not always welcome report

7/29/2019 Not Always Welcome Report.

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NOT ALWAYS WELCOME

Introduction:

In the late 1840s, people all over the world were talking about the Gold

Mountain in California. Supposedly, fortunes could be made by anyone who seized the

opportunity. Within weeks, dreamers from all over the globe came pouring into San

Franciscos ports, hoping to get their hands on some of that precious mineral. People fro

the Far East decided to make the long voyage. They were not immune to the gold fever.

People were talking about a mountain of gold across the ocean; therefore thousands upo

thousands of people (mostly men) arrived in San Francisco in 1849. By 1851, 25,000

Chinese immigrants had left their homes and moved to California, a land some came tocall gam saan, or "Gold Mountain". (1)

Throughout history, there have been stories of Chinese people migrating to different

countries. What they all had in common was the fact that wherever they went, they alway

thrived in whatever it was they did. In The United States, however, things would turn out

different at first.

Once in California, immigrants found out that the gold mountain was just an illusion.

Mining was extremely hard and dangerous work, and the gold mines were run by hostile

locals. Language was a barrier. Work could be scarce, and new comers oftentimes found

hard to earn enough to eat, let alone to become rich. What was worse, they soon realized

that they had been cut off from their families. They didnt have enough money to pay for

their families to make the trip, and they couldnt make the trip back themselves. The

dream of gold went away, and these men were now stuck in a strange new land far away

from home. It was a land that did not welcome them, a land that afforded them few mean

of survival, and a land in which they were very much alone.

The Irish also suffered unspeakable treatment, tribulation and persecution from peoplealready living in The United States. The Irish, however, overcame those adversities with

hard work, unity and perseverance. Just as the Chinese had began the Transamerican

railroad system from the West, so too the Irish had began working off from the East Coas

Despite being of European descent, the Irish were not accepted as equals by the rest of th

Caucasian community. Adjectives used to describe them often included: Poor,

Uneducated, stupid, unreliable, dirty, drunk; among other less than flattering names.


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THE CHINESE

In the middle of the nineteenth century China was in trouble. They were going through

some hard times, therefore many of them decided to leave china and go to the UnitedStates in order to seek a better life.

How did they reach the United States? They boarded ships headed towards Mexico wher

they worked for a short period of time while they got enough money to continue on their

trip. Other countries where they stayed for some time where: Cuba, Puerto Rico and The

Dominican Republic, these countries served them as a steppingstone to reach the United

States.

Chinese immigrants and other immigrant groups arrived to the United States at the sametime when the gold rush started. At the beginning the overwhelming majority of

immigrants from Chinese descent were males. The ration was over 10 men to 1 woman.

The Chinese, just like everybody else, had to suffer a lot of abuse, prejudice and racism

from the people already living in the United States.

One of the most important ethnic groups to arrive in the United States was in fact the

Chinese. They were known for their hard work, perseverance, and willingness to work

under a lot of stress and extremely dangerous conditions. The Chinese worked on differe

jobs, but they stood out in mining, the construction of the transcontinental railroad, andlaundry. For their work, they received a much lower salary than their white counterparts

Ironically, white people resented this behavior, arguing that this would take away jobs

from white folks.


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The Irish

Besides the Chinese, the Irish were another group which suffered discrimination in theUnited States. The Irish arrived in the United States between 1846 to 1851, they were

looking for a place that offered them opportunities and therefore a better life; but, whatwas the main reason they left Ireland?

The Irish land system forced the farmers to rent the lands they lived and worked to well-landowners from England, because Ireland was part from the United Kingdom back thenThey grew potatoes, that were the main source of earnings for Irish; but in 1845 a sort offungus spoilt the crop.

Potatoes rotted in the fields and people didnt get profits from the crop. This caused afamine throughout the whole country, killing around 2.5 million people. They were

starving and didnt have any money for paying the rent of the land, so a large number ofpeople decided to emigrate to the U.S..(3).

It was a long voyage, it took them 2 or 3 months to reach the American continent. Durintheir journey Irish people had to face hardships before getting to the States. They weretravelling under intolerable conditions, there wasnt enough room for all the people insidthe ships, the food wasnt enough to feed all of them, and it wasnt well cooked; clear watalso wasnt enough. When the Irish landed in America they were sick and weak.

