How Immigrants Shaped American Culture

Many people leave their homelands and immigrate to America. Many Immigrants come to America searching for work and better opportunity. Immigrants have helped develop and create America into what it is today. Immigrants have positively contributed to America in many different ways including fashion, physis, and the engineers.

Since its founding, the United States has attracted immigrants from all over the world and consists of a variety of different cultures. Immigration has had an enormous impact on American society and economy and shaped the country remarkably.

Immigrants are what have helped America to be America. Being a multicultural society standing united. We say that America is just a melting pot. This is what makes our country exceptional and special. We have here many cultures: Chinese, Italian, German, African, and Latin as well. We have many Ideas

Traditionally immigrants are faced numerous challenges on a daily basis. America is known as the place where there is a chances to succeed, a place where you can be free. Numerous Immigrants came to America with the goal that they could have a more noteworthy plausibility at prevailing in life. Settlers went out on a limb a when coming to America, for some it worked out well however for others they had a troublesome time here. Regardless of the battles that the outsiders experienced, for example, emerging from others, being isolated from their families, and breaking their way of life, the settlers are as yet thankful to be in America since they were in preferable conditions over they were in their country.

During the late 1800s, inhabitants from all parts of the world made the decision to leave their jobs and homes to immigrate to the United States. They fled rising taxes, famine, crop failure, land and job shortages, to come to the United States. Perceived to be one of the greater countries for economic opportunity, many sought freedom from religious and political persecution. Around twelve million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1870 and 1900. Before the Civil War, the majority of immigrants were from Germany, Ireland, and England. There would be a drastic change in the next three decades. After the Civil War, immigrants

Meet Rachel, a sophomore studying at Howard University who is also mixed with both black and white. Rachel transferred to the Historically Black University from a Predominantly White Institution because she felt as though she was not “white enough” and Howard would better suit her. Unfortunately upon her arrival, Rachel could not help but feel as though she was not “black enough” to attend Howard University. Rachel’s feeling of not belonging are not isolated, they are shared by millions of biracial Americans who, at one time or another, felt as though they did not belong to either culture. These feelings have been brought on, over time, by the way, America, although believed to be a “melting pot” of cultures, often wants people to categorize themselves as one ethnicity and the pressure placed on Americans to solely identify with one race divides the country more than anything else. The only way to rectify this problem is for Americans to stop separating themselves into racial categories and come together to be classified as simply American.

For immigrants in America, two radically different choices of culture exist. First, the immigrants can choose to stay loyal to their ancestral roots and deny mainstream culture. Instead of contributing to the melting pot of opinions present they isolate within themselves by refusing to learn both the English language and American culture as a whole. Because they cannot communicate with a majority of the population, they don’t maintain any amount of control over American ideals including both politically and socially. The second opportunity available would be to embrace this new found culture, no matter how foreign it is to them, and develop a sense of unity with America. If immigrants wish to break the currently controlled system of power and privilege in America and truly become a part of American customs, they must learn to assimilate culturally.

To begin with, Immigrants from Europe changes Americans life through their cultural traditions. Many Immigrant held on to their heritage when they came to the U.S. For example, the Irish immigrants brought us in the U.S. St. Patrick’s day parade and folk music (Doc. 2). Also, many immigrants brought new unique foods from their countries.

America as we know it today has been shaped by immigrants. It can be argued that America shapes immigrants as well. It is a nation that people, nationalist or foreign-born, desire to assimilate partially or fully into. According to a New York University professor, “Immigration, however, played a key role not only in making America’s development possible but also in shaping the basic nature of the society” (Diner, p. 2). It is a nation built on this idea of the “American dream” which varies depending on the person. However, it is something that holds steadily in an immigrant’s mind that is possible to achieve. America’s past, present and certainly future will be formed by immigrants, and once they get here America will coincidentally form their being as well.

Although Mexican Americans have struggled with various segregation acts and racial discrimination while adapting to the American lifestyle, many achieved the American Dream by countless job opportunities provided by America 's industrial and agricultural sectors.

Since the beginning, America has been a nation of immigrants. During the colonial era, people were coming across the Atlantic Ocean, and other lands, to either start a new life or to escape religious prosecutions. American history has been shaped by the ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity brought by immigrants in the 19th and 20th century. Without a doubt, immigration has had a very large cultural impact and influence in America.

The early European explorers had a profound impact on the population and culture of early America. The moment that Christopher Columbus set foot on one of the Islands of the Bahamas, the world would drastically change for many of the Native Americans. The Aztec people of central and South America, or Mesoamerica, had a very advanced and complex society that they established in approximately 1428, that would undergo a transformation and descent from dominance that they could never have imagined. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadors and Christianity were the single greatest contributions to the fall of the Aztec Empire and the cultural transformation that occurred in the 1500s. This in turn led to the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the eventual transformation to the world as we know it now.

Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” illustrates that the race of people should be identified by their culture and not their race. For example, he states, “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and because I want to be Chinese” (164-165). Richard Rodriguez identifies himself as Chinese because of the culture he is surrounded by on a daily basis. For instance, Richard Rodriguez states that culture should be the way to identify someone’s race, and he identifies himself as Chinese because that’s the culture he lives in. Richard Rodriguez also denotes, “I wear an Indian face: I answer to a Spanish surname as well as this California first name Richard” (39). This illustrates that Richard Rodriguez

“You are not White, Black, Yellow or Brown you are an American” If your color of skin, your race, or where you came from do not matter can you be an American and how can you shape America? Immigrants have helped shape American identity by rethinking race and creating a new image of what it means to be American.

Also the facts we provide would be useful for all those who are interested in this country or who are going to visit it in order to prevent different problems caused by ignorance of inherent peculiarities of the USA.