The overall
thing that struck me reading chapters 7-9 were the details of the immigrant
experience in the United States. As someone who has been a resident of the
states since my birth it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that
society in America is static and that everyone’s experience is roughly
universal. Reading through the experiences of the various immigrant groups I
realize how varied the lives of differing ethnicities can be. I was also struck
by how the various groups of people grouped together and created their own
microcosms of their country of origin. I always assumed that people who immigrated
to this country were forced to assimilate and become part of American society.
While I still believe this to be the case it seems that the process takes much
longer than I originally thought. I assume that the children of immigrants who
grow up largely ignorant of their parent’s culture are more likely to see
themselves as “native” Americans and adopt American culture. The parents of
these first generation Americans are more likely to solidly identify with the
culture of their home countries and as such look to recreate as much as their
home country as possible. It is fascinating that the climate in America was
such that immigrants had to band together in order to pool resources and
compete with the other groups that were already here. This just further dispels
the notion that America was a Nation predicated on diversity.
The
relationship and manner in which immigrants interacted was also interesting.
Reading how Catholic Polish immigrants were in constant conflict with the Irish
run American Catholic church went a long way in explaining the tensions that existed
between the different ethnicities. Not even common religious beliefs were
enough to cause members of different groups to work with each other. I wonder
how different would things be if the various groups would have worked together
instead of at cross purposes. Pooling their resources might have allowed
immigrants to attain better paying wages faster than they were able to get on
their own.
I also
found the idea that American History is that of westward expansion and
fulfilling our country’s “manifest destiny” by expanding all the way into the
Pacific Ocean. I had never truly contemplated the implications of this line of
thinking. By making this assumption we all but forget the role that industrialized
cities played in the development of the United States and the socialization of
its people. The immigrants who moved into these cities played a major role in
the development of the United States and ignoring their contributions are a
mistake. I think it is important to recognize what people from all ethnicities
bring to the history of America. By not doing so we marginalize the various
people that help make America such a unique place to live.
I do not
understand the prejudice that Jewish people have faced throughout history. It
seems like virtually every country at one point or another has decided to wage
war on Jewish citizens for the simple fact that they belong to a certain ethnic
group. The section on Eastern European Jewish migration to the United States is
one of escaping from ethnic persecution. The journey they faced getting to the
country was also interesting. For Russian Jews they were forced to flee through
Germany, a country that was hostile towards Jews and did not want them to
settle in their borders. However, Jewish immigrants made so much money for
German sailors that the government relaxed their restrictions on letting Jewish
people through the German borders. I actually thought this was somewhat
humorous because the Germans greed outstripped their need to be racist. It
makes me wonder how they deemed the Jews to be inferior or disharmonious to
society even though they helped the German economy. This is one of the things I
don’t understand about racism and the need to discriminate against a group of
people. It seems as though racism never truly holds up to reality. Eventually,
racism never lives up to the scrutiny of reason or light of reality.
I was
really interested in the means that Chinese Americans used in the nineteenth
century to make it to America. Using a system of credit in order to obtain the
money for passage is an interesting system I wish more was known about. I am
extremely curious to know how the Chinese people who used this system managed
to pay back their loans or what happened if they defaulted. What kind of
collateral was used to ensure that the Chinese money-lenders would not lose out
on their investments? Given the length of time the system was in existence it
is obvious that a large percentage of people paid back their loans which makes
me wonder how they earned such a large amount of money. The book states that
Chinese immigrants would take a loan of 50 dollars and agree to pay back as
much as 200 dollars to lenders. That is a staggering interest rate on the loan
for people who could not afford to earn 50 dollars in their own country. Where
the opportunities in America really that much more plentiful when compared to those
in other countries? I also thought the skewed male to female ratio in Chinese
immigrants was strange as well. How lonely were the Chinese males without the
company or at least sight of women from their native land?
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