January 22

Blog #46 – Immigration theories

As more and more immigrants come to America, it’s worth looking at three different theories as to what immigrants are / were expected to do when they come here.  The majority of this article comes from “Assimilation in America” by Milton M. Gordon, 1961.

The first wave of immigrants came between 1620 – 1775.  This group is predominantly English, with some Scots-Irish, Germans, Swedes, and French and Dutch.  About 20% of the American population was Africans or descendants from African slaves.

The second wave arrived between 1840s and 1850s and were predominantly Irish and German Catholics and Scandinavians.  This group has been called the “old immigrants” when talking about 19th Century immigration.  

The third wave of immigration hit American shores between 1880 – 1924.  The earliest group comprised French Canadians, Irish, German, Dutch and other northern and western European immigrants.  However, after 1890, the newer arrivals came from southern and eastern Europe: Italians, Poles, Russians, Jews, and Slavs.  This group has been called the “new immigrants.”

The latest wave started in the 1960s and hasn’t stopped.  Initially, people came from Asia and Eastern Europe, but for the past twenty years or so, more Latin Americans have arrived.

 

Anglo-Conformity

This theory concerns itself with the adoption of Anglo-American institutions like the English language, culture and customs.  However, negative attitudes towards other ethnic groups comes hand in hand with this theory, including the belief that Anglo-American ways are the only way to assimilate.  Ben Franklin and other founding fathers expressed “reservations about large-scale immigration from Europe” though they most likely could not have envisioned the role immigration would have on American history.  During the second and third waves, nativist attitudes reared their ugly heads at the Irish and Germans (see cartoon above) including a violent anti-Catholic campaign.  Even the cranky John Quincy Adams basically said, “if they don’t like it here, they can go back where they came from.”   When the third wave arrived, Social Darwinism arose as a way of asserting the older groups’ inherent genetic dominance over the eastern and southern European groups.  They weren’t English, had strange religion and customs, and were very slow to adopt American ways.  There was a pressure-cooker Americanization process undertaken during World War I which ended with hundreds being exported during the “Red Scare” of 1919-20 for un-American ideas like anarchism and socialism.

 

Melting Pot

We read about this melding of European people in America in the pre-Revolutionary era in Hector St. John Crevecouer’s Letters from an American Farmer when he said, “Who is this American?  He is either an European, or the descendant of an European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country.”    The attitude concerning the   new American society was “not a slightly modified English but rather a totally new blend… in which the stocks and folkways of Europe….were mixed in a pot of the emerging nation and fused by the fires of American influence and interaction…”   Ralph Waldo Emerson talked about America in the 1840s as “an asylum for all nations” that would make a new type of individual.   Frederick Jackson Turner broke with the Anglo-conformity mold when he wrote his historic essay in 1893, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” saying that American institutions and democracy were not an offshoot of Europe but something uniquely itself.   In 1908, an English-Jewish writer named Israel Zangwill wrote a drama called (oddly enough) The Melting Pot in which a young Jewish immigrant / composer comes to America in order to complete a symphony about his amazing new country where all ethnic groups are united.

 

Cultural Pluralism

This theory recognizes the concept that when new immigrant groups come to the United States (or wherever, for that matter), the groups tend to clump together in similar groups based on language, culture, and region.  For instance, in the 1840s, the Irish bonded together in Boston as American society initially rejected them.   By the late 1800s, middle class reformers came to the city to help the new arrivals from eastern and southern Europe get acclimated to America.  Women like Jane Addams respected an ethnic group’s language and culture but also taught them the English language.   The children of the new immigrants, because of rapid Americanization, looked down upon their parents who couldn’t speak English and clung to the old ways, thereby alienating each generation from the other.   But Jane Addams, reflected in her biography, Twenty Years in Hull House, that by creating a “Labor Museum” at her settlement house, she showed the younger generation of immigrants what the older group prized (like sewing and weaving).  “The daughters…began to appreciate the fact that their mothers had their own culture too.”

In 1915, Horace Kallen wrote articles on immigration in The Nation which rejected both the melting pot and Anglo-conformity “as models of what was actually transpiring in American life.”   He pointed out how the immigrants have participated in American society by learning English but while still preserving their culture and traditions.  Kallen felt that by allowing immigrants to keep their culture and traditions, we were actually being more democratic than if we had imposed an Anglo-conformist attitude on them.  Kallen came up with the term “cultural pluralism” in later essays in which he rejected the Klan, the Red Scare and other attempts at ultra-Americanization and stated that cultural pluralism was the “cure for these ills.”

