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My grandfather

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My Polish grandmother

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My grandpa's military badges

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The Germans are one of the largest groups of immigrants that migrated to the United States. Six million German immigrants came to America between the times of 1840 – 1880. As well as the largest group of German immigrants came to America between 1820 – World War I.  “German immigrants came from three religious backgrounds: Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish” (ic.galegroup.com). Most of the immigrants that came to America were Protestants. Though some of them were also catholic, but it there was a less percentage of them. Also, some of the Germans that were immigrants were Jewish, but only a small percentage was.

Most immigrants came to America because of freedom purposes. In Germany they didn’t have much freedom when it came to economics, politics, and religion. Some people wanted to have different political beliefs than others. They could do that in Germany, but if they thought differently than most people, they would get judged. Religion was always a big thing back in this time period though not everyone always believed the same things as other. Some Germans came to America to have the right to believe what they want when it comes to religion. These aren’t the only reasons why some people came to America. Some people also left because of past events that had happened in Europe, and they wanted to leave all that drama behind.

The Germans settled in Pennsylvania, which became an area called Germantown. “Pennsylvania’s “German” newcomers were remarkably diverse, religiously, and culturally” (explorepahistory.com). All the immigrants were spreading their culture around in the area they settled. They tried making themselves feel at home by making it seem like they were still in Germany. Germantown was full of Germans only, and it was called Germantown because of all the cultural things the Germans brought to Pennsylvania.

The Germans came to America to also find better jobs and make more money, but at first many people were unemployed. Once people started getting jobs, most worked as farmers. Farming was something everyone could easily do, and it was something that needed to always be done. The people who weren’t working as farmers were most likely working as jewelers or carpenters. That was another popular job for Germans to have and it helped them make a lot of money. For a while, it was hard for any of the immigrants to get jobs that Americans worked at because people did discriminate against them when they first got there.

The overall progress was successful but it did take a good amount of time. Economically the Germans started making more money than what they were in German. They were glad they got to spread their cultural beliefs around America in small areas but the Americans weren’t too happy about it. Germans became more independent and they all had their own original ways of thinking. They liked being in America because of all the freedom America had to offer.

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My name is Amber Valencia and I live in Georgia, in the United States of America. I’m a seventeen year old girl, with a younger sister. I have a big family and most of us live all across America, though I do have some family that lives in other countries too. Both my parent’s sides of the family are from two different kinds of places. My mom and dad’s families were both raised under different kinds of cultures. Both families are different in many ways but still bring their cultures together.

My mother’s side of the family mainly lives in America now. Deep into the family, past relatives came from Poland. They came from Poland and lived in California for many years. There is also a mixture of some Germans on my mom’s side of them family too. The Germans were one of the largest groups to settle in America, and on my mom’s side of the family; it is possible that some relatives were a part of the largest group of immigrants. With my mom having both Polish people and German people in her family the cultural differences never became that big of a problem throughout the whole family.

On my dad’s side of the family, it is all a bunch of Cubans. All the people in my dad’s family lived in Cuba until my grandpa was being adopted. My great grandma who lived in Florida ended up adopting my grandpa while he was still in Cuba as a young boy. When he reached the age of ten that’s when his real mother tried sending him to America. It took a lot of suffering but eventually he made it to America by sea. He didn’t know any English when he first got to America. It took him up to two years to learn the good and basics of English, therefore he didn’t bring much of his culture along with him to America. My great grandma didn’t just adopt my grandpa though, she also adopted his sister so she could come to America with him, and eventually my grandpas real mom made it into America after years of my grandpa and his sister being here.

What I really learned about my family was what all my grandpa had to go through. I never knew how hard it really was to get here to America, and how many people were killed trying to get here. My grandma (dad’s mom) is also Cuban and has a similar story as my grandpa but she didn’t have to suffer much like he did on her way here. Also I never knew my mom had Germans in here family, I thought both my grandparents were Polish. Though my grandpa (mom’s dad)  was the Polish one and my grandma (mom’s mom) was the German one. Deeper into my grandmas family, she actually has Irish in her as well.

The impact my family has on US history is kind of big, as it is with every family. My family is part of the reason why so many people practice different cultures in America. Though that’s mainly on my mom’s side of the family. When my dad’s side of the family got to America, there were too young to spread their culture around. My family has very many different economic beliefs because when they arrived here they were given the chance to have the freedom to decide what economic beliefs they wanted to have. US history has had an impact on my family in ways that make us all very grateful to be here in America. We realize how lucky we are to have the freedom we have.