Glossary of Terms and Policies/Laws
Terms
- Acculturation: Immigrants adopt aspects of their new culture while retaining original elements.
- Assimilation: Immigrants fully adopt a new culture, often losing original identity.
- Cultural Resilience: Immigrant communities preserve traditions despite discrimination or assimilation.
- Ethnic Enclave: Immigrant neighborhoods preserving language and culture (e.g., Chinatown, Little Italy).
- Generational Change: Cultural adaptation differences between immigrant parents and their children.
- Industrial Revolution: Created urban jobs attracting immigrants during the 18th-19th centuries.
- Labor Movement: Efforts, including by immigrants, to improve wages and working conditions.
- Nativism: Movement prioritizing native-born citizens, opposing immigration for economic or cultural fears.
- Pull Factors: Opportunities in a new country attracting immigrants, like jobs and freedoms.
- Push Factors: Conditions forcing emigration, such as poverty or persecution.
- Urbanization: Growth of cities as rural and immigrant populations seek opportunities.
- Xenophobia: Fear or hatred of foreigners, often leading to discrimination against immigrants.
Policies and Laws
- American Protective Association (1887): Anti-Catholic group advocating stricter immigration laws.
- Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): Banned Chinese laborers and denied citizenship to those already in the U.S.
- Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907): Limited Japanese immigration through U.S.-Japan agreement.
- Homestead Act (1862): Offered land to settlers, including immigrants, willing to farm it for five years.
- Immigration Act of 1917: Required literacy tests to restrict less-educated immigrants.
- Indian Removal Act (1830): Forced Native tribes west, causing the Trail of Tears with thousands of deaths.
- Know-Nothing Party (1855): Sought to restrict immigration and bar Catholics from office.
- Naturalization Requirements: Allowed immigrants to apply for citizenship after five years of residency.
- Quota Acts (1920s): Limited immigration, favoring Western Europeans over other regions.
- Worcester v. Georgia (1832): Upheld Cherokee land rights; ignored by President Jackson, leading to forced removal.
