of immigrates was perfectly promoted by Isreal Zangwill, an author, when he explained the idea of the melting pot. Zangwill states “America is God 's crucible, the great Melting Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming” (Zangwill). Zangwill showed America as the country which was built on cultural contribution of its immigrants. However, these immigrants at the same time were expected to assimilate in the local diverse values in order to become a true Americans (with American values). On the other hand, there were immigrants who refused the mixture of cultures and ignored the American values. They stayed loyal to their homeland, and their main goal was to return to their native countries if it is possible. An example of that was Pak [6]. He was a typical Korean who didn’t lose the ambition of returning to the Korean land. Further, he raised his kids as patriotic Koreans (Kang, 58). Quite differently, the Armenian, Arab, and Jewish experience was different than other immigrants. There were a division between them. Some had chosen the road of forgetting the past, getting Americanized, and assimilating into the new life. Others had chosen to reject the idea of being American, similar to Pak. Nevertheless, there were many who integrated the values that they