Luana Santos
Ms.Pappas
English 101
December 7, 2018
The Mayflower. (R. S. Peale and J. A. Hill)
In a immigrant country it is not hard to see the diversity of people’s ethnic backgrounds. As we walk on the streets of Boston MA for example there is no doubt you’ll be able to see how mixed the ethnic backgrounds of the population is. What the U.S. is today is based in what began back in the 1620’s. The first immigrants were the British and Africans. Even though the Africans were brought involuntarily they we part of the first settlers of United States. The British came and negotiated with the Native Americans for land and began to settle as the time passed more immigrants from differents parts of England and other parts of Europe also came to populate North America (immigrationtounitedstates.org).
Late nineteenth century depiction of Peter Minuit negotiating with Algonquian Indians to purchase the island of Manhattan in 1626. (Francis R. Niglutsch)
As seen in this picture the British came and negotiated with the Native Americans for land and began to settle. As the time passed more immigrants from differents parts of England and other parts of Europe also came to populate North America. Back then the Native Americans were not familiarized with the jewelries and other artefacts that white man had so the British used those items as a form of payment for the land. After facing some hard times in their home country England and being forced to accept a change in the religion they were brought up knowing, they left full of hope and eager to achieve their success in life. They were brave men, women and children who came seeking for freedom of religion and a place where they could have a new start for their lives (History.com).
Immigration in the Mid-19th Century:
Women pulling sled loaded with provisions through the
muddy streets of Skagway, Alaska in 1898.
Photo courtesy of David Sundman
Another wave of European immigration began in the mid of the 19th century. Only this time, the immigrants were from Ireland and the reason for their coming was poverty and hunger. They were coming to a new land to have a better life and were willing to do whatever it took in order to have it. And so they became gold miners. In the 1800’s there was the great gold rush episode. The immigrants then were not only coming from poverty but they were eager to make a much better life out of the gold rush. They were willing to confront any situation but was not expected was women would play a huge role as miners. There were exceptional women who worked around the gold rush time. They showed that that being a miner was no tough job a woman could do. (History.com)
President Coolidge signing the Johnson-Reed Act
Literacy Tests and “Asiatic Barred Zone”
The president signed the act in order to limit the immigration by requiring immigrants to be at least able to write and read in any language. According to the 1980 census there was a great number of immigrants that were illiterate making it harder to even learn
English. “The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census. It completely excluded immigrants from Asia” (history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act).
Recent South Asian Descendants
· by · in Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, Leadership, Personal Development, South Asian
In this most recent picture we see a second generation of South Asian immigrants, from india to be more precise. Back in 1980’s the immigration of Asian and latin Americans was dominant averaging 735,000 and over 1 million a year in 1990 . There were immigrants coming from Japan and other parts of Asia like India. Part of them came to flee dictatorship governments and others to flee war. Overall they all came to begin a new life (Phillip).
Nowadays immigrants come for many different reasons. Between poverty, family reunion, seeking for a better life, running from violence, fleeing dictatorship or adventuring into a new begin. Provided that there are immigrants like me, who came without knowing really what the reason was. I was 17 and left my mother and brothers and the life was used to. Being a farm girl and living in a remote area I had not many expectations. However I wanted to be able to go to school and be someone as I used to say. I did not plan the coming I was told life would be better for me. I would be able to go school and so I said I’ll go and embraced this country culture as my own. Learned the language and taught it to my kids. This picture shows the modern immigrant family made of naturalized immigrants who are thriving to live the american dream and at the same time keeping the traditions of their country of root