Immirgation

Dear Francisco, Hey long time no talk. America is great! There’s so much freedom here. The inventions here amaze me. Over here we have cars. I couldn’t believe how many differences there is in America. Francisco, I’m going to tell you all about it. Seeing my family again for the first time in 3 years was amazing. My daughter grew up so fast. I couldn’t believe that she is now 5 years old. I started to cry when I saw my husband. It felt so good to hold him again. Just to be with my family again is the best thing that ever happened. When I first came over here it was to get away from slavery. Here I can have a job I like. I have a farm. My farm is so big and has so many acres. I started to get some horses for some harder work I can’t do. I have at least three pigs. They are just so cute! My daughter loves to run through the fields. Buster the dog has so much room to run around. Buster loves to play with the birds. Normally I would get into for just saying what was on my mind. But here I can have the freedom of speech. I couldn’t believe it when I was speaking I didn’t get beat or thrown into jail. To be able to have freedom shocks me. I’m so use to being able not to have any freedoms. Back home my freedom didn’t exist because I was Hispanic and a women. Oh my god, the inventions here work. I can get to town easily and fast. When I want to go across town I can just ride the train. The train is loud but it gets you to where you need to be. The cars are good to go to town but not for long distance. Being in America is amazing. The freedom and all that comes with it is great. I’m hold back money so I can get you over here. I know you’ll love it in America. It’s hard to say that America is better than home but it’s the truth. I hope to hear from you soon. Love lots, Amelia Alvarado

[|The Huddled Masses],  The poem, which was written in 1883 to help raise money for the statue's pedestal. In 1881, a wave of anti-Semitism swept across Russia. Thousands of Jews set sail for America. [|The New Immigrants],  Some 334,203 immigrants arrived in the United States in 1886. In 1900, 14 percent of the American population was foreign born. Europeans that came to United States greatly increased during the civil war. [|The Chinese Exclusion Act], From 1882-1943 Chinese were banned from coming to the United States. Chinese Exclusion Act was the nation's first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. From 1850 to 1865, political and religious rebellions within China left 30 million dead and the country's economy in a state of collapse [|Contract Agreement], Beginning in the 1840s, about 380,000 Chinese laborers migrated to the U.S. mainland and 46,000 to Hawaii. Between 1885 and 1924, some 200,000 Japanese workers went to Hawaii and 180,000 to the U.S. mainland. [|Immigration Restriction], during the late 19th and early 20th century, the United States imposed additional restrictions on immigration. During the 20th century, all advanced countries imposed restrictions on the entry of immigrants. [|United States's Changing Face],  As recently as the 1950s, two-thirds of all immigrants to the United States came from Europe or Canada. Since 1965, when the United States ended strict national immigration quotas, the number of Hispanics in the United States tripled and the number of Asians increased nearly eight-fold.h