Blog #4

            Chapter seven was quite an interesting chapter to read. What immediately took my interest were the development of steam-powered transportation and the upgrade of the immigration process. From the earlier readings, I have grasped the idea that immigrating to another country was very difficult and costly. As if gathering enough money for the whole family to make the trip wasn’t hard enough, one also had to consider the dilemma of actually finding a ship that would be making the trip to America, as well as the long duration of the journey. But by the end of the 19^th  century, new technological developments made it more efficient to travel and even shortened the time to a few days. It was also very clever of the European passenger companies to create the shipping lines, which allowed immigrant passengers to live in dormitory enclave, where they were housed, fed, and medically examined. These companies were able to make a profit while reducing the amount of diseases that would accompany these passengers on board. In addition, what was most helpful to these immigrants was the decrease in ticket prices, which made traveling less financially challenging.

            I also enjoyed reading about the development of the motion picture industry. I never knew that the Greeks were the first entrepreneurs that came up with such a brilliant idea!  Since going to the movies is one of my favorite things to do, I was very intrigued upon reading about its origin.

Blog #3

From this week’s reading, I have concluded that African Americans were not the only ones that suffered the cruel fate of discrimination. Although African Americans were forced into slavery and had to endure a lot of horrifying treatments, the group of Irish immigrants did not go through the process without any scars either. What was heartbreaking was the passage about the famine years in Ireland and how many of those people had to eat only potatoes. As an individual growing in this century, I cannot imagine what it would be like to worry about whether or not I would have anything to eat the next day.  Some Americans in the South actually prefer risking the lives of Irish by employing them in high mortality jobs than to “risk the loss of valuable Negro slaves” (Daniels, 137). I also found it sad that the women found the occupation of being a servant was actually better than working conditions back in Ireland, when they were only getting paid about $1 to $2 a week. It makes me question how bad the conditions in Ireland must have been and what a day in the life of an Irish immigrant was like. It also raises the question of why did "Americans" have so much hate for these immigrants when their ancestors immigrated to this new land as well?

Blog #2

To be honest, chapter 4 was a bit difficult for me to get through, although chapter 5 was alright. There was so much information on every single page that I turned to. What was surprising to me, however, was the diversity of cultures that developed in America. Everyone wanted to be a part of America and several groups of people migrated, some benefitting from new gains more than others. It was clever of the author to break down the chapters into smaller sections, with each being dedicated to a particular ethnicity. But overall, I found myself having to reread a few sections multiple times in order to differentiate one ethnic group from another.

            The piece of information on who were the people who founded the first successful European colony in America was new to me. I have always thought of Jamestown as the first settlement. It was definitely  eye-opening info to read that the Spanish explorers were actually the first Europeans that navigated across the United States. I’m not sure if I have been taught this before or it might’ve somehow slipped my mind.

            Something else that surprised me was reading the paragraph that claimed Benjamin Franklin to be racist. He was one of “Pennsylvania’s non-German majority” (Daniels, 109). Apparently, one of the reasons for his dislike of the Germans was because they had upset him by supporting his enemies in several elections. It’s hard to believe that such a memorable figure in history was associated with racism! All his ambitious works and brilliant inventions were all spoken of in elementary and middle school, yet the negative side of this man was rarely unveiled. It just makes me realize that humans are humans after all, and that written history can sometimes be quite biased.

Blog #1

One of the most interesting topics of history for me has to be the story of immigration. It is amazing how the human mind and its determination can lead to discoveries of new land and the establishment of rules and society in order to thrive on this land. It is very intriguing to read about the origin of the New World and the sufferings that people went through in order to get to where we are today. What stood out to me most was the number of deaths that appeared. I felt like the early settlers were similar to lab rats. They were persuaded by propagandas to immigrate and to try to make a home. However, many things went wrong. For instance, people who resided in Jamestown, Virginia suffered from disease and as many as two-thirds of the 108 colonists died. Winters brought many hardships and led to starvation, resulting in the death of about eighty percent of the immigrants that were left. Surprisingly, this data is small compared to some of the more terrifying numbers of death that happened throughout history. It was upsetting to come across this topic, and what angered me most were the propagandas that were created to raise the hopes and dreams of the people whose only goal was to seek new opportunity for a better economy and life.

            Another thing that shocked me was the indentured servants. From my perspective, these people (aside from those who were forced) were crazy to risk their lives and agreed to work for someone they do not know just for a passage to America!  There were a few fortunate individuals who got land by the end of their terms and were actually able to make a decent living. However, many were mistreated and had to result to escaping. Many of the owners would put up ads in newspaper in search of these missing servants. It seemed very dehumanizing to me because these ads reminded me of the missing pets or objects that people put up in today’s society. 

            While I was reading about New England’s immigrants, what amused me was the list of what immigrants should bring with them on their journey. I imagined it to be like one of the instruction manuals or books that we can find in the library today that will probably be titled How to Immigrate for Dummies. But I have to agree that this method is quite helpful for first-time travelers or families who have no idea what to bring for them and their children. What I learned from this was that one trip to America was definitely expensive. I always thought that the poor would make up most of the passengers on these trips. The truth is that an individual had to be somewhat well-off in order or pay for his own passage and manage all the food and other items that were needed to immigrate.