Rhonda Fisher 

A Brief History of German Immigration

For my research project this semester, I have investigated the history of German immigration to the United States with a focus on why the German people left Germany in the first place, when they immigrated to America, what attracted them to America and where they settled once they arrived here. The following outlines the major events and circumstances leading up to German emigration from Europe and discusses why Germans were drawn to the U.S. during certain periods of time. Also addressed is the geographic disbursement of German immigrants across America throughout history, as well as in modern times.

Why and when did Germans immigrate to America?

German immigrants were among the first to arrive in America as far back as the 17^th Century. Germans, like most immigrants, came to America in search of a better way of life. Some factors contributing to their emigration from Germany included unemployment, the general living conditions in Germany, the desire for religious freedom, land seizures by the German government or crop failures, and the political climate of the region. Since the 18^th Century, information regarding American job opportunities, wages and food prices was published in Germany. This public information served to provide hope to those who suffered due to land seizures and unemployment – namely, the hope of a better life in America. As far as their desire for religious freedom, the Germans, just like many other American immigrant groups, suffered religious persecution to some extent. Germans in search of religious freedom usually came to America during the 18^th and 19^th centuries because they were not allowed to shape their own religious community life in Germany.

When American immigration as a whole picked up around 1840, most immigrants were migrating from either Ireland or Germany. The main factor attributing to the overall increase in German immigration during this time frame was the devastating crop failure in Germany. Since many Germans were farmers by trade, wheat crop failures and poor wine harvests made the abundant, fertile soil of America more enticing to them. Politically motivated emigration soon followed with Germany’s intolerance of liberal and democratic Germans and after the failed German Revolution of 1848, many Germans had no choice but to emigrate as a means to seek refuge. Overall, more Germans immigrated to America between the years of 1880 and 1889, when approximately 1.5 million of them journeyed to the U.S., than at any other time in history. This number accounted for almost 30% of the total 5,248,568 American immigrants during these years.

Upon successfully immigrating to America, many German-Americans wrote letters to friends and family back home which frequently omitted any reference to the negative aspects of American immigration and touched only on the positive. These letters to friends and family, also known as “immigrant letters,” were often published in German newspapers and read publicly in village taverns. The effect of the immigrant letters was that an entire new group of Germans would immigrate to America, putting into motion the process of “chain migration,” whereby groups of Germans from small rural areas in Germany often settled in a specific part or region of America, usually next to German-Americans who had been their neighbors in the Old Country.

Where did they settle in America and why?

German immigrants initially settled in the colonies of Jamestown, New Amsterdam (New York) and Pennsylvania in the 17^th Century. After this, a major factor in determining the geographic settlement patterns of German immigrants was their occupation as farmers. They desired to live in a geographic region where farm land was cheap and German churches and schools were established and began to occupy regions of New York, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia along the riverbanks. Early in the 19^th Century, German-Americans occupied the central region of the U.S. along the valleys of the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers, as well as the land surrounding the Great Lakes. From 1850 to 1920 over 30% of German immigrants resided in the mid-Atlantic states and 35-39% lived in the Midwest. Later, they traveled West to the Dakotas and Texas, and even to California where their farming skills assisted them in cultivating oranges.

Where are they today?

According to the 2000 Census, there are 706,704 German immigrants residing in the United States. German immigrants represent approximately 2.3% of America’s immigrant population of 31.1 million and 0.3 % of America’s total population of 281.4 million. The top ten states where German immigrants reside are California (13.9%), New York (9.8%), Florida (9.1%), Texas (5.6%), New Jersey (4.7%), Illinois (4.6%), Pennsylvania (3.6%), Michigan (3.2%), Ohio (3%) and Washington (3%). The top 5 states – California, New York, Florida, Texas and New Jersey – are home to nearly half (43.1%) of all German immigrants. While California is host to more German immigrants (98,160) than any other state in the U.S., it is the South as a region that is home to the highest percentage of German immigrants, constituting 31.8% of the total German immigrant population. The 2000 Census reports that there are 224,893 German immigrants living in the South. The American West comes in second, where 26.5% of German immigrants live, followed by the Northeast, accommodating 23.1% of all German immigrants, and finally the Midwest, where only 18.6 % of German immigrants live.

Of Further Interest

A bi-product (though not the intent) of my research was learning about the acculturation German immigrants were forced to endure as a result of the first and second world wars. Prior to the 20^th Century, the clustering of German immigrants in regions of Texas and elsewhere had allowed them to hold on to their culture, heritage and even their use of the German language. One particular means by which the German immigrants held on to their language – and in turn, their culture – was through the use of the German press. German publishing was essential to German culture in America ever since the Germans first arrived in the colonies. They had helped pioneer the printing industry in Europe and carried the practice over to America with them. Most cities in the colonies circulated at least one German newspaper and the German press thrived until the 1950s when it was ultimately obliterated, partly due to the anti-German sentiments resulting from the world wars. The loss of the use of the German language and the subsequent break up of German culture in America due to the end of the German printing press really connected to the need for literacy among an immigrant group if they are to avoid assimilation. The Germans, unlike the Pilgrims, were eventually forced to assimilate to America’s dominant culture in the absence of access to their native language, both in the verbal and written form. 

Works Cited

“Immigration…German.” 1 Dec 2007.

            http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/alt/german.html.

Handbook of Texas Online. 1 Dec 2007.

            http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/GG/png2.html.

“The German Americans.” 1 December 2007.

            http://www-lib.iupui.edu/kade/adams/chap1.html.

“Who’s Where?” MPI Data Hub: Migration Facts, Stats, and Maps. 1 Dec 2007.

            http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/whosresults.cfm.