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New European Immigrants: Some Notes

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I. Who are the New European Immigrants?

A. Generally speaking, they are the nearly 40 million immigrants who came to the United States between the years 1870 and 1930. (See Parrillo). By 1910 approximately 70 percent of all immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe. Today, in the last decade of the 20th century, most immigrants have been Hispanic and
Asian.

1. Most consisted of people from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe who were perceived to be physically and culturally "different" from previous immigrants.

2. Approximately 1 million (951,802) of these immigrants were from Asia, but Parrillo addresses Asians in a separate chapter.

3. Official records also reveal that 883,706 immigrants moved to this country from Mexico, Central, and South America. But these data have large gaps and probably underestimate greatly immigration from this region.

B. Specifically, the list includes Armenians, Bohemians, Moravians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Montegrins, Croatians, Slovenians, Dalmatians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Finns, Greeks, Jews, Italians, Lithuanians, Magyhars, Poles, Portuguese, Rumanians, Russians, Ruthenians, Slovaks, Spaniards, Turks. (See Parrillo).

C. These 39+ million immigrants significantly affected U.S. population composition. In 1870, the population of the United States was 39,818,449 (mostly descendents of western and northern Europeans). By 1930, the U.S. population has risen to 122,775,046. (In the year 1996, the population of the United States was over 265 million. In 1950, it was approximately 151 million).

II. Some consequences of this large tide of eastern and southern European immigrants:

A. "To ethnocentric WASPs, the new immigrants were alien races about to overwhelm American institutions and cities...

1. ...they were coming from what were considered the most backward areas of Europe--

2. ...their customs and even food habits differed greatly from the Anglo-Saxon-Teutonic norm of earlier settlers.

3. ...their religion was different. They were more likely to be Catholic or Muslim than Protestant.

4. ...they were concentrated in the cities and thus were highly visible (Palen, 1987, p. 210).

B. In 1900, only 51 percent of the U. S. population was native white and of native parentage (Palen, 1987, p. 210).

1. In eastern seaboard cities such as Boston and New York over 75 percent of the population was of foreign stock (foreign-born or second-generation), (Palen, 1987, p. 210).

2. "By 1890 New York had half as many Italians as Naples, as many Germans as Hamburg, twice as many Irish as Dublin, and two-and-a-half times the number of Jews in Warsaw (Palen, p. 78)."

3. Josiah Strong (Our Country, 1891) observed that 62 percent of Cincinnati; 80 percent of New York; 83 percent of Cleveland, 91 percent of Chicago was "foreign by birth or parentage."

4. America had harbored a long-standing antipathy toward cities-- WASP and rural small town America considered them "cesspools of `rum, Romanism, and rebellion' (Palen, 1987, p. 210).

III. Immigration restrictions:

A. Background: The Dillingham Commission:

1. Public pressure on Congress lead to the establishment of the United States Immigration Commission, (referred to as the "Dillingham Commission") in 1907-- named because of its chair, Senator William P. Dillingham of Vermont.

a. The commission presented its 41 volume report in 1911 with its conclusions about the effects of immigration. Basic conclusion:

(1) There were two types of immigrants: (1.) old immigrants (Anglo-Saxons) who were hard-working pioneers. (2.) The new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe who were considered to be "opportunists." (Schaefer, 1990, p. 119).

(2) The "Old" immigrants tended to assimilate relatively soon. New immigrants "congregated" which slowed down the assimilation process. They were also less skilled, less educated, possessed greater "criminal tendencies" and were more willing to experience a lower standard of living (Parillo, p. 173)

(a) Parrillo describes the basic flaws of this study:

(1.) It lumped too many groups of immigrants together by choosing only two categories.

(2.) It failed to acknowledge that western and northern Europeans had longer to assimilate.

(b) Also, the study was influenced by preexisting racial and ethnic biases against the new immigrants—

(3) The Commission suggested two measures to solve the problem:

a) a literacy test

b) immigration quotas

B. Immigration Legislation (Restrictions):

1. The Literacy Bill of 1917:

a. This was the first literacy bill to pass-- Two earlier versions were vetoed by Presidents Cleveland and Taft. Congress passed the 1917 bill over President Wilson's veto. This was not the first attempt to restrict immigration from places other than western Europe.

Why does Congress favor immigration restrictions while the President tends to oppose them?

(1) (The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882 which outlawed Chinese immigration for ten years (Schaefer, 1990, p. 118).

b. Immigrants had to read thirty words in any language.

c. It didn't work as intended because the general levels of literacy in Europe in had been improving and European educational systems were quite good. Also...

