ImmigrationEssay Preview: ImmigrationReport this essayIMMIGRATION ESSAYAmerica was always and still is a nation filled with diverse groups of people, many of whom emigrated from many different countries. There were always people coming into the United States. However, from the 1870s through to the 1920s, a new wave of immigration took place, one that was explosive and history-altering. Immigrants came from all over the world in search of new jobs, lives, and opportunities; some came out of force, due to their poverty-stricken countries. Although they had made the journey, most immigrants had difficulty assimilating or being accepted into American society. These immigrants faced a series of oppression and hardships that were challenging. Racial discrimination and rejection were not uncommon; immigrants encountered social inequalities and injustices. The sudden spurt of immigrants and the opposition of them from nativists consequently caused an extreme suppression imposed by the US government. The 1924 National Origins Acts dramatically cut the number of immigrants allowed into the country. With this in effect, immigration, mostly targeted at Asian and Southern and Eastern Europeans, ended.
Between 1880 and 1920, around 25 million people came to the US. (Nash, 236) The “US became more of a melting plot, with different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups blended together.” (Nash, 283) These massive floods of immigrants were coming from Southern and Eastern Europe, whereas prior to 1880, Northern and Western Europeans solely immigrated to the States. These new immigrants constituted about “80 percent of all immigrants who came from countries such as Italy, Greece, Poland, and Russia” and had a huge impact on the American population. (Nash, 236) These immigrants came through Ellis Island, on the coast of New York, and usually lived in tenements. “Free blacks lived on the Lower East Side in the 1850s, Irish in the 1860s, Germans in the 1870s, Chinese in the 1890s, Russia-Polish Jews in the 1900s and Italians around 1910.” (Diamond) Jews, whom after 1880, mostly emigrated from Eastern Europe, consisting of German and Russian Jews. From 1881-1914 more than two million Jews immigrated to the US, Ñ* from Russia. From 1880-1819, the Jewish population increased from 80,000 to 1,250,000 in New York City. (Dehart) The German and Russian Jews immigrated to the United States because of struggling conditions back in their countries-social, political, and economical, and also due to pogroms. American assimilation process was made easy from the help of Hebrew Immigration Societies. 75 percent of New York Jews lived in the Lower East Side Jewish ghettos in 1892. In 1916, only 23 percent lived there, and they gradually moved out of the city.
During this time, around 1 million Asians entered the US via the west coast. (Takaki) There were devastation at home, and a demand of labor in plantations, railroad construction, mines, factories, and farming under a dual wage system lured about 300,000 Chinese to California. (Video) 1870 recessions hit, and by means of survival, immigrants became shopkeepers, merchants, and small business owners. Subsequently, there were anti-Chinese attitudes arising; racial discrimination and white working class hostility were targeted at them. (Takaki) Institutionalized policies such as the 1882 Chinese Exclusionary Act, was the “first exclusionary immigration act based solely on nationality.” This act “terminated
. (Takaki) Many people of Chinese background were not welcomed in the US and became self protected in immigrant communities. In the summer of 1880, the US Government proposed to build the US “Great Wall”. (Cincinnati) During the first few months of it’s construction, the construction zone was only 50 to 100 meters x 10 meters x 2 meters. (Takaki) This block of land &/or road system was a major influence on the economy and trade. (Takaki) Between 1870 and 1880, about 10,000 immigrants from China visited each year’s U.S. Population Census. (Eve-Takaki) There are many historical Chinese immigrant communities that are very similar to what was before 1880. Some of the former Chinese in California. (Marlon) In some of the past generations, Chinese immigrants in California have been a strong force in shaping and operating the agriculture and labor movements of the U.S. that began around 1830, before the introduction of the law ࡉ. (Takaki) During the 18th century, people from China went and lived and worked in San Diego and Lodi County. At the time, workers were at the top of the food chain or higher in some part of the region due to low wages & low education levels. Most of them lived in farms that had been built for them for centuries. A lot of these small cities and counties were owned or controlled by their Chinese employers. Even today, the majority reside in rural or small community towns or even in the suburbs where there are many people. (Takaki) A lot of this income was earned in the form of property that was leased and shared between employees and the government. When the Chinese people started settling into these small communities and came to the cities of San Diego and Lodi, they were able to access the wealth that they enjoyed from their labor in the farming and manufacturing fields of California. (Eve-Takaki) Some of the earliest Chinese immigrants arrived in the U.S. starting in 1879, before the Chinese immigration process took hold. Most early Chinese migrants began settling before being deported due to family or political reasons. These early Chinese immigrants were known as “Husband Chinese” or as they were called their “purset Chinese”. (Furling) Many Chinese men first entered the US as brides seeking a better life for themselves and their children and children’s children. These people were paid less than their more experienced, wealthy counterparts. (Takaki) The growth of immigration brought many family and household members to California. Many of these households, were born in California, Texas, and Oregon. Many women came to California as children seeking work in the agriculture & industrial fields after they came here. (Takaki) In 1880