However, this was not the case. Many Immigrants were flocking to America to escape from poverty, persecution and revolutions in their home countries. This created a lot of hostility as Americans feared that immigrants coming into the United States would have an effect on american society, socially, religiously, economically and politically. Historians have argued over what was the main cause was for growing hostility. Contributing factors are; the changing nature of immigration and entrenched WASP racism, pre-existing legislation before 1920s, WWI and isolationism, economic fears, social and religious fears, and political fears.
Business actually put up signs that stated Irish decent need not apply. Because of this discrimination, they were forced to take jobs that were considered to be disdainful by Americans. They were referred to as “white niggers” (Kinsella, 2008). Environmental justices issues; Irish immigrants faced environmental justice issues because of their forced segregation. Upon arriving in America, they were deluged by men who grabbed them and their belongings and escorted them to tenement housing.
To what extent was Racism the main reason for changing attitudes towards Immigration in the 1920s It can be argued that racism was the main reason for changing attitudes towards immigration in the USA in the 1920s. The three immigration acts put tighter restrictions on who was deemed worthy enough to live and work in the USA. Other factors included political fears of Eastern European ideologies such as communism and anarchism, economic factors such as jobs and housing, and social factors such as crime, religion and culture. All of these created much hostility and discrimination towards many hopeful immigrants. They were a precursor to violence and rioting in what was a fundamentally racist society.
The Irish did have a resource that free American Americans lacked: an ability to organize and a penchant for violence honed through 200 years of clandestine resistance to British occupation of Ireland. In order to gain acceptance into mainstream American society, Irish immigrants embraced American racism as a way of establishing its whiteness and engaged African Americans in street violence that usually ended with the Irish victorious. Since Irish immigrants at times were viewed as inferior to African Americans, especially in New Orleans where Irish workers performed tasks such as dock building deemed dangerous to slaves. The rationale was that if a slave was injured or killed, his owner would have to be compensated. If an Irish labor was killed, another would just as quickly take his place.
The fact that Mary was not just a woman in the lower class, but also an Irish immigrant whose occupation was a domestic servant are just a few reasons that contributed to the prejudices against her. People who were of Irish ethnicity were thought to be dirty and were not well respected by anyone in New York in the early 1900's. Her lack of rank within the social class and her ethnicity played a huge role in the way she was treated. Had she been a man from a wealthy family in New York, things would have been much different. 2.
I have the same opinion that racism still is present in the United States due to the fact that many races discuss other races, and at the largest part of the time, it is not good. The use of credit history to panel potential employees, which is still a common practice, can have a top-heavy blow on minorities. Although a number of states are creating things to limit discrimination against the unemployed and those with poor credit, we have a extensive way to go prior to these actions being done away with. With the intense lack of correspondence in seizures and imprisonment rates among the ethnicities, some have recognized that using convictions and arrest to prohibit people from service may have a contrasting bang on minorities. On the other hand, a large amount of states currently permit unlawful accounts to be utilized to reject experienced candidates.
Since its declared independence in the late 1700s, the United States has become one of the most industrialized nations in the world. This was caused by major changes that occurred in society between 1890 and 1920. Social changes included the spike in gangs and tenements, along with changes in the role of African Americans Political reform also took place as a result of social change. Along with social and political change came economic change, which took the shape of legislation such as the Anti Trust laws, which increased exports in the United States between 1870 and 1920. Industrialization also caused an increase in urbanization.
From Chinatown to the Irish bars, there is segregation and unrest between all the different people. This unrest stems from not truly understanding each other as individual people and then not understanding each person’s beliefs, religion, and lifestyle. One example of multiculturalism is an illusion is demonstrated in the question “should legal immigrants have the right to criticize the infrastructure provided by their adoptive country?” This question would not be a question if multiculturalism truly worked in the United States of America. It should not be a question because legal immigrants are people who have been granted permanent residency (or hold green cards) in the United States and therefore are required to abide by the rules, laws, and restrictions placed on the people of the United States of America. Since
Kristin Racis October 31, 2012 The Roaring Twenties The 1920s was a time of significant cultural conflicts in the United States. The causes of these conflicts came with the massive cultural changes that were occurring in America at the time, such as religion, immigration, and prohibition. Prohibition started crime and corruption. The Klu Klux Klan started when immigration came to America, and religion started arguments about evolution, which then lead to the scopes trial. During the 1920s era, religion in America experienced a cultural revolution.
They couldn’t bank at normal banks because banks didn’t carry clerks speaking Italian, so they were stuck banking with crooks they thought to be honest. The immigrants were bleed of their money in most places and looked down on by most. Many people in the city of Chicago disliked immigrants and law enforcement was clearly not concerned with the immigrants’ problems. It wasn’t until the Immigration Protection League that immigrants began to receive fair treatment. Without the Immigration Protection League it is possible that legislation and equality for immigrants would have been stunted