Chapter 6 Overview: Pioneers of the Century of Immigration

Chapter 6 is all about breaking down the barriers of "old" and "new" immigrants. Typically, immigrants before the 1880s who had a somewhat easy time assimilating to American culture are considered to be "old" immigrants. Whereas those who came after the 1880s are thought of to be the "new" immigrants. In this section of the book, however, the author does not focus on the distinction of "old" and "new" immigrants. Instead, he focuses on the immigrants themselves and the countries that they emigrated from. The three large groups that he talks about are the Irish, German, and Scandinavian. He makes the point that the differences between old and new immigrants is not really that different. While there are significant changes that occur before and after 1880, he notes that each group was still dealing with similar problems. Between 1860 and 1920, America made the jump from 30 million to 105 million persons. We grew from being largely agricultural to being a mostly industrial one. Our nation changed because of these immigrants. As the author speaks about different nationalities of some of the first immigrants, it is interesting to see what each group brought to the new country that they helped to develop.