Blog #3

To be honest, starting this blog was more difficult for me than the rest. I am not too sure as to why but, what ever the reason may be, I knew I at least had a background to one of the communities that immigrated into America. I knew that this background could help me understand as to what my own relatives had experienced and definitely could teach me a lot more than I already knew. Over the past week, we have looked at numerous groups from the Irish to the Japanese and as we read and studied each one of these groups, I realized that regardless of what their background was, they all had one common goal to settle here. America provided a sense of starting over and making money and with issues going on within each one of these communities regarding their homelands, coming to America gave them hope. But, with all these different cultures coming together, it was only a matter of time before things in America would suddenly turn to the worst.

The Jewish Immigrants in Russia definitely found themselves in a situation none wanted to be a part of. With constant watch over their beliefs and ways of living, many Jewish immigrants knew that America was the answer to get away from all of this. They knew that it would be a place where they can raise their families in success and peace and so the urge to move there only grew. Packing together on boats way too crowded for their liking, the Jewish immigrants made their journey over to the “free land” with many dreams. Once arriving, many were often told to “Americanize” their last names and to me, this sounded like the first sign to Jewish immigrants how hard it would be to actually fit into this society. If they had to change their last name, the name that ties them to their family, shouldn’t the immigrants take this as a sign that assimilation might be within the question? In fact, I am Jewish and I remember when I was little that my father told me on his side of the family that once they had arrived at Ellis Island, they too were told to change their last name. Sadly, I can not remember exactly what our full name was but in the end they ended “feld” which then created our current named “Weisfeld”. Jewish immigrants moved to the east side of New York City where they lived in tenants created their own sense of community. Many were literate which also helped them succeeded when it came to colleges in their future while others found themselves working horrible conditions as garment workers. These Jewish immigrants did what they could to succeeded in America’s society even by changing their clothing, names and ways of living. Even despite the fact that many colleges put a cap on how many Jewish individuals were able to attend their schools, these immigrants bonded together in their very cultured community and helped bring them to where they are today.

The Mexican immigrants, just like the Jews, found their homeland threatened with economic and political hardships. In fact, one main reason as to why they left was because of the Mexican Revolution that was pushing many of these Mexican immigrants over the border. Many of these immigrants found themselves working in agriculture, garment and construction work with harsh conditions and low wages. It was only a matter of time before many of these immigrants began to form strikes to fight for higher pages. Similar to the Jewish women immigrants who had started their own strike, one can see how these two communities already are beginning to have many things in common. Mexican immigrants wanted to feel a sense of fitting into their new society so many often sent their children to schools in hope that they would be educated like many of the whites. Sadly, this did not go as plan. For Mexican immigrants it was harder to assimilate themselves into American society because many of the white individuals did not want them to. In fact, these schools were segregated and many Mexicans were taught only to be obedient workers. I still find it odd that despite the fact that certain communities did not want to assimilate into American society were forced to while one that was trying their best to change was being forced not to? Confusing but, it is what happened. And so the Mexican immigrants decided to create a sense of community that they can be a part of. Having their culture mixed into it, these Mexican immigrants created their barrios and transformed into a Mexican-American society. Like the community the Jewish immigrants created, this often gave a sense of belonging to these immigrants and helped their fellow family and friends in trying to succeeded in America.

Overall, these two communities share many differences and similarities. Both came from different countries but, with the same sense of wanting to leave them. The Jewish and Mexican immigrants found that their homeland was being threatened within economic and political ways. Wanting to free themselves from this, they packed their belongings and moved to the land where they believed they could start over and have great success. These communities settled in different areas but still had the same idea when it came to keeping their culture. They wanted something that would help keep them together and still incorporate the culture they had left behind. The two communities worked similar jobs but, the Mexicans found themselves more wanted in the agriculture rather than in the factories similar to the Jewish immigrants. Both groups had low wages which caused strikes to occur which showed a sense of how strong their communities were. Lastly, the Jewish immigrants were more educated than the Mexicans which caused many of them to go to future colleges while the Mexicans attempted to send their kids to local schools. Sadly, as mentioned earlier, the white citizens did their best to keep these Mexican children only educated about being an obedient worker. In the end, despite their hard times and differences, these two communities are very similar and have proved to American society how strong they can be. By incorporating their cultures into our daily lives, many individuals were able to experience a culture they never imagined they would. It seems as though we are slowly beginning to become the true "Melting Pot" as we claim to be but, it is definitely not easy. It will still take some time but in the end, I feel that the Jewish and Mexican immigrants have come a long way from the hardships in their homelands and have proved to American society that they can do this and be successful at the same time.