Individuals, families, or groups of people may leave
a country voluntarily or involuntarily because of events: harsh environmental
or economic conditions (disease, crop failure, excess population);
religious persecution; "ethnic cleansing;" war; genocide. Or they may be
kidnapped, enslaved, and taken to a foreign country. Migrants may
seek better jobs, freedom, or to preserve their very lives.
At Edison/Fareira High School in Philadelphia, about
72% of the students are Latino (Puerto Rican, Dominicans, a few Haitians),
27% African American, with a small population of white ethnics, Asians,
and Palestinians. The oral histories will reflect this
mix.
Some facts about migrants: in 1997, there were 30 million
Hispanics in the U.S.; 34 million African Americans. By 2005, the projected
figures are: 36 million Hispanics and 36 million African Americans. About
44 percent of Hispanics and 10 percent of all U.S. residents were born
abroad. Over 60% of immigrants live in cities: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles,
Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. In New York, more than a
third of the population was born in foreign countries, and 60% are immigrants
or children of immigrants.
Students of American history are familiar with two great revolutions
that have created the United States we know today. In the first Revolution, the American colonies broke away from British rule;
in the second revolution, during and after the Civil War, slavery ended
and the civil rights movement made large strides in equality for all races in American society.
Disagreement concerning the ideal composition of the population
have recurred throughout American history, e.g., the "Know Nothings."
In 2050, Hispanics (all races) will account for 25%
of the U.S. population, African American 14%, Asians 9%. The population
of whites who are not Hispanic will be 50%, a decrease from 75% in 1995.
President Clinton has characterized this population shift as the "third
great revolution of America, if we can prove that we literally can live
without having a dominant European culture."
There has been a change in the modern immigration
experience. Rather than leaving the homeland behind forever, many immigrants
maintain ties with the place they left to varying degrees. (Although immigrants
from 1880 to 1930 did return for a visit or to stay.) Some people travel
back and forth, may have dual citizenship, send their children back for
summers, or balance their lives between the two places.
Modern technology such as phone cards ($1.71 for a three minute call to the Dominican Republic, $3.66
to India), inexpensive air travel, modems, fax machines, video cameras,
and videophone parlors, have supported this new transnationalism.
Businesses that transfer money or ship goods by the crate help maintain
the ties. Immigrants can tune in to television originating from Korea,
Moscow, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and radio from the Ukraine and
Port-au-Prince.
U.S. Immigration Laws
Over 60 million people have emigrated to the United
States since 1600, from all over the earth, making this country more multicultural
than any other. At times, immigrants have been welcomed, at other
times discouraged, depending on the economics and politics of the moment.
- In order to regulate newcomers, the first federal immigration agency was
formed in 1891.
- Twenty four inspection stations were opened, including
Ellis Island in 1892.
- In 1921, quotas were set, limiting the number of
immigrants from various countries, representing the American population.
- In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act limited the total number of immigrants
to 154,657.
- The Immigration Act of 1965 ended the quotas by country; the
Immigration Act of 1990 set the limit at 675,000 annually, and made changes
in the deportation and exclusion regulations.
- In 1996, legislation was passed delineating new restrictions: citizenship was needed for eligibility
for many social benefits, asylum was made more difficult to obtain; and
U.S. national borders were more tightly controlled because of the concern
about illegal immigrants.
Although there have been many debates about
immigration issues, and changes in the laws, immigrants will continue to
come to America and add their contributions to our society.
Definitions
Migration is a broad term that covers movement of people from one
place to another. A group of associated terms have specific meanings that sometimes overlap:
- Assimilation:
- integrating into a new place.
- Colonization:
- starting a territory in a previously occupied
(or unoccupied) land.
- Conquest or Invasion:
- taking a place by force.
- Diaspora:
- a group of people who were together originally,
but have been dispersed or scattered, usually by force.
- Emigration:
- leaving a country to live in another.
- Expulsion:
- forcing a person or people to leave a place and
become an exile.
- Immigration:
- settling in a foreign country.
- Migration:
- movement of people from one place to another.
- Refugee:
- an individual who seeks protection in another country.
- Slavery:
- ownership of people (bondage or servitude).
- Transnationalism:
- immigrants’ identification with both the new country
and the original country.
Bibliography
The American Heritage Dictionary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1985.
Barkan, Elliott Robert, "Immigration," The World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, 1997.
Migration
News. Volume 5, Number 9 (September 1998).
Sontag, Deborah and Celia W. Dugger. "The New Immigrant Tide: A Shuttle Between Worlds." New York Times, July 19, 1998, sec. 1, p. 1+.
