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Transformation of the US society because of WW2 immigration
Irish culture in America
Irish culture in America
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After World War 1, there was a rising fear of immigration in America. In immigrant was defined as a person who is taking residence within the United States. This did not include anyone from the government, or their family and attendants, tourists, people in continuous travel, seamen, someone carrying trade, nor someone who had been lawfully admitted into the United States previously (Danver). Immigrants were desperate, with hope, they come to America from all sorts of backgrounds, some dangerous. People were afraid of stereotypes and losing their jobs. Race went from being an epidemic based on location in the country, to being a problem as a whole for America (Ngai). The ideas of immigration changed throughout the 1920s. The early 20th century …show more content…
The famine caused Cabinet Ministers, such as Viscount Palmerston, to call for an "ethnic cleansing in order to reduce uneconomic overpopulation..." in Ireland. They even had support from the Anglican Church at the time to do so. These problems sent many Irish people out of the country and towards other countries like the United States (Coogan). The Irish, with a rise in population in America, created a sense of their own identity and stance in America. They made history in their local settings. With their own kind of culture and based Catholic religion, they set goals to make something of themselves, not caring if they were rich or poor. They were in roles such as "elite novelists, playwrights, newspaper editors, clergymen, and politicians. With an upsurge of both immigration and nativism in the United States, there was an increase in the Catholic Irish immigration throughout the 1920s. The new Catholic Irish culture in America from the 1860s set a new path for other groups of immigrants to come to America at the time, looking for hope and new places. Even in a new country, the Irish were able to keep their own identity and cultures
During the 1900’s, it was common for people to immigrate to America. They saw it as a land of freedom and opportunity. Some thought that this was a great way for the US’ economy to boom, but some thought otherwise. With the shortage of jobs, many believed that the immigrants were stealing their precious jobs. Because of the competition over jobs, immigrants became the new public enemy to many.
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.
The first thing that we will look at is the Irish demographics. The Irish population had fluctuated tremendously over the years. When looking at where they came from, the highest group seems to have been coming from Dublin and Nothern Ireland, along with Kerry County, Ireland as well. Previous to the the 1840's, there were two other waves of Irish immigration in the US. According to the Colombia Guide to Irish American History, the first of the Irish immigrants came in the 1500's due to Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition and the population has continued to grow even since. The third wave began in the 1840's. From census data from US during the Gilded Age, in the 1860's the total number of Irish born immigrants were 22,926. Throughout this time, until around 1910, that number decreased. The number of I...
The United States was a recently forged nation state in the early 1800’s. Recently formed, this nation state was very fragile and relied on the loyalty of its citizens to all work collectively toward the establishment and advancement of the nation states. Many members of the nation state gave great sacrifices, often their lives, to see that the united states was a successful and democratic. However, the United States, was fundamentally a mixing pot of all foreign people (excluding marginalized Native Americans). This early 1800 's flow of new “Americans” continued as people sought new opportunities and escaped religious or political persecution and famine. One notable
These immigrants were coined the “new immigrants” and were composed of 23.5 million people, mainly from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe with other immigrants from Japan (LeMay 14-15). Many Jewish people immigrated from the Ukraine and Poland due to political unrest in Russia (Vigdor 36). From the other side of Europe “the largest single country-of-origin group of the early twentieth century, Italians, constituted the largest cohort of “job-seeking” migrants” (Vigdor 36). With the nativist mindset from the previous period many felt that these new immigrants were inferior and therefore unable to assimilate into society, leading to an intense xenophobic mindset (LeMay 21). Other immigrant groups fell into cultural roles such as Japanese immigrants becoming fruit and vegetable farmers and Mexican immigrants working in factories (Gerber 84). Immigrants as an entire group sent home millions of dollars from their work in the United States (Gerber 79). However, as a lot of the available land from the early 1800’s was taken, many more workers became birds of passage as opposed to permanent immigrants (Gerber 82). This period began with the start of some restrictions, as called for the end of the Open-Door Cycle (LeMay 6). The Chinese Exclusion Act was created as a response to the Open Door Cycle in hopes of controlling increasing numbers of Chinese immigrants looking for land
Discrimination of Immigrants in 1920's America Beginning in the early nineteenth century there were massive waves of immigration. These "new" immigants were largely from Italy, Russia, and Ireland. There was a mixed reaction to these incomming foreigners. While they provided industries with a cheap source of labor, Americans were both afraid of, and hostile towards these new groups.
In the eyes of the early American colonists and the founders of the Constitution, the United States was to represent the ideals of acceptance and tolerance to those of all walks of life. When the immigration rush began in the mid-1800's, America proved to be everything but that. The millions of immigrants would soon realize the meaning of hardship and rejection as newcomers, as they attempted to assimilate into American culture. For countless immigrants, the struggle to arrive in America was rivaled only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the existing American population.
