Table Of ContentAmerican Immigration and Ethnicity
American Immigration
and Ethnicity
A Reader
David A.Gerber,Alan M.Kraut
Palgrave
macmillan
AMERICANIMMIGRATIONANDETHNICITY
© David A.Gerber and Alan M.Kraut,2005.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-0-312-29349-9
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For the teachers who have inspired us,and the students
who have challenged us to inspire them
• • • • •
The editors gratefully acknowledge the
assistance of Jane C.Morris and the support of the
University at Buffalo (SUNY),the Baldy Center for Law and Social
Policy,and the College of Arts and Science of American University.
C O N T E N T S
List of Illustrations xi
Preface and Introduction 1
One A Comparison of Contemporary Immigration
and the New Immigration of the Late
Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 13
Introduction 13
Pyong Gap Min,“A Comparison of Post–1965
and Turn-of-the-Century Immigrants in
Intergenerational Mobility and Cultural Transmission” 15
Two Making a New Home in a New Land—Resettling
in the United States 32
Introduction 32
Virginia Yans-McLaughlin,“New Wine In Old
Bottles:Family,Community,and Immigration” 39
Mary Antin,The Promised Land 48
Barry Newman,“For Asians in the U.S.,
Mini-Chinatowns Sprout in Suburbia” 53
Three Transnational Ties:The Immigrants’Continuing
Relationships with Their Homelands 57
Introduction 57
Johanna Lessinger,“Investing or Going Home? A Transnational
Strategy among Indian Immigrants in the United States” 61
Lawrence J.McCaffrey,The Irish Diaspora in America 71
Silvio Torres-Saillant,“Nothing to Celebrate” 76
Four Ethnicity and Ethnic Identification 81
Introduction 81
Kathleen Neils Conzen,David A.Gerber,Ewa Morawska,
George E.Pozzetta,Rudolph J.Vecoli,“The Invention of
Ethnicity:A Perspective from the USA” 85
Claire S.Chow,“Ethnicity and Identity:What It Means
to Be Asian American” 99
viii Contents
Five Generations 105
Introduction 105
Victor Greene,“Old-time Folk Dancing and Music
among the Second Generation,1920–50” 111
Jane Addams,Twenty Years at Hull-House 119
Stephen Henderson,“Rakhi Dhanoa and Ranjeet Purewal” 124
Six Nativism, an American Perennial 126
Introduction 126
George J.Sánchez,“Face the Nation:Race,Immigration,
and the Rise of Nativism in Late-Twentieth-Century-America” 131
Edward Alworth Ross,“American Blood and Immigrant Blood” 146
Peter Brimelow, “Time to Rethink Immigration?” 153
Seven Becoming White:Irish Immigrants in the
Nineteenth Century 161
Introduction 161
David R.Roediger,“Irish-American Workers and
White Racial Formation in the Antebellum United States” 169
Niles National Register—August 6,1842—State of the Union,
“Riot in Philadelphia:Conflicts between Whites and Blacks” 177
Frederick Douglass,“Colored Americans,and Aliens—T.F.Meagher” 180
Stephan A.Douglas (Speech at Jonesboro,Illinois) 182
Eight Becoming Black:Contemporary Jamaicans
and West Indians in the 1990s 183
Introduction 183
Adam Nossiter,“A Jamaican Way Station in the Bronx:
Community of Striving Immigrants Fosters Middle-Class Values” 187
Milton Vickerman,Crosscurrents:West Indian
Immigrants and Race 191
Virginia Turner,“Jamaicans Outraged:New York Police
Targeting West Indians” 200
Nine What the Immigrants Make,America Takes:
Work in Immigrant Communities 202
Introduction 202
Mark Wyman,“Immigrants in an Industrializing Economy” 207
Louise C.Odencrantz,Italian Women in Industry:A Study
of Conditions in New York City 215
Laura Parker,“USA Just Wouldn’t Work Without Immigrant Labor;
Demand will Continue to Grow for High- and Low-skilled” 226
Contents ix
Ten Family,Domestic Economy,
and Women’s and Men’s Lives 231
Introduction 231
Nancy Foner,“Immigrant Women and
Work in New York City,Then and Now” 234
Margaret Byington,“Family Life of the Slavs” 244
Sonia Shah,“Three Hot Meals and a Full Day at Work:South
Asian Women’s Labor in the United States” 251
Eleven Language:Social and Political Perspectives 259
Introduction 259
Stanley Lieberson and Timothy J.Curry,“Language Shift in
the United States:Some Demographic Clues” 263
Richard Rodriguez,Hunger for Memory:The Education of
Richard Rodriguez—An Autobiography 270
Guillermo X.Garcia,“Border Battle Centers on
‘Spanish-only’Town” 275
Twelve The Physical Health and Mental
Well-Being of Immigrants 278
Introduction 278
Alan M.Kraut,“‘That Is the American Way.And in
America You Should Do as Americans Do’:Italian
Customs,American Standards” 282
John Foster Carr,Guide for the Immigrant Italian in the
United States of America 293
Sarah Kershaw,“Freud Meets Buddha:Therapy for Immigrants” 297
Thirteen Traditions and Invented Traditions 300
Introduction 300
Robert Anthony Orsi,“The Origins of the
Devotion to Mount Carmel in Italian Harlem” 305
A Reader from the Bronx,“Letter to the
Editor”(of the Jewish Daily Forward) 315
Bruce Frankel,“Savannah Going All-out Irish:Just 1% Irish,but
City Boasts Gigantic Fest” 317
Fourteen Ethnicity and American Popular Culture 319
Introduction 319
Donna R.Gabaccia,“The Big Business of Eating” 325
Emily Wax,“World’s Fare:Schools Offer Ethnic Dishes
to Entice their Increasingly Diverse Students” 337
Index 340
