Immigration in the United States

KSa · Immigration in the United States

The total population in Poland is now 38 million people. In the United States, the country with the biggest Polish conglomeration besides Poland, there are 10.6 million people of Polish origin (2001) but only 700 000 of them speak Polish daily. The major cities they live in are:

1. Chicago - 1.3 millions (250 000 speaking Polish daily); the residence of the Polish American Congress is here
2. Denver
3. Detroit
4. Los Angeles
5. New York
6. Seattle

Distribution - first 10 states (based on the poll in 2000):
1. New York (986 000)
2. Illinois (933 000)
3. Michigan (854 000)
4. Pennsylvania (824 000)
5. New Jersey (576 000)
6. Wisconsin (498 000)
7. Callifornia (491 000)
8. Ohio (433 000)
9. Florida (429 000)
10. Massachusetts (323 000)
... and others

The percentage of Poles in the total population of the states:
1. Wisconsin (9.6%)
2. Michigan (8.6%)
3. Connecticut (8.3%)
4. Illinois (7.5%)
5. New Jersey (6.9%)

The major immigration waves:

1608 Jamestown, Virginia: first Poles on the American soil

XVIII century: (Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Kazimierz Pulaski...)

XIX century: political immigration after lost uprisings

XIX/XX century (until 1939): economical immigration

after WWII: political immigration

80-ties: political and economical immigration

List of famous Polish Americans:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Polish_Americans
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What about your countries? How many people are in America? Where do they live?

Uriel

Portuguese-Americans aren't a big group. Most don't come from mainland Portugal, either, but from the islands. It's said that there are more people of Azorean descent in the US than there are in the Azores themselves.

People, Races, Ethnicity in the U.S. Portuguese Americans

About the Portuguese Americans in the U.S. including where they are from, why they left, how many there are, famous Portuguese-Americans and more.

PORTUGUESE AMERICANS

Where They Came From: "It has become almost a habit, in the Azores, to emigrate to the U.S.," wrote Donald R. Taft in a 1923 study of Portuguese immigrants. The Azores are still the prime source of Portuguese Americans, with Madeira and mainland Portugal a distant second and third.

Uh-huh. Both sides of my father's family came from the Azores. Even his grandmother, who was born in Brazil, was of Azorean stock!

Why They Left: In the 19th century, Azoreans were particularly tempted by the New England ships that made regular visits to their islands. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on the Azorean island of Faial sent several thousand refugees to the U.S. in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But poor economic conditions, along with an uncertain political situation, still account for most emigration from Portugal.

Where They Settled: By 1776 a scattering of Portuguese were living in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina. During the middle years of the 19th century, New England whaling ships brought several thousand Portuguese, many of them whalers, from the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands to New England, the Hawaiian Islands, and California. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and California continued to be the targets of Portuguese immigrants when they arrived in even greater numbers at the turn of the century. Oakland evolved into the biggest Portuguese center in California, with New Bedford and Fall River, Mass., as its counterparts in the East. Other favored states: New York and Pennsylvania.

Need I mention that my father was born in New Bedford?

Numbers: The first sizable wave of Portuguese immigrants peaked between 1900 and 1920, when about 159,000 Portuguese entered the U.S. (many also went home again). After 1965, Portuguese immigration zoomed up--from 2,000 in 1965 to 13,200 in 1970. In 1975, Portugal lost more citizens to the U.S. than any other European country: 11,800. In one decade, 1965 to 1975, the number of Portuguese resident aliens in the U.S. climbed from 37,000 to 115,000.

My great-grandparents arrived in the US around 1920. This is all starting to sound very familiar.....

Their Story in America: The Portuguese have distinguished themselves in California as leaders in 19th-century whaling and 20th-century tuna fishing and dairy farming. In New England, the Portuguese have traditionally worked in cotton mills, fished, and farmed.

Mmm-hmmm. My great-grandmother had a farm in Mattapoisett, my grandmother worked in a coat factory, and my dad remembers raising cows in the back yard.

Active in Portuguese benefit societies and Catholic churches, Portuguese immigrants have tended to be indifferent to politics. A 1911 Immigration Commission report showed that 94.5% of a group of 546 Portuguese men had taken no steps toward becoming citizens. In fact, there have been times when the number of Portuguese leaving the U.S. has exceeded the number entering.

Sounds reeeeallllly familiar. All of my great-grandparents spent most of their adult lives inthe US, yet made little effort to learn English or obtain citizenship. My dad says one of his grandfathers could "get by" with some simple English, but there was little incentive to bother improving. And both the first and second American-born generations of my family remained bilingual.

