Migration and Immigration Patterns, Essay Example

Introduction

This paper analyses the article “Rosie the Riveter World War II American Home Front Oral History Project” by Dorothy Eng. The article is an interview between Robin Li and Dorothy Chinn Eng. It is important since it presents Dorothy’s parents experience after migrating from Guangdong to San Francisco, where she was born. She claims that the parents and other individuals left China because of the civil war. The people went to America looking for better employment opportunities. Li questions Dorothy about the opportunities her father had after arriving in America. At first, she claims that her father attended the Presbyterian Church, which had boarding schools designed for immigrants to convert to Christians (Eng, 2011). Dorothy also highlights that her mother migrated to America during the Immigration Act of 1924. During the time, young immigrants went back to China to find wives. She also highlights that her father became an American citizen because her grandfather had already moved in the 1850s. Dorothy’s father started a restaurant business during the Depression, where he ran a gambling business for people to buy lottery. The business was located in East Bay. She adds that the lottery was the only business Chinese immigrants could run in America at the time. In the city, Dorothy and her family lived in only three Cantonese families living there with the rest being white.

Part 2

The article presents an interview between Robin Li and Dorothy Eng, which took place in Oakland, California, on June 9 2011. The interview happened as part of the Rosie the Riveter National Park Service Project. The Regional Oral History Office created the article’s source. The office was interviewing witnesses to events during the development of Northern California and the West. The source was collected using a tape recorder and later transcribed to aid in review.

The article highlights Dorothy’s parents’ life after moving from Guangdong to San Francisco, where she was born. Her mother migrated after the Immigration Act of 1924, when young immigrants were allowed to go to China to search for wives (Eng, 2011). Her father had a restaurant and a lottery business in Emeryville. She highlights that she experienced cruel treatment from white neighbours in Emeryville. Dorothy claims that they even had to adopt English names to fit into the community. Dorothy’s father had a car but could not drive it when everybody else watched. He had to hire someone to drive his family. Dorothy states that during Depression Time, some of her neighbour’s received food each month from the government. They also had no access to utilities, electricity and gas. This shows that racial discrimination did not only come from the neighbour’s but also the government.

Part 3

Drawing from the historical context presented in the podcast on the Detroit riots, the article highlights some of the city’s trends. One of the trends is that most immigrants who had moved to Detroit had done so searching for employment. The podcast highlights that even though the immigrants had good-paying jobs, none of them could enjoy their earnings due to rationing (Stateside Staff, 2018). They did not have access to basic utilities. There was also a shortage of housing for the immigrants. This is the same case in Dorothy’s interview, which highlights that her father and other young men had moved to America in search of better opportunities. She also states that her neighbour’s experienced rationing of gas and electricity. This shows that the experience was the same for all immigrants to America during the period. The podcasts also highlight that immigrants to America lived a segregated life during the period. Non-Americans could not mix with the whites. This was also the source of violence in Detroit. Dorothy states that she was treated badly by white people in her neighbourhood. Her family had to adapt English names to fit in the community.

Part 4

The article identified in this paper is reliable since some of the points presented during the interview match class evidence. In both sources, people moved to America in search of better opportunities. They were also living a segregated life different from that of the whites. Even though some of the concepts match Dorothy’s experience in the interview, they cannot be widely applied to others. Dorothy presents her personal life experience but does not focus on the events during and after the war. A total of sixty-four years had passed since the events took place and the time the interview was conducted. The timespan might have affected Dorothy’s memory a big deal. As a person continues to age, the higher the likelihood of having memory issues. The interviewer’s questions focus more on Dorothy’s personal life than on her experience during and after the war. Dorothy also seems not to remember most of the events that did not involve her personal life. This might be one reason why the interview questions were more focused on her life. Even though the article does not present a highlight of the war, it is important since it creates an understanding of the immigrant life in America before and after the war.

Reference

Eng, D. (2011). Dorothy Eng: Rosie The Riveter World War II American Home Front Oral History Project. Digital Collections. https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/219154?ln=en

Stateside Staff. (2018). 1943 race riots paved the way for Detroit’s civil rights movement. @MichiganRadio. https://www.michiganradio.org/post/1943-race-riots-paved-way-detroit-s-civil-rights-movement