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cultural diversity in america essay
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People across history cite a better life as their reasoning for immigrating to the United States. In searching for a better life, the idea of freedom is born. For example, the Protestants ran from persecution for their religion. They whole-heartedly believed they would discover a better life filled with freedom in the new world. As history continues through the 19th and 20th centuries, more immigrants from around the world travel to America searching for the sought after freedom. For instance, Irish immigrants dreamed America as the place to escape the potato famine and English Oppression during the mid-1800s (Irish Immigrants in America During the 19th Century).Leading into the early 20th century, waves of Southern and Eastern European immigrants crashed towards the United States (Immigration to the United States). As history progresses to the present, people still dream of freedom, now Mexicans seek it. Everyone hunts freedom, but what is it? In “Becoming American,” Dinesh D’Souza depicts freedom as the ability to “determine [your identity and your fate] for yourself” (D’Souza, p. 345). With this definition, D’Souza establishes his reasoning why America draws in immigrants: not for money, but actually, the choices that the country offers.
Instead of D’Souza’s approach to immigration, many critics believe immigrants travel to America in search of riches. As D’Souza states, “What the immigrant cannot help noticing is that America is a country where the poor live comparatively well” (D’Souza, p. 340). In comparison to third world countries, the people of America are spoiled. The poor do not need to gather water from rivers or die of infection because they lack money to the basic aspects of American society, such as running water...
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... him to break free of the constraints that have held him captive, so that the future becomes a landscape of his own choosing” (D’Souza, p. 345). In America, no longer will an immigrant be forced to live based off where he comes from, but instead who he becomes. This is the true freedom that millions of people, in history and present time, need and would risk everything to find.
Works Cited
D'Souza, Dinesh. "Becoming American." The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas. By Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2011. 339-45. Print.
"Immigration to the United States." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. .
"Irish Immigrants in America during the 19th Century." Kinsella Page. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. .
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
Immigration to America from Europe was at an all time high in the mid-1800s. After the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s, a large group of Irish immigrated to the United States. Since then, increasing numbers of Irish people have been moving to the United States, especially in Chicago. The Irish had come to realize that the United States really is the land of opportunity. With jobs being available to the immigrants, many more shipped in to start new lives for their families. However, for quite a while they did not live in the nicest of areas in Chicago. Many of the Irish resided in low-class areas such as overcrowded parts around the Loop, and out in the West Side. Not only did the West Side shelter the Irish, but many Germans and Jews lived in that area.
His arguments build from appealing to the what an ordinary citizen owns in America as compared to Third World countries, to next being treated equally socially, then he brings in the “moral triumph” of America, and closes with “security and dignity” and being able to live longer. D’Souza states in closing that Americans can live a “longer, healthier, and fuller life” than those who come from other countries and that’s why immigrants want to come to America. He states that because Americans have in general more money than the immigrant would have living elsewhere, that we therefore have time for family, community, and spirituality which is a “better life” than others. His development builds in strength by appealing first to what we experience socially to what we value the most which is having ethics and
The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of birthplace, social class, or economic class, can attain success in the American society. Sadly, countless people will never achieve success in this society because they are foreign born. In Warren St. John’s book Outcasts United, St. John sheds light onto the numerous hardships that the tiny American town of Clarkston faces when thousands of refugees attempt to create a brand-new life there. At first Clarkston stood completely divided by original residents and refugees, but it wasn’t until the refugees and old residents saw past their physical differences of language, culture, and past life experiences that Clarkston began to thrive. Although the majority of projects started out helping
Long, Robert Emmet.Immigration. Dublin: H. W. Wilson, 1996. Purcell, L. Edward. Immigration. Phoenix: Oryx, 1995.
Immigrants leave their countries in search for a better life and improvement of their situation. There is no singular reason for immigration; motivations range from better economic prospects to political safety. As of late, the number of immigrants living in the United States is an estimated 11 million. Those who immigrate are expected to contribute to the United States culturally, politically, and economically. Yet, full assimilation becomes difficult to achieve when the immigrant is made into “the other” by the country of reception.
