The For My Italian American Family

During the years between 1920 and 1960, America saw change in many aspects of life. The United States was a part of two major wars and a crash of the banking system that crippled the economy greater than ever seen in this country’s history. Also the country had new insecurities to tackle such as immigration and poor treatment of workers. These events led to the change of America lives socially, economically, and politically. The people of America changed their ideas of what the country’s place in the world should be. The issues challenging America led the country to change from isolation to war, depression to prosperity, and social change. The threats to American way of life, foreign and domestic, were the changing forces to the

As I embarked on this assignment I was unsure how to begin and what stories to tell. I did not know if I should commence with how my family came to America, my family tree, or a fascinating story about how my grandparents met. In order to complete this assignment I convened with my grandfather, Earl W. Stafford Sr., who knows a lot about our family history, to learn as much as I could.

In the late 19th, early 18th, century immigration became very prominent in America. Immigrants from around the world began to flood into America each one seeking something different, but it wasn’t always easy. Most immigrants faced many challenges, some negative and others positive. In fact, most immigrants fled to America for all the positive attributes it had to offer compared to the country they were previously living in.

The year is 1776. In an act of defiance of the oppressive rule of the powerful nation of Great Britain, the political leaders of the British-American colonies sign into existence the United States of America. Even before this inception of the United States, North America had been seen as a place where one could move to start a new life and reap the full rewards for one’s work. These opportunities combined with the new United States government founded on the ideals of freedom and equity have attracted countless families from all over the world, making the United States truly a country of immigrants. Immigrants from European nations coming to America both assimilated and helped

My parents were born in Sicily; my great grandparents came to the United States in the early 1900’s. My grandmother was born in the United States 1904, although she was born in America her parents did not choose to remain in the United States. Longing for their home land my great grandparents moved the family back to Sicily when my grandmother was only several months old. In the early 1950’s my grandmother who was born in the United States left Sicily with her husband and three grown children.

Subject: Reflects how these collapse of historical societies features manifest themselves in American society to gain better idea of what our future holds.

The new immigrants struggled to adjust to the American culture which was very new for them. They had migrated from all over the world to this country in seeking better conditions such as socially, jobs, higher wages: all contributing factors to an overall better life. The new settlers wished to escape from discrimination, family economic problems, and the decline of traditional agriculture. They knew that they must learn to conform to their new surroundings. Although the immigrants were in more stable conditions here in America compared to their homelands, they still suffered the repercussions of being of a different color in a country of white supremacy.

He comprehends that all American citizens, whether they were born in America or not, did in fact come from elsewhere. Immigrants are what make up America, and  had brought a plethora of culture and heritage to give to the country. They toiled in the fields, worked long hours in the factories, and build up the government. They had hoped for a better life, and were willing to put everything on the line in order to achieve their dreams. This is not any different from the Lithuanian Americans, as they had seen a drastic change from their home in the old country. They endured many hardships within America as they opened schools and found jobs. Without immigrants, the United States of America would never be the same, it may not of existed in the first place. And if America limites who can and cannot enter the country, they will be limiting their ability to build their culture up, and won’t be able to accept all, no matter their families’

The textbook, Portrait of America: Volume 2, 10th Edition, organized by co-authors, Stephen B. Oates and Charles J. Errico, is supplied with various historical topics written by different, credible authors. The textbook is, indeed, worth the time to read and understand. The authors express historical people and events many people have heard of, and expands the reader’s mind with personal stories and unconventional facts, one has not heard of. Most textbooks offer concise information about a person or event; Portrait of America authors take an unorthodox approach by stating information as well as revealing their own perspective on the topic. Such a technique as this is unfamiliar to the average student. Though an unconventional method, the authors are most effective at distributing information to the reader. Topics covered such as presidents, women, and events that changed America hold significance to the theory, Portrait of America authors take an idiosyncratic yet superb approach to delivering information to the reader.

American Exodus has provided a message over nature’s capability to exploit the idea of the consequences of our actions may lead to a world crisis. The natural disasters coming in waves we haven’t seen before is proceeding in threatening our future because of recent human activities. For example farmers in the central plains had tractors that made the process of erosion to happen more sooner. This influenced a dust bowl to occur causing its victims to be covered in dirt and all of their crops to vanish under all the dust. Droughts spread through Mexico forbidding any agriculture to feed families and be stable in their homeland. Meanwhile Californians struggle against water supply for their daily necessities to survive. Hurricanes are forming

As Immigrants would come through Ellis Island and other places with a gleaming amount of hope, they would experience something totally different on the other side. Inside the US was this feeling of Anglo-Saxon superiority and therefore immigration was frowned upon in may areas. An immigration officer from this time period cited “early economic opportunity came to an end” as one of the major things that affected immigrant life. They [immigrants] were left to find day jobs working at the first opportunity that presented itself and then return to the tenement. Out of this pattern grew an extreme feeling of isolation. Immigrants lived in their own communities, socialized with their own, and slept with their own. Nativist feelings from the american-born community were real and present and ultimately the belief was to sleep, eat, and work for someone else and be content.

Without actual facts about my grandparent’s parents from both my mother and father’s side of my family, the assumption of the era and motivations that led my family to come to America were similar on both sides. According to the Gale Group Inc.:

Part 8, “Disasters and crises in American history have, in fact, rarely produced any fundamental changes in economic or social policy. Natural disasters, like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and fire, are invariably local events, leaving to much of the nation unscathed to generate any broad-gauged shift in understanding or ideology.” This appeal is being made on logic meaning there hasn’t been a change in the policies on the economic or social levels regarding natural disasters.” Part 11, “The long post-Civil War downturn of the 1870’s, for example, toppled millions of people into destitution or near-destitution; arguably the first depression of the industrial era…” The author is making this appeal to show poverty after the civil war, could have been the first depression of the industrial era. Part 24, “But there will be no national programs to aid the poor, and precious little in the way of targeted antipoverty programs in the gulf.” This appeal is to show that there is nothing that has been done to help the poor in the gulf, even after this disaster that shed light on just how bad the situation was.

At the turn of the century many things were happening that would affect America in ways that would have never been expected. The 1900-1940 era would have truly been an exciting time to live in. Over these four decades Americans would face some of the

The concept of history is a fundamental part in human thought. Historians often were concerned with the ethics behind people’s actions in the past and whether the consequences of their actions had the ethical outcomes. Since, learning from history raises the possibility of better understanding yourself in the present by examine history itself. Historians worried about the ethics behind people’s actions in the past because this action can bring an alternative ways of thinking historically. In addition, history can bring a set of social conditions and processes, rather than shifting conditions of action. Some of the social conditions and process that affect the analysis of history are: property relations, political institutions, family structures, and religious and moral values. (Little). Throughout the analysis of the following documents: “Bartolomé de Las Casas Argues for the American Indians,” “Nathaniel Bacon: Manifesto Concerning the Troubles in Virginia, 1676, ”and “Eliza Lucas Challenges Traditional Plantation Life”. We can appreciate how social circumstances constitute the environment. Having individuals plans and actions that bring limitations from leaders to ordinary people.