Chapter 12

When I would think about immigrants from the past I would think about Hispanic people right away. I did not know until just a few years ago that each minority group that first comes to the America is known as an immigrant. I found chapter 12 really interesting because it mentioned a lot about Mexican American community as the chapter goes on. What I thought was interesting was whether the Mexican American community was old or new, since the Census Bureau have been counting them as Caucasians. Most of the groups that are associated with this are Cubans, Puerto Ricans and groups that come on the same association of them. I would think they would have there own section in the census. At least have a column for Hispanics and Latino's of course this did not come into play until later on in the years. 

Just like the other groups that we have studied in the earlier chapters such as the Japanese, Chinese, and Philippine's the Mexican's had came to California for agriculture. Most of what happened in the valley's in California and the reading also mentioned they had sugar beet fields in Colorado. Living in California all my life I have been to many cities and I have noticed what city has the most highly dominated group that resides in the city. I have noticed Latino's are more in the ranches, farms, and cities where more of there people live in that is where most of them like to go to. Places that symbolize there hometowns from back home. For example, there are a lot of Hispanics that live in Redwood City more towards Middlefield Rd. The area reminds me of a mini Mexico at times. Everyone is in there own little worlds and when you go on this side of RWC you feel the atmosphere of mini Mexico at times. This is where most of the Mexicans have there hair salons, delicious Mexican food restaurants, schools are more dominated my latino children, markets, the men that sell snacks on bikes, more ice cream sellers in this area, 7 eleven that is owned by Hispanics, and many more resources that would remind a person of there own roots.

The chapter talked about interesting information and I really enjoyed the information it brought to my attention. We can't forget all the important and famous people: Rodolfo Gonzales, Rahul Castro, Caesar Chavez, Victoriano Huerta, Eva Longoria, Victor Ochoa, and Selena Gomez. Of course the list goes on... 

Interesting Fact's!

Oakland – California's third largest Mexican-American city by percentage (over 25%) after Long Beach (about 30%).San Francisco Bay Area – also with over one million Hispanics, many of whom are Mexican Americans, both U.S. born and foreign-born (see also Oakland about 10–20% Hispanic and San Francisco – the Mission District section- the city is 10–20% Latino).

San Jose, California – Nearly one-third of the city's population is Mexican-American or of Hispanic origin; San Jose has the largest Mexican-American population within the Bay Area.

Chapter 10

I enjoyed reading about Ellis Island. For most immigrants Ellis island was an "island of hope". In the same way for some it was the "island of tears". Two different way immigrants would interpret the island. The passengers were brought to the island by ferry's and ships. Interesting to see it was similar process to the other immigrant groups that had came by boat. It was interesting how they also had railroad tickets purchases, and they were prepaid, most of the people that had came were familiar with America, so they knew how to get there way around. I found it interesting how some of the people had came to America previously in their lives. There were negativities that came along with the arrival of most immigrants such as illness, medical problems, diseases, and there wasn't facilities offered to all immigrants at the time. 

I found it interesting what the literacy test was. the book states "a nativist goal for more than two decades did little to restrict immigration, although or cause it may deterred some from attempting to come" (Daniels 278). What was so special about the literacy test and how immigration had delta with it. The literacy rate in Europe was very high it was rising in fact. The literacy test was an important victory for the forces for immigration restriction. 

Chapter 9- Chinese, Japanese, and French Canadians

Reading chapter nine was really interesting because I enjoyed reading about the different minorities from other regions. First, the book mentions about the Chinese of SF's Chinatown is the most famous investment that I believe the Chinese anywhere in the US have contributed most of there heritage to.  Most of Chinatown has to do with working, shopping, and socialized. They were overcrowded mainly in slum areas. The Chinese had provided shops, services, communal organizations, and entertainment to Chinatown. Most Chinese outside of California also were involved in mining. Agriculture was also a huge deal for the Chinese. The book has many interesting facts and information about the Chinese and I feel like they have so much to offer to our society today. We have Chinatown, cities such as Daly City and San Francisco have a huge population of Chinese people, Chinese New Year, horoscopes, the yummy food, history from 1800's to present day, some of the famous people in our society are of Asian decent, some of the prettiest arts and sculptures, and many more that we have adopted from the Chinese people. 

