IMMIGRATION AND COSMOPOLITAN CITIES IN THE USA

From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast, within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Through the years, this gateway to the new world was enlarged from its original 3.3 acres to 27.5 acres mostly by landfill obtained from ship ballast and possibly excess earth from the construction of the New York City subway system.

Early American immigrants came from the countries such as England, Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia and constituted the first large wave of immigrants that settled and populated the United States.They were sailing to the country of dreams for several weeks. They were transported by huge steamships.

Once the immigrant arrived in Ellis Island, he would be questioned about his identity and his paperwork would be examined. Inspectors were usually foreign-born immigrants themselves and spoke several languages so communication problems were nearly non-existent. From the beginning, the immigrant understood that to enter the United States two things were important above all others: one must prove to be disease-free, and convince authorities that they could make a living in the newly adopted country.

People left their friends, land, starvation, love behind them to find new possibilities of prosperity, religious acceptation, democracy, peace or asylum. They were afraid of new life but they believed in success.

Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States and it is a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, It was the first visible point for newcomers sailing to the USA.

People coming from all over the world started to form American nation- the nation created by many nationalities. The biggest cosmopolitan coexistence started to exist.

New York city and many American cities are considered to be cosmopolitan cities because of different nationalities living there. Immigrants set up their quarters to keep their culture, languages, costumes and traditions. The Americans are proud of their own descent as well as their American identity.

Thousands of black people from Africa were abducted, branded, sailed and sold. Rich southern farmers abused their labour. The black existed without any human rights and they were the property of their owners. Slavery caused many historical American events such as The Civil war and Huge movement for human rights in the middle of 20 th century. dark side of American history

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." Martin Luther King Jr.

There is a place where you can live without prejudices, where you can meet people from all over the world. We are not the same but we are similar.