The New Immigrants
Storyboard Text
- Part 1: Joe
- Hi,#160;I’m Joe! I'm one of the million of immigrants that have come to the U.S . My family wanted to come here from Europe because it would give us a better life. Before, life was more difficult. We faced famine, shortages of everything, and persecution. So we decided it was best if we left.
- My mother, Paola, said other people came here for gold that was found in 1848. But that's not why we’re here. My dad and many other immigrants are here to work on the railroads, and they just achieved the first transcontinental line!
- How long do you think you’ll work on railroads for dad?#160;
- Not long Joe, the people in charge are having me move to farming, mining, and domestic service once I’m done with the railroads.
- Part 2: Joe's sister (Sara)
- It seems like we never stay here long Joe, why do mom and dad have us move so much?
- Well, there's new land and opportunities being made in the West because of the 1902 National Reclamation Act, so they want us to move there.
- What if there's no room for us to move there? I don’t wanna be crowded like we were on the steerage to get here, it was uncomfortable.
- Then we’ll just have to find somewhere else like everyone else they don’t have room for.
- For a while, everyone was asking my family how we achieved to get here. It was a struggle. We had no idea if we’d even pass the scary inspections at the immigration stations at Ellis Island. We had to take tests, like a physical examination and a medical exam as well as meet many requirements.
- Although it wasn’t as difficult to find people who spoke the same language as us and shared the same values, hat doesn’t change the fact that Americans feel threatened by us and are scared that we are disrupting their way of life.
- Part 3: Mom/Dad
- We can only hope that this changes for the sake of our family and others.
- The first few months our family struggled, we had to learn to speak and understand a new language, and quickly find a place to live so that we could find jobs to support our family.
- At the moment we fear that our kids are going to grow up being harassed by groups being made such as The American Protective Association which launches violent anti-Catholic attacks, or that they might be asked to take tests similar to that of the Immigration Restriction League which required immigrants to know more than 40 words in English in order to recieve entry. Or possibly even an act that refuses entry to anyone of a certain race or ethnicity, like the Chinese Exclusion Act.
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