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Immigrant Communities A Look At 4

Ethnic Groups Essay, Research Paper


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 Italy to join their families.


Italian women

rarely came to the U.S. alone, but for the most


part came to meet their husbands or the men that they were


arranged to marry. In these cases, women traveled in a group


with other Italian women from their town or area and were


escorted by a man.


Italians worked a variety of jobs upon coming to America.


Some men set up wine businesses in California, and others worked


as factory and textile workers in New England, miners in


Illinois, and cigar makers in various parts of the country.


Since most men were without their families, they were able to


migrate and move around in order to find work. Like the Germans,


Italian women stayed at home, and they earned an income by doing


piecework from factories or mending clothing. They took care of


the children, who were often sent out to work at a very early


age.


The large Italian communities developed in areas such as


Chicago and New York. In Chicago, a well known Italian


neighborhood was located around Hull House, which helped


immigrant women adapt to their new lives. Italians in New York


lived in more spread out communities, most in Manhattan,


Brooklyn, and the Bronx. An interesting thing to note about


Italian immigrants is that they usually set up their homes very


geographically similar to those they had in their home country.


For example, the people that a family lived by in Italy were also


most often their neighbors in America. Although this was not


always true, in most cases people formed communities with the


same people they had known before they immigrated.


Italians were also much more family oriented than German or


Irish immigrants. Families and neighborhoods were very


close-knit, and everyone tried to help out everyone else as much


as possible. The majority of Italian immigrants were Catholic,


and they took their religion and beliefs very seriously. The


church was often the backbone of the neighborhood, and it brought


everyone together and got them involved. Men were sometimes


involved in local unions and politics, but it was not as


important to them as Irish or German men. Taverns were usually


located in Italian neighborhoods, but for the most part Italian


communities were characterized by a strong sense of togetherness


and family.


The last group that will be examined are the Jewish


immigrants from various countries. Like the Irish who were


forced out of their country by the famine and the British


government, the Jews were also exiled from their homelands, but


their cause for fleeing was religious persecution. Jewish


immigrants came from many different backgrounds, but their


religion basically gave them a culture all their own. They spoke


their own language, Yiddish or Hebrew, and followed their own set


of traditions and values. In many cases of immigrants, they were


being oppressed by the government under which they lived, however


they were not allowed to leave. So many had to escape their


countries in order to come to America.


Similar to the Italians, Jewish men usually immigrated first


and then found a way to help their families escape to the freedom


of America. They became well known in the clothing industry, and


a great number of Jewish immigrants worked in tailoring and as


merchants and factory hands. Since in Jewish families, it is a


goal for the man to study their religion as a Rabbi and be


supported by his family, women were used to working outside the


home and adjusted well to factory and tailoring work. Jews were


also highly literate and educated, and most strived to better


themselves and better their family standing.


Jewish immigrants lived in urban settings, and a large


Jewish community was established in New York. These families


lived in the tenement houses and often took boarders into their


small apartments in order to bring in more income. These


boarders were usually single Jewish men who were newly immigrated


to the United States. The Jewish immigrants lived close to each


other for a few reasons. For one, although they may have been


from different countries, they had a shared past and common


origins. Also, it was a way of protecting themselves from


outside persecution.


The similarities between the four groups seem to be quite


obvious, yet immigrant groups can be different even in the things


they have in common. Although both Irish and Jewish immigrants


worked in factories, the Jewish were more involved in the


clothing and textile industry. Women from Italian and German


backgrounds stayed at home and took care of their families, but


Italian women were much more devoutly religious than the Germans.


Irish and German immigrants were more involved in politics and


unions than Italians or Jews, and were more likely to frequent


taverns and public houses. The main difference between all of


these immigrant groups is the location of their communities.


Some groups live in the same city, but their neighborhoods were


separate from each other. Immigrants came from different


countries and cultures and built their own communities in their


own ways.

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