German-American: The Leidheiser Family Background German-Americans are the largest ethnic group in the United States. 50 million people living in the US can trace their roots back to today’s German borders. German-Americans have flourished in the United States and have had a profound impact on American culture. This paper will serve to outline the history of German migration to the United States, the characteristics and assimilation of this ethnic group, and my personal ties to this group as a 5th generation German-American. Migration German immigration can be classified as four major, distinct waves. German immigrants initially came to the United States seeking opportunities and to flee persecution in their homeland. These are common reasons …show more content…
German migrants introduced their own books, newspapers, schools and even the first Kindergarten’s. The German language was taught in schools and still spoken at home. German immigrants of the 19th century had a lot of pride of their ethnic heritage and the communities and churches that they created in Pennsylvania and Ohio during this time further slowed their assimilation into American culture. Social mobility for this ethnic group was easy because the second wave of migrants were primarily middle class and educated. Germans possessed human capital and were hard working when they arrived during the second wave of migration. “If we categorize them by occupation, the largest group of German immigrants in any given period were those in the skilled crafts. Upon their arrival in Chicago in 1875, for example, one third of the Germans were registered as skilled craftsmen, a quarter of them as common laborers, and another quarter as farmers. Both in urban and rural settings, Germans held an equally high profile as businessmen and shopkeepers, and in the final third of the century also as skilled laborers,” Additionally, the enclaves of Germans in the Midwest created an efficient network for economic activity. The majority of immigrants came to the United States in the second wave of migration and had settled by the early 20th century. However, the US involvement in WWI essentially declined the spread of German culture in the United States. This sparked an abrupt assimilation for Germans because a lot of the rhetoric by politicians of time came by attacking Germans for the actions of their homeland. Additionally, the German language was hardly ever spoken in public after the war had began. “As a result of the war, streets and even towns saw their Germanic names replaced with more “patriotic” alternatives. German American newspapers, subjected to censorship, translation
The 18th Century was a time where most immigrants were of Irish, British, and German descent. From the 1890’s, through the next couple decade, Italians, and Jews would be the cause a new wave of immigration. Between 1900 and 1915, 3 million immigrants would take the journey, and travel to America. They would come through the famed “Ellis
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
Vigdor, Jacob L. From Immigrants to Americans (The Rise and Fall of FittingiIn.) New York:
During the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century the rise of immigration centered around two specific ethnic groups. Irish and German immigrants provided a large portion of immigrants that were entering the United States between the 1820’s and 1920’s. Both ethnic groups invested in making the journey to the United States for several reasons, however some immigrants were not given much choice. Economic opportunities attracted both ethnic groups into making the migration to the America, however others came because they felt dislocated or threatened in their own country. Choosing to come to America for these two groups was a similar decision but with their similarities came differences as well.
They differed from the "typical American" in language, customs, and religion. Many individuals and industries alike played upon America's fears of immigration to further their own goals. Leuchtenburg follows this common theme from the beginning of World War I up untill the election of 1928. If there was one man who singlely used America's fear of immigrants to advance his own political goals it was Attorney General Palmer.
The spark in the number of immigrants entering the United States began in the late nineteen sixties to the early nineteen seventies. People came to the United States because the United Farm Workers movement got jobs to provided higher salaries, improved working conditions, health benefits, minimizing segregation within the work environment, retirement plans, and even formed a credit union specifically for farm workers and immigrants. These were all factors which contributed to the increase in immigrants in the United States. (As life began to improve for immigrants within the United States, others thought the same could happen to them). Many immigrants thought of this as an opportunity to form a new and improved lifestyle. To this day the number of immigrants continue to grow, and their lives increasingly improve.
Arrivals, from the same year, from all countries of persons of German race were 29,682 and Hebrew arrivals were 60,764. Changing the Character of Immigration, Pg. 103. 1) Unfortunately, with such a large influx in population during a short amount of time and other variables such as immigrants being unable to speak English, inadequate affordable urban housing, and insufficient jobs, a large amount of immigrants ended up in growing slums without the feeling of security or knowledge of how to find help, if there was any, from an unrepresentative government. These factors transformed incoming immigrants into easy prey for patronage from the political machine and sustained them by giving their votes. In the 1930’s, mass immigration had stopped and representative government had begun, leading to a decline in patronage needed by then integrated immigrants and a decline in votes for the machine....