To know why the Irish left Ireland, one must look at what was going on in Ireland from approximately 1815, a time before the famine began, to 1854 when the famine came to an end. Firstly, the Irish population had been steadily increasing from 2.8 million in 1712 until an estimated 8.5 million in 1841. This naturally led to harder times as families had more children to support. There also came a decline in agricultural prices, leading the average farmer’s income to decline as well. There was a legislation, as well, that was passed in 1816 and 1819 that decreased the cost of eviction, which led some of the landowners to evict their tenants to use the land for the purpose of grazing. This left those tenants without a place to live and a way to support themselves. As well, the Union with Great Britain in 1801, and the free trade that followed, ruined many of the forms of labour in Ireland at the time, including manufacturing and the products of artisans. This led many of the farmers and labourers to resort to begging, stealing and even starvation. This seemed to be enough of an incentive for people to start migrating overseas, and it is only common sense that those with the most money were able to leave first in 1815, these people mainly Protestant farmers. However, there was a reduction in fares in 1817 and that allowed some of the poorer classes, most usually were the Protestant counterparts, to finally migrate. During that period, many of the Irish immigrants came from the town of Ulster. This has been found to be due to the collapse of the linen industry there, which left the former employees unemployed. It seems apparent that in the decade prior to the Potato Famine, unemployment and a decline in the level of lifestyle were the major driving forces behind the first
The Irish began immigrating to North America in the 1820s, when the lack of jobs and poverty forced them to seek better opportunities elsewhere after the end of the major European wars. When the Europeans could finally stop depending on the Irish for food during war, the investment in Irish agricultural products reduced and the boom was over. After an economic boom, there comes a bust and unemployment was the result. Two-thirds of the people of Ireland depended on potato harvests as a main source of income and, more importantly, food. Then between the years of 1845 and 1847, a terrible disease struck the potato crops. The plague left acre after acre of Irish farmland covered with black rot. The failure of the potato yields caused the prices of food to rise rapidly. With no income coming from potato harvests, families dependent on potato crops could not afford to pay rent to their dominantly British and Protestant landlords and were evicted only to be crowded into disease-infested workhouses. Peasants who were desperate for food found themselves eating the rotten potatoes only to develop and spread horrible diseases. ¡§Entire villages were quickly homeless, starving, and diagnosed with either cholera or typhus.¡¨(Interpreting¡K,online) The lack of food and increased incidents of death forced incredible numbers of people to leave Ireland for some place which offered more suitable living conditions. Some landlords paid for the emigration of their tenants because it made more economic sense to rid farms of residents who were not paying their rent. Nevertheless, emigration did not prove to be an antidote for the Famine. The ships were overcrowded and by the time they reached their destination, approximately one third of its passengers had been lost to disease, hunger and other complications. However, many passengers did survive the journey and, as a result, approximately ¡§1.5 million Irish people immigrated to North America during the 1840¡¦s and 1850¡¦s.¡¨(Bladley, online) As a consequence of famine, disease (starvation and disease took as many as one million lives) and emigration, ¡§Ireland¡¦s population dropped from 8 million to 5 million over a matter of years.¡¨(Bladley, online) Although Britain came to the aid of the starving, many Irish blamed Britain for their delayed response and for centuries of political hardship as basi...
During the 1920’s there were many controversial issues. There was a concern about declining moral and ethical values, which led to restrictions such as prohibition for example. The concern about these issues seemed most intense when they pertained to religion. In situations like these it always seems necessary to place the blame somewhere. One particular group on which this blame was emphasized happened to be the immigrants. Irish Catholic immigrants were a main focus of discrimination in many ways.
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...
During the mid 1840’s, blight in the potato crops in Ireland caused widespread starvation and migration of Irish citizens to the United States. Yet, the massive loss of life and massive exodus could have been avoided if British taxation upon the working class of Ireland was nullified. Though the struggle for liberation was already taking place, the potato famine furthered the cause and helped spread awareness. Furthermore, the potato famine made the average Irish family more reliant upon the government for subsidies and supports to get by.
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
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Irish rapidly flowed into the United States. The Irish immigrated in different waves and for various reasons, only to be greeted with significant barriers when landing in America. The Irish were essentially pushed out of Ireland because of the awful economy and the great potato famine. Upon arriving in the United States, the Irish had a difficult time with jobs, discrimination, housing, and money in the populated urban cities in which they settled. Having a rough life in the New World, the Irish still managed to leave a powerful legacy and an influence still visible today.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many American nativist groups opposed free unrestricted immigration. Although racism is a main reason, there were many others. Economic, political, social and moral standards seemed to be threatened by these newcomers. The immigrants were unfamiliar of the language and customs that we take for granted in our everyday lives. The fear that gripped the nation was why people reacted so strongly against immigrants. The people feared change might distort the course of our prospering country. We did not want to become what those immigrants were fleeing.