 

As you’ve grown up, you’ve probably come to realize that America is a land of immigrants; you may be the first generation of your family born here in the United States.  In this blog response, describe at least two examples of where you’ve seen or experienced at least two of these three immigration theories in action.   Talk to your family and ask older relatives what it was like when they arrived in America.  Or, relate your family’s stories in your response.

You have until Friday by class to get this finished.  Your response should be a minimum of 300 words.  GO! 

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Posted January 22, 2013 by geoffwickersham in category Blogs

67 thoughts on “Blog #46 – Immigration theories

  1. J'Laan Pittman

    I have witnessed both the melting pot and Anglo Conformity. In my old town I had a friend who was the first generation born in United States. They were originally from Japan. His mother yucky tried to intergrate herself into American culture. My friend’s father was American, so he got boh sides of the culture for a while but as time went on you saw it less and less. At his birthday parties, there used to be authentic food but as time went on the food became Americanized. This models Anglo Conformity. I am surrounded by different cultures and ethnicities all the time. I believe that American is he biggest melting pot in the world. I hav friends of all different cultures and they all show through.

    My family is Native American and African American. My relatives that were full blood lived on a reservation in Florida. My family is from both Florida and Louisiana. I think we have some what conformed to American life because we don’t observe holidays/ celebrations, but we do acknowledge our culture. So I supposed my own family models Anglo Conformity.

  2. Sydney Alexander

    Out of three immigration theories, the two that have directly effected my ancestors and myself would be the Anglo-conformity theory and the cultural pluralism theory. For years I have been told about my ancestors, their culture, and the lives they lived before and after they immigrated to America.

    I am a quarter Italian. My great grandpa, Giovanni D’Alessandro, moved from a small southern Italian town to America when he was sixteen years old. He stood only four feet, nine inches. God only knows how is grandson is six feet, five inches. When he arrived in America, he changed his name to John Alexander. That same year, he met the beautiful, fourteen year old, Christina Santucci. Crazy enough, Christina was from the same exact Italian town as Giovanni, now John. Their families became very close friends, and Giovanni and Christina married and had four children.

    On the other side, I am Irish (mostly). A young lady named Jocelyn had the life. She was actually Lady Jocelyn. Her mother was Lady Anne Hamilton and her father Earl Francis. Lady Jocelyn was never an obedient child. But when she was fifteen years old, she did the unthinkable. She ran away with a 40-year-old Irish commoner and was disowned by her parents. Together, they had six children. When her husband died, her and her six children moved to Kentucky and there they owned acres and acres of farmland. (Even though farming was a very new thing for Lady Jocelyn). Even in Kentucky they still only associated with Irish people. Even their indentured servants and laborers were Irish.

    Immigration has had an immense impact on my own life; even hundreds of years later. From my nationality, to my upbringing, to even my last name. The theories if Anglo-conformity and cultural pluralism effect my life every single day.

  3. Anne Kozak

    I have probably seen many more examples of immigration than I remember, but I do know one person who is very important and close to me whom I have heard many stories about immigration from. My mother lived in France for the first eight years of her life, and she got a great range of culture from living in Europe. She went to Italy, where her parents were born, for vacations, and, because she lived by the France-Germany border, she would take frequent trips to Germany as well. When she was eight my mother’s family finally got the okay to move to the United States, and, as most foreign families did and still do, arrived through New York. My grandfather, a carpenter, had gotten work in Detroit, so my mother lived and went to school there.
    My mother’s early life is an example of Cultural Pluralism because, even though she moved to the United States, her family still spoke only French and Italian in the house, and still ate the food my grandmother made which had French and Italian elements. My grandmother spoke very little English. I remember when I was younger and I would hear my mother conversing with her mother and father, and I did not understand any of it.
    However, a separate part of my mother’s life grew as she got older and went to school, then college, then work. She speaks mostly English now, even with her older sister. Gradually my mother began to learn and follow American culture—the Melting Pot. My sister and I, for example, never learned French or Italian when we were young; the only language we learned was English. My mother has also become very interested in food, but most—if all—of the things we eat are recipes from books, websites, or even my mother’s imagination, rather than something she learned from her mother. I, at least, have not learned anything from my mother’s cooking about her life in France. There are stories about what my grandmother used to cook, but most of these things my mother does not remember how to make.
    Immigration has impacted my life mostly through stories than actual contact with culture. However, I am glad to be so close to someone with so much experience who can tell me the stories in the first place.