Following the 1890’s, the world began to undergo the first stages of globalization. Countries and peoples, who, until now, were barely connected, now found themselves neighbors in a planet vastly resembling a global village. Despite the idealized image of camaraderie and brotherhood this may seem to suggest, the reality was only discrimination and distrust. Immigration to new lands became a far more difficult affair, as emigrants from different nations came to be viewed as increasingly foreign. In the white-dominated society of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the only way to truly count oneself as American was to become “white”. For this reason, the idea of race, a socially constructed issue with no real physical basis, has become one of the most defining factors which shape immigration and assimilation in the United States.
America’s first wave of immigration began in 1840 through 1860 and lead to many demographic changes. Population increased due to natural reproduction and immigration. Many immigrants relocated to America seeking economic growth and opportunity or to escape religious persecution and political tensions. The Irish and the Germans were the first immigrants to migrate to America during the first wave of immigration. Each group had different reasons for settlement, but both faced discrimination from the Nativists.
The lack of land, economic opportunities, religious freedom, and political oppression pushed Germans out of Europe in the 1670s. Hoping for a better life, a large number of German
Immigration has always been a major part of America. In fact, without immigration the creation of America would not have been possible. The majority of immigrants came to America for religious freedom and economic opportunities. However, for the most part before the 1870’s most immigrants were Protestants from northern and western Europe. These immigrants often migrated to the United States as families and usually lived on farms with family or friends who had already migrated beforehand. A lot of immigrants came to America with a plan or goal in mind. They often had saved up money for the long immigration overseas, were skilled in a certain trade, or had already been educated at a high level. Sadly, this would not last. Immigration became so prominent in America between 1870 and 1900 that the foreign-born population of the United States had almost doubled. A lot of German and Irish Catholics had immigrated in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and more decided to immigrate after the Civil War. A portion of Americans were biased against Catholics. Thankfully, the Irish spoke English and the German Catholics reputation was improved because of their Protestant countrymen’s good reputation. However, their children often lacked any skill or education, but they were able to blend in quite well with the American society. More and more immigrants would migrate to the United States without any skill or education and on top of that they were usually poor. These immigrants were called “new” immigrants and they came from all over the world including Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. However, you cannot blame immigrants for migrating to America. Many immigrants faced religious persecution in their home countries which pushed them away, otherwi...
The United States experienced major waves of immigration during the colonial era, the first part of the 19th century and from the 1880s to 1920. Many people immigrated to America for
Dolan P shows "Between 1850 and 1930, about 5 million Germans immigrated to the United States with a peak in the years between 1881 and 1885, when a million Germans left Germany and settled mostly in the Midwest. Between 1820 and 1930, 3.5 million British and 4.5 million Irish entered America. Before 1845 most Irish immigrants were Protestants. After 1845, Irish Catholics began arriving in large...
The United States saw “waves” of immigrants from Germany in the 1800s and then the 1900s. In the 1800s, Germans immigrated to leave the poverty and starvation in their native country embraced their German culture in America. In the 1900s, many Germans abandoned their country to escape the cruel times of the Holocaust. Many of these immigrants were mathematicians, architects, and physicists and they greatly enhanced our American culture (Steckler, 2012).
Between 1870-1920, thousands of German Russians immigrated to the United States and Canada. The majority of Volga Germans settled in Nebraska, Colorado, California, Oregon, and Montana. Germans from the Black Sea and Bessarabia came to North and South Dakota, Kansas, and Washington. The majority of Mennonites settled in Canada. In the 1920 US censes, 303,532 individuals identified themselves as Germans from Russia. In North America, the Germans from Russia clung to their culture. They continued to speak their dialects of German and formed tight communities isolated from outside influences. There was not a desire to assimilate to the outside culture. Until World War II and the United State’s policies against German culture, the Germans from Russia continued to live like they were still in