Essay Sample on Immigrants Experiences in America

Most of the U.S. population came from immigrant descent. Since our country was founded lawmakers and the population have been arguing over immigration laws and immigrants now and of past generations have not only struggled to get into the United States, but to have the same equality and rights granted to those who are white. Every group we have talked about has had common struggles, but they each also had their own individual struggles specific to each group of people. In this essay we’re going to be talking about each group and the struggles they had to overcome.

First, we’re going to talk about the class of the immigrants coming over to the United States. People were coming from all over the world with different backgrounds. Many people such as the Irish, Germans, Chinese, and Eastern and Southern Europeans were mainly of peasant class. Irish, Chinese, and Germans were unfamiliar with the urban life as they worked on the land. The Eastern European Jews on the other hand, had more of a skillset that was good for urban life (Greene lecture, 10/11). The Irish and Germans usually took jobs in the states as laborers either on farms or working on railroads, in which they made very little money and worked in very hazardous conditions (Green lecture, 9/20). The Chinese had their big influx of immigration during the California Gold Rush of the 1840’s and then proceeded to work on railroads, small business, and as servants for the Whites (Greene lecture, 10/4). So, in terms of class status many were peasants/laborers. Only a small number of immigrants were wealthy and those were your landowners, artisans, and government officials.

Each one of these groups faced some sort of discrimination. The Irish faced discrimination because they were poor, were illiterate, and were believed to lack skills that would be useful to the American economy. The biggest discrimination they faced though was that they were Catholics. Anti-Irish mobs (who were predominately protestant) would burn houses and would torch churches. Many Americans felt that Catholicism “in its religious character alone, the antagonist of American Republicanism.” (Whitney, pg. 145). The Germans were discriminated against roughly the same as the Irish. They don’t speak English, they didn’t assimilate well and were thought to have no useful skills (Greene lecture, 9/22). They also faced heavy discrimination during WW1 and WW2 because the Germans were enemies of the US. The Asians were thought to be stealing jobs and gold from white workers and miners. They were forced to live in Chinatowns and were specifically targets of race riots and forced evictions. For example, the Rock Springs Riot of 1885 in Wyoming where white miners burned their homes and murdered 28 trying to flee. There were also forced evictions in Tacoma and Seattle Washington in which Chinatowns were burned down and Chinese were forced out (Greene lecture, 10/4). Southern and Eastern Europeans were discriminated against because many of them did not speak English, were not educated, and again were thought to bring no useful skills to America (Greene lecture, 10/11). On top of all that all groups were the victims of political comics further increasing the hatred towards them.

There were many laws passed to try and limit and exclude immigrants. The Naturalization Act of 1790 was the first act regarding immigration which states only “free white citizens” could become U.S. Citizens. They had to live here for 2 years and be of good moral character (Greene lecture, 9/20). This was later changed with the creation of the Birthright Act, which states anyone born on U.S. soil is guaranteed U.S. citizenship (Ngai, Pg. 2524). The first law that was passed to exclude an entire group of people was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act banned all Chinese laborers from entering the United States, and excluded all Chinese immigrants not born in the United States from being able to gain U.S. citizenship (Greene lecture, 10/4). As immigration began to rise so did calls to stop it so whites wouldn’t be the minority. In a 1917 Act there were restrictions which included literacy laws, which meant you had to be literate in English, criminal record checks, physical and mental handicaps, and poor people. And everyone had to have “moral character” (Greene lecture, 10/13). In another effort to reduce immigration the United States passed the National Origins Act of 1924 which established the quota “only 2% of the total number of people who were in the US from each country in 1890” which was directly targeted at Southern and Eastern European countries (Greene lecture, 10/13). The creation of Ellis (1892) and Angel Island (1910) were also used to screen and reject immigrants from entering the United States (Greene Lecture 10/13). Angel Island took longer to get through due to it being on the west coast where they kept Chinese immigrants for months or even years and was referred to as “Chinese Jail” (Fu Chi Hao, Pg. 317).

Immigrants struggled immensely from the start of the country to now. They struggled then so our lives could be easier now. They all went through the same general struggles just wanting to be treated equal, as is their right in our U.S. Constitution. They never got that fair and equal treatment in their lifetime and that prejudice is still alive and well today. Not only did they have general biased against them, each group that came to the states had their own discrimination and hatred they had to not only face daily but ignore and overcome just to be able to stay here.