To What Extent Is America A Salad Bowl

As the country became established, immigration was encouraged and even advertised. There were few restrictions on who can enter and where they could live. Some states were in charge of their own borders and had some policies in place. It wasn’t until the late 1700s that some began to look at what the image of America should be. This was the basis of many early

Immigrants came to America with hopes to be accepted and make an honest contribution to the country’s advancement. Instead they were ostracized and segregated. Pietri states, “thirty-thousand dollar home, the first spics on the block proud to belong to a community of gringos who want them lynched” (106-108). Although some

For some they returned having never reached this goal, for others they ended up staying in America, but for many of these immigrants they did reach their goal and after doing so, returned home. These immigrants were temporary migrants that had caught “America fever”. (p. 16) Temporary migration had been going on before this time, but it wasn’t until the invention of the steam engine that migrant workers began to voyage across the seas. Many of these poor European’s that migrated to the United States did so to make money to go back home and buy land. Not all of them had this goal, some saved money to start-up or buy a business. Whether they were going back to buy land or expand land they already had, or they were going to use the money to start a business these remigrants all had one thing in common. Wyman writes of the Hungarian emigrant’s experiences; “they would soon return with the money made overseas to make a better life for themselves in the environment they were attached to, the place where they wanted to live.”(p. 49). Because many of these European immigrants only stayed in America a short time many native-born Americans began to have hostilities toward these new immigrants in terms of the American Labor Movement, assimilation politics and nativist’s movements.

Simply put, America is the land of opportunity. In the past, immigrants have left most of their family, memories, and familiarities with their homeland in search of a better life in America, where jobs were easy to find and the economy was booming. These immigrants formed almost the entire American population, a demographic anomaly in which people from nationalities separated by land and sea; these people come from countries separated by expansive distances can live within the same neighborhood. Both Anna Quindlen with her essay “A Quilt of a Country” and John F. Kennedy with his essay “The Immigrant Contribution” have documented the story of these immigrants and what they have done to contribute to the great country of the United States of America. Both authors have written in their own unique style which has changed the reader’s perspective of their accomplishments, contributions, and sense of community in their new nation. In the essays “A Quilt of a Country” by Anna Quindlen and “The Immigrant Contribution by John F. Kennedy, they show similar writing styles by both using the formal diction in their writing, and contradict in the way that Quindlen takes a more poetic approach in her writing, while Kennedy, being the President of the United States, uses more sophisticated dictions.

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.

Paula J. Johnson, a curator at the National Museum of American History, says that foods such as wasabi, Sriracha, and hummus would have been considered “foreign foods” 50 years ago, but today they are common, everyday staples for many people across America. Ramanathan briefly states before this that the only constant in American foods is global influence and then goes on to say that it’s not uncommon in modern times for people to eat, for example, Thai food for lunch and then Italian for dinner. She writes that America has people from all backgrounds, cultures, and countries and their influences are present everywhere, especially the food. In America today, there are so many influences on our foods that using the term ethnic to describe them makes it sound foreign when the food is something people eat every

America is greatly influenced and enhanced by the many versatile cultures which inhabit it. Cultural diversity has added to our economy in such a way that it brings innovated ideas and contact structures throughout the world. International cuisines have come to America through subcultures, have expanded the food industry, and have allowed English Americans to try new foods and flavors. Immigrants have brought with them religious values that greatly differ and vary from those at which were natural in the main stream American culture. The educational development through foreign nationals has led America, as a nation, to excel and be deemed one of the most intelligent nations in the world! Consequently, the subcultures have kept our

Lou Ann, a woman in the process of divorcing from her husband, invites Estevan and Esperanza to her house. They begin to talk and Lou Ann defends Estevan from the harsh comments of Edna, an older woman at Lou Ann’s house, revealing a large factor in why Estevan and Esperanza left Guatemala. “This man you are looking at is an English teacher. He did not come here so he could wash egg foo yung off plates and take orders from a five-year-old”. (Kingsolver, ch. 7) Lou Ann recalls that Estevan “did not come here so he could wash egg foo yung off plates” revealing Estevan's hopes to find a strong job in America. This corresponds with the story of a Syrian family that has been resettled in New Jersey. The father of the family explains how his children have been given a chance to build their futures in America. “ Of course when I see my kids going to...build their futures, I am going to be the happiest.”(PBS) This is one example of a common situation. A family of immigrants fleeing their homes to find a future for their kids and for themselves. The bigger picture of this idea is reflected by America’s opinion on immigrants. If America doesn't allow immigrants to enter and find jobs, than immigrants are closed off in their homes with violence often surrounding

