Immigrant experience and social integration

Immigrant Experience

Immigration to the United States was not a pleasant experience for many people, at least not initially. I can testify to this since me and my family experienced difficulties when we moved from Russia in 1994. My biggest predicament was the language barrier since I spoke Russian and did not known proper English. It was not easy to make friends in the new country and not knowing the language obviously added to this problem. My parents also found it difficult to get a job since the market wasn't very favorable to fresh immigrants. Americans did not prove to be a very hospitable nation as well. The conditions were not conducive to assimilation or acceptance and thus it looks us few years before we could find some place for ourselves in the United States and become of a part of this multicultural society. In their book on immigration titled 'Natives and Strangers: A Multicultural History of Americans', authors Leonard Dinnerstein, Roger L. Nichols, David M. Reimers present a comprehensive history of immigrants in the U.S. mainly focusing on the experiences of Asians and Latin American.

People entering the United States came in two huge waves. The first wave came at the turn of the century as U.S. became an economic heaven for many and political refuge for some. The second wave was seen in 1980-1990s when Asians and Latin Americans entered America in droves and became an integral part of its culture and society. The main reason for Asians and Latin Americans was economic poverty in their own countries. They were looking for greener pastures and America was the land of opportunities. Apart from economics, there were other reasons as well which resulted in millions of immigrants entering the U.S. during the last one century. In the book "A Nation of Immigrants," John F. Kennedy wrote, "There were probably as many reasons for coming to America as there were people who came. It was a highly individual decision." Historians maintain that the three social factors, which led to mass migration to America, were "religious persecution, political oppression, and economic hardship" (Statue of Liberty, History)

Irish and Iranians also came to the U.S. In big numbers as immigration trend picked pace. Iranians came more because of political reasons than anything else. After years of weathering political instability in their own country, many Iranians fled their homeland in search of a safer environment and their destination was western countries. It was during this time that United States saw a sharp rise in the number of Iranian immigrants and since then the number has grown steadily even though Iranians remain the most underrepresented community. Iranians were not only looking for better job opportunities as most other immigrants, they were actually concerned about political and religious restrictions that they had been forced to endure during the Islamic revolution of 1979 (Sullivan, 2001).

Irish immigrants came mainly due to economic problems in their native country. In Italy like in all other European countries things did not look too good for the people and they decided to leave their country. It was during this period that many Immigrants moved both internally and internationally thus decreasing the population of Italy significantly. America naturally was the biggest attraction for these people who knew that they wouldn't be able to live under the war-stricken conditions. But apart from the economic reasons there were some other factors that compelled people to leave for the land of opportunities. They faced worst discrimination scenario since they were mainly Catholics and their willingness to work at lower wages had sent many American out of work.

Jenny Masur (1991) writes, "Between the 1940s and the 1970s millions of Immigrants migrated both internally and internationally. For the period 1946 to 1976 an estimated 7.5 million people emigrated from Italy. Between 1951 and 1975 some 4.5 million from the south alone; over half went to northern Italy while 42% emigrated abroad. Migration has not necessarily been a response to the performance of the Italian economy since both internal and external migration continued from 1951 to 1962, the years of the "economic miracle."

In short all immigrants faced problems when they tried to assimilate in the American culture. Most immigrants encountered significant problems such as prejudice and cultural clash and entering the American workforce was anything but easy for Immigrants and not to mention the language barrier, which turned every problem into a gigantic one. There are some who would describe their experience as wonderful but most of them would have some heart-wrenching stories to relate about their immigration. This doesn't mean they are not satisfied with their life here but the older generation of immigrants had to face some serious problems.

Racism was the biggest problem followed by religious conflicts, which forced many Italian to move back to their country. Since Americans in those were not really used to the idea of foreigners entering their country and taking over their jobs, they openly resented the immigrants and Immigrants were blamed for many of the nation's problems. This was not the case with one individual family, most of the Immigrants encountered difficulties which some were able to surmount while others were so disappointed that they felt it was better to go back to their homeland where they would be able to live in peace.