Immigrant Communities A Look At 4

Ethnic Groups Essay, Research Paper

Immigrant Communities: A Look at Four Ethnic Groups

Immigrants arriving in the United States were often already

set up with a support system in the New World. Most people

either had relatives or friends already living there or they were

traveling with someone who did. According to the class lecture1,

people often lived close to other immigrants of their shared

backgrounds. In this way, immigrant neighborhoods were started

in many large cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Each immigrant community was different from each other, since the

countries that people came from were so culturally diverse. Due

to these differences and a language barrier, immigrants tended to

stay with their own people and communities.

In order to better understand the similarities and

differences between these communities, it is necessary to take a

closer look at a few of them. One significant immigrant group

during the 1800 s is the Irish. The majority of immigrants

coming from Ireland were trying to escape the potato famine.

These people set up a large community in the Boston area, which

is still today known as having a large population of people from

Irish background. The people who immigrated to the United States

often came by themselves, since there was not enough money to

send a whole family. Most people were not among the most

extremely poor peasants, since they had a way to pay for their

passage. Women came as often as men, and their first goal was to

find work in order to support themselves and send money home to

Ireland.

The Irish had a great advantage over most other immigrant

groups because they spoke English and immigrated at a time when

there were a large number of jobs in the United States. Women

took jobs as household servants and maids, and they often lived

at the residence they worked at. In these jobs they had no

expenses and were able to send the majority of their earnings

home to their struggling families. Some Irish women also took

jobs as factory workers. Men tended to work as manual laborers,

in jobs such as construction work, railroad builders, and canal

workers. Some Irish men also found jobs as firemen, policemen,

dockworkers, and cobblers. Irish men often joined unions and

became involved in politics through these groups.

These immigrants set up their homes in tenement houses and

formed large communities in Boston and Chicago. Families were

not as common, since women were working to support families in

Ireland and often married later in life. Men who were married

were sometimes in very mobile occupations which required them to

leave their families for months at a time. Religion and the

church was a very important part of life for Irish immigrants.

Most Irish were Catholic, although some were of the Protestant

faith. However, the Irish also found time for fun, and taverns

were a common fixture in most communities.

Another large immigrant group was the Germans. People of

this ethnic background came to America in search of jobs and

land, both of which were hard to come by in their native land.

Germans usually brought their families with them to the new

country, and took jobs as farmers, service or factory workers and

skilled artisans. Single men were often boarders with German

families, who took people into their homes as a source of income.

Unlike the Irish, the German women worked at home and sent the

children out to work as household servants. They were also able

to save some of their income, since they did not have to send it

home to needy families. Germans also did not move around very

much, but settled in communities with other German families in

areas such as Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. The German

immigrants formed neighborhoods and close ties so that they were

able to take care of each other. They began the first type of

life insurance with Mutual Aid Societies, which were paid into

every month so that if something happened to the head of the

household the family would be taken care of.

German communities were similar yet different from the Irish

in many ways. Aside from the idea of taking care of their

neighbors, Germans were also not as active in the church.

Although they often attended on Sundays, religion was not as

important to their daily lives. Like the Irish, Germans were

also involved in politics and unions, however they were not as

driven for political freedom as the Irish immigrants who were

accustomed to being under British rule. Known for their love of

beer, taverns were also very common in German neighborhoods, and

breweries were usually found in large communities.

Another immigrant group that formed large communities in the

United States were Italians. I

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать