Broken Countries
Tim Griffin
Italy was a broken country when my grandmother fled from Tuscany
With two little kids in tow, she only knew one place to go
Came and made a home for you and me
When Italy was a broken country.
Ireland was a broken country, and my great-grandfather a famine refugee
One little bag was all he could take when his family held an “American wake”
And sent their little boy across the sea
When Ireland was a broken country.
Germany wasn’t even a broken country, just some broken little principalities
Where one church didn’t like the other and my ancestors left their motherland
Found a place to worship free
Before Germany was even a broken country.
Our people come from broken countries.
Notes:
Question: should the United States allow immigration from countries suffering from serious problems such as civil or religious conflict, famine, etc? Wouldn't it be better if all our immigrants could arrive well educated and prosperous? A few years ago, a prominent American leader vowed to shut down immigration from broken countries, though the word he used was not "broken."
While it is not my place to prescribe policy, as a teacher of history I thought it important to remind students that the United States has ALWAYS received most of its immigrants from countries that were having serious problems. There is a fairly obvious reason for this: few people leave their homes, families, and friends behind to start a new life when things are going great at home.
This is why we have a large statue of a lady with a torch facing toward the "old world" not just in welcome, but in challenge: give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. It may seem strange to thus invite the world's exiles, dissidents, and wretched refuse; and to be sure, all those immigrants have caused a lot of social friction. But after a generation or two, each new wave of "huddled masses" has been transformed into something extraordinary and new: they become Americans.
One term in the song warrants explanation: in the days when emigration from Ireland was at its peak, it was understood that boarding a ship bound for the United States would be a one-way trip. Because their Irish friends and family never expected to see them again, there would be a farewell party of both celebration and grieving for those about to set out on their journey of no return. The gathering was called an "American Wake."
Here are some academic standards from the History & Social Science Content Standards of the state of California; your state probably has something similar.
Fifth Grade:
CA.HSS 5.2.3. Trace the routes of the major land explorers of the United States, the distances traveled by explorers, and the Atlantic trade routes that linked Africa, the West Indies, the British colonies, and Europe.
5.4.2. Identify the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (e.g., John Smith, Virginia; Roger Williams, Rhode Island; William Penn, Pennsylvania; Lord Baltimore, Maryland; William Bradford, Plymouth; John Winthrop, Massachusetts).
5.8.1. Discuss the waves of immigrants from Europe between 1789 and 1850 and their modes of transportation into the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and through the Cumberland Gap (e.g., overland wagons, canals, flatboats, steamboats).
Eighth Grade:
Chronological and Spatial Thinking #3. Discuss the waves of immigrants from Europe between 1789 and 1850 and their modes of transportation into the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and through the Cumberland Gap (e.g., overland wagons, canals, flatboats, steamboats).
8.6.3. List the reasons for the waves of immigration from Northern Europe to the United States and describe the growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities (e.g., Irish immigrants and the Great Irish Famine).
8.12.7. Identify the new sources of large-scale immigration and the contributions of immigrants to the building of cities and the economy; explain the ways in which new social and economic patterns encouraged assimilation of newcomers into the mainstream amidst growing cultural diversity; and discuss the new wave of nativism.
Chords: C, F, G