  4. Aaron Walt

    Coming from Jewish European ancestors, I am directly related to people coming here through Ellis Island during World War II. We were fortunate because most of my family were not murdered during the holocaust. This was because of the heroic actions of my Great-Great Uncle Theodore Levin was a famous judge in America who used his influence to bring a lot of my family into the country. He risked his job to improve the lives of others. As my family came to America, we witnessed and experienced firsthand the results of the melting pot. We picked up certain values from other groups of people, and these influenced how my family operates to this day. For example, my mom was raised in a household of Jewish values AND Indian values. This is because my grandfather worked with many Indian people as a doctor and learned a lot from them. So, although I was born and raised in America, I have learned a lot from the cultures that surround me and my family. Cultural Pluralism was immediately seen as my family came into America. They joined jewish communities in Michigan, New York and San Francisco. My family still remains in these places to this day. However, I have seen an example of the melting pot happen with my parents. My dad is from South Africa, while my mom is from Oak Park, Michigan, which gives me the opportunity to experience two very different sides to my family.At my temple, I meet many different types of people that are all tied together with one common bond: Judaism. I have heard many stories about peoples experiences as Jews all over the world, and i think that the Cultural Pluralism Jewish people experience is very important to the religion as a whole. In other words: Us jews gotta stick together yo.

  5. Gideon Bush

    i believe that there are many people in america who believe in anglo conformity, my family has a side that believes everyone should assimilate to anglo conformity. there are many people in america who believe this and don’t like diversity. But ive also seen cultural pluralism where when people who immigrate tend to stay together in smaller communities. There are parts of town where its highly populated by a certain ethnicity. Some parts of towns are mainly populated by asians, arabs, or jews, because people feel comfortable with people similar to them. their kids also tend to stay in touch with their culture which separates them form future generations keeping them apart even after they have settled. Although most people in this generation are kind, some are still racist and intolerant of other cultures, races, and languages. People who think they are superior than others, and is still around today, they are the people who are against immigration. No matter what sort of culture people may be, they all strongly believed in their own culture, but some are more willing to assimilate than others, while others refuse to mix and change their culture. Anglo Conformists will not conform to others, and there are examples of it all over the united states, with all of its different churches and religions. My ethnicity is extremely mixed ranging from italian, irish, anglo saxon, and many other small amounts. All throughout america there are communities of people sticking together because of the relation of language, or culture. Why would people try to talk to others who cannot understand their language when their are others who can relate to our situation. This is why there are many places that are cultural pluralism spots. America is full of anglo saxons, and cultural pluralism spread across the country, and generations and generations of kids will grow up, staying in their own communities and keeping to themselves.

  6. Antonio Delgado

    My family’s culture is a very odd melting pot of European and Puerto Rican heritage. My maternal relatives are part Spanish and part Taíno Puerto Rican (A native Puerto Rican tribe). My paternal grandfather’s family is also Spanish and Taíno. However, my paternal grandmother’s family is a mix of German, Irish, and Welsh. Because my European ancestors came to America a very long time ago, even longer than my grandmother, the oldest of my European family, can remember, their immigration reasons were unknown, but it is believed they migrated due to the need for a better financial life. My paternal grandfather’s family moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1946. However, because my grandfather was very young at the time, he does not remember the journey very well. This is where my grandfather met my European grandmother, starting my cultural melting pot. My maternal family moved to Youngstown, Ohio in 1935, before my maternal grandmother was born. My family’s culture is also based a lot on Anglo-conformity. Coming from a Puerto Rican heritage, my family has been forced to conform to the white way of life. This process started many generations ago when the Spanish discovered Puerto Rico. Because of my island’s discovery by the Spanish, Puerto Rico has become mostly Christian and now adopts Spanish as its official language. Ancient Puerto Ricans were also forced to give up their way of life, their religion, and their Native languages. However, my family still has many artifacts that have been passed down through the generations as a reminder of our Taíno culture. For instance, my family has resisted Anglo-conformity by keeping medallions of Taíno gods and keeping ancient Taíno wood carvings. My paternal grandmother’s ancestors also resisted Anglo-conformity, mainly because they were Irish in a time where the Irish were viewed as savages that needed to be conformed to the Anglic society.