Those who have stayed have often readily changed their names--Luis to Lewis, Pavao to Peacock, Rodrigues to Rogers. In spite of the efforts of Portuguese-American cultural associations, the Portuguese, a relatively small immigrant group, have not been highly visible in the U.S. That may be changing; Portuguese have constituted one of the bigger immigrant groups in the last decade. These new immigrants, like many of the earlier ones, are usually unskilled workers.

Everyone in my family has kept their original last names, although the pronunciations have been anglicized.

Famous Portuguese Americans: Novelist john Dos Passos; bandmaster and composer John Philip Sousa; and Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, first European to arrive in California.

That's right, Mr. "Stars & Stripes Forever" Marching Band Man! Who'd a thought?

© 1975 - 1981 by David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace
Reproduced with permission from "The People's Almanac" series of books.

The Portuguese tend to cluster in three main areas of the US: New England, California, and Hawaii.

Wanderin

As Russians live everywhere on Earth, it's truth, there are even immigrants in Brazil, and other South american countries, but if to speak about US, then picture is as on this site:

http://www.rususa.com/immigration/russian-american-residence.asp

In NY there's Russian quarter, Brighton beach, and Russians mostly speak Russian as far as I know, they have Russian sattelitte TV, Russian rock/pop stars give concerts in USA, so they live in their little world.

But during last decade, immigration from Russia decreased a lot and USA even thinks about of cancellation visas for Russians as they are "honest" now and don't want to stay in US

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Uriel

Don't forget the Russian River in California, Russian Hill in San Francisco, and all those Inuit people still attending Orthodox churches in remote parts of Alaska (well, like there's a bustling, metropolitan part of Alaska!)

fab

Uriel

I wonder why they would pick Paris?

Porthos

Uriel

Spain's closer.

Loic

.....but only slightly less impoverished until recently.

KSa

Uriel

I know my dad's family was very poor, but thought they were still doing better in the US than they would have back home.

Elaine

My gente come from Mexico and it comes as no surprise that that country to the south has been the largest source of immigrants for the past four decades-- and many of them (most?) arrived sin documentos.

A few stats (per the 2000 census):

- Mexicans were 58.5 percent of all Hispanic/Latinos (down from 60.4 percent in 1990), Puerto Ricans were 9.6 percent (down from 12.2 percent), Cubans were 3.5 percent (down from 4.7 percent), remaining 28.4 percent were of other Hispanic/Latino origins (up from 22.8 percent)

- Since the 1990 Census, persons that identified themselves as "Mexican" increased by 52.9 percent, from 13.5 million to 20.6 million.

- Regional breakdown of Mexican population: 55.3 percent live in the West, 31.7 percent in the South, 10.7 percent in the Midwest, and 2.3 percent in the Northeast

- The largest Mexican populations were in California, Texas, Illinois and Arizona, largely southwestern states. In New Mexico, 42 percent of the population was Latino (mostly of Mexican ancestry), the highest proportion of any state.

- The largest Mexican populations lived in Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio and Phoenix. Latinos in East Los Angeles, Calif., comprised the vast majority (97 percent) of the population, the highest proportion of any place with 100,000 or more residents.

- The largest Mexican populations live in counties that had large Hispanic/Latino populations, including Los Angeles County, California (3.0 million), Harris County, Texas (815.000), and Cook County, Illinois (786,000).

(I love pie charts!)

fab

Benjamin [inactive]

Concerning the statistics that Elaine posted, I find it interesting that 'Ireland' is listed separately from 'United Kingdom' from 1821 to 1920. If it's referring actually to modern countries, would the area which is now called Northern Ireland come under 'Ireland' on that?

Uriel

Good question. You could make arguments both ways, but I suspect people got put down as whatever they claimed to be, be it British or Irish.

Uriel

Speaking of immigration the United States, this weekend I made up my mind to give in and get myself a maid. Sorry, but I despise housework. I freely admit to being domestically challenged. So when a couple of coworkers recommended a lady they knew to me, I jumped on it, and set up a meeting with her so that she could see my house and quote me a price. The only catch was that of course, she speaks little English, and I speak little Spanish, so I arranged to have my ex drop by to help out, and she likewise brought her son to translate. Very nice lady, and I hope $55 per visit is a reasonable rate. I also learned a new word: aspiradora. Means vacuum cleaner. I also learned that I'm in the wrong business: she drives a much nicer car than I do! We're talkin' brand new cherry-red Ford Explorer to my 4-year-old Hyundai and my ex's geriatric Chevy Silverado. Dang!

I knew I should have listened to my mother when she nagged me to pick up after myself!