Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life - Essay Example

The Origin of my Family Family Origins Introduction I am an Italian, born in a family of three and my great-grandparents happen to have immigrated to America from Europe. The history of my family dates back in 1890’s, a generation which came to obtain permanent residence here in U.S.A. by emigrating from Europe. History records that the greatest immigration took place from the early 1800’s to 1930’s which led to full settlement in U.S.A (Shane, 2005). This essay analyses three generations of my family who can be incorporated to this group because they came from Europe in 1890. It discloses the history, which stretches back to the times of my great-grandparents who made a decision of residing in U.S.A. because of various reasons, some of which include: escaping poverty, need for religious freedom, run away from persecution, and to look for employment (Shane, 2005). My grandparents came in a group which moved in various directions and that is why we have those Italians that settled in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Their immigration has affected U.S.A. in several ways including population increase, availability of labor, movement of new skills and techniques among other things. My grandparents moved from Europe without the idea of obtaining permanent settlement in U.S.A but with a mind of looking for money, which was a major reason for this movement. On finding favorable conditions here, they made a decision of not going back to their native land. During this time, there was a high immigration capacity recorded in America which occurred between the year 1900 and 1915 caused by the Italians (Bakken & Kindell, 2006). Most of these immigrants were peasants and artisans and they represented all regions of Italy and among the 5 million immigrants who came to America in that group of my grandparents between the year 1876 and 1930, 4/5 came from the South and they represented such regions as Campania Molise, and Calabria. Most of them practiced agriculture and thus they did not have experience in the industries but those who were working in textile factories happened to secure jobs in industries. My grandparents were farmers back in the native land though there was a small population who worked as craftsmen from the South and were educated as they could read and write (Bakken & Kindell, 2006). Italians were a source of labor to the Americans who were absorbed in the mining, textiles and clothing industries while others were employed in mills. My grandfather was employed in the textile industry with many of his friends. The fact that most of them returned back to Italy clearly indicates that they wanted to earn money in America because they were unable to earn a living in their home country (Bakken & Kindell, 2006). When they settled in America, they formed mutual aid society, which was tied to kinship and the regions of birth. Due to fear of attacks from the Germans and Irish communities who surrounded them and whose population was rising rapidly they decided to establish enclaves. They promoted the Italian culture and even went to a point of publishing their newspaper in Italian language as some could not understand English. In their religious life, they faced religious hostility whereby most of them being Catholics, in America Catholic church were dominated by Irish. This created tension to them and they got dismayed until 1893 when pope realized their situation and established San Raffaele Society which united the Italians through education, worship and responded to the poor (Shane, 2005). It was Reverend Gaspare who relieved the religious tension which was being experienced, and he did this by taking the society through a good social and religious life (American immigration, 1999). A family was considered as the basic unit of survival from Italian perspective. When the Italian immigrants began to settle, they stopped practicing their traditions regarding the family which was brought about by the unsupportive environment and the condition of the life in America which hindered the culture and traditions of Italians (Daniels, 1990). This was the generation of my grandparents who incorporated certain American values into Italian culture. Intermarriages happened at the generation of my parents and language barriers set-in which left the children without control over the families’ decisions. The generation of my grandparents came in from the year 1924 and this group can be considered as an improved generation in terms of education, economic status and language as they adopted the culture of Americans to greater extent. Another difference which can be cited is that of improvement in terms of how they were brought up. There were no restrictions towards ethnic lines and most of the things were done on what was generally accepted by other communities and not in line with a single race. My parents were born after the Second World War was over when most of the Italian immigrants were persecuted. There were detentions and arrests which were conducted as to the provisions of the Alien Registration Act which ordered for registration of all the non-citizens (Daniels, 1990). As the war ended, the soldiers who had gone to fight retuned back to America only to find a great change in most things one of which was the incorporation of G.I. Bill which offered college education to all the service providers assisted in purchasing of homes and even sometimes offered vocational training. This improved the living conditions for the Italians who settled and started running their own businesses (Scarpaci, 2008). The generation of my parents advanced in terms of livelihood as they started running their own businesses rather than depending on employment. Great changes were realized in areas where the immigrants settled, for example in Argentina, the argentine culture adopted that of Italians even in their language and traditions as well. There was a great discrimination experienced by the immigrants who had the intention of residing in U.S.A permanently because the government posed strict measures over any immigrant in the proposed laws (Scarpaci, 2008). There was another way that the Americans attacked these Italians whereby they brought in the issue of national security. They were accusing the Italians of causing insecurity in the region and went to an extent of saying that the immigration might lead to bifurcation of the America (Bakken & Kindell, 2006). This affected my parents to a greater extent but they did not think of going back to Europe because all they know was that they were born in America and they had to adapt themselves to the condition surrounding them. It can be seen that the immigrants contributed to the growth of the economy due to payment of tax. Another thing is that the immigrants always did the work that the Americans were not willing to do and therefore they were not posing competition to the Americans in the job market. This was a friendly measure which was welcomed in a positive way by the Americans (Daniels, 1990). The difference that is seen between the generation of my grandparents and my parents is that the kind of jobs that were done by my grandparents were mostly agricultural related and they were at most times providing manual labor whereas my parents run business enterprises as a way of survival. Political-wise, the Italians in general had their own way of expressing their political views, which normally differed from those of the Americans in that they stood strongly supporting the Catholic beliefs who opposed abortion together with gay marriage unlike the democrats who have a different view on this (Daniels, 1990). Comparing my generation with the past generations, there is a great difference brought in by the issue of education, where education is taken as a serious issue currently and efforts are made to educate the children unlike in the past (Daniels, 1990). Also poverty levels have declined because education can enable us secure better jobs unlike our grandparents. Then there is the issue of adopting the English language which is seen to change over time (Daniels, 1990). Our grandparents were so naive and they did not understand the English language but the current generation is well versed with it and thus communication is enhanced. In conclusion, my family has such a great origin which has different generations with different values and norms that have been changing over time. The current generation in which I belong is seen to have advanced and improved as compared to the earlier generations. The rapid growth of the economy has been successful due to the contribution of these immigrants by provision of labor and skills in industries. More to this, immigrants brought with them new believes like those of restricting abortion and gay marriage in the U.S.A. Although many Italians came to look for money and went back to Italy, my grandparents remained and are the source of generations that have followed after them up to the current generation where I belong. These generations have been faced by various differences as the current generation is seen to be more improved in terms of education , health and the relation they have with the rest of the people here in U.S.A. It has been a long journey getting to this far from our grandparents to this new generation which is no more different to the Americans who are native in their land. References American Immigration. (1999). Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational. Bakken, G. M., & Kindell, A. (2006). Encyclopedia of immigration and migration in the American West. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Daniels, R. (1990). Coming to America: A history of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Scarpaci, V. (2008). The journey of the Italians in America. Gretna, La.: Pelican Pub. Co. Shane, C. J. (2005). The Italians. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. Read More