Oh ToniAnn, how you make me laugh with your outrage towards the Irish and their attitude towards the foreigners. But I do concur- the stance that the Irish had towards the Italians and the Chinese was rather outrageous. As it was depicted in all three chapters of Anbinder, each different group settled in the Five Points (and areas surrounding it) for essentially the same reasons. The Irish came to escape the famine and overall poverty, a situation which worsened due to the potato crop failure. The Italians came because of overpopulation, crop failures, and poverty. The Chinese came after they were pushed out of California, despite the fact that they were acknowledged for having a lot to offer. The stunts pulled by the Irish (sending the Italians to the Transfiguration basement, blaming Chinese opium dens for “ruining” their women) seemed inexcusable to me, considering the fact that they came here for the same reasons that most of the other groups of people did.
Casting the Irish discussion aside, I was amazed to see how reading the chapter(s) of one book made me want to press along further in the other. I read the Foner chapter first, which was clearly a lot more optimistic and “bright-eyed” than what was depicted in Anbinder’s chapter. However, this happy, black-and-white, statistical take on immigration to NYC is understandable; it is only the first chapter after all. The purpose of this first chapter was to to literally describe “Who They Are and Why They Have Come.” The titles of later chapters in that book clearly show that the uglier sides to immigration will be tackled. A book like Anbinder’s immediately delves into the ugliness. There was a stark contrast between the wonderful and modern data in Foner and the truthful, dirty history in Anbinder. In a way that I can’t explain, reading Anbinder actually made me want to go back and continue Foner, so that I could see Foner’s “ugly take” on history.
A common theme tackled in all the chapters of all the books was chain migration. It was a concept that I had never really considered as powerful. However, it made sense. As one Chinese boy recalled, a man from his village returned with wealth that he obtained from “American wizards” (400). Seeing his success, the boy then acquired his dream to obtain wealth from said wizards. Migration causes other foreigners to desire “American wealth.” This chain of migration grows as everyone goes to the city and returns home with some amount of wealth. Honestly, I never imagined that this form of “getting the word out” had such an impact. In fact, I had no idea prior to the reading that chain migration was so popular! I was under the impression that people come here AND STAY here in order to make a better living, and send money back to their family (and bring certain family members over if desired). Even in a modern city of foreigners, I never stopped to think about migration, and its effects.
I hope and predict that as we go further into Foner’s book, some of my questions will be answered. One of the main questions I had is why some wealthy people today would come over to the city; if they were doing so well in their country, why would they want to come here and risk going down the social ladder? I’ve seen it often today among South Asians; men who are doctors back in their country, be in India or Pakistan, travel over here with their families and become mere taxi cab drivers. They had decent lives back in their countries, yet they gave it up to come here and live harder lives. The only reason I’ve ever heard or could think of was that women over here had a better shot at education than back where they came from.
Other than that, I’m hoping that Foner tackles this question, among the many other minor questions that floated around in my mind.
