E-Book Overview
Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians represent three of every four immigrants who arrived in the United States after 1970. Yet despite their large numbers and long history of movement to America, non-Europeans are conspicuously absent from many books about immigration.
In <strong>Other Immigrants, David M. Reimers offers the first comprehensive account of non-European immigration, chronicling the compelling and diverse stories of frequently overlooked Americans. Reimers traces the early history of Black, Hispanic, and Asian immigrants from the fifteenth century through World War II, when racial hostility led to the virtual exclusion of Asians and aggression towards Blacks and Hispanics. He then tells the story of post-1945 immigration, when these groups dominated the immigration statistics and began to reshape American society.
The capstone to a lifetime of groundbreaking work on immigration, Reimers’s thoughtful history recognizes the ambiguity and subjectivity of race, noting that individuals often define themselves more complexly than census forms allow. However classified, record numbers of immigrants are streaming to the United States and creating the most diverse society in the world. <strong>Other Immigrants is a timely account of their arrival.
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Other Immigrants Other Immigrants The Global Origins of the American People David M. Reimers a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London new york university press New York and London www.nyupress.org © 2005 by New York University All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Reimers, David M. Other immigrants : the global origins of the American people / David M. Reimers. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–8147–7534–9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0–8147–7535–7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Ethnology—United States—History. 2. Minorities— United States—History. 3. Immigrants—United States—History. 4. United States—Ethnic relations. 5. United States—Emigration and immigration—History. I. Title. E184.A1R4435 2004 305.8'00973—dc22 2004016632 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Manufactured in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Emanuel and Nathaniel Contents Preface ix Introduction 1 Part I: From beyond Europe, 1492–1940 11 1 The Beginnings, 1550–1900 13 2 Asians in Hawaii and the United States 40 3 North to America, 1900–1940 71 Part II: The Emergence of a New Multicultural Society, 1940–Present 99 4 El Norte: Mexicans, 1940–Present 101 5 Central and South Americans 125 6 Across the Pacific Again: East Asian Immigrants 157 7 Across the Pacific Again: South Asian Immigrants 186 8 Middle Easterners 207 9 The New Black Immigrants 232 10 The Refugees: Cubans and Asians 261 Epilogue 289 Notes 293 vii viii | Contents Suggested Reading 361 Index 367 About the Author 389 Preface A good deal of my prior research and writing has focused on immigrants other than Europeans, migrants some scholars label “people of color.” These immigrants include Latinos, Asians, and blacks. I pulled together some of my thoughts on these millions of persons for an essay published by the American Historical Association’s Teaching Diversity series, under the title “Immigration of People of Color to t