The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America — John Shaqi
The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of AmericaDu Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt)
History
The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt)
African Americans -- History; United States -- Race relations
The “country of origin” tells us almost nothing about the large Hebrew
immigration which comes to the United States. The Jew comes from many
countries. The greater part of all our recent Jewish immigration comes
from Russia, from what is called the “Jewish Pale of Settlement” in the
western part of that country. Other Jews come from Austria, Roumania,
Germany and Turkey. In 1914, the Jews were the fourth largest in numbers
among our immigrants, nearly 143,000.[31]
We must also bear in mind that all of these millions who came to America
do not remain with us. There is a constant emigration going on, a
departure of aliens back to their native land either for a time, or for
all time. Up to 1908, the Bureau of Immigration kept no record of the
“ebb of the tide” but since that time vessels taking aliens out of the
United States, are obliged by law to make a list containing name, age,
sex, nationality, residence in the United States, occupation, and time
of last arrival of each alien passenger, which must be filed with the
Federal Collector of Customs.
The first year of this record, 1908, followed the financial panic of
October, 1907, and due to the economic conditions prevalent in the United
States a very large emigration to Europe was disclosed.
The records show also that the volume of emigration, like that of
immigration, varies from year to year. Just as prosperity here increases
immigration, “bad” times increase emigration from our shores.
There was a time when emigration was so slight that it was of little
importance, but since the early nineties it has assumed large
proportions. After the panic of 1907, for months a larger number left the
country than came into it, and thousands and thousands swarmed the ports
of departure awaiting a chance to return home. In the earlier years,
the immigrant sometimes spent months making the journey here. Besides
the difficulty of the trip, ocean transportation was more expensive.
Therefore, the earlier immigrants came to remain, to make homes here
for themselves and their children. The Irish, the Germans, the early
Bohemians, the Scandinavians, and in fact all the early comers brought
their families and their “household goods”, ready to settle down for all
time and to become citizens of their adopted country.
A large number of the alien arrivals of recent years come here initially
with only a vague intention of remaining permanently, and these make up
the large emigration streaming constantly from our ports. However, it
is only fair to say that eventually many of these people come back to
America and become permanent residents. Anyone who has had experience at
our ports of entry can substantiate the statement that during a period of
years the same faces are seen incoming again and again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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