The Integration of Immigrants In The United States.

This article focuses on the factors which contributed to the integration of immigrants in the U.S. A fundamental characteristic of the human race has always been its mobility. From the stone age, and probably before, man has ever been on the move. Throughout history populations have shifted, penetrating wildenesses, crossing oceans, spanning continents, fleeing disaster and oppression, seeking better locations, searching out freedom, striving for more opportunity to live, perpetuate the species, and foster the growth of culture. To say that "integration" is a happier and more exact term than others to describe the successful inclusion of a new group into an existing society is not idle pedantry. The older term "assimilation", besides its misleading biological connotation, too often implies a one-way street in group relations. It suggests that the newcomer is divested of his old culture completely and is virtually remoulded in everything from clothes to ideology. The fact of the matter is, therefore, that the U.S. has not generally assimilated the newcomer nor absorbed him.