Coming through the Golden Door:Immigrants & American Life, 1860-1900

The New ColossusBy Emma Lazarus, 1883

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!“

Key Questions

Who were they?

How were they integrated into American society?

How Many?1800-1870: 10 million

Northern and Western Europe

1870-1920: 26 millionEastern and Southern Europe

~ 20 million stayed

Foreign-born less than 15%

Old ImmigrantsArrived before 1880Came from Northern and Western

EuropeWere mainly Protestant ChristiansWere culturally similar to original

American settlersSettled both in cities and in rural areas

New ImmigrantsArrived 1880 to 1910Came from Southern and Eastern EuropeWere mainly Catholics, Jews, or

Orthodox ChristiansWere often culturally different from the

original American settlersGenerally settled in cities

From Where?“Old” vs. “new” immigrants

Pre-Civil War: Ireland

1872-1896: Germany

England, Scotland

ScandinaviaGerman immigrant family, 19th c.

From Where? “New” immigrants 1880+ Austro-Hungary “Poland” Jews Greece (after 1900) Italy(esp. after 1900)

Invented by Hoboken’s Italo Marchiony, emigrated 1895

From Where? China

Canada: 2 million+ (1870-1920)

Mexico, Caribbean (esp. 1890+)

Bloomington IL immigrant, 1890s

Why did They Come?

“Push” & “pull” factors

Home countries: declining opportunity

America: available land, jobsRose SchneidermanPolish immigrant, 1890

What Assists?

Triumph of steam technologies

Who were They? 80% aged 14-44

Overall, mostly male

Irish/Swedes: more balanced ratio

Jews: Family migration Italian Ellis island arrivals

Gaining EntryCastle Garden at Ellis

Island, 1892 12 million

Angel Island, 1910

Registration & inspections

at all entries

Ellis Island Health Inspection

Inside Ellis Island

In the hospital wing

Where did they settle? Rural: Czechs

Urban: Irish

Target industries

Earlier migrantsChina town, Little

ItalyBeret Olesdater Hagebak, Wisconsin, 1896

Nativist Sentiments

1830s: Anti-Catholic/Irish

1850s: Know Nothing Party

Focus on background

Anxiety over magnitude

“The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things,” Thomas Nast, 1871

Anti-Immigrant Laws

1875: Page Law: keep out “undesirables”

1882: Chinese Exclusion Act

European restrictions in 1920s

Historians’ Views What was the immigrant experience?

Uprooted?

Transplanted?

Lewis Hines, Italian family leaving Ellis Island, 1905

Historians’ Views

Did immigrants co-exist or assimilate?

Is America a melting pot or a pluralistic society?

Americanization

1905

“Melting Pot”? “Understand that America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot

where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! Here you

stand, good folk, think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you

stand in your fifty groups, your fifty languages, and histories, and

your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries. But you won't be long like

that, brothers, for these are the fires of God you've come to – these

are fires of God.

A fig for your feuds and vendettas! Germans and Frenchmen,

Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians—into the Crucible

with you all! God is making the American.”

Zangwill, The Melting Pot, 1908

Historians’ Views How does the history of immigration intertwine with

the development of American national identity?

Issues of race

Issues of citizenship

1876 Harper’s Weekly cartoon ►

19th C. Immigration

No single immigrant experience

No one model of national integration

Same issues for immigration today

Questions?