They used to live in crowded rooms, a whole family to one single room. They settled theirhomes near the ports where they landed, because they didnt have money to look for a

better place to live in, it was also an unknown place for them. This caused that jobopportunities were not enough for Irish, because they all were in the same place.

Men were hired for demanding and dangerous duties. They worked building canals,railroads, streets, and houses. These were unskilled jobs so their wages were under 75cents per day; they worked 10 -12 hours a day. Other men were hired as coalminers.

Women didnt do much better than men. There were only two types of jobs for them:domestic servant or factory worker. These jobs like all jobs had their pros and cons. Beina domestic servant was secure but it was too demanding. On the other hand working in afactory was a dangerous, dirty and a low paying job. (4)

Americans created stereotypes about Irish Americans. They considered them as dirty,stupid and lazy and made fun of them. Even the newspaper cartoonists often drewIrishmen like apes with huge foreheads and prominent jaws. Newspapers also referred toIrishmen using the demeaning term of Paddy.

Americans blamed the Irish for creating economic problems, they thought that they weretaking away their jobs, and also that the taxes would increase because of the expenses thathe government would spend in immigrants. (5)


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Conclusion:

In the past, just as it is today, immigrants to The United

States overcame many hurdles in order to reach the much desiredAmerican Dream. In trying to reach that goal, many people died,

others were able to obtain it. At the end of the day, this research has

showed us that.

Bibliography:

1.http://www.history.com/topics/transcontinental-railroad/videos#transcontinental-

railroad

2.http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/02/12/when-the-irish-

became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us/

3- When the Irish became white: immigrants in mid-19th century US | GenerationEmigration

www.irishtimes.com

4.http://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmIrish Immigrants in America during the 19th Century

www.kinsella.org

5.http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/omara-alwala/irishkennedys.htmlhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/omara-alwala/irishkennedys.htmlxroads.virginia.edu
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Ftranscontinental-railroad%2Fvideos%23transcontinental-railroad&h=TAQHUBZxthttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Ftranscontinental-railroad%2Fvideos%23transcontinental-railroad&h=TAQHUBZxthttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Ftranscontinental-railroad%2Fvideos%23transcontinental-railroad&h=TAQHUBZxthttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Ftranscontinental-railroad%2Fvideos%23transcontinental-railroad&h=TAQHUBZxthttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fblogs%2Fgenerationemigration%2F2013%2F02%2F12%2Fwhen-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us%2F&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fblogs%2Fgenerationemigration%2F2013%2F02%2F12%2Fwhen-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us%2F&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fblogs%2Fgenerationemigration%2F2013%2F02%2F12%2Fwhen-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us%2F&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fblogs%2Fgenerationemigration%2F2013%2F02%2F12%2Fwhen-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us%2F&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/02/12/when-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us/http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/02/12/when-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us/http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/02/12/when-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us/http://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmhttp://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmhttp://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmhttp://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmhttp://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmhttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fxroads.virginia.edu%2F~ug03%2Fomara-alwala%2Firishkennedys.html&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fxroads.virginia.edu%2F~ug03%2Fomara-alwala%2Firishkennedys.html&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fxroads.virginia.edu%2F~ug03%2Fomara-alwala%2Firishkennedys.html&h=GAQEEohBohttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/omara-alwala/irishkennedys.htmlhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/omara-alwala/irishkennedys.htmlhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/omara-alwala/irishkennedys.htmlhttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fxroads.virginia.edu%2F~ug03%2Fomara-alwala%2Firishkennedys.html&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmhttp://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htmhttp://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/02/12/when-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us/http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/02/12/when-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us/http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/02/12/when-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us/http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fblogs%2Fgenerationemigration%2F2013%2F02%2F12%2Fwhen-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us%2F&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fblogs%2Fgenerationemigration%2F2013%2F02%2F12%2Fwhen-the-irish-became-white-immigrants-in-mid-19th-century-us%2F&h=GAQEEohBohttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Ftranscontinental-railroad%2Fvideos%23transcontinental-railroad&h=TAQHUBZxthttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Ftranscontinental-railroad%2Fvideos%23transcontinental-railroad&h=TAQHUBZxt

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