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Immigration in America. American Culture & Society Spring-Summer 2012 Glenn Sensei. Nation of Immigrants. Americans came to the New World from somewhere else. Except native people, of course . Even oldies like Jefferson shared immigrant hopes.
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Immigration in America American Culture & Society Spring-Summer 2012 Glenn Sensei
Nation of Immigrants • Americans came to the New World from somewhere else. • Except native people, of course. • Even oldies like Jefferson shared immigrant hopes. • Cultural values are built on idea that everyone shares desire for more opportunities, more freedom. • Immigrant dreams helped to shape these values: • Future change • Achievements • Equal status • Individualism and privacy (from authorities)
History • Immigrants arrived in waves. • English – French – Spanish – Germans – Dutch arrived in colonial era and continued to immigrate. • Along with Africans, who usually had no choice. • Irish and Italians followed during difficult times in Europe. • By late 1890s, need for more laborers attracted more people. • Eastern Europeans (Poles, Ukrainians, Serbians, Greeks) • East Asians (Chinese, then Japanese, then Filipinos and Koreans)
New arrivals keptidentities • Immigrant groups clustered in neighborhoods, farm areas. • Industrial revolution drove people into big cities for work. • Coal mines and railroad construction drew others. • American cities became patchwork of ethnic areas. • Like a quilt design. • Great question: Will groups ever really mix? • Again the idea: the melting pot. (Or the salad bowl)
Struggle to fit in • Should immigrants give up their home cultures to live in America? • Remains big question today. Legal immigration still occurs. • Original ethic: If first generation doesn’t mix, then the second generation will assimilate better. • Strong emphasis to fit in. • But immigrants always deal with discrimination. • Before TV, jet travel and internet, keeping a national or ethnic identity was a challenge. • Example: Post-war brides. • We see this conflict in West Side Story.
Japan example • Were Japanese immigrants too successful? • Great farmers. Superb laborers. Outperformed natives. • A new law: Immigration Act of 1924. • Banned (stopped) all immigration and non-native citizenship for Japanese, Chinese and other East Asian immigrants. • Only children born to immigrants could be citizens. • Created big difference between issei and nisei. • Sansei Americanized like my friend Scott Kimura. • He’s a marine biologist. • Half of sansei marry outside ethnic lines.
Immigration Act of 1924 • Also called Asian Exclusion Act. • Limited new immigrants from certain areas. Racist policies. • Why? Leaders worried that new waves were tipping balance from native-born people originally from North and West Europe. • In 1924, more Italians, Czechs, Yugoslavs, Greeks, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Poles, Portuguese, Romanians, Spaniards, Chinese, and Japanese left the U.S. than arrived as immigrants.
By 1965, laws changed • We can think about the trends. • All people created equal? (Native-born often more equal!) • Mixing process always occurring. • Immigrants of every era bring new spirit to succeed. • Big issue today: How many Latino immigrants? • West Side Story is about Puerto Rican people. • Political question now: How to control border with Mexico. • Other immigrant groups want tight rules.
Informal quiz • What are the benefits of living in a nation with a big mix of people from diverse backgrounds? • Learn to get along with everyone. • More knowledge, skills and talents to share. • Can create a modern, combined culture. • Increases social flexibility; promotes change.
Quiz 2 • What are difficultiesof living in a culturally mixed nation? • Social rules must be created and clearly stated. • No way to ‘read the air.’ • Must continually adapt social systems. • Traditional cultures are threatened or lost. • Groups in power may use racist policies. • Group interests placedahead of national interests.
Closing thought • What does it mean to be an American? • Who can be one? What if their mother isn’t? • How does this flexible idea of American identity influence the way Americans think and act? • What is Sensei’s background? Lots in the red side: English, Scottish, Northern Irish, German, perhaps Dutch and Portuguese, and American Indian. • And more, I hope. There must be stories we lost to history. (My German-Dutch grandfather was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii but died young.)
