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Italian Americans: In the 1880’s, Italian immigrants numbered 300,000; in the 1890’s - 600,000; in the decade after that, more than 2 million. A substantial number of southern Italian immigrants had only worked as farmers, and were thus qualified only for unskilled, and more dangerous, urban labor - digging canals, laying paving and gas lines, building bridges, and tunneling out the New York subway system. Some members of the Mafia also immigrated to the U.S. They soon became entrenched in American organized crime, especially in the 1920’s during Prohibition, and contributed a lot to the formation of the American Mafia. After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 which ended most bootlegging, the American Mafia moved into other areas, such as gambling, labor racketeering, prostitution, and, in recent years, - narcotics. Links with the Italian Mafia were also maintained. Since the 1950’s, Italian Americans have served in several important political positions. John Pastore was voted the first governor of Italian decent in 1946 and later went on to serve as Senator. In 1984, Geraldine Ferrara became the first women in the U.S. to be nominated as vice presidential candidate. The first Italian American to serve in a presidential cabinet was Anthony Calabrezze in 1962. Italian Americans were able to move into a wider range of careers, and became business owners and managers in greater numbers. Works by Italian-American authors began appearing in bookstores, and the Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso became a best-selling singer among Italians and non-Italians alike. With the explosion of mass media after the war, every aspect of show business, politics, science, and art seemed to have at least one prominent Italian American in its vanguard. Marlon Brando became the face of a new school of naturalistic acting. Rocky Marcianorevolutionized the sport of boxing. Enrico Fermi continued his Nobel Prize-winning work on the mysteries of the atom, Joe DiMaggio led the New York Yankees to nine World Series championships, and Frank Sinatra was the most popular entertainer in the U.S. Slavic and Jewish Americans: In the 1880’s, the Russian countryside was strained by severe land shortages. Facing poverty and starvation, farmers and peasants from across the Empire sought a brighter future overseas, and millions set sail for the U.S. Over 200,000 Russians entered America between 1881 and 1890, and over 1.5 million between 1901 and 1910. More than 2 million fled the country after the October revolution. These new Russian immigrants had mostly been prominent citizens of the Empire — aristocrats, professionals, and former imperial officials. The revolution gave America Vladimir Nabokov, the author of “Lolita”, who helped create a “revolution” of his own in the publishing world. Besides, Belarus is to be thanked for Igor Sikorsky and his helicopters and Russia for Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). To the above mentioned names we can also add the “Fathers of American Television” – David Sarnoff (1891-1971), born in Minsk, Belarus; and Vladimir Zworykin fromRussia. Or the “Father of Wonder Drugs” Selman Abraham Walksman (born in Russia), who earned his title as well as the 1952 Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of the antibiotic called streptomycin, the first drug successful in treating tuberculosis. In the 1880’s, the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe were overwhelmed by a wave of state-sponsored murder and destruction known as pogroms. Hundreds of thousands of Yiddish speakers settled into the U.S. and realized the extent of their linguistic freedom. The turn of the 20th century saw an explosion of new literary ventures in Yiddish. Sholem Aleichem, I.L. Peretz, and Mendele Mocher Sforim created a new, distinctively American Yiddish literature. Yiddish theater had long survived underground in Europe, but it burst into public view in the U.S.A. Jewish immigrants, including Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, the Warner brothers, and William Fox, soon became involved in movie production as well as distribution and went on to found several of the major Hollywood studios. The research of scientists such as Jonas Salk and J. Robert Oppenheimer dramatically reshaped the postwar world. The musicians Jascha Heifetz and Arthur Rubinstein, along with the pianist Vladimir Horowitz and the conductor Leonard Bernstein, brought classical music to new audiences. The brothers George and Ira Gershwin were bestselling song writers, and Henry and Joseph Mankiewicz became Oscar-winning screenwriters. Among the latest most significant immigrant contributions known to every Internet-user is the creation of the world famous web-search page – Google Inc. The Father of Google is Sergei Brin, who with his family was among the first to leave the USSR in the 1970’s, and who today - already an American citizen - is a computer genius and a multi-millionaire. The Jews gave America some of its most outstanding scientific and medical minds. And we all know Albert Einstein - “Father of Atomic Age” and Abraham Flexner - “Father of Modern Medical School.” Chinese Americans: The Chinese experience in America began with the dreams of wealth. By 1851, 25,000 Chinese immigrants had left their homes and moved to California, a land some came to call gam saan, or "Gold Mountain". But in California they found that the gold mountain was an illusion. They soon discovered that they were cut off from their families and with no source of money. In the middle of the 19th century, the expanding U.S. railroad companies gave a chance for Chinese laborers to enter the workforce. Chinese immigrants also found work in a variety of industries, from making shoes and sewing clothes to rolling cigars. They often created opportunities for themselves and launched new businesses. Many of the shops, restaurants, and laundries in the growing mining towns of California were operated by Chinese immigrants. At the same time the Chinese endured an epidemic of violent racist attacks. They were forced out of business, run out of town, beaten, tortured, lynched, and massacred. In response to hard times and legal exclusion, Chinese immigrants began to build communities of their own Chinatowns, which soon became a source of fascination to many tourists and non-Chinese Americans. Chinese immigrants and their descendants have had an increasingly great impact on the U.S. culture. From the film director Ang Lee and the novels of Amy Tan to the architecture of I.M. Pei and the hip-hop turntable skills of Kid Koala. Among the celebrities are Bruce Lee – the star of martial arts movies, Chang & Eng – the well-known Siamese twins. Japanese Americans: As far as Japanese immigration goes, it is not numerous. Japanese two most popular destinations were the archipelago of Hawaii and America’s Pacific coast. Between 1886 and 1911, more than 400,000 men and women left Japan for the U.S. In those days, the Japanese were often portrayed as the enemies of the American worker, as a menace to American