If your ancestors came to the US in the late 1800s or early 1900s (or if you've talked to someone whose ancestors came then), you probably think of them this way: they came to the US with nothing but the clothes on their backs, worked hard in low-paying jobs, learned English, moved up the income ladder, and made sure their children could do just as well in life as anyone else's children.
But data from UCLA and Stanford researchers — with a big assist from Ancestry.com — shows the reality that many immigrants experienced might have been much more complicated, and much less in line with the American dream.
src: http://web.stanford.edu/~ranabr/ABE_assimilation.pdf
src: http://www.vox.com/2015/4/20/8445187/immigrants-history-poor
h/t: Carlos Dnager
the second link doesn't seem to work – is it me or the link? Thanks
+Paul Spoerry you might want to edit your post so that h/t ain't part of the link…
+Tessa Keough Take anything after "poor" away and you are fine…
Thanks +Hysky Juhana I tried two "removals" but wasn't there yet. Much appreciated.
Thanks +Hysky Juhana… fixed!
My ancestors DID come to the US in the mid-1800s from Ireland, Germany, Austria and French Canada, and my family tells me they DID start at the low end of the spectrum. Some worked in coal mines in W.Virginia. One was a railroad brakeman. The short answer is, some did follow the expected path, and some didn't.
Hey +Bob Gaynor maybe you should actually read the linked article before commenting.
"The data suggests that there have always been two different types of immigrants: immigrants who came to the US with the skills to go into high-paying occupations, and immigrants who came from backgrounds that didn't give them those skills. And those distinctions don't appear to disappear among children born to immigrant parents (though they could disappear in future generations).
On one level, this is an extremely depressing finding. The US has been extremely good at integrating immigrants in some respects, like giving them the chance to learn English. But it appears it was never as good at economic assimilation as the myth of immigrants pulling themselves up by their bootstraps implies.
On the other hand, the data is just another sign that today's immigrants — who overwhelmingly are in lower-paying occupations — aren't less hardworking or less willing to assimilate than the immigrants of a hundred or more years ago. Many of them just haven't been given the tools to succeed."
+Paul Spoerry Paul:
I was responding to the part that said, "The data suggests that there have always been two different types of immigrants: immigrants who came to the US with the skills to go into high-paying occupations, and immigrants who came from backgrounds that didn't give them those skills. And those distinctions don't appear to disappear among children born to immigrant parents." It sounded like the point they were trying to make was that immigrants were either in a privileged class or an un-privileged class, and that status would follow them. My family is a counter- example, with several second-generation children going to college. My goal was to say that the headline "Americans think immigrants used to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. That’s wrong." might have been intended as click-bait, but many families, including mine, have seen a different experience.
There will always be edge cases in any scenario +Bob Gaynor but the data presented here shows that the status would follow them, and in many cases their children as well. "Not only did less-educated immigrants from less-developed countries work in low-paying occupations when they got to the US, but their children also were likely to work in jobs that paid less than the average for natives. "
To European immigrants, comming to America with nothing (since that was about the only way they were going to get here) and making something of and for yourself (free from the restrictions that kept them in their socioeconomic pigonholes in Europe) was the American Dream.
Yes they carved out enclaves that came to resemble their old home (complete with food and customs and even still speaking their native language), but they realized to truly achieve their piece of the American dream, they needed to be as American as the people already here, when outside their enclaves (that included learning the language spoken by the country).
They didn't expect America to change for them, they changed to fit America, and they didn't wait around for America to cater to them, they learned that the road to prosperity was to do for themselves. That has become tuckus-backwards today.
I think the data +West Kagle would be in contrast to that as it states, "the data is just another sign that today's immigrants — who overwhelmingly are in lower-paying occupations — aren't less hardworking or less willing to assimilate than the immigrants of a hundred or more years ago."
+Paul Spoerry
But my experience has show me that while they are just as hard working, they want to 'teraform' the country to what they came from, instead of changing to fit the country they chose to come to. Sometimes I run into places where I can't read the traffic signs because they are only in spanish.
The fact that they are hard working is the best quality they have. I live across the street from a house where a spanish family lives. They have converted the family room into a flop house where there are wall to wall bed rolls. Most days there are 8 diffrent cars parked in front of their house (as well as the surrounding houses). The only reason I don't call the athurities on them is that everyday all of them get up and go to a job, and they are well mannered folks. They aren't causing harm or trouble so why give them trouble.
They are as hard working the European immigrants of long ago. However, even the good neighbors I have, don't speak the language (only the home owner).