The United States is made up of two different types of immigrants: those who are born on U.S. soil and those who travel to settle here. However, despite whether one is born in the United States or not for most their lineage runs back to other countries. It is evident that a majority of the U.S. first immigration wave was around the late 1800’s to the 1920’s. This was a time in which many immigrants where leaving their countries due to different reasons and finding prosperity in the U.S. In the book 97 Orchards: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement (97 Orchard) by Jane Ziegelman she explores and paints the history of five different immigrant families. The book goes into great detail sharing stories of daily

These Americans want to keep their culture unmixed with other ethnic groups. For instance, White Americans once segregated African Americans. Not only are African Americans segregated, but other races are segregated as well. Daniel Thames, a author from the Washington News states, “But yet, you witness this persistence of segregation [in all races], the fragmentation, all these fights over resources, this finger-pointing. You would have to be blind not to see it” (Thames 2). It seems although there are indeed immigrants from other countries, that actually makes competition for resources (such as jobs) for Americans harder. Therefore, some Americans are not interested in seeing another immigrants’ culture. In fact, some Americans may dislike immigrants for taking resources from them. . Metaphorically, this represents Americans trying to put a lid over the melting pot, so that no races enter the pot. Only white Americans would exist inside the pot. In addition, Noy’s situation is similar to a situation called nativism. Nativism is the political idea where people born established in a country are more important than immigrants. The atmosphere of Noy’s story is similar to nativism. Noy’s classmates and neighbors appeared to be superior and more important. Nativism was actually common throughout United States history.

Despite the opposition of many Americans, immigrants have supported the US economy tremendously by obtaining low-paying and unwanted jobs, and have spread their diverse cultures and languages into public schools and communities. On the other hand, whites were still arguably the dominant race in the United States to which led to the ‘melting pot’ of American society. Many immigrants, commonly at Ellis Island, faced bribery from political party members by offering shelter, food, and employment in exchange for a vote for their certain party. Although these bribes shortly became highly complicated due to government voting regulations, the actions by the political parties strongly supported the process of assimilation of the immigrants into American culture and society. Moreover, massive waves of immigration had also led to growth in cities and in agricultural areas that in which eventually gave in to industrial economies in order to profit from the abundance of unemployed

     America is an idea, a set of beliefs about people and their relationships and the kind of society which holds the best hope of satisfying the needs each of us brings as an individual. For countless immigrants, the struggle to arrive in America was rivaled only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the population. Immigrants say they came to America seeking economic opportunity and freedom for themselves and their children, and at the same time they have all, at one time,

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.

Multiculturalism is the act of giving equivalent consideration regarding various foundations in a specific setting, and it can happen when a purview is made or extended by amalgamating zones with two or more diverse societies or through migration from various locales around the globe. Multiculturalism that seeks in keeping up the peculiarity of numerous societies is regularly differentiated to other settlement arrangements, for example, social mix, social osmosis, and racial isolation. Multiculturalism has been depicted as a "salad bowl" and "cultural mosaic" (Burgess, et al. 2005). In spite of the way that multiculturalism has predominantly been utilized as a term to characterize distraught gatherings, numerous scholars tend to center their contentions on outsiders who are ethnic and religious minorities, minority countries, and indigenous people groups. The term multiculturalism is frequently utilized as a part of a reference to Western country states, which

The salad bowl (acculturation) is basically learning and participating in a second culture. Putting different people in one area, while not developing other cultures. These people who fall under this category keep their own identity. The melting pot (assimilation) is taking on the characteristics of the host culture. Basically bringing different religions and people together and being influenced by them and picking up on their culture while at the same time losing your own culture and customs. Amal is more of a melting pot to me because she changes her name to Amy, decides to wear a bikini which would never be acceptable in her culture back home, she rides a bike around, has a very American name for her daughter; Sarah, and tries not to bring any of her old customs to her new life in America. Her transformation to the United States was interesting because she tries to avoid her culture and her customs, doing anything she can for people to not know she is not from the U.S. This leads to her falling under the category of a melting