CLASS 2

So hello again, this class was interesting. Today we had our first presentation! The topic was Immigration. This class had lots of history but the conclusion was that many people from all over the world decided to move to America for the promise of a better future.

So our classmate explained us the immigration in 5 periods, the first one was the colonial period, the first wave of immigrants came from Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, etc), some colonist sought adventure in America, others fled religious persecution, some were convicts transported from England jails, but as always most immigrants went looking for economy opportunities. As many could not afford the ticket to America they went as indentured servants (I really think this is interesting) such servant signed an indenture to work for a master for four to seven years to repay the cost of the ticket. Also blacks went to America but involuntarily as slaves. The second period started around 1820-1870, the new immigrants entered the United States from northern and Western Europe, but about a third were Irish, many of them seeking escape from the potato famine that struck Ireland in the mid 1840’s. Also Germans went to the united states searching for religious freedom, in this period the flood of immigrants began to alarm many native born Americans. During the third period more than 30 million European migrated to the United States because of this the congress passed the emergency quota act (1921) which restricted immigration to the United States, later on, the Congress passed the immigration Act of 1924 which limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted to the country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the united states. Asians were hardly discriminated and a law against Chinese immigration was passed.

In the fourth period the immigration and nationality Act of 1965 abolished the National Origins Formula that had been in place in the United States since the immigration Act of 1924. This Act changed the ethnic make of the United States by equalizing immigration policies, after the great depression a lot of immigrants from Latin America and Asia arrived to the United States. Chinese immigrants were welcome again when these two countries became allies during the World War II. Finally in the last period that is the contemporary, immigrants tend to be younger but after the attack in September 11, immigrants are less welcome, and even when less people is in favor of immigration, illegal immigration has increased. I can name lots of consequences of immigration but the principals for me are economical (not enough job) and social (racism and violence). So yes the second class topic was BIG but quite entertaining. See you next class!