The Interesting Narrative by Equiano is a breathtaking autobiography of African colonized man who refused to put up with the fate of the slave and decided to become the master of his own life. The story begins with the depiction of Equiano’s country and its fascinating customs and traditions. The boy was absolutely unaware of other countries and people who had another colour of skin. and just enjoyed every moment of his carefree childhood. One day, however, completely changed his whole life story. He and his little sister became the victims of the meticulously planned kidnapping. Equiano was then sold to traders and experienced savage conditions of enslavement. The character was sent to the West India, there on the ship slaves were suffering unendurable pain and even died from starvation. Equiano though, did not gave up and was gradually carving his way to obtaining the desired freedom.
The similar is the story of Mariel Boat people. Mariel boatlift was a large emigration of Cuban refugees to the United States of America. Most of them were released from Cuban jails and asylums. There existed different reasons of such mass migration. One of them was that Cuban president Fidel Castro wanted to get rid of rebels and make those who did not support the revolution to be the dreg of society. The American authority did not at first treat those people kindly. Every Mariel refugee could be arrested for the unlimited period for even trivial crime in case they did not have American citizenship. However, some years later the Supreme Court admitted that such detention was illegal and made the first steps to the improvement of the long-drawn inimical relationships. Mariel Cubans really appreciated this action as an exceedingly significant and emotional event in their immigration history.
So, these two readings showed how difficult and thorny was the path for the American immigrants. They had to overcome complicated trials and struggle for their right to be accepted by the society. These stories emphasized the importance of people’s sympathy towards each other and the ability to respect others despite their nationality or colour of skin.
American Theodore Roosevelt was believed to be an outspoken anti-hyphenate. In his speech to Irish Catholic Knights of Columbus on Columbus Day he suggested to Americanize foreign population underlining Americanism as a matter of the spirit and of the soul. The president also claimed that there was no room in that country for hyphenated Americanism. Naturalized Americans though, were to be accepted in the society. The president was very prejudiced against hyphenated Americans and strongly refused to take them as true Americans. Furthermore, Colonel asserted that allowing America to combine various nationalities will definitely bring this nation to destruction. All those French-Americans or German-Americans will always maintain their separate nationalities. That’s why there would never exist a hyphenated American worthy of notice. If you are looking for a good American, you should search only an American and nothing else.
Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America , on the contrary, was an attempts to encourage German immigration to the U. S. Prussian lawyer, Gottfried Duden visited St. Louis, Missouri to find the land lots for German settlement and all the pros and cons of living in this country. While he was discovering its lands, reading different literature and writing letters, the wage labourer Americans were running his farm. His experiment was intended to persuade Germans to immigrate to Missouri. Duden minutely depicted different advantages of moving to the state. The book even contained some tips of how to begin a successful life in the United States. The lawyer knew that Germans were suffering from high taxes, shortage of available land and corrupt ruler (Burnett 3). That’s why his primary aim was to extol Missouri’s ample spaces to his fellow countrymen.
In both of these readings there is a strong argument concerning the discussed question. The speakers presented very strong evidences and had expressed their views so that the audience properly reacted to it. Though the topic of each reading was completely contrary, they both contained the same structure and the same aim to influence the public.
The Immigration Reform of 2007and Immigration Restriction League was introduced to disable immigrants. The first one was considered to be a compromise of granting citizenship for undocumented immigrants and extending border pressure such as enlarging the amount of border patrol agents. The visa, however, was only given for highly qualified workers (Foner 7). This reform was criticized by two sides of the immigration debate. Conservatives, for example, stated that it would give immigrants a chance to disdain United States’ laws . Though the bill was presented in the United States Senate, it was never polled. The second was introduced because of unsatisfactory social and economic conditions of immigrants. In general the League was emphasizing the necessary terms for living in the U. S. and considerably derogated the rights of immigrants. It also tried to prove that low intelligence, weak body and lack of energy of the majority of aliens would have the same negative result. Finally, the League was sure that if such immigrants were useless in their own countries, they would never change their inborn vocation simply moving to other locations.
So, two documents, in fact did not have any significant importance. They both were not aimed at improving immigrant’s living conditions but, on the contrary, were attempting to dishonour them as less intelligent, skilled and gifted nation.
