New Yorks Two Great Waves of Immigration - Essay Example

We are presented with the different attitudes from where these immigrants from the different regions around the world are being looked at. These many ways or approaches to immigrants that also serve as a challenging environment to them are the prejudices that in the past have hindered progress from the newcomers. New York, which seems to be the base of the book has the image of a mother adopting children coming from other families. The ones mentioned in the book were the Italians, Russian-Jews, Dominicans and Chinese and Jamaicans for 1900.

The role of immigration to American history or to New York history specifically, is as significant as to understanding the purpose of the immigrants' existence. But just like any other stranger who tends to land to an unknown place, these immigrants to New York also face different challenges that either force them to leave or continue living in the one busy place of New York. Now how are they looked at What are the bases of their significance as immigrants First, there is, of course, the color to where they belong.

The Jamaicans can be said to be a perfect example of this. The next big thing will be gender. Immigrants before had more problems settling on one quality job compared to the contemporary days where the availability of vacant positions with a fair and equal position is greater. This can be related to the changing roles of women in the community where women in contemporary days are more blessed to have. The mentioned bases still do not include the wider range of education that the new immigrants have access to.

In the past, it is already an achievement for immigrants to have reached eight grade. Nowadays, most immigrants going to New York don't just know one language. Most of them have a good grasp of the English language and other languages, not mentioning their degrees that don't just stick to one but also to two and sometimes, even a doctor's degree. The past, in short, has not expected too much from the immigrants in New York. But this can't be blamed by the people who chose to live in the city that never sleeps.

No matter how these immigrants try to their best to fill the vacant posts in factories or in manufacturing industries, still the connection can be found to the kind of the economy that was raised before from the land where they came from and to the land where they migrated which is New York. This only means that no matter how long these immigrants fight to remove the material bases of prejudices, still, it can't happen in just a zap of time or want. The first step will be the real first step and that is to eliminate the factors that affect these prejudices and that would be the problem on the social structure and processes.

As everything is interconnected, a leap toward the goal of removing the material prejudices mentioned above will never be possible.