Immigration

Immigration• 1880 -1924 - 26 million “new” immigrants arrived in

America

• Push Factors: Wars, famine, religious persecution, and overpopulation were reasons people left Europe

• Pull factors-reasons why they wanted to come to US

Immigrants leaving Hamburg, Germany for New York

Passage

• Passage could cost a life’s savings– Not all came at once

(chain immigrants)

• Steerage – cheapest passage – Dirty, crowded,

diseases

"The Steerage" by Alfred Stieglitz (1907). (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress: Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction number: C-USZ62-62880 [b&w film copy neg.].)

• What would you think of the US if this were the 1st building you saw as you arrived?

Ellis Island

• Opened in 1892 when the federal government began screening immigrants

• Burned in 1897• Reopened in 1900

– By end of 1910, 6 million immigrants arrived

• Inadequate for flood of immigrants

Ellis Island

• Medical inspections completed– 2 minutes to ask 32

questions

• Those who had diseases could be sent back

• Last names were often changed

Ellis Island

• Why are these people sitting in holding pens?

• Most immigrants settled in cities– 1900 – 2/3rds of foreign born lived in cities– 4 of 5 in NYC were immigrants or 1st generation kids

• Lived in neighborhoods by ethnic backgrounds (ghettos)

“Little Italy”

NYC

• Overcrowding– NY social worker

counted 1,231 people in 120 rooms

• Poor Sanitation– No bathtub within

3 blocks• No fresh air and

lights• Some children

asphyxiated

Living Conditions

Nickel a spot lodging

Cartoon Analysis Reflection

• What positive attitudes or views towards immigrants were depicted in these cartoons?

• What negative attitudes/views?• Based on the cartoons, what kind of a

reception do you think immigrants could expect when they arrived?

• What is the message of the cartoon regarding immigration?• How do you know?• How is irony used in the cartoon?

Anti-Foreign Attitudes

• Nativism-the idea that people born in America were superior– 2nd or 3rd generation– More common among WASPs

• Some native born Americans feared and resented immigrants

• Reasons:– Competition for jobs

– Different customs– Lower wages– Willing to accept worse conditions– Often used as strike breakers

Social Darwinism• Eugenics movement- “race scientists” who

try to prove that certain ethnic groups are biologically superior– Nordics/Anglos (if Protestant) = superior– Alpines= tolerable– Mediterranean=inferior

• To avoid “race suicide” – Americanization programs (settlement houses)– OR – Exclusion policies

Chinese Immigrants• Asians arrived to West

Coast– 1865-1882, 320,000

• Watch: Chinese Immigrants Help Build A Nation

• 1. What were the push factors behind Chinese immigration?

• 2. Pull factors? What did America offer?

• 3. What challenges did they face in America?– Treatment, law, policies,

regulations? (need 6)

Chinese Immigrants Help Build A Nation

• http://www.learn360.com/ShowVideo.aspx?ID=143448

U.S. Immigration Policy• 1882-Chinese Exclusion Act –(10 yr) ban on Chinese

immigrants– Renewed in 1892– 1902-permanent ban until 1945

• Gentleman’s Agreement-U.S. won’t segregate Japanese immigrants already here, but Japan agrees not to allow anymore citizens to come

• Immigration Restriction Act of 1924– Quota system set up to keep out “undesirable” ethnic groups– Limits southern/central Europeans

What details do you see?What is the message of the image?