Did immigrants have a major cultural impact on your region?

[Snowguy716]

This is not a thread to debate immigration policy in the modern context.

Southern Minnesota:

Strong German roots. Largely rural, though pretty dense. Towns like New Ulm show the German heritage in the area with Oktoberfest celebrations and a keenness for Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. You won't find anyone putting ketchup on their sausages here! Taking a drive across southeastern Minnesota, you might think you were in Germany with the rolling hills and small rivers. German immigrants liked this, as it reminded them of home, and settled here.

Central Minnesota:

Very strong German roots, largely Catholic. Places like St. Cloud, St. Joseph and many other "St." towns are telling of the religious heritage here. This is where Garrison Keillor's fabled "Lake Wobegon" exists and it was predicted that the town like Lake Wobegon is actually Holdingford, where, in 2003, several lunch ladies and a couple janitors won the lottery... and then showed up the next day to serve lunch to the kids.

Here, last names like Schoenberger, Steffansmeyer, Schmidt, Meyer, and Bauer dominate. Some elderly folks still know German, having grown up with parents that spoke only that language.

Northern Minnesota:

Much of northern Minnesota is not dominated by one ethnic group, but Norwegianity is pretty strong here. Lutheran (pronounced Loothern) churches outnumber catholic ones and bars outnumber churches in general. Names like Knutson, Anderson, JOhnson, Gunderson, Peterson, Swanson, Swenson, and Larson dominate. Eastern European names are common as well.. Polaski, Kostrezewski, Lanczesewski (Pronounced Lan-Ches-kee) are common. Scandinavians liked the wild, woodsy feel of the region that reminded them of home.

It's not hard to find lutefisk suppers here.. and our county fair proudly features the Scandinavian Diner, which serves roast beef or swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, green beans, and lefse.. all appropriately bland and unremarkable.. but just seeing it causes a sense of pride. We love our mediocrity.

Northeastern Minnesota was largely founded by eastern European immigrants who came to log and mine. Western Minnesota was largely settled by Norwegians and Swedish immigrants, and farming remains the main driver in the economy there.

Overall, it's a state of many ethnic groups, but we pride ourselves in being a state largely founded on immigrants. The state continues to draw large amounts of immigrants from Somalia, Laos, and Russia. St. Pauls Hmong community is one of the biggest in the nation, and the Somalian community is working very hard on getting used to Minnesota winters.

I think the hardest thing for the muslim community in the Cities is that during fasting periods, they may not eat from sun up until sun down. Well, in Minnesota, in June, the sun comes up at around 5:15am and doesn't set until 10pm or so. This can be hard for some people.. but pay off comes in December when you can eat a hardy breakfast at 8:00am and eat again at 5:00, something even many non-Muslims often do.

Either way, you can still have a Smorgasbord (Pickled herring and beets are unusually popular here) and a hearty serving of German dumplings here, but increasingly, we are priding ourselves in being a global place, culturally speaking.

[urbanguy]

In Hawai'i where i grew up immigrants have had a very huge impact on the culture, language, values, cuisine, way of life and customs of the entire state. There were many immigrant waves in the islands history from the Captain Cook Days, Missionary Days, Whaling Ship Days (Cape Verdeans, Greeks, etc), Mormon Days (Samoans, Tongans, Fijians, etc), Fur Trade Days (Russians, etc) and Plantation Days which drew in immigrants from Europe (Portugal, Spain, Norway, Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Austria, etc) to Asia (China, Japan/Okinawa, Philippines, Korea, India, etc) to the Americas (Puerto Rico, Brasil) to Oceania (Rotuma in Fiji, Banaba in Kiribati, etc). The plantation days alone brought in some 395,000 immigrants between 1852 and 1946. The Chinese and Portuguese have already celebrated there 200 year history in Hawaii in the 1980s while many others have celebrated there centennials over the past several years. The Vaqueros of Mexico have also had an influence on Hawaii's cowboy culture which is argued to be the oldest in the U.S. historically. Cowboys are known as "Paniolo" in Hawaii which originated from the Spanish word "Pa

[Jerseyman4]

Central Jersey in the past century, was dominated by Polish, Italian, German and Irish nationalities. Each town would be a stronghold of one of the following nationalities with little to none mix of nationalities going on.