  7. Matt Gallo

    My Mom’s side of the family consists of 100% Italian blood. We can trace our roots back to near the time of the Roman Empire. My family came hear in the third wave of immigrants. My great Grandma and Great Grandfather came here between the years 1900-1903. I waws told that my great-Grandparents met on their passage here on the same ship; went their seperate ways. But, later after a couple years ran into eachother again. In America my family, starting witnessing the melting pot. Even though for my Mom’s side, it did not become a reality in the family until my birth. On the other hand, my father was born of English and Latino decent. Apparently, my Great-grandfather, who had been living in present day Oklahoma, met his wife who had been an emigrant (legally) from Mexico. And got married. My family is directly influenced because of this. We eat a lot of spicy foods, and me coming from two countries who love the spices. I can, and do love spicy foods. My Grandma (the Italian) was a professional cook. This most likely directly relating to her Italian heratige where she grew up around food all the time. My Grandpa (on the same side) used to work with a Indian for a company that my Grandpa owned. And he was directly influenced by this Indians love of spicy food. He once had my Grandparents try how he liked pizza, by pouring 3 tablespoons of hababnero tabasco sause. Eventually, my grandparents started to like that too. My family doesn’t have fancy roots keeping them together like judaism, but cultural pluralism occured just the same for my family. My ancestors lived in villages segregated for just Italians. Parts of my family still live near these towns in Bridgeport. But, they were still subject to slurs about their heritage. One common one that my grandma and GRandpa got was WOP, meaning without official papers. This was because of the fact of many Italians that came over without papers. Another big hit that the Italians took then was that they may be connected with the mob. Even thouhg my family has never been accused and never been apart of the mob, doesn’t deny the fact that many people were still accused of having some connection.

  8. Amber Abboud

    My family and I have experienced both Anglo-Conformity and Cultural Pluralism. Anglo-Conformity was especially witnessed on my mother’s side of the family. My grandparents on are both from Puerto Rico, and met in America. They had five kids, and my mother is the middle child. As my grandparents had lived in Puerto Rico until they were in their twenties, they were fluent in Spanish. They spoke Spanish in the house and spoke heavy accenting English in public. When their eldest daughter Elizabeth started kindergarten, she knew much more Spanish than she did English. When her teachers found this out they told my grandparents they needed to stop speaking Spanish in the house so Elizabeth could learn America’s native language. So they did. To this day my mom nor any of her siblings are fluent in Spanish, even though they are first generation in the U.S.
    Cultural Pluralism was witnessed on my dad’s side of the family. My father is himself an immigrant. He was born in Bagdad, Iraq and moved to America when he was ten years old. He used to tell me how when he was a child, he imagined America with streets paved of gold. He and his family moved into the Arabic/Chaldean neighborhoods around Michigan. His relatives also immigrated and moved into theses areas. My grandfather sponsored families in Iraq so they could move to America to get away from the oppression they faced there (Chaldeans are catholic, and were oppressed by mainly Muslim Arabs.)
    I could also address how the melting pot theory affects me. I am a mix of Chaldean and Puerto Rican, and without America as a common ground, that combination probably wouldn’t have happened. My extended family is very diverse as well. It consists of blends of Puerto Rican, Mexican, Chaldean, Chinese, African American, and Danish. And my extended family is pretty tightly knitted, so I have been exposed to all of these cultures my whole life.

  9. Ryan Jezierski

    Of the three different choices, i’ve chosen to do Melting Pot and Anglo-Conformity because i’ve experience (and seen) both of these during my lifetime.

    I’ve seen melting pot in many cases, one of them being America. You don’t just see one type of person, or one type of religion. There are many types of people that are spread throughout America. Another type of melting pot could be educational systems. Not every system would be the same. Many different systems have different requirements and different ways of teaching. Finally, another type of melting pot would be my family. My grandpa, who’s from Poland, met my grandma when he came over from Poland and into America. My grandma is Greek and they made our family.

