May 16, 2014 The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. The American culture has been enriched and strengthens through the influxes of immigrant; although immigration itself has created some controversy in the political cycles. According to the U.S Bureau of Census (2002), there are 1,228,427 Korean Americans residing in the United States, representing 0.4% of the total U.S (Giger & Davidhizar, 2008). Mr. John Kim is a 25 year old Korean- American male with a college graduate degree in English Literature. He lives with his parents that are both Lawyers and now a student and also works in a physician office as a medical assistant. John is a friend and a close neighbor and sometimes we hang out for dinner with the parents. The immigration Act of 1965, led to a substantial increase of Korean immigration to the United States. Most Koreans are educated professionals who wanted more freedom to live in a truly democratic society with no intentions of going back (Giger & Davidhizar, 2008). Although John was born in Korea, raised in Canada and moved to the United State with the parents when he was in middle school, he considers himself as a Korean- American. The family came in as immigrants into the United States following a smooth process from Canada. His family migrated to Canada because they were being oppressed by the Japanese. The Japanese oppression had no impact on him but it has affected his parents’ generation and some of them are still very bitter. Korea is known as “Land of the Morning Calm” by the Japanese because of its rich culture and spectacular mornings. Korea is bordered by many islands, with China and Russia to... ... middle of paper ... ... The interview with John reminded of how culture is defined as the norms, opinions, beliefs, values, and world views shared by a group of individuals and transmitted across generations. After the interview my perception about John change because I have always known him as passive, spoiled kid, and lazy. However, he proved me wrong by his honest response and the fact that he has a job and pays his own bills. He was very sick during the course of the interview and would not turn down or say no to my request; he deserves respect and honor for that. The one thing we culturally shared together is that we are both American immigrants thriving for the same dream from the greatest country on earth which most Americans take for granted. The background of John varies greatly and shares witness to the multiplicity of experiences that characterize the immigrants’ journey.
America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered
Written by Margaret K. Pai, the Dreams of Two Yi-min narrates the story of her Korean American family with the main focus on the life journeys of her father and mother, Do In Kwon and Hee Kyung Lee. Much like the majority of the pre-World War II immigrants, the author’s family is marked and characterized by the common perception of the “typical” Asian immigrant status in the early 20th century: low class, lack of English speaking ability, lack of transferable education and skills, and lack of knowledge on the host society’s mainstream networks and institutions (Zhou and Gatewood 120, Zhou 224). Despite living in a foreign land with countless barriers and lack of capital, Kwon lead his wife and children to assimilate culturally, economically, and structurally through his growing entrepreneurship. Lee, on the other hand, devoted herself not only to her husband’s business but also to the Korean American society. By investing her time in the Korean Methodist Church and the efforts of its associated societies, such as the Methodist Ladies Aid Society and the Youngnam Puin Hoe, Lee made a worthy contribution to the emergence and existence of Hawaii’s Korean American community.
In this article, Semple explains to us the hardships of three immigrants. Mr. Sanchez, Zhang Yulong, and Kim Ki Chol. All immigrated from different places all over the world. Felix Sanchez de la Vega Guzman immigrated from Mexico and is now running a multi million dollar food manufacturing company. Zhang Yulong immigrated from China runs a $30-million-a-year cell phone accessories empire in New York. Last but not least it describes the journey of Kim Ki Chol, an immigrant from South Korea who
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
Moving from the unpleasant life in the old country to America is a glorious moment for an immigrant family that is highlighted and told by many personal accounts over the course of history. Many people write about the long boat ride, seeing The Statue of Liberty and the “golden” lined streets of New York City and how it brought them hope and comfort that they too could be successful in American and make it their home. Few authors tend to highlight the social and political developments that they encountered in the new world and how it affected people’s identity and the community that they lived in. Authors from the literature that we read in class highlight these developments in the world around them, more particularly the struggles of assimilating
They face many issues such as economic instability, depression, loneliness, fear of being alone and feeling betrayed. Children feel depressed in cases like this because even at a young age they know that things are not okay. They also suffer from fear and being betrayed, they suffer fear because they 're scared of what is going to happen to their family since they 're so used to having their family together. Many times children who face this situations feel like they’ve been betrayed because they don’t know why their mother or father have gone away and not came back. The psychologist mentions that it’s very normal for children to feel this way and conduct a different behaviour than usual because just like everyone else they don’t seem to understand
When most people think about immigration to the United States, they think of the U.S. as being the “land of opportunity,” where they will be able to make all of their dreams come true. For some people, immigration made their lives richer and more fulfilled. This however, was not always the case. A place that is supposed to be a “Golden Land” (Marcus 116) did not always welcome people with open arms. Even after people became legal citizens of the United States, often times the natural born Americans did not treat the immigrants as equals but rather as outsiders who were beneath them in some way. In some situations, people’s lives were made worse by coming to the “land of opportunity.” Often times people were living no better than they were in their own countries not able to make ends meet, just to live in the United States. Virtually all immigrants during the 1900’s had the same dream, to become successful and provide for their families as citizens of the United States, but they soon found out that the life in their new country was not going to be easy.
