Unit 1: Cultural Diversity

Immigration

the permanent relocation of people from other countries to live in the United States

Emigrant

to permanently leave ones home country or region to settle in another

Naturalization

the legal process by which a foreign-born person voluntarily becomes a U.S citizen

Refugee

a person who has left their home country because of war, violence or severe fear of being hurt and cannot safely return

Quota

a federal policy that limited the number of immigrants who could enter the country each year based on their nationality

Illegal Alien

a foreign-born person residing in or entering the United States without authorization or legal status

Green Card

an official identity document proving a noncitizen holds lawful permanent resident status in the United States

Legalization

process of making an action, substance or status lawful by removing previous legal bans

Preference System

immigration framework that allocates permanent residency visas based on family relationships and job skills rather than race, nationality or ancestry

Push Factors

a negative condition in a persons home country or region that drives them to leave and go somewhere else

Pull Factors

a positive condition or quality in the United States that attracts immigrants and encourages them to move there from another country

Assimilation

process where a minority group or immigrant population adopts the cultural norms, values and language of the dominant American society, often losing aspects of their own heritage

Discrimination

the unfair, prejudicial treatment of individuals or groups based on their race, gender, religion, age, disability or other social categories

Nativism

a political and social ideology that favors the interests of native-born, long-established residents over the interests of immigrants

cultural pluralism

the principle where smaller groups within a larger society maintain their distinct cultural identities and values, rather than fully melting or assimilating a single dominant culture.

"Melting Pot" theory

a metaphor for how diverse immigrant groups blend together to form a single, unified American culture

Know Nothing Party

prominent anti-immigrant and anti-catholic political movement in the US during the 1840s and 1850s

Chinese Exclusion Act

banned all immigration of Chinese laborers, stopped all Chinese workers from entering the US

Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907

informal diplomatic understanding between the United States and Japan that restricted Japanese labor immigration to the US in exchange for repealing discriminatory school segregation in San Francisco

Literacy Tests of 1917

federal law that required all immigrants aged 16 and older to pass a basic reading test in any language to enter the United States

Emergency Quota Act of 1921

Federal law that established the first numerical limits on immigration into the United States

National Origins Act of 1924

federal law that limited annual immigration and set strict national quotas