Asian Ancestry

The first Chinese came to America during Gold Rush days in the late 1840s. By 1882 there were about 320,000 Chinese people living in America, mostly on the West Coast. "Chinatowns", inhabited mainly by single men, were considered by many Americans to be centers of narcotic addiction, corruption, and mystery.

Today, many Chinese-Americans want to maintain their own bicultural patterns. Chinese-Americans suffer from much less prejudice and discrimination than in earlier years; still Chinatowns remain – especially in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York – and so do many problems. Most of these have to do with internal conflicts in the communities.

The Japanese were a half step behind the Chinese at each phase of their early settlement in America. The first Japanese settlers came in 1869, 21 years after the first Chinese. They turned to mining and, particularly, farm labor.

The war in Vietnam and its complicated consequences brought a new wave of people to America: the "Indochinese", a generic name for those who had lived in Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia – the three countries of what, for a time, was French Indochina.

"Spanish-surnamed" Ancestry

Hispanic Americans are those now listed under the rubric "Spanish-surnamed," or Hispanics. The Hispanics are in fact, a multigroup minority that includes descendants of very early settlers.

The Southwest has been their traditional home for over four centuries. They became American citizens by default when New Mexico, California, and other southwestern territories were ceded to the United States after the Mexican-American War in 1848. The social patterns of Mexican society prevailed in these territories.

Almost a million Mexicans entered the country between 1910 and 1930. Most of these found employment in south-western states—Texas, Arizona, and California.

By law, all Mexicans must now enter legally, under the revised Immigration and Nationality Act. The fact is that many continued to enter the country illegally. Some estimates show that the figures reached one million in 1978 alone. An increasing segment of this minority comprises as many as eight million people.

Waves of refugees

After the Castro Revolution hundreds of thousands of Cubans sought and gained admittance to this country as exiles. Between 1959 and 1970 some 700,000 refugees entered the United States, most arriving and staying in the Miami area.

While some were exceedingly wealthy, the majority were of modest means and had to start their lives anew. They were also resented by "indigenous" minorities, especially Blacks, who sometimes claimed the Cubans were elbowing their ways into the system and taking jobs away from members of their community.

In 1980, a second large wave (approximately 150,000) of Cuban exiles made the 90 mile trip to Florida coast. These "boat people" were generally poorer and less well educated. And many more were black. Still, being Cuban, the larger ethnic community felt obligated to offer assistance.

As noted above, in the late 1980s, thousands of Guatemalans, Salvadorans. and Nicaraguans crossed the Mexican border, often illegally, seeking asylum in the United States.

So, many of those, who migrated to America, left their countries of origin seeking a new life in the New World. For most, immigration was the beginning of a new and exciting adventure, but for others the journey to America was a bitter and harrowing experience.