(1) Schaefer (1990, p. 120) states that another exception to the literacy test was made if non-Anglo-Saxon immigrants were fleeing racial discrimination.

2. The National Origins Quota Act of 1921

a. This reduced the number of southern and eastern Europeans to 20 percent of those coming over before the act was passed. Basically, for a period of 3 years, it limited the number of immigrants to three percent of a given nationality residing in the country in 1910.

3. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924

a. This was even tougher-- it restricted immigration to 2 percent of the number of people of a given nationality in the country in 1890.

b. In 1929 new legislation made the quota system permanent and restricted immigration to 3 percent of the number of of people of a given nationality in the country in 1920.

(1) This favored northern and western Europeans. For example, Britain had 65,000 quotas (most of which remained unfilled) while Greece had 305 quotas and a backlog of over 100,000 people wanting to emigrate to the U.S. (Schaefer, 1990, p 120).

(2) Farley (1988, p. 344) reports that under the quota system, approximately 84 percent of the quotas went to northern and western Europe; 14 percent went to eastern and southern Europe; and 2 percent went to the rest of the world.

4. The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952

a. Passed over Truman's Veto, this act simplified the quota system. It kept the 1920 census as a basis, but dropped all quotas to 1/6 of one percent.

(1) Japanese immigrants were allowed to become citizens for the first time. Japan was given an annual quota of 115.

(2) This act had provisions to bar entry to communists and subversives, including anyone who found to have advocated communist ideals (Schaefer, 1990, p. 120).

5. The Immigration and Nationality (Naturalization) Act of 1965

a. The first act to end the quota system.

(1) Set numerical limits-- 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere; 170,000 from the Eastern Hemisphere.

(2) Priorities were given to people with job skills and kin in the U. S.

(3) Immediate relatives were admitted above periodically set limits. For example, in 1987 the limit was 270,000 but there were actually 601,516 immigrants that year.

IV. An example of a persistent ethnic subculture-- The Gypsies (Parrillo):

A. They are elusive-- difficult to study even though they number approximately 500,000. Why?

1. The U.S. Census does not keep official statistics on them.

2. They are migratory-- constantly moving about.

3. They do not want to provide outsiders with information about themselves.

B. Believed to have originated in Northern India over a millennium ago (through tracing their language, Romany to Sanskrit)-- first arrived in America in the latter 1600's coming over from Scotland to work on Virginia Plantations-- also settled in New Amsterdam.

1. Migrated to the U. S. from England in substantial numbers in the 1840's.

2. After WWII (when as many as 500,000 may were killed by the Nazi's) they again migrated to the U. S. in substantial numbers.

a. No hard data on immigration for Gypsies.

3. They live mostly in cities-- 10,000 in Chicago; 15,000 in Los Angeles

a. Significant numbers are found in New York; Virginia; Illinois; Texas; Massachusetts. Large numbers are also found on the Pacific Coast.

C. Gypsy (Rom) culture:

1. Familia

a. A gypsy turns to the familia for all kinds of support--

b. Strongly patriarchal with males in charge.

2. Vitsi

a. This is a kinship group and serves as a means by which Gypsies classify each other. Similar to the concept of "tribe".

3. Gypsy economy:

a. Most Gypsies avoid the American educatonal system and the majority cannot read nor write.

(1) They also do not like formal records kept on them—

(i.) Parrillo states that they can use the system quite effectively, meaning that they obtain what they need from the "larger American society"

b. There is a visible division of labor. Men usually perform seasonal work that incorporates the kinds of skills that are "mobile" in nature;

c. Women contribute substantially to family income mainly through fortune telling.

4. Courtship and Marriage:

a. Sexual mores are considered quite strict-- pre-marital chastity is emphasized (but they marry early) and prostitution is rare.

b. Couples marry early (12-16 years) and fertility is high.

c. Great effort is taken to ensure endogamy--

d. Traditionally, the wife moves in with the husband's family.

e. Divorce rates are high.

5. Social control:

a. The KRIS or Gypsy Court is comprised of the leaders of the various tribes and it meets to settle disputes.

(1) The chief sanction (and the most effective) is shunning. (Note that this is a common element among many close-knit subcultures-- The Amish provide another example where shunning is used as a mechanism of social control).

6. Customs:

a. Marime (pollution): Basic ideas about cleanliness and pollution-- applies to all walks of life.

(1) The upper body is clean-- the lower body is unclean. The latter is not to be allowed to come into contact with the upper portion in any way. (See Parrillo).

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