Each year on September 17th, America honors Citizenship Day by swearing in thousands of immigrants as citizens of the United States. These new citizens have made it through background checks, interviews and a five-year period during which they have proven that they are of "good moral character." They've also passed a challenging test about the United States' history and culture.
A few of the questions from the exam are listed below; scroll down to see the answers. Good luck...you might be surprised to find that you need it!
- How many amendments are there to the Constitution?
- What do the stripes on the United States' flag represent?
- Who said, "Give me liberty or give me death"?
- Who was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence?
- In what year was the Constitution written?
September 15th marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic New Yorkers make up 27% of the City’s total population. During the last decade, the number of Hispanics living in New York City soared to its highest level ever, surpassing over 2 million residents.
New York has long been home to small Hispanic communities. During the mid-19th century, the city became a haven for political exiles whose purpose was to make Puerto Rico and Cuba independent from Spain. After receiving American citizenship under the Jones Act of 1917, more than 10,000 Puerto Ricans migrated to New York; between 1945 and 1970, their numbers continued to grow. Many arrived via plane and ultimately settled in East Harlem, the South Bronx, and the Lower East Side, an area the community later rechristened “Loisaida.”
Although Puerto Ricans remain New York’s largest Hispanic group, the City is home to an increasingly large number of Columbians, Dominicans, Ecuadorians, Peruvians and Mexicans, among others. During the past decade, Mexicans witnessed the largest growth among all the major immigrant groups in New York. Though Hispanic New Yorkers have already helped reshape the city, their growing numbers and increased diversity have led many experts to predict even more profound changes in municipal politics and regional culture.
