The Role Of Geographic Locations In Immigration History

Iceland, John and Kyle Anne Nelson. “Hispanic Segregation in Metropolitan America: Exploring the Multiple Forms of Spatial Assimilation.” American Sociological Review 73.5 (2008): 741-765. Print.

Throughout the history of the United States immigration has become apart of our country’s fabric which, began centuries ago. Only to become a hot topic in the US in recent years with its primary focus being illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration is when people enter a country without government permission. As of 2008 the Center for Immigration Studies estimated that there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the US which is down from 2007‘s 12.5 million people. Although the Center for Immigration Studies estimates are very different from other estimates that range from 7 to 20 million. While the Pew Hispanic Center estimated in March of 2009 there are 11.1 million illegal immigrants and that number is from March 2007’s peak of 12

Immigration through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s created nativism throughout the United States. Millions of immigrants flocked to the United States trying to find a better way of life to be able to support their families. Industrialization in the United States provided a labor source for the immigrants. Native born Americans believed immigrants were a “threat to the American way of life” (ATF chapter 11) Social and economic fault lines developed between natives and immigrants, through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, going unnoticed until the late 1920’s when the Sacco and Vanzetti case brought awareness of issue to much of the United States.

Immigration in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and immigration now of course have some difference, but both came to the United States for pretty much the same reason. All these immigrants come from their different backgrounds and places. These immigrants also have struggled when they first get here, but something they can all agree on is that they came here for one main reason and that’s for advanced improvement especially economic.

Immigration is something that nativists have been fighting ever since the first ship load of immigrants came to America. Even today we see the struggle to keep them out of our country, although the tactics and overall feelings might be a little different today than in the 1800’s. When an immigrant first arrives to America one of his first priorities is to get a job, and that posed a problem for the Nativists because the immigrants were working for such low wages that they ending up taking all the jobs of the Nativists. Another thing that the Nativists had a thought might be a problem was over crowdedness, with millions of people coming to America they saw growth in cities and in rural areas. And of course with growth in population

Around the late 1800’s and early 1900’s America’s ethnicity vastly expanded; the streets of New York city flooded with immigrants in prospect of new lives for their families and fresh starts. “...From eastern and southern Europe rather than western and northern Europe…” (pg. 738, America A Narrative History), the geography varied far and wide. Upon entering the land of freedom, most of the immigrants were to be inspected at the ever famous “Edison Island” in New York. After embarking towards the substantially immense crowds, lice checks, welfare checks, and possibly a standard test determining if you could read or write was given. The streets began to be bustling with foreign languages being shouted in every direction. To some “nativists” this expansion was very horrifying, these people were taking jobs and depriving Americans of opportunities. “Beginning in the 1880’s, nativist advocated restrictive immigration laws and won passage of the Chinese exclusion Act.” (

The effect of immigration has not significantly changed since the 1900s. The documented immigrant population has slightly decreased since the 1900s however the undocumented population has increased over the last 50 years. Immigrants have increased the supply of labor and lowered the prices on products.

Immigration has always been a big part of U.S history. It has shown us many different ways of life and earned us the nickname “the melting pot.” There has been many things that affect immigration like the push and pull factors and also the policies placed on immigrants over time. Here I am going to talk about some of those things.

Picture this: you are happily relaxing in your leathery armchair, until you hear the sound of a foghorn blasting in your eardrums! You peer out the window and glance around. In your peripheral vision you see something very strange; a giant steamboat! You can hear people yelling in delight, even all the way from your window! In the late 1800s, a new age of immigrants surged from Europe to the United States. Many came to escape from their countries. Some immigrants came from religious persecution. They came for money, jobs, and the hope for a new life. Because of an increase in population, new ideas, and cultural traditions in the late 1800s, immigrants transformed the United States forever.

Did you know between 1861 and 1914 almost 30 million immigrated from Europe to the United States. When they came there was a huge increase in the population, and the immigrants also brought new ideas and cultural traditions. When immigrants came most of them were homeless. They were also starving. Some did not have jobs or money, and they were not wealthy. In the article it says often working conditions for immigrant children were horrible.

The earliest record of immigration policy in the United States is from 1790, when the Naturalization Act of 1790 was put into effect, in which it “establish[ed] a uniform rule of naturalization and a two year residency requirement for aliens who are ‘free white persons’ of ‘good moral character’” (“Timeline,” web). The United States of America is a country that gives value to hard work and freedom. Two hundred and forty years ago, in July, our nation was founded by “radicals” who immigrated by crossing the Atlantic while looking for the liberty to govern themselves and find a better lifestyle in which they could have control over their economic, religious, and educational decisions. Throughout the history of the United States, there has been many important milestones regarding the immigrants rights movement. Starting with the thirteen colonies, and later the industrial revolution, and the ones most of us are familiar with such as the 1986 amnesty passed by President Ronald Reagan and the DACA policy put into place by President Barack Obama through his executive power. There have been many leaders, many protests, and many organizations both pro-immigration and anti-immigration. However, in the current stage of the immigrants rights movement, one of the most important organizations that support and fight for the movement is United We Dream, the largest youth led organization in the country.

Depression in Italy, pogroms in Europe, famine in China and drought in the Midwest were causes that sent million of immigrants to New York, Chicago and San Francisco. “Between 1977 and 1890, more than 6.3 million immigrants entered the United States”(609). Of the millions that came to the USA, 75 percent went to New York City.

Immigration settlement and spatial assimilation lead to a diversity of segregation patterns among many groups throughout U.S. history. Dating back to the 1900’s as much as 90% of Blacks lived in southern states. Douglas Massey stated in his Residential Segregation essay that these southern states contained only 25% of whites, most Blacks lived in rural counties that yielded a large portion of segregated and racially isolated minorities. Shifting ahead to today, racially segregated neighborhoods share a common theme, many Blacks cluster into neighborhoods that are in and around urban areas that seem to be close to the city center. Massey explains that the concentration of space that Black people occupy in these areas is increasingly becoming confined into smaller, compacted areas. I feel Massey is explaining that Blacks living in these “areas” are essentially getting pushed out in an effort to re-build or “cleanup” the areas. Robert Bullard explained in the section Zoning and Land Use, which Blacks are frequently the victims of unregulated growth, and land use decisions are powered by dominant society regardless of the circumstances on these neighborhoods. These neighborhoods that are occupied by minorities are commonly known as Ghetto’s. In order to get a better understanding of this term, I researched it online. The definition of ghetto on Dictionary.com is a “section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or

The 19th century was a new life of americans. Americans benefiting from the industry, this increased their wealth as a country. This wealth was used towards many things such as women, immigrants, the working class and children. Women could finally work in the industry which gave them more equality. Immigrants could finally work as well which gave them the chance to feed their family and help society. The working class could finally be paid enough money for certain jobs which gave them the desire to have better jobs. Children were given the chance to go to school and grow into the higher part of the working class. As of political activists, women, immigrants were finally given the chance to vote. Children would learn in school how their vote

Immigration has always and will always play an important role in America’s history, along with the United States having the most open immigration policy in the world to this date. American history began with flocks of immigrants competing for lands to start a life, bringing over their vast traditions and values. Some brought nothing but determination. It’s disgusting to see our congress and lawmakers make these higher-end laws to keep foreigners out, yet our country is built off immigrants. Since the 19th century, America has been the leading destination unlike no other for immigrants to reside. No other country has such a wide range of races and population like America. Diversity is indeed, what makes this country so unique. America has always