Question

To what extent did immigrants give up their heritage to become Americanized, or fully assimilated into the existing culture?

Answer 1

Answer:

The immigration experience for different groups of immigrants is different and they assimilated to American society in different ways. There were also biases and prejudices on the part of mainstream society that were barriers for some populations.

Explanation:

The process of assimilating into American culture is complex. The early immigrants from Northern Europe who arrived in colonial times or shortly thereafter had an easier assimilation process as they were more like the settlers culturally and historically although some Scandinavian and German cultural influences remained among families and in particular regions. There was also a large population who immigrated from Ireland around time from the 1820s to 1860s. In the mid to late 1800s there were waves of immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and they were linguistically and culturally more distinct and so they also created enclaves in many of the the largest cities that allowed them to keep some of their heritage. Generally by the second generation immigrant children adopt many of the traits of the dominant culture and they are bilingual in many cases but can speak English like anyone born American.  The Chinese for example were discriminated against and excluded with the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. It was harder for them to assimilate.