Mary Devane                                                                                            New York and theWorld
Reaction paper - March 5, 2001

From Ellis Island to JFK New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration
by Nancy Foner

"The history of immigration is the history of America'"

                                                                                -Oscar Handlin

    Indeed the history of immigration is the history of America; it is also the history of the world, at least the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the evolving twenty‑first. Migrations are certainly nothing new in world history and the pushes and pulls that encourage people to pick up and relocate generally remain constant throughout time: war, persecution, famine, and economic opportunity. During the nineteenth century, Europeans and Asians flocked to North America and Australia, as did Chinese to Cuba and Southeast Asia, and South Asians to Africa and the West Indies. These immigrants greatly changed their countries of entry, representing large-scale changes in the global economy, global politics, and cultural diffusion. The patterns of migration became even more complex in the twentieth century: Europeans migrated to the United States as well as the Middle East and Latin America, Africans and Asians migrated to their colonial mother countries in Europe, and large numbers of Asians, Africans and Latin Americans migrated to the United States. Similarly these new patterns of migration reflect the massive changes in world politics, economics, technology and communication that occurred in the twentieth century. It is within this context that Nancy Foner's From Ellis Island to JFK, an insightful analysis of immigration in twentieth century New York, provides a lens to examine the forces behind global migrations in the past century and to speculate about the future.

    Nancy Foner focuses her research on one American city, New York, and compares the immigrant experience in the first decade of the twentieth century with the last decade. She sets out to debunk many of the nostalgic myths about immigrants in the early 1900s and proves that while indeed there are significant differences between these two periods of immigration, strong similarities have endured. Because an analysis of immigration becomes quite complicated with the great diversity of immigrant groups, Foner narrowed her study by focusing on the larger immigrant groups in each period: Italians and Russian Jews in the early 1900s and Dominicans, Chinese and Jamaicans in the late 1900s.

    Much of Foner's research is useful for understanding the role of immigration in American history and New York City history. In both periods, immigrants tended to settle in ethnic clusters where the social and economic support of fellow immigrants helped ease the transition to life in New York. The major difference in settlement patterns is where immigrant populations are concentrated, In the early 1900s, immigrants lived in densely packed tenements in Manhattan and Brooklyn, notably the Lower East Side, whereas today immigrant neighborhoods are spread throughout the five boroughs and even surrounding suburbs. As there is greater diversity in settlement today, there is also greater diversity in work opportunities today. A substantial number of today's immigrants come with more education, financial backing, language skills, and technical skiffs than earlier immigrants, enabling them to fill a wide array of jobs in a post‑industrial economy. While these immigrants often experience downward occupational mobility, more high level jobs are open to them than previous immigrants. Immigrants do continue to fill low‑level jobs particularly in industries where immigrant communities have developed a niche, such as the garment industry. As earlier, working conditions for many lower level jobs remain poor, despite government regulations. Changing gender roles and expectations have broadened employment opportunities for immigrant women. During the early 1900s, it was generally not acceptable for married women to work outside the home and Foner argues that the migration to New York was actually an isolating experience for immigrant women. Contemporary immigrant women, though, experience a liberalizing effect from new economic opportunities and greater family status. Lastly, Foner debunks the myth that early immigrants used education to rise to the middle class. Before World War 1, most immigrant children received at most an eighth grade education, which focused on rote memory and Americanization of ethnic groups, Today, issues of overcrowding and poor school facilities persist, however, programs like English as a Second Language and bilingual education attempt to meet the needs of immigrant students. While many immigrant students adopt the opposition outlook of American born students and drop out of school, many immigrants have a positive attitude toward education and succeed in the public schools. Moreover, the embrace of multiculturalism and ethnic pride has replaced the focus on assimilation.

    In other respects, though, Foner's work sheds light on a number of trends in global history, The impact of economic and political interdependence becomes clear when examining who immigrated and why. New York City has been permanently changed because of civil wars in Central America in the 1980s, the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the decline of feudalism in Italy in the late 1800s and May Laws in Czarist Russia. In the early 1900s, economic disruptions created by industrialization set forth a European migration, while today economic changes created by globalization and the legacy of imperialism send thousands from the developing world to New York, Imperialism created an economic cycle in which colonies produced raw materials for the mother country to produce manufactured goods with. The age of imperialism began its decline after World War H, yet, the economic cycle of dependency and debt has continued. For instance, these economic conditions cause the poverty-stricken as well as the middle class to leave Caribbean nations like the Dominican Republic in search of a better standard of living. In today's interconnected environment, New York cannot be isolated from global economic forces or from political upheaval around the world.

    In addition to changing economic forces, an examination of immigration in New York raises a number of issues regarding identity. In the early 1900s, immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were considered to be racially distinct and inferior. Today, they are considered part of the white population, this changing perception of race resulted from the black migration into New York City, The majority of immigrants today are people of color which produces a complicated set of identity issues. West Indians, for instance, sometimes associate themselves with black native born New Yorkers, while other times distinguish themselves as a distinct ethnic group within the black population. While immigrant groups struggle with their identity, society at large often sees them as people of color first, and immigrants second. Moreover, the use of the term Hispanic is an inadequate label or identity for immigrants from Latin America because it does not account for the diversity in terms of race, country of origin, and class, The development of one's identify involves a number of political and economic considerations: it may be politically advantageous for Latin American immigrants to unify as Hispanics, whereas it may be economically advantageous for West Indies to distinguish themselves from native blacks. What is significant to understand about the development of identify is how it is shaped by a social hierarchy based on race, class, and ethnicity and how migrations may cause changes in identify by the immigrants themselves and by the larger society.

    Finally, this study of immigration in New York raises questions about whether the nation state is becoming an obsolete concept. According to Linda Basch, transnational is the processes by which immigrants maintain links to both their societies of origin and settlement. Immigrants are in a sense becoming transmigrates negotiating two cultures and identities. Foner argues that the immigrants in the beginning of the twentieth century also were transnationalists, however, changes in technology and communication have intensified the process for modem immigrants. Middle class immigrants, in particular, often invest in business interests in their home country. In addition, many immigrants have dual nationality allowing them to participate politically in their home country. As business and communication becomes multinational, so may citizenship and national identity, Foner concludes her work with rhetorical implications for the future. In terms of identity, she postures that most likely, the United States is moving to a new kind of racial order, the old black white dichotomy no longer works. She also predicts that with the changing economy, education will be the key for economic advancement for today's immigrants. Finally, she argues that the transnationalism of today's immigrants will be much stronger than that of previous immigrants. The long term implications of these transnational interests on the countries of origins has yet to be seen, Potentially, they could be instrumental in promoting economic development and a more equitable distribution of wealth around the world. Immigration connects New York to the larger world. An understanding of changes in immigration patterns can lead to a better understanding of larger changes in the global economy and politics.