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Immigration Who are Americans? Immigrants. Immigrants from all around the globe built America. America is strong because people, including immigrants, protected its ideals by fighting for and even going to war in its defense. Immigrants built companies, railroads, and highways. If we are not Native Americans, then we are immigrants. America should not stop, but welcome immigrants, documented or undocumented. All Americans, except for the Native Americans are connected to immigrants. Ronald Takaki quotes Herman Melville in his book A Different Mirror “All nations may claim her for their own. You cannot spill a drop of American blood, without spilling the blood of the whole world” (Takaki, 20). Takaki also said, “ We originally came from many shores, and our diversity has been at the …show more content…
Ronald Takaki quotes Langston Hughes in his book A Different Mirror “ Let American be America again, let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed, … I am the red man driven from the land, I am the Immigrant clutching the hope I seek, O let my land be a land where, equality is the air we breathe.” (Takaki, 19-20). “‘We the’diverse ‘people of the United States’ transformed America into a mighty economy and an amazing unique society of varied races, ethnicities, and religion.” (Takaki, 20). Takaki wrote in his book, “ Day of spacious dreams! I sailed for America, Overblown with hope.” ( Takaki, 14). Would not all immigrants come here for a better life? Yes, Ken Vinson, who works at a local power station in Marshalltown, Iowa said, “Some people came here because they were desperate. I don’t care how they got here, and they have a family. Now all of the sudden you want to rip these people out and send them back? I wouldn’t want my family torn apart like that.’” (Barabak, 2016) . An opponent may say, their desire and dreams take away our hope. Desires, dreams, and hopes, however, are contagious and
Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes were two great of America’s poets who believed in the American Dream. The American Dream was the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The American Dream meant everything to Whitman and Hughes during that time. Whitman’s poem was titled “I Hear America Singing’’ and Hughes poem was titled “Let America Be America Again.’’ Although Whitman and Hughes agreed that America was the land of opportunity, they had very different perspectives on who had achieved liberty and success.
The Harlem Renaissance gave a voice to many gifted artists, writers, and poets. Perhaps, for the first time, people were using the arts on a broad scale to give national and international voice to the long-silenced personal and political struggles of America’s ethnic other, specifically the African-American. Among the many gifted poets of the movement, Langston Hughes is, easily, one of the most recognizable and influential. Although his poems are lyrically beautiful, many of them also admonish a mythologized, free America as little more than a quaint, and for many, wholly unattainable model. Two of Hughes’ best known works, “Let American Be America Again” and “I, Too” speak directly to the grotesque imbalance of freedoms and rights in the U.S.. Using a number of literary devices, Hughes creates poems that are as poetically striking as they are politically and socially defiant. Through precise word choice, metaphor, and physical structure, Hughes creates multi-dimensional speakers who address two separate and unequal audiences. In these anthem-like poems, the speakers expound on their overwhelming desire for equality, unity, and freedom by addressing the short-comings of a capitalist system that makes commodities out of oppressed individuals and populations. Hughes’s poems focus on the American dream, a fantasy that is off-limits to anyone on the wrong side of the color line or income gap; however, despite their scathing criticisms, a patriotic hopefulness resides at the core of these two poems.
" I cannot live on tomorrow's bread." He recognizes the need for freedom in its entirety, without compromise or fear. I think Langston Hughes captures the essence of the American immigrants' quest for freedom in his poem, "Freedom's Plow." He accurately describes Americans as arriving with nothing but dreams and building America with the hopes of finding greater freedom or freedom for the first time. He depicts how people of all backgrounds worked together for one cause: freedom.
For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt writes, “They came to us speaking many tongues-but a single language, the universal language of human aspiration” (3). Roosevelt portrays that Americans come from all over the world; however being an American is about working towards a better and brighter future. Many immigrants came to America for a better future that consists of an education, a career, and/or an asylum for themselves and their families. The image, taken by Frank Leslie is iconic because it shows immigrants coming into New York City, and shows a light coming from behind the Statue of Liberty. Also, the image captures a greater meaning of a bright future in America. The immigrants are leaving the darkness, and heading towards the light, being an American allows people to dream of better lives and work towards those dreams. Over the years, more and more resources have been given to Americans to allow them to obtain their dream such as a primary and secondary education for all. While in other countries, there is still little opportunity and poverty. An American is one with the chance for a future for oneself and their
This right is exclusive to Americans, and is composed of the hopes, wishes and ambitions of residents in the United States, particularly immigrants. The American Dream is a conceived future that the person wants, and often, comes to America for. Anzia Yezierska, an immigrant coming to America from Russia in the twentieth century, describes her American Dream in “America and I”, a short story about her experiences in America: “In the golden land of flowing opportunity I was to find my work that was denied me in the sterile village of my forefathers. Here I was to be free from the dead drudgery for bread that held me down in Russia.” The reader can sense the hopefulness that an immigrating Yezierska had in America, the sureness that in America, her dream would become possible. The American Dream is an essential cultural, social, and psychological aspect of this country, and is given to everybody. It is because of the individuality, hopefulness, and optimistic essence of the American Dream that immigrants continue coming to the United States, and one more reason that the citizens of the United States are bound together into one people regardless of
... that despite the great obstacles they faced, the “American Dream” was something that was never left their minds and was absolutely attainable. This is not to say that it was by any means an easy task for African Americans, Native Americans, and the working class. The experiences for each group seems to hold a common theme of social and economic mobility during the late 19th century being incredibly slow, and at times, virtually unmoving. Reconsider that nearly thirty years after being freed and given citizenship, many African Americans were disenfranchised and being terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan and lynch mobs. Or for the Chinese immigrants, a group not discussed in this paper, who were prohibited from immigrating if they were to seek jobs as labor workers. In the face of impediments like these, the aim of “making it” in America was never lost among these groups.
