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Streets Paved With Gold: Immigration and the Image of America

Year 1999, Issue: 9, 17 - 32, 01.04.1999

Abstract

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed a bill reforming the United States’ highly restrictive immigration policy. The site chosen for the ceremony was symbolic—the base of the Statue of Liberty. For Johnson and most Americans the statue was the most appropriate location to enact a bill that liberalized the nation’s immigration law. In the minds of many the Bartholdi statue represented what immigrants expected of America and what America expected of itself. It was the guardian of the “golden door” to a land promising liberty, opportunity, freedom, and refuge. These words were part of the symbolism that surrounded an image of America built around immigration, an image that one might argue is at the core of the way the nation views itself and wishes to be viewed in the late-twentieth century

References

  • Adamic, Louis. Laughing in the Jungle: The Autobiography of An Immigrant in America. New York and London: Harpers and Brothers, 1932.
  • Bossert, Gustav. Das Wanderbuchlein nach Nordamerika. Rotweil: n. p., 1842.
  • Bok, Edward. The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1920.
  • Bodnar, John. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  • Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
  • DeCapite, Michael. The Bennett Place. New York: John Day, 1948.
  • Doctors at the Gate: The U.S. Public Health Service at Ellis Island. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Health and Medicine, 1997.
  • Gall, Ludwig, Meine Auswanderung nach den Vereinigten-Staaten in Nord Amerika. Trier: F.A.Gall, 1822.
  • Hanson, Marcus Lee. The Atlantic Migration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1945.
  • Higham, John. “The Transformation of the Statue of Liberty.” Send These to Me: Immigrants in Urban America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. 71-80.
  • -----. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1992.
  • Hoerder, Dirk ed. American Labor and Immigration History 1877-1920s: Recent European Research. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
  • ------ and Horst Rössler, eds. Distant Magnets: Expectations and Realities in the Immigrant Experience 1840-1930. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1993.
  • ------ and Leslie Moch, eds. European Migrants: Global and Local Perspectives. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996.
  • Holte, James Craig. The Ethnic I: A Sourcebook for Ethnic-American Autobiography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
  • Jones, Maldwyn A. “Scotch-Irish.” Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980. 895-908.
  • -----. American Immigration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Kula, Witold, ed. Listy Emigrantow z Brazylii i Stanow Zjedjoczonych 1890- 1891 (Letters of the Emigrants from Brazil and the United States, 1890-1891). Warsaw: Ludowa Spoldzielnia Wydawnicza, 1973.
  • Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” Emma Lazarus: Selections from her Poetry and Prose with an Introduction by Morris U. Schappes. New York: Federation of Jewish Women’s Clubs, 1967.
  • Leyburn, James G. The Scotch-Irish: A Social History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1962.
  • Paine, Thomas. Common Sense in The Basic Writings of Thomas Paine. New York: Wiley, 1942.
  • Payne, James Robert, ed. Multicultural Autobiography: American Lives. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992.
  • Reimers, David M. Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America. New York, Columbia University Press, 1992.
  • Seelye, John. Memory’s Nation: The Place of Plymouth Rock. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
  • Tocqueville, Alexis de. De la démocratie en Amérique. 4 vols. Paris: Librairie de C. Gosselin, 1835-1840. Democracy in America. Trans. George Lawrence. New York: Harper Perennial, 1988.
  • Van Tassel, David D. Recording America’s Past: An Interpretation of the Development of Historical Studies in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
  • Wtulich, Josephine, ed. Writing Home:Immigrants in Brazil and the United States 1890-1891. Boulder and New York: Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1986.
  • Zangwill, Israel. The Melting Pot. New York: Macmillan, 1909.
Year 1999, Issue: 9, 17 - 32, 01.04.1999

Abstract

References

  • Adamic, Louis. Laughing in the Jungle: The Autobiography of An Immigrant in America. New York and London: Harpers and Brothers, 1932.
  • Bossert, Gustav. Das Wanderbuchlein nach Nordamerika. Rotweil: n. p., 1842.
  • Bok, Edward. The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1920.
  • Bodnar, John. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  • Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
  • DeCapite, Michael. The Bennett Place. New York: John Day, 1948.
  • Doctors at the Gate: The U.S. Public Health Service at Ellis Island. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Health and Medicine, 1997.
  • Gall, Ludwig, Meine Auswanderung nach den Vereinigten-Staaten in Nord Amerika. Trier: F.A.Gall, 1822.
  • Hanson, Marcus Lee. The Atlantic Migration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1945.
  • Higham, John. “The Transformation of the Statue of Liberty.” Send These to Me: Immigrants in Urban America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. 71-80.
  • -----. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1992.
  • Hoerder, Dirk ed. American Labor and Immigration History 1877-1920s: Recent European Research. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
  • ------ and Horst Rössler, eds. Distant Magnets: Expectations and Realities in the Immigrant Experience 1840-1930. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1993.
  • ------ and Leslie Moch, eds. European Migrants: Global and Local Perspectives. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996.
  • Holte, James Craig. The Ethnic I: A Sourcebook for Ethnic-American Autobiography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
  • Jones, Maldwyn A. “Scotch-Irish.” Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980. 895-908.
  • -----. American Immigration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Kula, Witold, ed. Listy Emigrantow z Brazylii i Stanow Zjedjoczonych 1890- 1891 (Letters of the Emigrants from Brazil and the United States, 1890-1891). Warsaw: Ludowa Spoldzielnia Wydawnicza, 1973.
  • Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” Emma Lazarus: Selections from her Poetry and Prose with an Introduction by Morris U. Schappes. New York: Federation of Jewish Women’s Clubs, 1967.
  • Leyburn, James G. The Scotch-Irish: A Social History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1962.
  • Paine, Thomas. Common Sense in The Basic Writings of Thomas Paine. New York: Wiley, 1942.
  • Payne, James Robert, ed. Multicultural Autobiography: American Lives. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992.
  • Reimers, David M. Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America. New York, Columbia University Press, 1992.
  • Seelye, John. Memory’s Nation: The Place of Plymouth Rock. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
  • Tocqueville, Alexis de. De la démocratie en Amérique. 4 vols. Paris: Librairie de C. Gosselin, 1835-1840. Democracy in America. Trans. George Lawrence. New York: Harper Perennial, 1988.
  • Van Tassel, David D. Recording America’s Past: An Interpretation of the Development of Historical Studies in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
  • Wtulich, Josephine, ed. Writing Home:Immigrants in Brazil and the United States 1890-1891. Boulder and New York: Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1986.
  • Zangwill, Israel. The Melting Pot. New York: Macmillan, 1909.
There are 27 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

John J. Grabowski This is me

Publication Date April 1, 1999
Published in Issue Year 1999 Issue: 9

Cite

MLA Grabowski, John J. “Streets Paved With Gold: Immigration and the Image of America”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, no. 9, 1999, pp. 17-32.

JAST - Journal of American Studies of Turkey