Known To Many As The ‘Melting Pot,’ The United States Consists

Immigration in the United States is a complex demographic activity that has been a major contribution to population growth and cultural change throughout much of the nation's history. The many aspects of immigration have controversy in economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, crime, and even voting behavior. Congress has passed many laws that have to do with immigrants especially in the 19th century such as the Naturalization Act of 1870, and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, or even the Immigration Act of 1903 all to insure specific laws and boundaries set on immigrants. The life of immigrants has been drastically changed throughout the years of 1880-1925 through aspects such as immigrants taking non-immigrants

territory and the government once allowed the Filipinos to go to the U.S. to be laborers, the government no longer wanted the Filipinos to stay for the same reason that they did not want the Mexicans and Mexican Americans to remain in the U.S. The government’s offer to give the Philippines its independence showed clearly that the government did not want these nonwhite, yet hardworking laborers to take up spaces that supposedly should have been for the white Americans; the government offered the Filipinos a free ride back home if they were willing to leave. Additionally, the eager immigrants trying to get into the U.S. had to worry not only about fitting within the quota, but also pleasing the American consuls regarding the LPC clause; in 1930 President Hoover insisted that the LPC clause was tightened up and enforced better (Daniels 295). The LPC, Liable to become a Public Charge, clause was supposed to check that an immigrant was well off enough to enter the U.S. The American consulates ensured that the immigrant had a near-decent or decent amount of money to start off in the U.S. and was capable of keeping themselves economically stable. Considering the current economic crisis, the government did not want even more homeless people roaming around the streets without any direction, and therefore gave more power to the American consulates in letting them decide whether someone could enter the country or not. This clause made it

The 1890s to the 1920s was the first time that the federal government was taking a real stand and control over immigration policies. It also saw the two greatest waves of immigration in the country’s history. War, poverty, political turmoil, social upheaval, food shortages, lack of available jobs and more prompted people from foreign countries to move to the United States because it was the land of dreams and prosperity. After the depression of the 1890s immigration jumped from 3.5 million to 9 million in a ten year period. By 1900, New York City had as many Irish residents as Dublin and more Italians than any city outside Rome and more Poles than any city except Warsaw. It had more Jews than any other city in the world, as well as large amount of Slavs, Lithuanians, Chinese, and Scandinavians (Collier). The government began to limit these new immigrants. From 1882 until 1943 most Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the nation’s first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. In 1892, Ellis Island was opened in New York evaluate immigrants before allowing them to enter the United States. On the West Coast, Angel Island, a similar immigrant station opened near San Francisco. World economies slowed and other problems occurred that caused people to become desperate for work and a fresh start.

When the Philippines became a territory of the U.S. after the Spanish-American War, Philippine could freely enter the country. Recruited by the thousands as cheap labor to work the Hawaiian sugar plantation and “the fisheries of the Northwest and Alaska” (Takai, 314). They quickly began to migrate to the U.S mainland. They were agricultural workers and domestic service workers, which is what the economy needed at that time. In contrast, in class, we learned that the first Chinese immigration to North America began with the California Gold Rush and the first railroad project. Following the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese immigrants were increasingly as their success in the farming industry. Therefore, they way they came to America makes Filipino quite distinct from the Chinese and

Immigrants were pulled to America from Europe and Asia in hopes of prosperity leaving behind religious and political prosecution that had pushed them out of the country. In the 1880s, old immigrants from Northern and Western Europe easily assimilated to American customs and were welcomed into the melting pot of America. In 1907, new Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe faced much more difficult challenges. They did not speak the English language, resisted Americanization and had to pass through immigrations stations; Ellis Island and Angle Island. New immigrants did not assimilate and often lived in urban locations called ghettos where their ethnic group dominated. They were part of a salad bowl America rather than melting pot. American people became threatened by immigrants and feared they would take their jobs away. Many Americans believed in the policy of nativism and that government should protect the interest of the native population over the interests of immigrants. The Asian immigrants suffered extreme prejudices. The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882 prohibiting Chinese laborers from entering the country unless they could prove residency. The Gentlemen’s Agreement Act promise to end its Japanese segregation policy as long as Japan stopped issuing passports to their laborers to come to America. Big Business also took advantage of the growing

But in 1910, They were allowed into the country. Once World War I hit in 1914, immigration arrival numbers decrease immensely. Because America entered the war, they were holding back immigrants from coming into the country. Mainly Germans, they were stopped on the ships and interned on Ellis Island until it was their time to leave for deportation. Once the island becomes a health care center for the wounded soldiers coming back from war, things start to change with the standards of admittance. They created a literacy test for those over the age of sixteen, if they could not read thirty to forty words in their native tongue, they were not allowed to be admitted into the country, making almost all Asian immigrants ineligible. The American becomes paranoid at this point the “Red Scare” has Ellis Island mainly harboring immigrants that were not admitted on the island as interns until they were forced to return to their country based on the accusations put upon them. Once the war was over, in 1920 Ellis Island returned to its normal job as an immigration inspection station. After the year 1924, they started loosening the standards that are required for entering the country. If you had your paper and were in decent health, then you could become an American citizen. At this point they only turned away about two percent of the travelers,

"The migratory currents of the time foreshadow later massive displacements" (345). These later migrations would ensue for the duration of the entire twentieth century, bringing increasing numbers of Puerto Ricans into the United States.

