an inadequate and inaccurate explanation of the experience of immigrants in America.
As mentioned at the start of the paper, both groups of immigrants have encountered barriers in their efforts to enter mainstream American society. The categorization of immigrants as outsiders based on specific traits and characteristics has continued to be a pervasive part of American society, even today. In response to the hostility and foreignness of their new environment, immigrants from both of these eras have dealt with their life circumstances in similarly complex ways. With limited resources and alternatives, the first wave of immigrants was forced to adapt to their new world, in terms of their choice of work, living conditions and even their values in order to survive (Handlin 58-73). At the same time, these immigrants sought to cling onto a vestige of their identities by introducing their churches to the United States "at heavy cost and despite imposing obstacles" (Handlin 112). Their creation of various types of societies to perform charitable functions also enabled them to re-create a new sense of community in the United States, even though it could not fully replicate their village life in their native lands (Handlin 157-8). During the early years, many of the immigrants also tried to establish their own schools in order to ensure their children would not be taught by foreigners who did not share their cultural beliefs and practices (Handlin 159, 218).
Similarly, contemporary immigrants such as the Haitians and Jamaicans in New York City have also respon
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