Even though Hughes wanted to paint the perfect picture for how America should be, how others should live, what should be allowed, what should be accepted, etc., it happened to be a presently false representation of how the American people are living. The words of, “Let America Be Great Again”, come from a young man who didn’t have too much due to being driven off his land. The young man is aware what life really is, and how hard life can really be for some. Also, a servant, he represented those who may have been too weak from working in fields and struggling to survive in this “land of dreams”; Hughes stated (1936), “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed -- Let it be that great strong land of love”. Nevertheless, Donald Trump presents
What the American Dream looks like to others from far away and the ones who long for it is the example of “the day you own a big house, have a family with two kids, pets, a beautiful wife, the day your job is secured, everyone is happy and life is good, that is the day you have reached the American Dream” (Rassuli). The American Dream is attainable, but much more difficult to achieve with far more barriers and setbacks one will face. The idea of it is slowly disappearing. To end it of with a of where we came from and how we started is to remember “how convenient that we forget our own history, a country of immigrants who were once told we didn't belong; an assemblage of faces, simply waiting for our country to see us”
“You stuff somebody into the American Dream, and it becomes prison,” Craig L. Thomas once said.” When we think of the American Dream, most people will automatically think of the ideals of equality, freedom, and prosperity. In Emma Lazarus’ famous poem, The New Colossus, Emma uses the Statue of Liberty to represent the American Dream. From this poem, it implies that the Statue of Liberty will help guide the immigrants, and help them live better life that guaranteed them freedom. On the other hand, in Langston Hughes’ poem, I, Too, his thoughts oppose the ideals of the American Dream. He highlights and exposes the actual American Dream that black people as slaves had to deal and live with. Instead of being free, they are actually locked away
Immigrants helped build and grow our country ever since the colonial times. Many different people left their struggling homeland for various reasons and migrated to America from all parts of the globe in places such as Ireland, Europe, Spain and Mexico. They all wanted to make the great journey sharing ultimately the same desire. They come to American with high hopes of living the American dream. By 1940 there was an estimated 1.6 million immigrants who came to America. That number increased to nearly 4 million immigrants in the 1960’s and has since dramatically increased in numbers ever since.
The population of America is 318.9 million, an amazing number made up by incredibly diverse individuals. This means 318.9 million incredibly diverse life goals trying to be attained. In 1926 Famous poet Langston Hughes published his poem, “I, Too, Sing America.” the poem’s subject is a black servant working for a white American family. The Servant’s goal is to one day eat “at the table” and not be told to “eat in the kitchen” (hughes). Meaning, his goal was to rise above the low, servant background he came from and be the master. In the 21st century, America no longer has servants and in a lot of cases being in charge is not people's priority anymore, either. Instead, they are mostly just dreaming of happiness. Of course this happiness is still defined by the media, just as my Grandpa’s idea of the ideal life was during his time, but now there is a larger variation as to how that happiness looks. The average kindergartener is asked one question: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Their answer, whether it be to become a princess, have babies, or fly to the moon, it's not based on what looks the most successful, it is based on what appeals to the kid as something they think will make them happy. As the Dalai Lama once said, “Happiness is not readily made. It comes from your own actions.” This is the basis of the revamped american dream -- it doesn’t matter where you came from because anyone, through hard work, can find
The United States was built by immigrants. Successive waves of immigrants have kept our country young, enriched our culture and added to our capacity as a nation, enriching our influence in the world. Along with people coming from the out skirts of American, comes with new languages and cultural differences. According to the Pew Research Center, one in every five immigrants in the world
First of all, the United States of America is a country that has been built by immigrants that seek freedom. Our immigration system would be broken if the government and its citizens decided to put a restriction on legal immigration. The European immigrants who came to the country sought the opportunity for religious and political freedom. Many developing countries such as Cambodia, Honduras, and Belize today do not offer as much freedom as we do. The Declaration of Independence clearly states that we live in “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” That is why immigrants seek this country: in order to have freedom.
The American Dream represents a set of ideals and goals that Americans strive to meet. Immigrants from foreign nations see America indifferently, as a land of opportunity where hard work and sacrifice can make dreams come true. Barack Obama stated in his acceptance speech that the promise of the American Dream has “always set this country apart, that through hard work and sacrifice each of us can pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams, as well”(Obama, Democratic Nomination). This dream belongs to all Americans; to those who were born here and to those who came here looking for a new start. That is why in addition to “liberty, prosperity, and stability,”
Opportunity, hard work, and success: These ideals manifest themselves in the pursuit of the American Dream. Immigrants in particular have always strived for a more prosperous life in the United States. However in the recently industrialized America of the turn of the 20th Century, numerous Americans with deep passion for their country’s wellbeing began to oppose specific classifications of immigrants. Throughout this era of immigration, despite resistance from both nationalistic Americans and the US government, immigrants, with pure intentions of seeking prosperity, entered into the US and positively impacted the expanding American society.