Coming to America by Roger Daniels
Chapter 1: Overseas Migration from
Europe
Key Questions
• How did worldwide events influence decisions to
emigrate to America?
• What was the predominant socio-economic
group that came from Europe?
• Did immigrant groups resist or embrace
assimilation? Why?
• Did most immigrants immigrate in family units
like the Puritans of the Great Migration?
• How many returned home? Why?
Thesis
• Thesis: Most of what we believe about
immigration is a shrouded in myth. The three
great myths are of (1) Plymouth Rock, (2) the
Statue of Liberty, and (3) the Melting Pot.
The Plymouth Rock Myth
• The first myth is that most immigrants to
America came for religious or political
freedom as did the pilgrims to Plymouth Rock,
when in fact that is not the case. And in fact,
only half of the original pilgrims came for
religious freedom, hence William Bradford’s
reference to Pilgrims as a group of “saints and
strangers.”
Plymouth Rock Myth Debunked
• Daniels points out that the vast majority of
immigrants from the colonial period until
today came for economic advancement:
“Although they came for a wide variety of
social and personal reasons, the rubric
‘economic betterment’ covers the vast
majority of the cases.”
Statue of Liberty Myth
• Daniels also points out that most immigrants
were not the poorest of the poor in Europe as
Emma Lazarus suggests in her poem about the
Statue of Liberty, “The New Colossus”:
• Send me your tired, your poor huddled
masses… the wretched refuse of your
teeming shore…”
Statue of Liberty Myth Debunked
• On the contrary, most immigrants were
“usually below the average attainments
in…education, income, and the like”, but
“drawn not [from] the lowest ranks of
European society.”
The Melting Pot Myth
• The traditional myth is that European
immigrants came to America, gave up the
culture of their homeland and, as Crevecouer
suggested as early as 1770, “melted into a
new race of men that will one day cause great
changes in the world…”
The Melting Pot Myth Debunked
• Daniels argues that in fact most immigrant
groups did not “melt” their culture in the
larger society, although that does not mean
they did not try to assimilate economically or
politically: “Not only have ethnic
groups…persisted,…relatively little
amalgamation has taken place.”
The Positive Family Myth
Two other interesting stereotypes that Daniels
seems to take delight in smashing are:
• that immigrants came to America in family
units just like the early Puritans, and
• that the immigrant story was generally a
pretty positive one with few exceptions.
Family Myth Debunked
• For the first myth, Daniels basically asserts
what he refers to as a “chain migration”
starting usually with young male family
members finding a place in America, and then
sending for other family members. In this
way, whole communities would flow from
villages in Europe, transplanted into cities like
Chicago.
Positive Experience Myth
• For the second myth, Daniels says pointedly
that “for many the adventure became a
disaster, the drama a tragedy, the dream a
nightmare.” And goes on to point out a trend
that most Americans never see in a history
book: the return of millions of immigrants to
their native homeland in “remigration:”
Germans, for example, had 13.7% rate or
remigration home.
The Significance
• I believe Daniels’ observations are significant
because his myth-busting gives us a more
realistic picture of the immigrant experience
and helps debunk some of the ongoing,
perennial comparisons between the old
European immigrants (to whom most
Americans claim ancestry) and any new
immigrants.