The challenge of immigrant life in America

In the late 1800s America had an influx of immigrants from all over Europe, and parts of Asia in search of a life of prosperity and wealth that they could not obtain in their home country.

These immigrants leaving the old country seeking a better life were met with the harsh reality of poverty and discrimination in America. Working-class immigrants had to struggle to obtain any type of income and had to endure the most deplorable living and social conditions due to their need for income.

The tales of milk and honey flowing in America were not the case for the immigrant population. Immigrants were met with discrimination and social prejudice due to their ability to compete for wages and make the job market more competitive for white Americans who did not want the immigrant influx. The romanticize notions of the bountiful fruit within the borders of America was a disheartening and harsh reality filled with adequate wages and substandard living conditions which left immigrants wondering if the trek to America was worth all the trouble, or should they go back to their home country and work harder for the same wages.

The initial expectations of immigrants heading to America was very positive and uplifting. They had romanticized notions that America would be filled with an enormous amount of employment and wealth that the immigrants not only would be able to maintain a good life in America, but they were also would be able to send money back home to improve living conditions for their family.

For many immigrants, this was a new adventure in their lives to seek wealth and fortune, but at the same time, many immigrants felt afraid of the notion of transitioning to a new land and culture and exposing themselves to new life experiences which they've never seen before. Unfortunately for immigrants their misconceptions of the what American job market had in store for them would become a culture shock of sorts because as they soon found out not everything was as they thought in the "country of wizards", as foreigners called Americans for their ability to gain immense wealth, and the ability to maintain an extravagant culture and lifestyle.

For many immigrants to move to America was not an entrepreneurial ordeal. Many immigrants had to settle for working-class positions, taking positions on the bottom level of a given industry.


For example, immigrants from China had to settle for employment as laundry man or ironworkers on the railroad, because for a Chinese immigrant was prohibited to "trade, and his opportunities to do business are limited" due to racial discrimination that led to the exclusion act which stated Chinese immigrants are prohibited from taking positions of employment in America, this left them leaving with no political or legal power to speak of. The treatment of Asian immigrants was quite different from the treatment of European immigrants due to the fact that it would cause hostilities that could lead to international conflicts of war.

European immigrants did not fare as well either because they too had to endure deplorable living conditions and hostilities. European workers had to work feverishly, working at worst 14 to 16 hours a day requiring them to take "artificial stimulant to restore life", because they have become cogs in the machine unable to conjure up enough energy to sustain the vigorous life of the working-class immigrant.

Tenement life for Europeans was so bad it made them reevaluate why they ever came to America in the first place. The European immigrant labored in the new progressive industrialize era for the industrial entrepreneurs, while immigrants were toiling for a meager pittance they can scarcely behold the fortunes of their oppressors were accumulating. As technology improves, the industry is making life worse for the working class because it's "easier to produce, it is harder to live” leaving the working class becomes so entrenched with the production of an industry that lose the inability to care for themselves which dehumanizes them.

This implementing new method of industrializing to increase the productivity of the working class employee was a system of "scientific management" produced by Frederick Taylor to get the most out of each employee during a given workday to increase productivity and maximize profits, with little care for the welfare of the worker. The demoralizing truth of life in America for the immigrant working class wondering if their best scenario was to stay back home “if people work harder at home they would make as much money", rather than struggle in a nation where they are not given a fair opportunity. This caused an influx of immigrants to head back to Europe after they have obtained what little income in America they could. Immigrants returning back home increased going from one-quarter of immigrants to one-third of them heading back home by the 1930s.

Immigrants flocked to America primarily to create new opportunities for wealth for themselves and their loved ones. As they made the trek to America they carried with them romanticized ideas coupled with ambitious thoughts that were met with hardships and dehumanizing conditions that made them long for better times back at home. Other immigrants such as the Chinese, were able to make the best of the situation but were met with political and legal hardships that led to a revolt against Chinese workers in the Western frontier. Even into the 20th century despite the hardships and conflicts presented to immigrants, there was still an eager influx of those ready to migrate to America in search of wealth and prosperity. The American progressive era of the late 1800s into the early 1900s was an ambitious time for all to travel to this new land, to basically take a chance in realizing you're romanticized dreams of what this country truly has to offer them.

Source: Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs, Edward J. Blum, and Jon Gjerde. "Chapter 3 Prejudice in America, 1882." Major Problems in American History: Documents and Essays / Edited by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Edward J. Blum, Jon Gjerde. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.

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