Polish Immigrants To America

A small percentage of German immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth century decided to move due to religious reasons. In the colonial period, religious freedom had been a major factor for immigrants from all over Europe, but during the 1800s it was less significant (Daniels, Coming to America 147). Beginning in the 1830s through the 1880s, anti-Semitic laws were being passed in several of the German states (Hoobler and Hoobler 24). Jews escaped these areas in search of the opportunity to worship freely in America. In the late 1830s, a movement began in Prussia forcing the unification of the Lutheran and Reformed churches (Brownstone and Franck 139). “Old Lutherans,” who resisted this merger, escaped to the United States in protest (139). Religious radicals from Germany found homes in the ever-tolerant Pennsylvania (Daniels, Coming to America 147). These religious persecutions forced many Germans to make the difficult decision to leave their homeland for the promises of freedom and prosperity in America.

In Round-Trip to America: The Immigrants Return to Europe 1880-1930, Mark Wyman argues that many new immigrants that migrated to America from 1880-1930 never intended to make America a permanent residence and many of them returned home to their native countries. He claims that this phenomena is important to the history of American Immigration and is important to the histories of the home land in which the immigrants returned to. In his book, Wyman explores some key ideas such as the reason immigrants decided to voyage to a new land, across the ocean, to what was known as the “land of milk and honey” only to return to their small, and a lot of the time rural village. He also discusses American labor movement and what impact that had on

There were many reasons motivating the immigrants to come to America. A few of them were mainly being free, and having better jobs. So economic opportunity, and religious or political freedom. They wanted to be around a free atmosphere, where they didn't have to be controlled and follow rules. Another reason was because they wanted to be reunified with their family. Some of their family had already ventured out to America before them, and told them about America's benefits and they decided to follow along. America's land was cheap, and had an abundance of hiring jobs. Once immigrants heard about this they were ecstatic and immediately planned on coming to America. For the abundance of jobs America was hyped up in many countries as the 'land of opportunity'. Really the motivation for

Between 1870 and the 1990s, over 11 million immigrants came to America in search of a better a life, coming from Southern and Eastern Europe such as Germany, France, Ireland, and immigrants from China as well. People came to America seeking sanctuary from their home land that did not allow them to be free, such as the Jewish people of Russia, who came to America because the Russian government was anti-Semitic. Jewish people were not allowed to have much property or security in Russia, simply because of their religion. In addition, the draft in Russia would take people away and force them to fight for 25 years, in wars that were pointless due to outdated weapons as well as the brutal discipline they were treated with when drafted. America was a place that allowed freedom of religion, something that was not common and many other countries, making America the ideal place to move and settle down, allowing immigrants to express their religion freely, without the consequences they faced back home. Immigrants also came to America in search of jobs that were scarce in Europe. Many small farmers were put out of jobs in Europe due to large scale mechanized

As a larger number of immigrants began to move to the United States from eastern and southern Europe, cities began to increase. Due to these patterns of global migration, between 1870 and 1900, cities increased by at least eleven million people from these immigrants (p.507). While the idea of a growing city benefits big businesses in hiring low-waged workers, this opportunity for work in large industries opened the flood-gates for multiple waves of immigrants. The first wave, those known as the skilled workers “…criticized the newcomers. One Irish worker complained, ‘There should be a law…to keep all the Italians from comin’ in and takin’ the bread out of the mouth of honest people’” (American

From the 1900s, the Progressive Era had new immigrants from the Southern and Eastern Europe. Between the years of 1900 and 1930, one million immigrants who were Mexican migrated for economic opportunities. It was near the year of the great depression which started in 1929. This led the American dream for many immigrants who were looking for jobs and starting a new life. According to Eric Foner “ Voices of Freedom” , page 73, when sociologist Manuel Gamio managed interviews of Mexican-American immigrants in Los Angeles. He decided to report about the Santella family, one better off and “whiter” than most Mexican immigrants. The information he obtained were from conversations and observing the family. This gave some idea on why American freedom has inspired many immigrant families. The Santella family was a total of 9, Mr. Santella and his wife and 5 boys and 2 girls.

Many came from eastern and southern Europe such as the Irish, Germans, Italians and Polish. Immigrants came to America with hopes and dreams of prosperity, freedom of religion, freedom from fascism and dictatorship with the possibility of wealth and security. Many if not all of the immigrants encountered the complete opposite. Hard labor, poor living condition, low wages and illnesses were the problems often faced by the

The third challenge faced by new immigrants was acquiring and then keeping steady work. Although the Packingtown in Chicago was in a constant state of activity, the sheer number of available workers and the rule of supply and demand made it difficult for some to find work. It was not uncommon for some workers to stand at the plant doors for weeks before being selected. And once a person was chosen to be a worker, they had to labor at a fever pitch to make sure they were retained.

Chicago in the 1920s was a turning point for the development of ethnic neighborhoods. After the opening of the first rail connection from New York to Chicago in the 1840s, immigration sky rocketed from that point on. Majority of the immigrants to Chicago were Europeans. The Irish, Italians, eastern European Jews, Germans, and Mexicans were among the most common ethnicities to reside in Chicago. These groups made up the greater part of Chicago. The sudden increase in immigration to Chicago in the 1920s soon led to an even further distinguished separation of ethnicities in neighborhoods. The overall development of these neighborhoods deeply impacted how Chicago is sectioned off nowadays. Without these ethnicities immigrating to Chicago

        Ever since the United States was founded, immigrants have been arriving on its soil.  The first white inhabitants of the U.S. were immigrants from Europe.  They came for many reasons, such as religion and opportunity.  As the country grew and became more prosperous, it became more enticing to foreigners looking for opportunity.  This continued into the 20th century and finally during the 1920’s, the United States began to restrict immigrants from coming to their country, mostly for cultural and economic reasons.  Even the immigrants that were allowed in during the 20’s faced many hardships such as religious persecution, racism, and xenia phobia.  One of the major groups of immigrants during that

The German immigrants made up most of the immigrants between 1820 and 1860. Most of the Germans traveled to America for economic

That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay (i.e.; when Jurgis sprained his ankle and had to recuperate at home for 3 months). The final insult to the workers was that even if they were always on time, worked hard and maintained their health they could lose their job due to the

Once arriving in America, J.B. had assumed his family in Poland was killed by Nazis and was left to start a new life in America. At this point in his life, he had plenty of acclimating to do as he was in a new country without his family. Poland is a country located in central Europe, during World War II was taken over by Germany and the Soviet Union (Purnell, 2013). Since then Poland has regained its independence. While J.B.’s immigration to America was inflicted upon him, many other poles were looking to leave the country during this time.

Concentration of immigrant populations was highest in four of America’s largest cities; New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. Five out of every six Irish and Russian immigrants lived in a city. Three out of four Italian and Hungarian immigrants came to America with very little money to buy farms or farming equipment. Others settled in cities because farming in America was very different from that of Europe. Some immigrants, such as the Slavs, simply came to America too late to acquire land. Jewish and Irish preferred the city because it provided a chance to worship with other Jewish or Irish without persecution.

There are three reasons why people emigrated to the U.S.A. People were afraid of getting executed in Russia. Russia controlled parts of Europe, “that’s why people were executed. Hundreds of people have been executed including my friends.” (page 3) Another reason is the landlord took money away from farmers. The protested to not take their money anymore, but the government threw them in jail for five months. “I joined a group demanding land reform and response to our protests, the government passed a coercion Act. I was arrested under the act and kept in jail without a trial. After five months, I was finally released. (page 4) Another reason was that the leader decided that Catholics were not truly German, so he passed laws against them. Marta