Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Chapter 6: Pioneers of the Century of Immigration: Irish, Germans, and Scandinavians

In the beginning of chapter 6, the distinction between new and old immigrant were stated.
The old immigrant was an individual from the British Isles and northwestern Europe who arrived before the 1880s.  They adjusted and conformed easily.

The new immigrants were individuals from southern and eastern Europe who arrived after the 1880s.  They were of "very different" backgrounds, spoke strange languages, and worshiped strange gods.  None of these new immigrants were Protestant.

They spoke strange languages, worshiped crazy gods, and were of different races.  None of these old immigrants were Protestants.

Having read that none were Protestant made me wonder if because they were not Protestant they were seen as weird and different from others? I'm always fascinated by the choice or words and  language that Daniel uses in the book to describe others.  To see that they worshipped "strange" gods was interesting and having used the word "strange" automatically made me feel that these people were outcasted and immediately seen as different.  No one liked strange back in those days, thankfully today strange is admired, well, sometimes.

A shibboleth is any practice that distinguished one group from another.  Usually it would involve language or religion, which is relevant to the definition of new immigrants.

Tables 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 indicated that immigration increased significantly.  Tables like these show us different patterns of the types of people who immigrated, though they cannot be 100% authentic because some races were not added.

The decennial figures showed an increase in immigration.  Decennial means recurring every ten years.

It was seen that Irish immigration was less welcomed than that of the German and Scandinavian immigrants, hence their impact was a greater and more positive one.  The Irish had labor competitions with the Black slaves, which was very interesting to me.  They used strategies to climb their way up in the economic ladder, which in the end were costly on the Blacks.  The Irish came to America because of overpopulation and better economic opportunities.

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