The history of Greek immigration

The history of Greek immigration

The history of Greek immigration to the United States. Greeks immigrated to the United States later than most Europeans, a

The history of Greek immigration

The history of Greek immigration to the United States. Greeks immigrated to the United States later than most Europeans, and it was not until the late eighteenth century that Greeks began to immigrate to the United States. Between 1899 and 19 10, more Greeks arrived in the United States. During this period, most immigrants were men, including farmers, shepherds, fishermen and small traders. One of the reasons why these people immigrated to the United States was to escape the compulsory conscription system in Greece at that time.

From 1900 to 1925, about 350,000 Greeks immigrated to the United States. Most Greek immigrants like to make a living in big cities. New york is the first choice, and Chicago is their favorite big city, followed by some cities in New England. Although Greek immigrants have some basic job skills, they generally have only received two or three years of school education and cannot speak any English. Most of the work they do is washing dishes in restaurants and selling cigars and sweets with trolleys.

Adventure-loving Greeks go to the west to do manual labor. There are Greeks in Nevada, Utah and California. Greeks worked in dark mines, laid rails in the scorching sun and sold their labor in sweatshops. Because they can't speak English, no matter what job the Greeks do, their wages are very low.

Greece is an island country, and many people can go fishing by boat. The Greeks living in Rhode Island fished along the Atlantic coast. Their success made them targets of racial discrimination. 1909, the Rhode Island Parliament passed a bill prohibiting non-citizens from fishing, which cut off the livelihood of Greek fishermen at sea. This legislative restriction on individual ethnic groups is reminiscent of the disgraceful history of 1882, when China people were prohibited from entering the country by legislation of the National Assembly.

In California, Utah and Colorado, Greeks also suffered from strong racial discrimination. Great cultural differences and discrimination in mainstream society forced Greek immigrant society to become a relatively closed living environment; Most Greek children learn Greek before they go to school to learn English. This situation has led many Greek children to be teased by other children at school because of their poor English. The child's mind, as blank as a piece of paper, has been painted with the shadow of prejudice and discrimination since childhood.

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