Focus on America

The United States is a nation of immigrants.  Find out how long-time residents and newcomers are finding common ground in three U.S. communities.

The United States is often referred to as the “Great Melting Pot,” a metaphor that connotes the blending of many cultures, languages and religions to form a single national identity. But this metaphor fails to capture the slow, complex and frequently turbulent process by which immigrants of diverse backgrounds and beliefs join U.S. society, even as they transform it.

Debate — even rancor —over immigration is neither new nor uncommon in U.S. history. Immigration is both an important part of our national identity and a source of social and political tension. Today, as during earlier periods of mass immigration to the United States, integrating newcomers into the American mainstream is a dynamic process that requires adaptation and change not only on the part of immigrants, but by receiving communities, public institutions and private entities.

Since their earliest days, cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago have received — indeed, have been built by — large influxes of immigrants. In recent years, thousands of smaller U.S. towns and cities have begun to experience the cultural transformation that comes with welcoming sizable proportions of immigrants into their populations. From the South to the Midwest and the West Coast, growing numbers of immigrants are settling in areas populated mostly by the descendants of 19th- and early 20th-century European immigrants, creating challenges and opportunities for newcomers and established residents alike. This issue of eJournal USA examines how long-time residents and newcomers are learning to understand one another and live peaceably together in three U.S. communities: Marshalltown, Iowa; Beaverton, Oregon; and Louisville, Kentucky.

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