    Another Immigration Theory would be Anglo-Conformity. When my grandpa came over from Poland, he didn’t have a very well understanding of the English Language in the 1940’s, but my grandma worked with him on it and it took him about 2 years, but finally he learned the language. Today, you wouldn’t be able to tell that he ever knew a different language, because of how fluently he speaks English.

  10. Nick Berry

    I have seen both the Melting Pot theory and the Cultural Pluralism theory. The Melting Pot theory is evident in the life of just about everyone in America. There are very few people in America that are of only one ethnicity and have had more than one generation of their family to live in America. I am mostly Irish, the first ancestors on both my mom’s and my dad’s side to come to America were Irish. However, now there is also English, German, and French included in my ethnicities. In just about anywhere in the United States you can see people of man different skin tones. After generations of being in America there is a good chance that the current generation has a different skin color than the first generation to come to America.
    Cultural Pluralism is shown right here in Michigan; the majority of our Arabic people are centralized in Dearborn. This area of Michigan is a perfect example of Cultural Pluralism because the families of similar background live in the same area and they still maintain their culture and religion despite being fluent in English most of the time. I have a close friend Mohammad who lives there and his family still keeps up with their culture and tradition. He is Islamic and the women in his family still wear hijabs and they cook authentic Lebanese foods. His family maintains the religious requirement of praying five times a day. The idea that ethnicities will group together is usually true however in some cases, like my family’s, it is not. Being Irish, the place that would be easiest for my ancestors to go was Boston. My ancestors instead went to Pennsylvania which had a considerably smaller Irish population. Even without a large population similar to them, they still managed to mesh with the rest of their community and live successful lives.

  11. Jeremy Ellis

    I am Jewish so I do not come from America, my family hails from the lands of Russia and Poland. My Great Grandfather Joe Chodorof moved to America when he was in his late teens. He moved with his many sisters and parents to the conquest of the American Dream. If it were not for his hard work and dedication, my family would have stopped at him. Although he was uneducated, he was extremely intelligent, he became at the hands of unlimited wealth by owning part of the first chain of supermarkets in all of the country called B & C. With this wealth he was able to bring over the rest of his family and start a life. Cultural Pluralism is the basis that a new group of people joins groups or gatherings of their kind. My family is and has always been members of Temples, and other congregations revolving around Judaism. This summer I am part taking in the JCC Maccabi Games, which is an organization for Jewish teens to play sports against each other from all over the country. The Maccabi Games is the second largest international sporting games, behind the Olympics. Melting pot, not the restaurant but the human meaning as in a way, all is united as one. I am Jewish and sometimes when I would go over to my grandmas house, she would be cooking a meal using Indian spices or, making an ethical dish. I also have part taken in community service programs to show diversity and how to united diversity. Our school that we walk the halls of every day is diverse and every one of the students is equal when they are in school. Not one man or woman is the same, but we all breathe, eat, sleep and live the same as one another.

  12. Shashank R.

    The 2 theories that I have seen, witnessed or experienced was the idea of a melting pot, and cultural pluralism. The theories and ideas of the melting pot are eminent and in my opinion is the most popularly accepted immigration theory. As people come to this country, the mix of cultures and coagulation of people would inevitably lead to some sort of mixture and blend. Also as many people come to this country we are all united through the goal of prosperity and a sense of nationalism. The melting pot theory can also be interpreted as not only the emotional and mental synthesization of immigrants but also the physical as I personally know people who have a percentage of one type of heritage instilled through their veins. Noah Turner I know for a fact that he has Caucasian (Unspecified heritage/nationality) and also has Colombian blood as his middle name is Muños. This example shows how 2 different races had mixed to create **In a non-negative way** a new breed of American. Also now on the topic of cultural pluralism and the idea that immigrants tend to flock together and settle in relatively similar areas. No need to look far as one PRIME example of this theory is in our own state of Michigan. Dearborn Michigan is the most concentrated area of people of Arabic/Middle east decent in the world, (Other than the Middle East itself). But why? Who knows, as many Muslims came to industrial suburb of metropolitan Detroit, the others flocked like the Serengeti. But the point is they flocked and settled in the same area and still maintained somewhat the integrity of their culture, while still practicing some sort of nationalism and the general goal of prosperity and opportunity. As my own personal experience and my family experience is not really correlated with any of these theories. As my parents moved From South India to America. As my parents were married in India they were separated for about a year as both of them had to finish college. (My mom in India and My dad in Michigan) My dad went to Macomb community college, working at k-mart, and at a local library to put himself through school, and did his master’s in Business administration/accounting, and got a job in a small and upcoming business, and eventually worked his way up to an executive position in the same company. And my mother went to college in India and got her major in computer science and quickly got a job working for EDS **eventually to be HP** As they settled in sterling heights Michigan. As of course I was born here being a First generation American in the family. Their view of America was obviously different than those of the past as they came in the Late 80’s and in a more modern sense of immigration. But yes if it would fit into some sort of theory it would be the idea of the melting pot, as they came with one uniformed goal and that was education and prosperity as that is what the values and attraction of the nation is for all.

