Ironic

This world is full of hypocrisy and irony. This is clearly shown when addressing the immigrant topic. People come from all around the world, to the United States, looking to achieve the so called "American Dream". They come in search of a better life but run right into a wall. America pictures itself as the place to be but racism and discrimination is still a constant problem. Most of the time its the people already living here who don't allow the newcomers to expand. Even from way before, the harmless Native Americans were simply going about with their lives and not harming anyone but the Americans decided to put an end to that just because. Immigrants come and help the country but some Americans don't see it that way, therefore, they make the "American Dream" simply an unreachable goal for immigrants.

Irish Emigration and "Assimilation"

"The Irish Exodus" illustrated the waves of hardship that led to the mass migrations of Irish to America. When initially subjected to political oppression under their British landlords, many Irish fled to the more prosperous West in search of work and food. Despite the adversity, many Irish remained, too proud of their motherland to leave it. Unfortunately, soon thereafter, the potato famine gave many remaining Irish another reason to head West.

I thought this gave good insight into the background of the whole Irish influx during the 18 and 19oos. These were worn down people with oppression in their blood and nothing but hope for a better tomorrow, along with whatever money they had sewn into their pockets. It only makes sense that once in America these people took full advantage of all that the states had to offer. When people in your homeland are pushed to subsist on potatoes and grass, any change of pace is a welcome relief. It was interesting to read how Irish women, who emigrated in larger numbers than the men, created their own place in the workforce, dominating the maid market.

These resilient people were able to take oppression and a devastating blight and turn it into a success story. Many could even argue that the story of the Irish is one of the best examples of a people achieving the American dream.

A Journey

I'm not going to lie... reading the textbook was a little painful! So... I'll talk about the articles instead!

I really enjoyed the Irish emigration stories. As an immigrant myself, it's really cool to learn about others' experiences. Emigration is basically leaving one's home country to settle in a completely different one, in our cases: the United States! The Irish fled their country because of famine and hopes for a better life. My family and I left Ecuador for a hopes of a better life as well! When I think about the Irish and their journey to the United States, I can't picture myself being strong enough (mentally or physically) for that. While the Irish crossed the ocean in overcrowded ships, at times without seeing any daylight, my family and I hopped on a plane and were in New York in six hours. You can say the trip here wasn't as bad, but the assimilation, or better yet, the making of our salad, was just as hard. Getting used city streets crowded with diverse people was took a while! Another thing that hasn't changed is the competition for jobs. My parents, like the Irish and all immigrants, had a hard time finding jobs, even though they spoke English. The United States was, and still is, filled with immigrants looking for jobs to maintain their families.

I'm not entirely sure how complicated immigration laws and processes were back then, but now they're ridiculous. After an eleven year waiting list, my family and I could finally call ourselves American! Like the Irish, my family and I fell in love with the United States, but never forget where we're from. Like the end of the reading says... at night, while in bed, there is always a little voice calling us back...

Native Americans

Throughout American history, Native Americans were some of the most well-known tragic groups of people . In fact, the things that I learned about Native Americans are the Columbian Exchange and the spread of diseases from the "old world" that killed most of them. After reading this chapter, I realized that Americans were mean, callous, and subjective. Americans thought that the Native American's tradition was meaningless and tried to re-educate and assimilate them as Americans desired. In my opinion, the main reason should be attributed to American"s individualism and egocentrism. For example, they imposed their American values onto the Native Americans, giving them the best education to get jobs. According to the chapter, one of the social historians advocated that American history should only encompass immigrant groups and exclude Native American history. I totally disagreed with it. Native Americans should be an important part of American History because they were indigenous. America was originally the Native American's homeland and they had their own lifestyle before Europeans came. After Europeans came, they took over the Native American's land. Moreover, they tried to dominate them to alter all of their traditions, culture and institution. From my point of view, the Europeans were the foreigners who were compelled to stay in the Native American's homes and destroy their culture. Why were Americans too harsh to Native American? Why didn't they use a kinder method to assimilate Native American into their Society?

Irish Immigrants

Reading the Article about how, when, and why the Irish immigrated to America opened my eyes to a certain culture in America. Before, I had no idea why there were so many immigrants from Ireland flocking to America. Learning about the conditions in Ireland under the British and how poor the living conditions over there were really interesting for me because my heritage is mainly Irish. I did not realize that it was a means of survival, instead of ambition to come to America. The conditions were so horrible that they were forced to leave for the chance of a better life.

Assimilation

The chapter said assimilation was not possible because customs and traditions of Native Americans were “too alien.” How does that even make sense? To assimilate something is to make it adjust and/or adapt to a different way. If America was so “new,” then how were there already standards, rules, and regulations for it? Racial inequality is something I feel very strongly about and I find egocentrism to be very unacceptable. I do not necessarily agree or disagree with the author, considering I believe that he is only stating facts, not opinion. “The reservation policy aimed to ensure that Native Americans would be systematically educated and ‘civilised’ into the American way of life.” Everyone tried so hard to change the way people were to make them “White Americans.” When no one can really even define what that really is. Native Americans had to suffer the loss of their culture, tradition, self-belief and many other things. To look back on it now, I think assimilation is something that is unfair. You shouldn’t have to make someone, or a group of people, change the way they are in order for them to live somewhere.

Irish Immigrants

After reading the articles I definately got a better view of what life was like for Irish immigrants. They come to America for a better life but it was not as simple as they thought it to be. Some of the Irish that work as migratory workers. I really respect the fact that people were able to leave their families for periods of time to make money. It takes a lot of courage to be able to do that. The thing that amazed me the most was that many did not look as Ireland as their home anymore. They wanted to leave that part of them behind them. It was like they were ashamed of where they came from. This I kind of see as their assimilation into the idea of being American. They were willing to give their past up so they could be part of a new and better society. It was also interesting to see that the Irish were looked down upon so much. Also like the article said if a black man could not do it then we get an Irish. I knew a little about the Irish and their immigration but I never knew they were viewed so low. It is almost in my opinion that work in Ireland was better than in America for them. I feel like after reading these I am glad that our country did not assimilate into one big culture. The diversity adds a unique twist of living here and makes life a lot more interesting. Why were Irish immigrants looked at differently as others?