Immigration
Since 1820 more than 65 million people have come to the US; 660,000 immigrants – in 1998 alone.
The arrival of Europeans and Africans starting in the late 16th century brought irreversible changes.
a native population that ranged from 1.5 million to 8 million was reduced to 243,000 by 1900
the native Hawaii people numbered 300,000 in 1778 and only 135,000 by 1820
20,000 Aleutian natives existed in the 18th century and only 1,400 by 1848
by the 17th and 18th centuries French settlements – around the Great lakes and the upper Mississippi River and at New Orleans
Spanish – in Florida, the Southwest and California
British – in New England and the South
Russians – on the West Coast
Swedish and Dutch – on the East Coast
Scots, Welsh, Irish, Germans, Finns, Greeks and Italians as well as Maya, Aztec and African slaves
Europeans settlements depended on the skill and labour of Indentured European servants and, particularly after 1700, of enslaved Africans
Africans could not hope to attain freedom
Ethnically, culturally and linguistically the African migration was diverse
their labour and skills were exploited, specific national origins – forgotten, cultural traditions – partially suppressed
the 17th and 18th century- a growing importation of Africans
after 1808 US law forbade the importation of slaves from abroad
the insecure status of even free African Americans in the middle decades of the 19th century caused thousands of black to emigrate from the US to Canada
after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850
Restriction of immigration
until the late 19th century immigration to the US was unrestricted
Convicts and prostitutes – barred in 1875
paupers, mentally defective, and all the Chinese immigrants – excluded in 1882
contract workers – banned in the 1880s
Japanese immigrations was stopped in 1907
after 1917 only literate individuals were admitted
migration from Asia was placed under a separate quota system that applied only to the Far East
by 1978 this provision was lifted, and all immigrants were treated equally.
In 1921 and 1924 Congress mandated a quota system for immigrations
80% of the 150,000 annual visas were given to immigrants from western Europe and, 300,000 – from other countries
the Great Depression of the 1930s sharpened feelings against forigners
more people emigrated from the US than arrived during the 1930s – negative migration
anti-Semitism in the early 20th century
During the following decades (1920s) – limited immigration from countries with large numbers of Jewish emigrants. Colleges, schools, businesses barred Jews
102,00 Jewish refugees escaping Nazi Germany were admitted into the US before WWII, but many more were refused entrance
Russians, Czechs, Belorussians, Cubans, Vietnamese, Cambidians, Iranians and others moved to the US
Racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholic sentiment, and other forms of discrimination became less acceptable at the end of the 20th century
because of changes in U/S/ immigration law and in economic and political conditions worldwide, the number of immigrants to America resurged in the last quarter of the 20th century
Racism as another source of diversity
the main exceptions to full acceptance into the country – Native Americans and African Americans
“Justification” of slavery^ Africans were not Christian and not civilized, culturally inferior
by the 18th century – harder to claim that Africans would be culturally inferior
Pro-slavery whites – theory od biological inferiority of the Blacks to Europeans - “scientific racism”
racial discrimination grew out of the practice of enslavement but outlasted the institution of slavery
poorer whites of socially marginal whites could feel superior by virtue of their skin colour
racism helped to create a sense of unity among white Americans by defining who was a fyll citizen
racism united African Americans through shared experiences of discrimination and suffering
the civil right era – the mid-20s of the century
the beginning of the 21th century -a relatively small number of white people still possess a feeling of racial superiority
The political system of the USA