History

History: Address the background that brought new population groups to the United States - you may choose a specific immigrant population or do this generally. What other groups have historically immigrated to the United States?

__** Historical Information **__ The Chinese began immigrating to the United States around 1850, becoming the first Asians to come to the U.S. They originally came here because of the California Gold Rush, and problems were also beginning to develop in China. Forces from Europe were beginning to overthrow the Chinese Empire. Most Americans were happy with the first Chinese immigrants; they were successful and hardworking. Most of them planned on returning to China in a few years after earing money working on the railroad and in the mines. However, Americans became angry a few years later when the population of coolies, unskilled laborers, began to grow. Most of the Chinese immigrants formed "Chinatowns" which were usually run down. The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1882, stopped all immigration from China to the United States for ten years, and it was also renewed many times. Finally, in 1942, Chinese immigrants were allowed back into the U.S.

In the early 1700s, many Germans immigrated to the United States because Germany was continually being attacked by armies from a variety of nations. By 1745, about 45,000 Germans lived in Pennsylvania, and the number was rapidly growing. Germans kept immigrating to the U.S., but by the 1800s, the reasons for it changed, and because of more modern technology, the trip from Germany to America was much easier. The population in Germany was increasing, and it was becoming more modernized. Because of this, they were pushed out of family businesses. Most German immigrants farmed for a living, and they made up one-third of agriculture on the east coast. They built communites similar to Chinatown where German families lived and worked. Germans had more problems with other Germans than with other groups. The conflicts were usually based on religion.

Many immigrant groups migrated to the U.S. for similar reasons, and when they got here, they formed communites around other immigrants from the same nation. However, when groups come to America, conflicts can often arise, as we can see in current immigration as well. The United States is known as the "melting pot," and with the historical immigration, we have lived up to that name. Even though, sometimes, new people and their cultures are hard to accept.



__** Video **__ [|Chinese Immigration Video] __** Assignment **__ Create a venn diagram comparing and contrasting the Germans' and Chinese's immigration to the United States. Below is an example of the assignment.

__** Resources **__ __**[|Historical Immigration]**__ This website addresses many different immigrants from different countries coming to Iowa. It explains why they came here, what they did when they got here, etc. This website talks about immigration in an order of when they happened. It also has a lot of details and information on things like coal mining and politics. __** [|Chinese Immigration] **__ Talks about why Chinese immigrants came here and what they did. **[|General Immigration Information]** Has many different groups of immigrants that came to the U.S. __**[|Hippo Campus]**__
 * [|History of Iowa] **