#3140 “The Permanently Unfinished Country”:500 Years of Immigration to America

Every American, except Native Americans, descends from folks arriving from overseas and finding themselves welcomed with hostility by earlier arrivals. Our story looks at why each major group came, what they faced, and how they coped, from Spanish seeking to exploit “the Land of Flowers”, through English seeking profit, Africans driven here by whips, Germans wishing to be left alone, Irish escaping famine, Scots set adrift by the Clearances, Chinese lured by gold, Italians forced here by poverty, Jews by hatred, Vietnamese by war, Latinx by unemployment. Each group carried trepidation in their baggage but also, except for the Africans, an elixir of hope.  It’s a story with no ending for our “permanently unfinished country”.