Immigrant Communities A Look At 4 Ethnic Groups Term paper
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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. In this group, usually the men came
over first and found jobs, and then later sent for their wives or
families. A large number of Italians also immigrated back to
their home country. They came to America for a few years to find
work, and then went back to...
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