Immigration and Ethnic Heritage

Kindergarteners in Americanization program in the 1930s

It’s often said we are a nation of immigrants, but what does that mean? Here is something to consider: between 1820 (when immigration records were first kept) and 1920, almost two-thirds of all the people who emigrated anywhere in the world came to America. Unless you are Native American, Inuit or Indios, you, your family or your ancestors arrived here from another country during the past 300 years. Very few countries have adopted as many people from as many different nations and cultures as has the United States.

Who we are now, what we value, how we define ourselves, how we relate to one another is profoundly shaped by the fact that generations of Hoosiers came here from some other place, bringing with them a wide range of beliefs, customs, traditions, languages and stories.

Generations of newcomers came to Indiana to work as laborers or skilled workers, farmers, indentured servants or entrepreneurs. Some came to escape religious and political oppression or other hardships in their homelands. They traveled from Europe, Great Britain, Asia, Mexico or Canada, and from neighboring states such as Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina. They arrived by horseback, carriage, boat, train or rail, determined to find a better life for themselves and their families.

Some of us have arrived in Indiana more recently to work in the mills or factories, on farms, or for local businesses. Some study at Indiana’s colleges and universities, while others have started our own companies. Like those early pioneers, we’ve come to build new lives in Indiana, our chosen home. All of our stories are a unique part of Indiana’s history.

Search the Indiana Historical Society online catalog

Read more about this subject in Hoosiers and the American Story

Chapter 6: Immigrants, Cars, Cities, and a New Indiana

Additional Resources

• BE HEARD Online Exhibits from the Indiana Historical Society
• Immigration Challenges for New Americans (Primary Source Set, Library of Congress)
• Immigration and Oral History (Lesson Plan, Library of Congress)
• Immigration History First Hand  (Lesson Plan, Library of Congress)
• American Attitudes Toward Refugees and the Wagner-Rogers Act (Reimagining Migration)
• Be Heard: Asian Experiences in Indiana
• East Asia Heritage Collection 
• The Other Side of FDR
• Latino and Hispanic Heritage Collection 
• Not All Latinos Are Mexican: The Story of a 1920’s Peruvian Steel Worker
• The Lost Barrio of Indianapolis
• Irish Immigrants of the Hoosier Hills

Additional Books

• Asian American Voices in Indiana
• Hoosier Latinos: A Century of Struggle, Service and Success
• Indianapolis: A City of Immigrants (Digital Download) (Teacher Guide)
• Maria’s Journey (YA Historical Fiction)
• Casper and Catherine Move to America (Picture Book with Teacher Guide)
• Peopling Indiana: The Ethnic Experience
• The Irish
• The Native Americans

Download related curriculum

Hoosier Latinos: A Century of Struggle, Service and Success

Indiana’s African American Heritage: Essays from Black History News and Notes

Asian American Voices in Indiana

Advertising Campaign to Attract New Citizens
Community Festivals and Events
Word Unscrambler
Holiday Celebrations
Family Tree
Family Food Favorites
Getting Here From There
Worth a Thousand Words
International Food
Tough Decisions
Put it in Print
Common Knowledge
Roll the Dice
Community and Family History
They Are Not Like Us