womanhood, and as corrupting agents in American society. The Immigration Act of 1924 imposed severe restrictions on all immigration from non-European countries, and effectively ended Japanese immigration. Mexican Americans: Millions of poor Mexicans have entered the country in recent years, along with more than 1 million Puerto Ricans. Throughout the history besides giving the U.S. their land, the Mexicans contributed much to the culture of America. They showed gold-hungry Californians how to pan for gold, and introduced the technique of using mercury to separate silver from worthless ores. They gave Americans poinsettias, the Mexican hat dance, Mexican jumping beans, tacos, tortillas and all the fiery hot food. Today, Mexican immigrants and their descendants occupy a significant place in American cultural life than ever before. Mexican Americans often serve as high government officials, as well as local mayors, sheriffs, and school board members. The Mexicans have managed to distinguish themselves as actors (Anthony Quinn, Jennifer Lopez), musicians (Trini Lopez, Joan Baez), dancers-choreographers (Jose Limon), judges (Harold Medina), politicians (Joseph Montoya) and sportsmen (Jip Plunkett, Lee Trevino). They’ve joined the ranks of successful businessmen and millionaires, too, despite the stereotyped image of a race of lazy banditos and revolutionaries. Nowadays, 46.9 million Americans of Hispanic descent are identified as sharing a distinct “ethnicity” by the Census Bureau; 64% of them are of Mexican descent. Cuban Americans: After Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, the U.S. accepted 700,000 Cuban refugees. Many of the first Cubans to arrive were from wealthy families and were well educated. Another group of Cuban immigrants, Marielitos that arrived later in 1980 were mostly unskilled workers, criminals, and mentally ill people. Soon after 1965, the U.S. first began to witness the transformation from predominantly European immigration to Latin American and Asian inflows that continue to characterize today’s immigration patterns. The top 12 migrant-sending countries in 2009, by country of birth, were Mexico (173,753), People's Republic of China (87,345), Philippines (74,607), India (61,369), Cuba (45,614), Colombia (43,151), Dominican Republic (38,069), El Salvador (31,783), Vietnam (30,695), Jamaica (24,976), South Korea (24,386), Guatemala (24,146), other countries - 606,370. Muslim immigration to the U.S. is rising. And in 2005 alone, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent U.S. residents — nearly 96,000 — than in any year in the previous two decades. To sum up, today, two challenges are seen on the U.S. immigration horizon:
Moreover, the administration and some members of the Congress have become increasingly concerned about the growing undocumented immigrant population, which is estimated to be between 9 and 12 million. However, illegal immigrants play an important and useful role in the U.S. economy, particularly in the agricultural and construction sectors, which rely heavily upon low-cost labor to keep consumer prices low and remain competitive in global markets. In 2012, President Obama proposed an amendment to the immigration law giving a chance for many illegal immigrants and their children born and educated in the U.S. to a get the American citizenship. SUMMARY
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
LECTURES 8 THE UNITED STATES CULTURE AND AMERICAN IDENTITY The lecture will define American culture and describe its uniqueness as well as:
Key Words and Proper Names: allegiance, assimilation, conscience, commitment, contentment, cultural imperialism, cultural pattern, determination, dissemination, exhibit ethnocentric or insular outlooks, globalization, harmonious, homogenous, individualism, liberty, equality and fraternity, loyalty, melting pot, multiculturalism, person’s basic inalienable rights, pluralism, prosperity, psychology of abundance, rags-to-riches stories, rugged individualism, sacred, “salad bowl,” self-identity, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, trend setter, tolerance, uniform, unify, values and belief system; virtues of thrift, hard work, and faith in the free enterprise system; American Dream, Americanization, hyphenated Americans, Rotarian. The U.S. does not have a homogenous population compared with many Old World nations. American culture dates back to the first permanent English settlement Jamestown of 1607; and since then American history has been regarded as a record of progress and achievement: from wilderness to jet planes to moon rovers. America’s formative years were in the late 18th century. The words from the Declaration of Independence about securing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; French revolution’s ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity; and the national motto of E pluribus Unum (“From many, one”) found their reflection in what is now known as American culture. To define American culture as a common set of customs, traditions, behavior and ways of life, e.g. French culture or German culture, is difficult. It possesses an unusual mixture of patterns and forms. Its development has been marked by a tension between two strong sources of inspiration: European ideals, especially British; and domestic originality. American cultureis rich, complex, and unique. It is largely based on Western culture and English culture in particular, with influences from the Native American peoples and Africans brought to the U.S. as slaves, and to a lesser extent influences from other more recent immigrants from Asia and elsewhere; immigrants many of whom had fled persecution or oppression in their home countries, and were seeking freedom (including religious freedom) and economic opportunity, leading them to reject totalitarian practices. At first, during the 19th century American culture was a unique American voice. Later American cultural self-identity became more complex and more diverse as immigrants streamed into the country. American writers of German, Irish, Jewish, and Scandinavian ancestry began to find their audience. Many of these writers focused on the 19th- 20th century city life and themes such as poverty, efforts to assimilate into the U.S., and family life in a new country. These ethnically diverse writers included Theodore Dreiser, of German ancestry; Sholem Aleichem, a Jewish writer; and Eugene O'Neill and James Farrell, of Irish background. Thus, European influence changed the core of American experienceby incorporating various immigrant origins into its cultural vision. In popular music too, the songs of many nations became American songs. In the 1920’s, the blues and jazz began to dominate the rhythms of American popular music. Black musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, became the instruments of a classic American sound. White composers such as George Gershwin and performers such as Bix Beiderbecke incorporated jazz rhythms into their music, while instrumentalists such as Benny Goodman adopted jazz improvisational style to forge a racially blended American form called swing music. |