Secondly, The book states the first group of Japanese to come were the "political refugees in 1869" (Daniels 250). Japanese immigrants were very successful in the long run. The Japanese American community developed generational lines. Most Japanese were urbanized. There cultural organizations were unique. The Japanese government courage the Japanese to adopt to Western dress, educate their children was there top priority. "In the 1880's and 1890's many and perhaps a majority of Japanese worked at urban occupations, but by 1900 their economic focus was agriculture where it remained" (Daniels 253).  The Japanese Americans were very diveresed. Most of them began to practice Buddhism which I thought was very interesting, they brought their culture here and began to practice in the churches in America. Most of the Japanese's religion was Christian. Religion had showed a sense of difference and devotion for them. 

Lastly, the chapter talks about the French Canadians. Most of the goals for the Canadians were to make money and go back for farmland which I noticed shows a similarity with other groups that came to the America's made money, either sent remittances or send back money back home. I found it interesting how important religion was to the French Canadians and how many different ways they had called their people of worship. French and Irish were seen as "papist interlopers by nativists" (Daniels 262). The French Canadians had some similarities to the Germans and most from the Irish. 

I very much enjoy how the French incorporated there identity to Canada. I remember when I went to Ontario most things are written in French if you go to certain restaurants and the street names are very unique. They also have many French like buildings in the cities. There is a feel as if you are in France =] . 

Amish Beard Cutting Article!

Hey Guys just thought you guys would be interested in reading this article I found interesting, since Dr. Andrews talked about the Amish people earlier in the semester, but this is a bit of a controversial issue. Check out the article link below. 

http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-amish-leader-beard-cutting-religious-matter-232845934.html

Readings for October 10

Why is it that every time someone wants to bring peace or a movement to our world, something always has to interfere and voices are not heard? If they are heard, they usually are not respected and most people lose there lives for saying something that could make a change to our world. As reading through the articles posted for the week of 10/10-10-10/14 the women that speak on there behalf about slavery (anti slavery society), activist, the civil rights movement, and lynching is mentioned. 

Our American ethnic history goes through changes and transformations within time. How were peoples identities shaped by the events that took place in there life. Lets look at a few abolitionist and the anti- slavery society. The first article is about Angelina Grimke, she and  her sister were in the stage of disliking slavery and wrote letters and had cases for ending slavery. Due to the letters that they wrote, officials in South Carolina had burned them. They were threatened and said if they ever returned home they would be arrested. I got out of the reading that slavery is a sinful act. The both sisters were sticking up to there voices and wanted officials to hear them. I enjoyed reading the appeals from the women. They use some strong and religious terms when trying to prove there points.

Second article was about an abolitionist by the name of Ida B. Wells. She came from a educated family at the time, her family were political activist. Her parents died, when her and her siblings were young, therefore she had raised her siblings by becoming a teacher to support and bring some money and food to the table. Reminds me of Hung who I had interviewed, he also took care of his siblings because he was to oldest and had to bring the food to the table to support them. She brought letters stating how blacks were treated at the time along with the many crucial events most experiences. Talking about white men and lynchings and what the one color meant to the other. 

 In the situation of Ida, she sat where ever she wanted in the train when riding. She was experienced with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad because they forbade her from siting int he ladies coach. This is when she sued the company, and began writing about her experiences. She brought awareness of fighting against racism and sexist in America and brought it in a legacy of her courage and pride. 

