Immigration & Language HistoryAmericanization Past & Present

Immigration Waves in the U.S.

Colonial Era

1st Wave – 1820 to 1870 “Old Immigrants”

2nd Wave – 1880 to 1920 “New Immigrants”

3rd Wave – 1965- Present

“Tenuous Beginnings”

Immigrants “Americans”

Early Language Policy

“Americanization & Acculturation”

U.S. welcomed the labor but were uncomfortable with “differences”

“Melting Pot” Ideology was formed

The New Immigrants

Hart-Cellar Immigration Act of 1965

1970 – foreign-born people constituted 13%, today they constitute 14.8%

5 million U.S. children live in households in which at least 1 of the parents is unauthorized, and that 2 million of these children are themselves unauthorized.

Immigration Flow

Legal Unauthorized

Types of Immigration (2009)

The New Immigrant

Who is the transnational citizen?

Transnational practices not new:

- Bracero Accord (1952-1964)

- Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986

The Value of Language

“Language is a great force of socialization…potent symbol of the social solidarity of those who speak the language” (Edward Sapir)

Language influences the way we make sense of the human experience (p. 71)

Language is a mechanism of intra-group communication and representation (p. 71)

Language is the “cultural software” through which group members attach and intuit meaning and give shape to their practices (p. 71)

Language Rights & History

Parental Rights & educational pluralism (Meyer v. Nebraska, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, Farrington V. Tokushige)

Brown v. Board of Education

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

Bilingual Education Act of 1968 (Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act)

Lau v. Nichols

Lau Remedies

Lau Remedies

Language Policy Trends

References

Salomone, R. (2010). True American: Language, identity, and the education of immigrant children. Harvard University Press.

Cardenas, J. (19776). Lau Remedies Outlined. Intercultural Development Research Association, San Antonio, TX.

Language Rights (Public Television excerpts)

Internet Images