What is America?
America is described as a melting pot because of various immigration policies during the different time periods that this country has seen. America is more than a collection of immigration policies; it is the story behind the policies. It's the shared struggle that each immigrant faced to get here and the understanding that life will be better. Americans can be defined by many things, but every person in this country has their own immigration story whether it’s their own or their family’s.
Immigrants have been coming to this country since the 1500s, when the first pilgrims arrived in the Plymouth Harbor to the mass immigration through Ellis Island to the Asian immigration of the 80’s. America is defined by its immigrants and what they have accomplished within these borders. From the European immigrants fleeing the Potato Famine to the Syrian refugees fleeing chemical warfare, they each have a shared goal to come to this country in search of something better. Sharing one's story can happen in many different ways- we've read novels about immigration stories and seen artwork produced by immigrants and learned about the food that immigrants bring to diversify the U.S. Each story varies, but each story is meaningful. Through understanding the pain through the repeal of DACA to listening to the stories of paper children during the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the discrimination that Latin immigrants face, the universality that can be seen is the want to be accepted as an American.
It is hard to define what an American truly is because everyone is unique and every story is unique. It's the understanding of these various stories that bring us together under the label of being American. The diversity in culture, food, clothing, ethnicity is what makes all of us American.
Immigrants have been coming to this country since the 1500s, when the first pilgrims arrived in the Plymouth Harbor to the mass immigration through Ellis Island to the Asian immigration of the 80’s. America is defined by its immigrants and what they have accomplished within these borders. From the European immigrants fleeing the Potato Famine to the Syrian refugees fleeing chemical warfare, they each have a shared goal to come to this country in search of something better. Sharing one's story can happen in many different ways- we've read novels about immigration stories and seen artwork produced by immigrants and learned about the food that immigrants bring to diversify the U.S. Each story varies, but each story is meaningful. Through understanding the pain through the repeal of DACA to listening to the stories of paper children during the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the discrimination that Latin immigrants face, the universality that can be seen is the want to be accepted as an American.
It is hard to define what an American truly is because everyone is unique and every story is unique. It's the understanding of these various stories that bring us together under the label of being American. The diversity in culture, food, clothing, ethnicity is what makes all of us American.
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