The U.S. colonized the Philippines between 1900 and 1934. This had a significant impact on the mass immigration of the Filipinos. The Filipino immigrants were then made U.S. nationals and granted the opportunity of settling in the U.S. and protected by its law and constitution. The increase in demand for labor in California farmlands and Hawaiian plantation led to a surge of Filipino immigrants seeking these jobs (Abraham 14). They mostly came from the provinces of Cebu and Ilocos. The demand for labor in these farms was attributed to the exit of the Japanese work force from the plantations. The immigrants from Philippines mostly comprised of a subgroup known as Sakadas, who entered Hawaii as U.S. nationals. However, they did not enjoy

Work on the plantation was harsh, tedious and hot. The history of sugar plantations was also known for riots and strikes. This was not the life Filipino immigrants were expecting. Filipinos began migrating to Hawaii in 1907 (University of Hawaii, n.d.). By the year 1919, the total was over 10,000 Filipino immigrants (University

(Zaide 303-304) This started the wave of Filipinos wanting to migrate to the states is search of unlimited opportunities.

The United States of America is considered a melting pot of heritages and nationalities from all around the world. There is no official language, and no one culture all citizens abide by. Despite the fact that everyone in this country is different from one another, there is still a constant uniform citizen that has a more favorable position. This citizen is white, English-speaking, and somehow always in the front of the public sphere. In the recent years, there has been an increasingly dominant Latino presence in America. Their strength in numbers challenges there being a poster American citizen, and that that citizen will remain white. When working to assimilate to America’s “culture,” Lations seem to believe that there is one America, within which people speak a singular language and experience one culture. The pressure to assimilate stems from the white citizens of the country feeling threatened when there is a new culture and language, which they do not understand. As a result they feel personally threatened by the people who can speak both Spanish and English, and their response response involves marginalization and the obvious exclusion of Latino groups in the United States. There is a phenomenon, cultural citizenship, where Latinos perform their cultural practices to stretch their identity into the states, and practice their right to be authentic members of their community.

From 1899 to 1903 the Filipino’s turned against the United States. McKinley decided to hold his possession of the island resulting in a long bloody war. Originally the colonial administration sought out to make the Philippines their version of what thought was right.Press released terrible doings of American troops such as burning villages, torturing prisoners of war, raping and executing civilians. Mark Twain stated “We have gone to conquer” instead of doing what the McKinley administration justified as to “uplift and civilize and Christianize”(672). After the colonial administration took control they started to modernize the islands. Railroads and harbors were expanded, American schoolteachers and public health officials arrived and they

The United States has Changed from a Melting Pot to a Vast Culture with Varying Racial Backgrounds

Such "changes" led to the third wave of Filipino immigration between the year 1945-1965. Filipinos from the Philippines joined the U.S. Navy to battle against the Japanese. They were permitted to join the navy because they were so-called "Nationals," meaning they were not American citizens, nor were they undocumented migrants. In the Navy, many Filipinos were appointed as "Designated TN", commonly known as "Steward Men." As a steward man, a Filipino National in the U.S. Navy does more of a domestic job such as cleaning, cooking instead of combating in the battlefield. Despite their status, the Filipinos fought side by side with the Americans against the Japanese for freedom. Others contributed by acting as "civilians" involved in the mobilization forces throughout the war. Toward the end of the war, the Filipinos had earned the acknowledgment and profound respect of the American public. The Filipinos reclaimed their dignity after many years of discrimination and racism. The 4th wave of the Filipino migration began after the passing of the Immigration Act of 1965 and continues to the present day. This law allowed the entry of as many as 20,000 immigrants annually. Today, with a total population of more than 1.4 million in 1990, Filipinos compose the second-largest Asian-American group and the second-largest immigrant population in the United States (The Asian Population:

The United States is commonly know as a melting pot of nations, in which people from around the world have emigrated to form a homogeneous yet varied culture. Although we come from different ethnic groups, we are usually bound together through our common English language. This becomes an issue, however, when immigrants are not familiar with English and American culture, and instead attempt to keep their own heritage alive. They are often torn between identities through language, the one they speak at home which they are familiar with, and the one they must adhere to in public. This often leads to struggle and conflict on both sides, dealing with different cultures and how people react when assimilation occurs. Because of this, living in the United States often requires us to completely accept only one identity, even though hints of the other may spill over at times.