Immigration and "Halfway to Dick and Jane"

2. TIMELINE

21. Poetry of Angel Island
• 1910 and 1940: about 175,000 Chinese
immigrants were detained/processed.
• Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act,
Angel Island served more as a detention
and deportation center than an immigration
processing center.
• Thousands of Chinese were detained and
interrogated at the barracks in a prison-like
atmosphere for weeks, months or years.
• One hundred persons would sleep in bunk
beds, three high in columns, in a room
about 1,000 square feet.

30. Immigration Restriction League
• Founded in 1894-1921
• They believed that immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe were racially
inferior to Anglo-Saxons, and they
threatened the “American way of life” and
the high wage scale.
• They worried about immigrants bringing in
poverty and organized crime at a time of
high unemployment.
• Introduced a bill in 1918 to hire more
immigration officers and strengthen US-
Mexico US-Canada borders.

34. Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907
• U.S. would cease restrictions on Japanese
immigration.
• The Empire of Japan would restrict
emigration to the U.S.

36. Americanization Movement
• 1910s: Organized nationwide effort to
integrate millions of immigrants into U.S.
• 30+ states passed laws requiring
Americanization programs: English
language classes, civics, etc.
• Labor unions, helped their members with
citizenship papers.
• YMCA and YWCA were especially active!
• Movement climaxed during World War I as
young immigrant men were drafted in Army
• U.S. integrated European ethnic groups
into the national identity.

37. Political Machines
• Rely on hierarchy and rewards for political
power.
• Commands enough votes to maintain
political and administrative control of a city,
county, or state.
• Political group in which an authoritative
boss or small group commands the support
of a corps of supporters and businesses
who receive rewards for their efforts.
• Power is based on the ability of the
workers to get out the straight party vote
for their candidates on election day.

44. Post-War
• Since each of the World Wars, immigration
in the U.S. has changed drastically yet
again.

45. Bracero Program 1930s
• Program established between U.S. and
Mexico to recruit temporary Mexican
agricultural workers to the U.S. to make up
for war time labor shortages in the far west.
• The program persisted until 1964, and had
sponsored 4.5 million border crossings.

46. McCarren-Walter Act, 1952
• Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952
• Limited immigration based on ethnicity, but
allowed for quotas for those displaced by
WWII and allowed for increased
immigration of European refugees.
• Restricted those from Communist
countries.
• Anyone suspected of Communist ties was
usually refused entry.

47. Immigration Act of 1965
• Annual limit of 17,000 visas for immigrants
from eastern hemisphere.
• No more than 20,000 persons allowed
entry per country.

48. Immigration Reform and Control
Act of 1986
• Update of 1965 Act
• Outlaws hiring of undocumented
immigrants.
• Offers legal status to aliens who have lived
in the U.S. for five years.

49. Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) of 2012
• First proposed in 2001
• Policy that allows some individuals who
entered the country as undocumented
minors to receive a renewable two-year
period of deferred action from deportation
and to be eligible for a work permit.
• As of 2017, approximately 800,000
individuals were enrolled in the program
created by DACA.
• Scheduled to be phased out 5 March
2018(?)

50. Immigration Today
• Approximately 43.3 million foreign-born
people live in the United States (20.7 million
naturalized U.S. citizens and 22.6 million
noncitizens).
• In 2016, 1.49 million foreign-born individuals
moved to the United States. India was the
leading country of origin.
• Many work in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
• Undocumented immigrants have declined in
number since the “Great Recession” (2008)
Stat.s from Pew Research

51. Immigration Today

52. Let’s Review U.S. Immigration History
• Work with a partner or group of three to fill
out the U.S. immigration timeline handout.

53. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
• Agüeros is a writer who centers on the
topic of immigration issues.
• As an activist, Agüeros sought to draw
attention to the injustices that prevented
Puerto Ricans from improving their lives,
such as:
• The withholding of resources from schools
in Puerto Rican neighborhoods
• Lack of maintenance with regard to
infrastructure
• Hiring discrimination
• Police violence

54. “Dick and Jane”
• Books used to teach children reading and
memorization skills, and were standard in
schools until the 1970s.

55. Puerto Rico
1898:Under Treaty, Puerto Rico ceded by Spanish to US.
1900 - US Congress institutes civil government in Puerto
Rico under Foraker Act. US holds strict control of island.
1917 - Jones Act grants US citizenship to Puerto Ricans.
1947 - Partial self-government granted so Puerto Ricans
elect governor.
1950 - Pres. Truman signs Puerto Rico Commonwealth
Bill, paving the way for a Puerto Rican constitution.
Nationalists oppose the law and resort to violence.
1951 - Puerto Ricans vote for commonwealth status.
1952 - Puerto Rico’s constitution proclaimed, granting
autonomy in affairs.

56. Puerto Rico
• July 1950: The Puerto Rico Federal
Relations Act signed by Pres. Truman
enables Puerto Ricans to organize a local
government and constitution of their own
and remain a territory of the U.S.
• From its enactment to today, the Act has
served as the law for the government of
Puerto Rico and its relation with the U.S.
• The new constitution would only grant
Puerto Rico autonomy over its local affairs,
relieving Washington of that responsibility.

