U.S. Immigration Policy featuring Musicians with Immigrant Histories

In what ways did U.S. immigration policy from the 1940s to the 1970s transform American culture and influence American popular music?

Know (knowledge):

• Consider the lasting impact U.S. immigration policy has had on American culture and society
• Articulate how particular global events, including the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the Cuban Revolution affected immigration into the United States
• Consider how policies and laws such as Operation Safe Haven, the Alien Fiancées or Fiancés Act of 1946, the Bracero Program, and the Immigration Act of 1965 affected the demographics of the United States
• Examine the lives and work of Tommy Ramone, Dumbfounded, Thao, Celia Cruz, Zach de la Rocha, and Haley Heynderickx

Mastery Objective:

• Students will be able to identify major milestones in U.S. immigration policy from the 1940s-1970s, and trace how such milestones affected U.S. culture and society by investigating secondary and primary sources including musician biographies, song lyrics, and interviews.

In this lesson, students will investigate how U.S. immigration policies from the 1940s to the 1970s transformed U.S. society and affected U.S. popular music. First, students will listen to a segment of FableVision Studios’ podcast LOC Mixtape to consider generally the role music making plays for immigrant communities. They will then analyze charts to examine how immigration has changed across a century of U.S. history, before splitting into groups and researching particular historical events and legislation that impacted immigration into the United States. Included in the primary and secondary sources student groups will be analyzing are interviews, lyrics, and other sources by musicians whose biographies were shaped by such events and policies. Finally, students will return to the work they did with the LOC Mixtape to consider broader themes related to immigration into the United States.

By the end of World War II, the United States had further solidified itself as a global empire. The resulting military and economic might of the U.S. following the war allowed America to exert its influence on both Japan and the European continent, both in desperate need of aid and reconstruction. The growing divide between the West and East during the Cold War led to a large dispersal of U.S. military and intelligence agencies across all corners of the earth.

As with all empires, the United States’ global commitments (or entanglements, depending on one’s perspective) had direct effects on its domestic situation—not just in terms of domestic legislation and policy, but also upon the cultural landscape of the country. One might argue that the U.S.'s increasing involvement in world affairs further brought the world to the country’s doorstep through the arrival of immigrants and refugees.

It is not difficult to see the connections between U.S. foreign involvement, domestic legislation, and cultural change. For instance, during World War II, an executive order called the Mexican Farm Labor Program established the Bracero Program in 1942. The program provided Mexican citizens short-term labor contracts to fill essential labor shortages while U.S. citizens were drafted into the war. By its termination in 1964, the Bracero Program had brought more than four million worker contracts in U.S. agriculture and railroads. With these migrant workers came the seeds of what would become the Chicano Movement, The United Farm Workers union, and eventually, figures such as artist Roberto “Beto” de la Rocha and his son, Rage Against the Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha.

In 1946, the U.S. Government enacted the Alien Fiancées and Fiancés Act of 1946, which extended the previous year’s War Brides Act to the GI brides of other wars and other nations. The Act eased entry for women who married U.S. soldiers overseas, and it had a substantial impact during the Korean War (1950-1953) and after hostilities concluded. Between 1950 and 1964, over 6,000 Korean women immigrated to America as GI brides. This influx of Korean immigrants not only brought Korean culture to the United States, but also helped start the Asian American Movement - which expanded after the unjust imprisonment of Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee in 1973. The cultural and political presence of the Korean community helped develop the career of rapper Dumbfoundead, an immigrant musician whose celebration of and advocacy for “K-Towns” in California is a defining characteristic of his work.

During the Cold War, U.S. immigration and refugee policy continued to have profound impacts on American culture. After an attempted revolution in Hungary in 1956 was violently repressed by the Soviet Army, the U.S. military launched “Operation Safe Haven,” which evacuated and resettled thousands of refugees in the United States. Among those Hungarian refugees was Tamás Erdélyi, later known professionally as Tommy Ramone, who went on to form the seminal Punk band The Ramones, as well as computer engineer Andrew Grove (born Gróf András István), who became the CEO of the Intel Corporation.

Following another revolution—this time in Cuba—the Cuban Adjustment Act was enacted in 1966, which granted work authorization permits and lawful permanent residency (green card status) to any Cuban native or citizen who settled in the United States for at least one year. The Cuban population in the United States grew from 79,000 to 439,000 between 1960 and 1970 as thousands of Cuban exiles sought asylum in the U.S. Asylees during this time included Salsa legend Celia Cruz, and the federal law helped open the door to Cuban baseball players who became stars of the game in the United States.

Perhaps the most consequential piece of immigration legislation passed during this period was the Hart-Celler Act, otherwise known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Signed into law by President Johnson, the Act eliminated national-origin quotas to immigration, and prioritized family reunification and skills-based migration. While many expected the Act to not affect immigration in any meaningful way, in fact, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 changed the demographics of the United States. For example, Asian immigrants’ share of total immigration rose from 7.5% during the 1930-1960s to 34% in the 1970s and onward. One effect of the Act, combined with the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, and the Women’s Movement, was a surge of Filipino nurses and health workers in the United States who were able to fill a nursing labor shortage. The influx of Filipino healthcare workers helped establish a stronger Filipino presence in the country, and produced artists such as Haley Heynderickx.

Asian immigration to the United States also increased as a result of the Vietnam War. On April 30, 1975, Saigon, the capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), was overthrown, effectively ending the war with a victory for the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). In May, the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975 was enacted, allowing more than 100,000 South Vietnamese people and other Southeast Asians to emigrate to the United States. Once in the United States, many newly-arrived Vietnamese found entrepreneurial opportunities in the country—notably, nail salons, which prior to the arrival of Vietnamese immigrants, remained a service mostly available to the upper class. Seeing an opportunity, Vietnamese salon workers helped make nail salons more widespread and accessible to a greater diversity of people. The Act helped establish Vietnamese families across the country, from which musicians such as Thao (Thao Nguyen) developed into nationally known artists.