Elliot Yoon Robert Puglise AP United States History 9/25/24. The U.S. immigration policy from 1855 to 1925 exemplified the complicated interaction of assimilation with exclusion in light of the nation's doubt towards different immigrant groups. It postulates that at the same time as there were those who were actively including immigrant communities into American society, others suffered exclusion because of racial and economic prejudice. Document B highlights some positive contributions that the immigrants brought to American society. It mentions how immigrant experiences and languages were adding to the country, and this opposition to European oppression became an important tool for America in times of war. At the same time, however, it also criticizes the failure of the U.S. to value immigrant languages, …show more content…
Document C is an excerpt from Jane Addams' Twenty Years at Hull House and concerns the assimilation of Italian immigrants through public education. Addams describes how Italian girls, through school lessons, managed to relate their families to American food habits, childcare practices, and household routines.This process of assimilation was positively framed as one in which immigrants would urbanize and become Americanized. In such a context, public schools functioned effectively as Americanizing agents in helping immigrant families make their adjustment to life in their new environment. This document shows that for some groups of immigrants — for example, those coming from Southern Europe — it was believed possible to integrate them into American society by means of education and cultural adjustment. Not every single immigrant group was given the same opportunity to integrate into society. Document D, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, reveals an entirely different approach to immigration, targeting Chinese laborers with exclusion. The act is a reflection of the racial prejudice and economic fears