  13. geoffwickersham (Post author)

    As a first-generation Hmong-Chinese growing up in America, I was faced with waves upon waves of conformity and assimilation. From a young age, I was very different from my white-faced peers, but at the time, I didn’t think much about it. I recall a time from my youth where my classmates were comparing skin tones. However, it was just harmless, innocent banter, I exclaimed with glee: “Look! I’m white too!”. Oh how wrong I was, the other children just shook their heads and said no. I was naïve back then, and I guess it was for the better. Gradually, as the years passed by, I came to terms with this shocking discovery. As I got older, I met other Asians, but something wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t help but to notice some had no knowledge where they came from, or their culture. This was the first time I encountered Anglo-Conformity, and although I didn’t know what it was called, it was obviously present. My fellow Asians had been merged into this society, their roots pulled up and cultivated, being forced to grow in a line without their knowing. Not knowing where I was from, I dedicated myself to learning. Through my perseverance and annoyance, I got my father to explain our family history. He was reluctant to, but I finally heard the story of my people. My father tried to keep up separated from our roots for a long time. To this day I don’t have much knowledge on why, but he must have had good reasons to. Another anecdote from my past helps explain this. It was late at night, my family was driving back from the local YMCA. In the dark, I sat in the col, faded, gray seat listing to my father speak. His eyes were focused on the road ahead, beams of red and white light flashed off his glasses. It’s been a while so the whole conversation I don’t recall, but there was a single statement that would stick with me for the rest of my life. “You’re not white, or a woman, so don’t expect anything”. Many times since then, this has been proven many times true. A little ways down the road, a movie called Gran Torino starring Clint Eastwood came out. In the film, the concept of Cultural Pluralism is shown with shocking realism. The story of how my family came to America is very lengthy, and honestly, not many can sit through it all, so for the sake of time, I’ll skip to the end. And so the majority of us settled in Detroit, Minnesota, and other places. And at the end of the Vietnam War we had moved to the country of dreams.

    Ben

  14. Zach Resnick

    I have a very unique family background of being half Italian with a duel citizenship in Italy and a Jewish American. The Italian in me, comes from my mothers side of the family. My mother was born in Italy therefore I am the first American born generation on that part of the family. My mother came to America or in other words, the new world dream, when she was about just six years of age. Her father new it would be a better life for him and his family if they had made the risky journey to America. Despite the risk, he made the voyage and settled in The United States with twenty dollars to his name. He started off as a janitor at a motor company and then with his hard work ethic and loyalty to the company he later owned the company. He has been very successful ever since and once he was successfully settled, he brought the rest of the family from Italy over to the U.S. I would say that this is related to the Cultural Pluralism theory, considering he brought all of his relatives over as a group and settled together in the same area. The Jewish in me comes from my fathers side of the family. His parents were born in Poland where many Jews lived in the early 1900’s and migrated over to the U.S. with his grandparents seeking a better life. This would make my father a first generation American born Jew and myself, a second generation American born Jew. My fathers side of the family had an easier time settling in the U.S. with the help of relatives that had already settled successfully. My fathers grandparents came together in the new world with relatives and friends which is the idea of the melting pot. In other words, they all came together as one. My heritage is a very unique one but I am very proud of who I am and the successful Journey that my family made coming over and settling into America.

