Faces of America

The video, faces of America, really opened my eyes to see how immigrants came to America. It was very interesting to not only see one part of the world but many other countries getting to the U.S, like Germany and Japan. It really made me realize what a struggle it was to make it over to the states. Traveling to America wasn't the only hard part. Many people had to leave important things and loved ones behind, not knowing if they would ever see them again. Coming to America was a huge sacrifice. People took this sacrifice for more opportunities. People suffered in other countries. They wanted to start a new life, coming to America to find money and jobs. I also noticed many families would have 8-10 children whereas now that is pretty rare. They would have this many children to help support the family by working and supplying money. It was very interesting to me to see how people that traveled to America like the cast in the Faces of America turned out living a very successful and wealthy life style. This shows that no matter what kind of background you come from if you work hard to achieve what you want you can get it. 

I feel being classified as a "nation of immigrants"is very significant. It shows that you had successful and hard working ancestors. It portrays their success because it shows that they were able to make it to the states, and that they came for new opportunities. Leaving a homeland isn't very easy. Many people who did this had to start their lives over into a new cultural identity, that they weren't familiar with. There was no comfort about leaving your homeland. You just had to be confident in where you were going and that you were going to work to get a good salary. The immigration from many different countries all helped shaped America. Bits and pieces of each country has been contributed to shape the U.S. as it is today. In daily life I don't ever think about my family tree or my connections to my ancestors. Watching this video gave me interest to want to find out where I  come from. I find it very interesting to know the struggles and hardships my family members faced to come to America. Although i don't know all the information of my family tree, this movie has inspired me to research my family's journey to America. 

 Andrew Mellon was one of the top american industrialists of the late 19th century. Andrew came from a very hard working and succesful family. His family owned a bank in Western Pennslyvania. Mellon and his brother became the main leaders of the bank under their own dad. The bank spread throughout the nation and beacame a main base for the U.S. Andrew was very fortunate and was blessed onto a wealthy family. He was able to earn sucess through a family buisness. Although he gained great sucess through his family business, Mellon still had an exceptionally great talent. Mellon became more involved with the bank everyday and was able to help large corporations like ALCOA, Carborundum, Koppers, and Gulf oil. Mellon acquired many holdings making him one of the richest in the nation. After his bank career in became the secretary of treasre of Pennslyvania. This postion made him more of an national figure. Under this role Mellon was able to cut taxes, enforce prohibition, and improved financial prosperity. The criticism and buisnneses cnnections began to crash and led to the collaspe of his public career. Mellon had a very succesful career in the office and was able to make many changes and improvements that were very beneficial to the nation.

Later in Mellon's life, after his treasurer position he became a philanthropist. Mellon was very passionate in art and viewed paintings and other structures in great depth. He was a very wealthy man and was able to purchase paintings from the soviet union. Andrew developed the Insitutue of Industrial Research at the Universoty of Pittsburg. He performed in this task to make improvements in the industrial program. He also donated ten million dollars to the educational institute. He was a very generous man and wanted to help the nation expand and increase the development of new industrialists. He performed in this task to make improvements in the industrial program. Mellon continued to expnd his art collection becasue of his love for art. He wanted to donate his gallery of collections he had collected through the years to the nation. He started to open The National Gallery of Art so he could share all of his magnificent pieces of art. Mellon died soon after and the Institute of Idustrial Research joined with Carnegie Institute of Technology which became known as the Carnegie Mellon University. It contains science and technology research to help the growth of the nation. I feel that Mellon would feel very accomplished with this decison because he was very interested in any ways to help the country. Mellon was able to experience many different tasks throughout his life that i feel helped shaped him to be the succesful man he came out to be.
http://www.plannedlegacy.com/newsletter/andrew-w-mellon-bio.html   http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Mellon__Andrew.html