57. “Nuyorican”
• Diaspora: those who live away from the
homeland.
• Puerto Ricans who live as diaspora in New
York.
• 1,800,000 Puerto Ricans live in New York
City.

58. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
• This narrative follows three generations of
immigrants whose lives are affected by
larger social and political movements
happening around them.
• Written as a biographical essay (first
published in 1970).

59. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
With a partner, respond on a sheet of paper
you will turn in. Consider the history of
immigration that we have covered, today:
• Why did the author choose this title? Find
at least to elements of evidence from the
reading.
• Which of the laws and social movements
would have affected the life of the narrator
and his family? Why? How?
•

60. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
1920s
Johnson-Reed Act of 1917:
• The first widely restrictive immigration law.
• Driven by the uncertainty generated over
national security during World War I.
• Implemented a literacy test requiring basic
reading comprehension in any language.
• Increased tax paid by new immigrants on
arrival; allowed immigration officials to
make decisions over whom to exclude.
• Excluded anyone born in “Asiatic Barred
Zone” except for Japanese and Filipinos.

61. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
1920s
.

62. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
Generation 1: author’s father arrives in the
U.S. in 1920
• During this time, immigration is beginning
to face restrictions that were not
implemented before.
• Father speaks “school English,” which is
almost another language compared to local
dialect(s) of English.
• The multiplicity of “cold” caused him to
return to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

63. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
1920s
Generation 1: narrator’s father arrives in U.S.
National Origins Act of 1924:
Puts an end to the relatively “open borders”
on immigration in U.S.:
• A quota that provided immigration visas to
two percent of the total number of people
of each nationality in the United States
(based on 1890 national census).
• Completely excluded immigrants from Asia.
• Does not affect the father of the story, as
he was granted citizenship in 1917.

64. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
1930s
.

65. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”: 1930s
• Puerto Rico is fighting for autonomy:
“The tyranny of the new gringo governor
was causing serious repercussions…” (94).
• 1934: Blanton Winship is appointed
governor of Puerto Rico and sought to
suppress P.R. nationalism.
• 1937 Ponce Massacre: P.R. nationalists
planned a protest march; Winship canceled
the march and sent in military police, who
opened fire with Winship’s sanction, killing
17 unarmed civilians, two policemen,
wounding 235 civilians.

66. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”: 1930s
• How did the new governor and the
massacre affect the life of the narrator’s
father?
• 1934: New governor appointed and
institutes repression, narrator’s family
quickly moves to New York. Narrator is
born (95).

67. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
1940s
.

68. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
Puerto Rico in the 1940s
• 1941: narrator moves to larger apartment.
• What is the ethnic community like? (97).
• What educational characters does the
narrator compare his life to? Why?
• In the early to mid-1940s, the narrator
notices a number of empty apartment
buildings. Why is this?

69. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
Puerto Rico in the 1940s
• After World War II: the third great wave of
domestic migration from Puerto Rico.
• 40,000 Puerto Ricans settled in New York
City in 1946, and 58,500 in 1952–53.
• Many soldiers used GI Bill to go to college.
• Puerto Rican women left their homes for
the factories in record numbers
• By 1953, Puerto Rican migration to New
York reached its peak when 75,000 people
left the island.

70. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
1950s
.

71. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
Puerto Rico in the 1950s
• Influx of population.
• What caused the significant influx of the
Puerto Rican population after the War?
• How did this change affect the social
atmosphere in the narrator’s
neighborhood? (97, bottom)
• Relative wealth
• “Puerto-Ricanness” (98, top)
• What has happened to “Dick and Jane”?
• What has happened to ethnic communities
(now neighborhoods)?

72. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
Puerto Rico in the 1950s
• What sort of racism, with regard to housing
discrimination, did the narrator’s parents
experience? (99)
• What sort of classism is the narrator
himself guilty of? (101)
• The final paragraphs of the essay ask
“What is a migration?” What does this
question mean, and how does he finally
answer it?

73. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
vs.
“West Side Story”
Puerto Rico in the 1950s
• This musical was set in the center of the
great migration of Puerto Ricans to New
York, amid growing tensions among racial
groups.

74. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
vs.
“West Side Story”
Puerto Rico in the 1950s
• This musical was produced in the 1950s,
and reflected the tensions between white
Americans and influx of immigrants (“Jews,
Italians,… Puerto Ricans… Irish,” page 97)

75. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
vs.
“West Side Story”
Puerto Rico in the 1950s
• “The Sharks”: Puerto Rican gang
• “The Jets”: White gang

76. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
vs.
“West Side Story”
Puerto Rico in the 1950s
• Pay particular attention to how each ethnic
group is treated in this scene.

77. “Halfway to Dick and Jane”
vs.
“West Side Story”
Puerto Rico in the 1950s
• Follow the lyrics of the song “America.” The
song is meant to portray the ambivalent
feelings of Puerto Ricans at this time.