  15. Ariel Boston

    My grandma is from England and she moved to America with my grandfather in the early 1960s when she was in her 20s. My grandparents fall into the category partly in Anglo conformity and partly in cultural pluralism. My grandparents are divorced so my grandma falls more into Anglo conformity and my granddad falls more into cultural pluralism. My grandma came to New York first, and then from there after my grandparents divorced she moved to Detroit. My grandparents both speak English but they had heavy British accents my grandmother lost a lot of her accent so that she could be better understood by the people in New York and in Detroit. She wasn’t really around anyone who was from England like her so it was easier for her to blend in and lose her accent . She told me that sometimes when she first moved here she would use the words from England by accident and no one here would know what she was talking about. My grandma doesn’t talk about England much. Once when I was younger, she was looking at a map with me and was confused. She said she couldn’t find Great Britain on it! I told her that it wasn’t really called that anymore and that now it is the United Kingdom. On the other hand, my grandfather moved to Florida. There, he was surrounded by plenty of people from their country and even joined a group with other black people from England. They periodically have parties and charity balls and they raise money for the community. My granddad still has a very heavy accent and sometimes it’s still hard for me to understand him. I have a lot of cousins who still live in England. My grandparents and a few of my great uncles and one great aunt came here have better schooling. My grandfather became a professor and my grandma was a teacher.

  16. Jalen

    My family is a representation of the melting pot in America. My mom’s side hails from the Germanic regions of Europe, which is the reason for the majority of them to be fair-skinned and blond. On the other hand, my dad’s family is from north eastern Europe, (Russia, Poland/Belarus) is relatively darker skinned with brown/black hair. In my immediate family, my mom and sister are blonde, while my dad and I are brown haired. Another basis on how my family is a melting pot is religion. My father’s ancestors were Russian Jews that fled persecution in 1904. My mom’s family came from a predominantly Catholic region in Europe. This clash of religion supports the Melting Pot thesis.

    Just like my families representation of the melting pot, my family represents cultural pluralism. Many people of Germanic decent moved into the west after immigration. Many of the Germanic people were farmers, and this land was prime for harvesting. My ancestors settled throughout Montana, Minnesota, and North Dakota, where I still have relatives. So economic and cultural pluralism contributed to my mom’s ancestors arriving in the northern frontier. My father’s grandpa, born in current Belarus, immigrated directly to Detroit. Detroit was an ideal place for eastern European Jews to move to because of the car industry, which employed thousands. With little English knowledge, he opened a small bakery in Detroit catering to the large eastern European Jewish population that worked in the factories. The bakery still exists in Oak Park, which is predominantly Jewish, as Zeman’s Bakery.

    What I find amazing is that I know people from Belarus, and you would never guess that I was indirectly from there. This was due to Anglo-Conformity, which was contributed by American education and cultural. My great-grandfather was heavily influenced by his homeland, while I am culturally ignorant of his. This transition to the American cultural played a significant role in many immigrants lives as the tried to adjust and join the ever expanding and growing American culture.

  17. Isabelle Molnar

    I have many stories of immigration in my families history. All of my mothers grandparents were Jewish immigrants that came to America in the early 1900s from Germany and Russia. But the story that is closest to me, the one that know by heart, is that of my father’s.
    My father, Imre Molnar, was born in Hungary in 1951 on a farm outside of the city of Budapest. His family lived a rather humble, yet fairly comfortable, life. When he was very young, the Soviet Invasion of Hungary began to take place. Soon the roads were filled with Russian soldiers and tanks. When a violent revolution began not far from my father’s home, his family decided it was time to leave, and the only way to do so was to make a full on escape. They had friends who were sneaking people across the heavily guarded borders. They would travel by any means possible, and quite literally had to sprint across the border on foot. From there they traveled to Switzerland to stay with family, but soon moved to Australia, which was advertising hospitality and plenty of jobs for the thousands of Hungarian immigrants fleeing their country. My grandparents came to Australia with high hopes for new beginnings. But things did not go exactly as planned. Because of the language barrier, they had a hard time finding jobs. My grandfather eventually became a washing machine repairman and my grandmother a seamstress, but they lived their whole life in Australia as poor immigrants who spoke almost no English and lived in tiny housing. My father had to help his father with work at a young age whilst juggling school and classmates who teased him for being an immigrant. Things got better for my father. When he eventually moved to America in the late 80s, he earned his success in a very American-dream style: working your way from the bottom to the top.

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