Immigrants were first welcomed in the late 1700s. European explorers like Walter Raleigh, Lord Baltimore, Roger William, William Penn, Francis Drake, John Smith, and others explored to the New World for religious purposes and industrial growth. The first European settlers that settled in the late 1700s were the Pilgrims. After the Pilgrims first settled in Virginia, the expansion of immigrants started. Then in 1860 to 1915, America was growing with its industries, technology, and education. America’s growing empire attracted many people from Europe. The factors that attracted many people to the American cities where job opportunities with higher income, better education, and factory production growth. As the population grew in the American
“I am a first generation immigrant and a woman, but I don't really write about that because I feel like I'm a human being. There are universal human experiences.” (“Evelyn Rodriguez”). As a first generation woman myself, I can relate to the notion that I am more than my background. While there are universal experiences people go through, my cultural experience is something that sets me apart from others. I believe that it is essential for me to find the balance between assimilating into American culture while keeping my cultural identity.
The United States has often been referred to as a global “melting pot” due to its assimilation of diverse cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. In today’s society, this metaphor may be an understatement. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of foreign born United States residents nearly doubled from 20 million to 40 million, increasing the U.S. population from almost 250 million to 350 million people. With U.S. born children and grandchildren of immigrants, immigration contributed to half of this population growth. These immigrants, consisting of mostly Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, have drastically changed the composition of the U.S. population. In 2010, Asians and Hispanics made up 20 percent of the U.S. population, in contrast to a 6 percent share of Asians and Hispanics in 1970. It is predicted that by 2050, the share of immigrants in the United States will increase to one half of the entire population. With this rapid increase in diversity, many citizens have opposing views on its impact on the United States. In my opinion, an increase in immigration does contain both positive and negatives effects, but in general it provides an overriding positive influence on America’s society (“Population”).
The interviewee, Martin Lee, is currently 52 years old. He is a businessman who works in the communications field and is originally from downtown Seoul, South Korea. Lee immigrated to California in the United States on April 9, 1983, through the LAX. This interviewee was chosen due to his detailed memory when answering the questions. The interview took place at the interviewee’s home and has covered the topics about his experience when migrating.
Immigration has been a topic that has caused multiple discussions on why people migrate from one country to another, also how it affects both the migraters and the lands they go. Immigration is the movement from one location to another to live there permanently. This topic has been usually been associated with sociology to better explain how it affects people, cultures and societies. Sociology has three forms of thinking that are used to describe and analyze this topic. There are three forms of thinking that are used to tell and describe immigration to society; structural functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and conflict theory. Each of these theories uses different forms of thinking and rationality to describe and explain socio topics.
Immigrants have always been an important part of United States’ population. Each year, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants, from all around the world, including legal and illegal, come into the United States for job opportunities, new life, or the American Dream. “Immigrants have contributed significantly to the development of the United States. During the Lincoln administration, immigrants were actually encouraged to come to America, as they were considered valuable to the development of the country.” (Soylu & Buchanan, 2013). They believe that the US will give them more freedom, protection, and opportunities, which sometimes it becomes the major issues for immigrants. That’s why “the U.S. population is becoming more racially and
In October 2009, Wonder Girls, a South Korean girl group, became the first Korean singers to enter the Top 100 of the Billboard’s Chart with their hit song “Nobody” and ranked 76th place. This is a big deal for them since the Billboard Hot 100 is one of the two leading music charts is the United States of America. And recently, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” became the most “liked” and viewed YouTube video of all time currently garnering almost 2 billion views. He also became the first artist from East Asia to top the United Kingdom Charts. This video became so viral that you could search for more than a million dance and song covers from different countries all over the world. These Korean songs became worldwide hit songs because of social media. Korean music industries are focusing on using social media as a medium to reach the global fame that it is enjoying today.
For over a hundred years, Korea has always been invaded, influenced and fought over by its large neighbors, but Korea fought back as one united nation. It can be dated back to 1904, when Japan and Russia, the two large powers in East Asia at that time, fought for control of the country. Russia was defeated and Japan used its victory to annex Korea in 1910. Then, World War Two came about, dismantling the power of the Japanese Empire and Korea became a victim of the Cold War. Korea was divided into two spheres of influence, along the 38th parallel. While Japan surrendered, the United States and the Soviet Union swooped in to claim the Korean peninsula. The United States claimed the South of the divided land, while the Soviet Union claimed the