IMMIGRATION
-Old Immigration (1620-1880) Western Europe
-New Immigration
1890-1920
Eastern Europe
• Germany, Italy, Russia, Poland (to East Coast)
Asian Immigration
• Come to America to mine, worked on railroads, then as farmers (West Coast)
Hispanic Immigration
• Come to the South and East for political freedom
“America…We were so near it seemed too much to believe. Everyone stood silent- like in prayer…Then we were entering the harbor. The land came so near we could almost reach out
and touch it…everyone was holding their breath…”
~Rosa Cavalleri, Italian immigrant
WHY?
- Higher paying jobs, land, gold, religious freedom, and political freedom.
NEW LIFE
-difficult journey
•1-3 weeks in steerage with diseases and not much food
-Ellis Island, NY
immigrant processing
•Physical exam, government inspection (criminal record)
-Angel Island, SF
•Harsher examinations, detentions
Waiting in line at Ellis Island in New York. This was the major immigrant in-processing station in the nation,
as 17 million immigrants passed through its gates to gain entrance
to the United States.
~The Immigrant Experience~
NEW LIFE
-Culture Shock
•Need a home and job in a brand new culture
-Ethnic communities
•Similar language/customs
-Melting Pot
•Mixing together of all cultures by assimilation
-Nativism
•Favoring native-born Americans over immigrants
Once in America, new immigrants had to endure physical examinations
(to check for disease and lice), as well as governmental examinations, which checked your criminal record
in your previous country. While many were admitted, some were
sent back home.
Restrictions on Immigrants
Chinese Exclusion Act the first law passed restricting the immigration of Chinese people to America.
Gentlemen’s Agreement a deal struck with Japan, US citizens would not immigrate there and none of Japan’s citizens would immigrate here.
URBAN GROWTH
-Urban life
1/12 in 1840--1/3 by 1900
-Immigrant settlement
• In cities for cheap housing and available jobs
-Decline of farmers
new technology, fewer workers
-Industrialization
•Available jobs
-cultural opportunities
Most immigrants settled in and around the major cities because of their proximity to jobs, as well as allowing cultural groups to stay together. When this happened,
places like “Little Italy” and “Chinatown” sprang up across major
cities.
We cannot all live in the city, yet nearly all seem determined to do so.”
~Horace Greeley
URBAN PROBLEMS
-tenements
• Multi-family dwellings; over-crowded, unsanitary
-rising crime rates
• Small police forces and the poor are very desperate
“I looked about the narrow streets…ragged clothes, dirty bedding oozing out of the windows, ashcans and garbage cans cluttering the
sidewalks. A vague sadness pressed down on my heart-the first doubt of America.”
~Anzia Yezierska, Russian Immigrant
URBAN PROBLEMS
-few city services
water
• Indoor plumbing rare, water unsafe to drink
sanitation
• Manure, sewage and trash in streets, foul air, pollution and disease
fire
• Wood dwellings with candles and oil lamps
• Small fire departments with limited water supply
“’One half of the world does not know how the other half lives.’ That was true then. It
did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those
who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them
there.
“Suppose we look into a tenement on Cherry Street…Listen! That short hacking
cough, that tiny helpless cry…The child is dying of measles. With half a chance it might have lived. But it had none.
That dark bedroom killed it.”
~Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
RAISING AWARENESS
-Social Gospel
Christian theme of helping the less fortunate
Salvation Army
-Jacob Riis
“How the Other Half Lives”
• Book about the urban poor written to get help
-Jane Addams
Hull House, Chicago
Settlement Houses
• Community centers in slums that provide services to the poor
Jacob Riis and Jane Addams crusade for the poor to improve their urban living
conditions in the major cities.“Presently she established a kindergarten,
a gymnasium, evening classes, clubs for young people and clubs for old people, and a day nursery where workingwomen might leave their children. As her work advanced
she experienced the need of more room and several buildings were added to the original
brick Hull House.”
Impact of ImmigrantsArea Result
Businesses Immigrants = cheap labor = good = more money
Unions Immigrants = cheap labor = bad = weaken bargain power for unions
Workers Immigrants = cheap labor = bad = fewer jobs for “natives”
Nativism•What? Belief that natural born Americans should receive benefits and jobs before immigrants.
•Why? job competition that immigrants created.
•Who? The Know-Nothings were a political party that actually stood against immigration.