Since the 1960s, a large number of hispanic nationalities are moving in to Central Jersey and are in pretty much in every town. In the last 10-15 years, a major increase of Indians & Southeast Asian Nationalities have migrated to the area but recent slight increases of Russians and Africans, straight out from Africa are also moving into the area as well. Besides NYC, being famous for its diversity, Central Jersey is up there as well.

[Recchia]

Providence started off with an influx of Irish immigrants, followed by a huge influx of Italians, and also some French Canadians. Following them was a large influx of Portuguese immigrants, though they had been coming along in smaller numbers all along.

Today, there are large numbers of Hispanics and Southeast Asians immigrating to the area. Hispanics now account for over 30% of the city proper, and almost 50% in other municipalities such as Central Falls.

[Pillsbury]

In Augusta probably the Irish immigration in the late 19th Century had the most profound impact on the area, though this is often overlooked given Savannah's larger Irish community. There are entire areas of Augusta which are made up mostly of people of Irish roots. The neighborhood I live in is a perfect example: every St. Patrick's Day I alwasy feel left out because my house is one of the few that doesn't fly the Irish flag. Back in the late 19th Century Augusta had an Irish-Catholic Mayor, which is interesting given the climate of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic feelings among Americans (especially in the Deep South with the anti-Catholic feelings). You can still hear an Irish accent among many people (of course mixed with a lot of Southern too). I was surprised recently to learn that a lot of cities much bigger than us do not have St. Patrick Day parades, which was odd given that it such a huge deal here.

In recent times, we, like most of Georgia, have experienced an influx of Latinos to the area. Our influx has not been as great, however, as in northern Georgia, and I don't think it's really changed the lpolitical landscape like it has in north Georgia. Due to our large medical community, we have a large community of Indians and Pakistanis, which has given birth to a large Hindu and Muslim community. On a political level, I think most people still see Augusta in black/white terms, but I do see that changing in the coming years....

[JDC]

There's a growing population of Mexican and Central Americans in Durham. It pretty much just brought along a lot of those check cashing places.

[urbanguy]

^Good observation, i've noticed that here too and even commercials with actors using hispanic/latino-like accents and names to target that group.

[ctman987]

Yes, in Hartford for example there were many Italians that populated the city especially in the South End which soon became known as the city's Little Italy. With the mixture of suburban sprawl, the interstate and white flight many Italians moved over Hartford's south border in neighboring Wethersfield and also Rocky Hill. Many Hispanics have moved into the city's south end but to this day numerous Italian bakeries and restaurants are located in the South End along Franklin Avenue along with some Italian clubs. Many people in the Hartford area who are Italian are from Floridia, Sicily which is right outside of Siracusa. One of Hartford's sister cities is Floridia, Italy. When Italy won the World Cup the Italians took back the South End for the day filling Franklin Avenue for hours...marching and driving up and down the street with Italian flags.

Many Irish people moved into city neighborhoods including the Clay Arsenal neighborhood. They were recruited to work on the Enfield Canal. Many of the Irish have now moved to the suburbs but the city still is home to numerous Irish pubs such as Vaughn's in Downtown Hartford, McKinnon's in Downtown Hartford, Joe Black's in Downtown Hartford which is the largest Irish pub in New England and the Half Door in the west end. Hundreds of thousands also come out for the city's annual Saint Patricks Day Parade.

The city's Parkville neighborhood is comprised of a large Potuguese population.

Neighborhing West Hartford is home to a large Jewish population. West Hartford is an fairly affluent community with about 60,000 people. The community is home to numerous synagogues and a Jewish supermarket.

A large number of Hispanics including many Puerto Ricans have moved to the city. This has had a very positive effect on some of the city's neighborhoods. Park Street is filled with shops, restaurants, cafes, bakeries, apartments, etc. that all cater to the Hispanic population. People come as far away as Boston and NYC to shop on Park Street. The street is always filled with activity and has the hustle and bustle of a big city. In the area many vacant factories are being renovated by a local developer and are being turned into home design centers, office space and lofts.