Urbanization of Modern America

These are your notes, you should write them down.

IMMIGRANTSBetween 1870-1920 nearly 20 million immigrants came to the US

from Europe

In same period, thousands of immigrants came to US from Asia, Mexico and the Caribbean.

THEIR NEW LIVES• Trip to US was long, unsafe and scary• Most immigrants will be processed at either Ellis

Island (NYC/NJ) or Angel Island (San Francisco).• .

• Most experience culture shock once in US• Many seek like people in cities creating ethnic

neighborhoods.• This creates the melting pot idea. Many different

cultures blending together.

• Most go to cities (convenient and cheap)• They felt safe in the neighborhoods, however due to

discrimination, inadequate education and a language barrier; work was usually limited to manual labor or factory work.

URBAN PROBLEMS

• Housing-overcrowded, unsanitary, unsafe row houses or dumbbell tenements were usually the only option for new immigrants

• City and local govts. have hard time keeping up with demand for housing and services

• Clean water, garbage removal, crime also plague cities

• Infamous natural disasters plague cities as well

The Great Chicago Fire 1871

Here is the Problem

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-vBJ8cS08U

• 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

• 1911 Triangle Shirt Factory Fire NYC

Early Attempts to Correct Problems

• Efforts were on a local level

• Settlement houses pop up in urban areas to less fortunate