Though the U. S. announced that it had always taken care of the world’s victims of oppression and poverty, in its early colonial period there existed some sort of leaning against Catholics. A huge wave of anti-immigrant sentiment appeared after the immigration of Irish Catholics. The country was extremely afraid of the negative influence of “foreigners” on society, especially from Roman Catholics whose population, however, proceeded to increase in spite of such enemy environment (Haynes 2). This anti-Catholic feeling even provoked a national nativist movement. Its representatives believed that Catholic leaders in Rome were disposed to ruin freedom of religion in the country and began to take some measures against them. So, immigration together with nativism played a significant role in each period of U.S. history.
Comparing Anti-Catholic Bias and the Mariel boatlift one can find that both of these readings were showing what fate waited for aliens in other countries and how immigrants had to oppose unfair treatment and laws of natives. They teach people not to despise other races and help them create new home in foreign countries. All human beings are equal so nobody should exalt himself over others.
America in the late 1800s seemed to be the land of new hopes and better fate. People from all over the world deserted their sweat homes to find happiness in its spacious expanses. Being dissatisfied by lack of land and job as well as high taxes, many were attracted by its wide economic opportunities.
The immigration because of the poor is definitely the most traumatizing event, especially the one that separates the members of the family. I want to present you the life path of one of the immigrant families from Honduras that illustrates how hopes and reality of getting to America can differ. Lourdes Pineda was a single mother who had to earn money to feed her 5-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl. The woman wished her children were sent to school and could never feel the hunger.
It was impossible to get a living in her own country, so she dared to immigrate to the United States. With incredible pain in heart Lourdes deserted her children and went to work in America as a nanny. The woman was expecting it to be just a short journey that would end as soon as she earned enough money to keep her family but in fact it completely changed her whole life.
Her daughter was going to stay with the woman’s maternal grandmother but her son, Enrique was passing from one relative’s care to another. The boy could not stop thinking that he was the main reason of the mother’s departure, so at the age of 16 he finally set off to America. Enrique was dreaming of happy family reunion and merry life in the land of realized desires (Nazario 2). However, the country did not justify his expectations. Only after eight attempts he managed to get to the United States.
A few years later his girlfriend Maria and daughter Jasmín joined him. It seemed that America at last welcomed poor immigrants but not for long. The so-called Secure Communities program was introduced and thousands of people were unwillingly deported. Police were looking for any unlawful migrants and took them to federal immigration authorities. One day Enrique was arrested for driving without a license and not paying a ticket for it. The time his wife was pregnant with their second child, the immigration authorities deported him. Only through the video screen Enrique could first see his son but had never been able to lull him.
The life story of Enrique, however, was destined to have a happy end. Owing to two lawyers, his case was won and the man got a visa to stay in the United States legally. The family conquered his piece of happiness in the land of hopes and expectations but what painful sufferings was e price for it.
Taking into consideration the other immigrant stories, everybody can conclude how a painful the life path could be. Marial Boat People situation, for example, proves that seeking for a refuge in America could even be the twenty-five years journey. The U. S. was not friendly towards its immigrants throughout the whole history. Different Immigration Reforms, Anti-Catholic and Anti-Immigrant Bias and Immigration Restriction League demonstrated that the country did not want to take care of its immigrants. American president Theodore Roosevelt even believed that America was only for Americans and there could not be any place for other nationalities as well as hyphenated Americans. It took many years of restrictions and distress before the U. S. finally changed its opinions and began to treat with respect its diverse population. It gave chance to all disillusioned people to find better fate and helped them to rise to their feet.
So, American Immigration is a quite significant topic in the entire world history. It connects the stories of great amount of people who were not afraid to search an equal place among other Americans and win their support and understanding. So, we should not be indifferent to the complicated immigration history but make attempts to comprehend it and respect all the evident testimonies.
References
Burnett, Robyn and Ken Luebbering (1996). German Settlement in Missouri: New Land, Old Ways. University of Missouri Press, 6-7.
Equiano, Olaudah. (1995). The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. Ed. Vincent Carretta. New York: Penguin, 64 (9), 83-90.
Foner, Eric, and John Garrity (1991) . Reader’s Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin, 149–158.
Haynes, Charles P (1990). Religion in American History: What to Teach and How. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 37(3), 110–118.
Sonia Nazario. The Heartache of an Immigrant Family. The New York Times. Opinion