The short articles about lynching brought a sense of scarce to me. I am familiar with the term because in high school I had gone on the Sojourn to the Past trip with fellow class mates. We visitied the East coast most of the areas where the slavery, civil rights movements took place, and the destinations of some of the influential people were killed. Lynching existed during slavery period and in some parts of the country today. The article regarding 

Activists demand hate crime probe into Black man’s horrific dragging death brought horrific scenes to my eyes I can only imagine what the man had gone through. If he was tied to a truck and dragged until his body parts were removed can only bring horrific scenes to your mind. This had happened in Paris, Texas to a young 24 year old, black man. Who knew lynching would still be popular today. They call it the "Jasper-style" lynching. The interview was conducted from the mom of the young man that was killed. Shows racism also exists in many parts of our world today and people can go under and circumstances to be hateful and brutal to individuals. Most of the people that commit these crimes are your own friends. How does that make sense? 

Chapter 8- Eastern Europeans-Poles, Jews, and Hungarians

Eastern Europeans-Poles, Jews, and Hungarians.

Daniels states “It’s seems to me, many of them came to understand the real nature of America much better than did most of who despised them” (Daniels 214). Most immigrants that came to America had intensions, in my perspective most of the immigrants that come and be the most illiterate of them all, but coming here shows them a sense of learning the languages, customs, standards of living, and most of all adapting to the way individuals are living in this country different than how they were living when they were back home. The Polish that had come to America shared a sense of speaking Polish as their mother tongue and religion wise they were Roman Catholics. This had showed in the census that most groups were associated with the mother tongues they spoke. Most Poles worked in industries, they didn’t work in hostile unions, but they were enthusiastic about the trade unionist. The two main reasons Eastern Europeans migrated was because they wanted to improve their standard of living along with religious reasons. Most of the European Jewish immigrants settled in New York City. Most of these individuals were working in poor and dusty conditions. Later in 1911, there was a huge industrial tragedy which was the Triangle Waist Fire of 1911, where more than 140 most women workers were burned to death, where horrified crowds were in scene, this had happened in Jewish shops.  Eastern European Jews were religious and secular during the time. The Jewish community was relatively high. They had a sense of pride and leadership. The section has a lot of dates along with importance of Pols and Eastern European Jews.

The Hungarian-Magyar Americans was also a group that emigrated from Eastern Europe. Small, but important presence of them had come as early as the American Revolution. There were many Hungarians that had served in the Union Army which took place in the Civil war. My best friend is from Hungary, she tells me when her parents first came to the US, they lived in California, Fremont- there is a relatively higher population of Hungarian families that live there compared to any other part of CA. I found this very surprising, because I didn’t really know that Hungarians were a separate group of people, I thought they were of either Armenia or the Middle- East, but she told me what exactly their identity is. Hungarians were more involved in during the civil rights, WWI, and US Army during WWII.

Chapter 7-American Italian Immigrants

ITALiAN AMERiCAN iMMiGRANtS

Reading the section about Italian immigrants had tons of interesting facts and a lot information regarding Italians that I did not know about before. I had enjoyed reading the parts about Italian contributions and what they brought to the plate. "During the years of 1880 and 1920 there were more than 4.1 million Italians entering just the US" (Daniels 188). If you ask me that is a huge significant number. Not only did they enter the US, they brought many contributions to the plate. During the late 18th and early 19th century there were attempts to establish the Italian agriculture. Some of what the agriculture contained were the silk culture, wine grapes, and olives. Thanks to the Italians, we also love Olive oil and Wine so much =] thanks for your contribution! Most of the Italian agriculture of course happened where? In the far west, which is our very own homeland CALIFORNIA! California was known to be a major place for wine contributions. This is where most of there crops and techniques were introduced. Later Plastic arts were also an important contribution as well. 

The other important fact I came across was the controversial aspect of Italian American experience that has to do with crime. The Irish and German indentured servants along with  them there was Vietnamese street gangs along with Chinese Triad Societies, and colombian drug dealers. This had involved many stereotypes as well.  Reading about Italian American immigrants has ton's of exciting and interesting information. I wish to learn more about them as I read the chapter.