Since the creation of the United States of America, immigrants from all backgrounds have sought refuge, a home and a life in this country of prosperity and opportunity. The opportunity of freedom to exercise natural rights is a large pull factor that causes many people to come to America. Others come because it is a country where one can prosper. Prosperity of people in a country, however, is a more challenging phenomenon to explain than opportunity. Immigrants seek economic, social and educational as well as cultural prosperity. The question of how to gain such prosperity is a difficult one to answer. Some immigrants come to America, cast off their past identity and attempt to find a new, less foreign one. By assimilating to American culture with this new identity, they start a long and treacherous journey to seek prosperity in a land vastly different from the one they once called home. Many will gain educational, economic and social prosperity, but never gain cultural prosperity. Assimilating to American culture so hastily, some immigrants are never able to explore and keep up with their cultural backgrounds. Their families grow up and became Americans, never cognizant of their given up ethnic identities. Those immigrants, however, who are able to gain cultural prosperity through the help of other immigrants of their respective background, become integrated into American society while keeping their ethnic identity. This is the sort of opportunity that the United States of America has provided new arrivals since its founding. Although many immigrants become overwhelmed with American culture and assimilate into it, those who contribute to a working ethnic society are able to dela...
Yet America still beckoned most strongly to the struggling masses of Europe, and the majority of migrants headed for the "land of freedom and opportunity". There was freedom from aristocratic caste and state church; there was abundant opportunity to secure broad acres and better one’s condition.
Erika, Lee. "U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues." Journal of American Ethnic History. Vol. 20. Issue 2 (2001): n. page. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
The problem of immigration has been a controversial issue in the United States, particularly the issue of illegal immigration. Therefore, immigration can be defined as the act of immigrating/moving to another country, meaning that one moves to another nation, where he or she was not born, or where he or she is not a native of; thereby, using the new nation as a permanent residence either legally or illegally. Therefore, this essay presents that immigration (both legal and illegal) is good and leads various benefits to a nation, including fostering economic growth, contribute to labor markets, and contributes to taxes as well as social contributions; though, it can sometimes harm
Between the years of 1845 and 1850 a fungus swept through Ireland’s crops. During these turbulent times starvation, and diseases set in and claimed millions of lives. While starvation and diseases spread 500,000 immigrated to the United States. These large waves of Irish immigrants accounted for more than half of all immigrants in the 1840s. In addition between “1820 and 1975 4.7 million Irish settled in America claiming it as home”. (PBS.)
“We are nation of immigrants. Some came here willingly, some unwillingly. Nonetheless, we are immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants, one, and all. Even the natives came from somewhere else, originally. All of the people who come to this country come for freedom, or for some product of that extraordinary, illusory condition. That is what we offer here—freedom and opportunity in a land of relative plenty.” (Middletown Journal 2005)
"Immigrants and the American Dream." Society 33.n1 (Nov-Dec 1995):3(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale University. 26 Sep. 2006.
America has, for many decades, branded itself a nation of opportunity. As an economy built from the industry of first generation immigrants, America’s diversity stands testament to the fact that it is a nation of opportunity. An example of a person who characterizes the ideal that this nation is built on is my very own father. My father, although not completely American, displays the intrinsic qualities of an American hero: belief in oneself, adaptability, and humility.
Today, in most cases, people don’t spend very much time thinking about why the society we live in presently, is the way it is. Most people would actually be surprised about all that has happened throughout America’s history. Many factors have influenced America and it’s society today, but one of the most profound ways was the way the “Old Immigrants” and “New Immigrants” came to America in the early to mid 1800s. The “Old Immigrants were categorized as the ones who came before 1860 and the “New Immigrants” being the ones who came between 1865 and 1920. The immigrants came to the United States, not only seeking freedom, but also education. Many immigrants also wanted to practice their religion without hindrance. What happened after the immigrants