Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Immigration and Urban LifeChapter 19

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Immigration and Urban LifeVoices from the past:

“There were nine in the family: husband, wife, and aged grandmother, and six children; honest, hard-working Germans, scrupulously neat but poor. All nine lived in two rooms, one about ten feet square that served as parlor, bedroom, and eating room, the other a small half-room made into a kitchen…That day the mother had thrown herself out of the window, and was carried up from the street dead. She was ‘discouraged,’ said some of the other women from the tenement…”

- Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York – 1890

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Immigration

• Objectives for today:1. To identify the reasons that immigrants came to the

United States.

2. To distinguish between the “old” and “new” immigration.

3. To understand the anti-immigrant sentiment that has existed in America.

• Text: Chapter 19

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Review

• Urbanization• The changing concentration of population in 19th

century America:• Percent living in cities greater than 10,000:

• 1790 – 3%

• 1890 – 28%

• Percent living in cities greater than 100,000:• 1790 – 0%

• 1890 – 15%

• 1850-1901:• NYC – 460% growth

• Chicago – 5500% growth

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Reasons to Emigrate

• PUSH• Hunger – Irish potato

famine

• Unemployment/ overcrowding – Sicilian Italy

• Religious/ethnic persecution – Jewish pogroms in E. Europe and Russia

• Political persecution – Communist Revolution in Europe, Russia

• PULL• Jobs – industrialized

America, Gold Rush, railroads

• Religious/political freedom – Pilgrims, Jews, Catholics

• Education – F-1 students from India, China, Taiwan, Korea

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Old vs. New

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Old vs. New

OLD – North and West Europe

1830 – 1880

NEW – South and East Europe

1880 – Present

Irish:

New York City, Boston

Fled potato famine in Ireland

Persecuted as Catholics

Italians:

New York City, Boston, Philadelphia

Unemployment, overpopulation

Persecuted as Catholics, “dagos”

Germans:

Midwest: Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Louis

Crop failure, political persecution

Distinct German flavor

Jews:

New York City

Religious persecution, poverty, pogroms

Resentment toward Jews

Chinese:

Pacific Coast

Poverty; Gold Rush, railroads

Persecuted for accepting low wages

Slavs:

New York City

Poverty, political persecution

Came from different countries

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Old vs. New

• Ethnic Neighborhoods• “Little Italy” • “Lower East Side” • “Chinatown” • Found all over the U.S. – SF, San Jose, NYC,

Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, Boston, Seattle, LA• In these neighborhoods, immigrants practiced their

old ways of life.• Their native language was spoken.• Churches, synagogues, clubs (Colombo Club, Oakland),

newspapers were re-created.

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

• From their website:• The Colombo Club is one of the largest social clubs in

America founded by Italian pioneers for the purpose of providing a social center for themselves, their families, and their guests. The Colombo Club is a private club that was founded in Oakland California in 1920.

• The purposes of the Club are entirely social in scope, dedicated to the moral and physical well being of its members, the promotion of the best interests of the community, and the highest ideals of American citizenship.

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Anti-Immigration

• Why are immigrants often blamed for societal problems? (crime, teen pregnancy, failing schools, etc)

• Public Resentment• Difficulty or refusal to assimilate

• Accepting low wages

• Religious differences (Catholics, Jews)

• Questionable socialist and anarchist beliefs

• Easy scapegoats for the disruption of industrialization

• Examples:• APA (American Protective Association) – anti-Catholic

• Chinese Exclusion Act – halted all immigration from China for 10 years

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Homework

Americanization: becoming AmericanLearn to read and write EnglishLearn customs, history, government of U.S.Preserve one’s cultureBe bilingual

Copyright © 2004 South-Western

Homework

• Assimilation or Multiculturalism? • Discuss your idea of becoming American.• Assimilation – adapt and become like the most

common concept of being American; “melting pot”• Multiculturalism – retain the culture you came from

and adopt a second culture; “patchwork quilt”• 1 page, typed