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Significant Changes Over Time
From Sunnyside's Beginnings to the 1960s
Sunnyside has turned from a predominantly Irish neighborhood to a multi-ethnic one. From Sunnyside's beginnings to the 1920s, when restrictive immigration laws were instated, early settlers consisted of Irish, Czech, Dutch, and other European immigrants[1] but particularly the Irish. From the 1920s to 1960s, however, Sunnyside became composed mainly of Irish, Italian, and Jewish residents, despite the Great Depression, which led to many evictions of mostly Irish residents and which opened the way for other immigrants and their children to move into the neighborhood.[2][3] These Irish, Italian, and Jewish residents tended to be descendants of immigrants from the turn of the 20th century and who settled in Sunnyside due to growing rents in Manhattan, the fact that Sunnyside provided larger homes for cheaper prices, and in the 1950s, the construction of new apartment buildings.[4] Sunnyside was often a step up for immigrants and their descendants, many of whom moved from the cramped conditions of Manhattan's Lower East Side.[5] Along with the descendants of immigrants, artists and writers in the mid-20th century were also attracted by the neighborhood's construction of new, spacious apartments. Leaving their smaller homes in Manhattan, they started families in Sunnyside, which became known as the "maternity ward of Greenwich Village,"[6] from the neighborhood the new residents usually came.[7]
From the 1960s to the Present
During the past two decades, Irish immigrants have come to populate Sunnyside and Woodside along with older Irish immigrants from the immigration wave of the late 19th to 20th centuries. This has resulted in the strengthening of Irish culture in those neighborhoods.[8] However, because post-1965 immigration laws often favored immigrants based on family reunification, many recent Irish immigrants have come illegally.[9] Unlike most other immigrant groups, the Irish did not have family in the U.S. to reunite with because restrictive immigration laws in the 1920s all but cut off Irish immigration for the next several decades.[10] They have made huge inroads toward naturalization, however, with the help of an annual visa lottery instituted by the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1990. The lottery's goal is to diversify immigration and to help those from underrepresented countries or countries which have fared unfavorably under the family reunification emphasis of post-1965 immigration laws to become naturalized citizens and is available to even illegal residents.[11]
Since the late 1980s, a small Turkish community has grown in Sunnyside.[12] Korean, Romanian and Colombian and other Hispanic immigrants[13] have also settled in Sunnyside since the 1980s and even earlier, due to post-1960s immigration laws emphasizing family reunification and needed occupational skills (for the latter more specifically, the U.S. favored immigrants with occupational skills that were in demand). A community of Orthodox Jews also thrives; recently, City Councilman Eric Gioia and the Orthodox Jewish community celebrated the completion of the Sunnyside Eruv, which will give Orthodox Jews an area to perform tasks (e.g. carrying keys) that are otherwise not allowed during the Sabbath.[14][15]
Go to Contemporary Profile.
References
- ↑ http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2007/07/12/special/business/news13.prt
- ↑ Queens Library
- ↑ http://www.nyu.edu/classes/blake.map2001/dominican1.html
- ↑ http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19768643&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=580221&rfi=6
- ↑ New York City, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Sunnyside Gardens Historic District: Designation Report, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 26 Jun. 2007: 31, 7 Apr. 2009 <http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/SunnysideGardens.pdf>
- ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E3D81639F930A35754C0A965948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
- ↑ http://www.sunnysidechamber.org/shistory.html
- ↑ http://www.queenstribune.com/guides/2005_PatchworkOfCultures/pages/Irish.htm
- ↑ Donatella Lorch, "Organizing for Visas: Irish, Lottery and Luck," New York Times, 12 Oct. 1991, 10 Apr. 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/12/nyregion/organizing-for-visas-irish-lottery-and-luck.html?scp=30&sq=irish%20sunnyside&st=cse&pagewanted=2&pagewanted=print>
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/30/nyregion/visa-lottery-is-given-credit-for-neighborhood-revival.html?scp=26&sq=irish%20sunnyside&st=cse
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/30/nyregion/visa-lottery-is-given-credit-for-neighborhood-revival.html?scp=26&sq=irish%20sunnyside&st=cse
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/02/nyregion/in-the-queens-mosaic-a-turkish-inlay-community-takes-root-in-sunnyside.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
- ↑ http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nycity1223,0,3681853,print.story
- ↑ "Gioia, Community Dedicate Sunnyside Eruv," Queens Gazette, 19 Sept. 2007, 6 Apr. 2009 <http://www.qgazette.com/news/2007/0919/features/028.html>
- ↑ Jack Mooney, "A Slender Thread to Knit a Neighborhood," New York Times, 12 Aug. 2007, 6 Apr. 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/nyregion/thecity/12disp.html?_r=1&scp=29&sq=irish%20sunnyside&st=cse>
This page was created by Amy Lu.