Immigration and Urbanization: America is growing

1865-1893

Gilded Age in American History

• Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner• Record economic and population growth after

the Civil War• US economy grew at fastest rate in American

history– New inventions– Titans of industry->aides America becoming an

industrial center– Required more workers-> turned to immigrant labor

• Ended with Panic of 1893 and ushering in of the Progressive Era

Why Come to America?

• Immigrants- somebody who leaves their home country to live in another country

Key Idea: America could offer them somethingthey could not have access to in their home country.

**American Dream**• Economic opportunities

– Job, food, modern technology, etc.• Unrest in home country

– Violence, famine, religion etc.• Family already in America• “Birds of Passage”• Low cost of coming to America -> steam ship

Immigration by Area: Europe

• 1870-1920 20 million Europeans – Before 1890->West and Northern Europe– After 1890 -> Central and Eastern Europe

• What led to such an increase in number of immigrants coming from Europe?

Immigration by Area: Europe

Ellis Island

• An immigration station in New York Harbor

• Not every immigrant was admitted (disease, criminal records, money/job)

• 17 million immigrants passed through

• Closed in 1954, now a museum

• Clip on Ellis Island

Ellis Island circa 1900’s

Ellis Island Museum: Present Day

Immigration by Area: Asia

• 1851-1883 about 300,000 Chinese immigrated– Gold and railroads

• By 1920 more than 200,000 Japanese lived on the West Coast (California mainly)– Due to annexation of Hawaii which had many

Japanese laborers b/c of Dole fruits.

Immigration by Area: Asia

Angel Island

• An immigration station in San Francisco Bay

• 1910-1940-> 50,000 Chinese

• Treatment: harsh and often detained

Angel Island circa 1916

Interrogation:

A Day in the Life of a New Immigrant:

Imagine you go to a foreign country and have to provide for the following on your own!

• Language barrier

• Living arrangements

• Jobs/money

• Food, clothing, basic items

Idea of Nativism

• Nativists- supported American born people, mainly against immigrants– believed that immigrants brought European radicalism

with them to America– blamed the newcomers for instigating the labor unrest

that characterized much of the period. – Immigrants hold on to beliefs/customs. Against idea

of melting pot

• Social Darwinism with races– Eugenics: Europeans the greatest race

Nativist Groups:

• American Protective Association (APA)– 1887: papal conspiracy against liberty– Against Roman Catholics (mainly those

coming from Eastern and Central Europe)

• Immigration Restriction League– 1894: America should be populated with

people of Germanic origins because of their energy and intelligence.

– Organized by Harvard graduates

APA Poster

Restrictions on Immigration:

• Chinese Exclusion Act: 1882– Resulted from many workers and labor unions in the

west concerned about job competition– Banned all Chinese immigrants except students,

teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials

– Lasted till 1943• Gentlemen’s Agreement: 1907

– Prior to agreement Japanese children were being forced to attend segregated school in San Francisco

– Limited emigration of Japanese unskilled workers to US in exchange for repeal of segregation in schools.

Political Cartoons of Discrimination

• Thomas Nast– German-American editorial cartoonist– Drew Uncle Sam and Santa Claus– Famous for commentary on Gilded Age

"The Chinese Question." (February 18, 1871). Thomas Nast. (Columbia defends disconsolae John Chinaman from nativist Attacks)

Circa 1889

People Move to Major Cities:

• Urbanization– Growth of cities in Midwest and Northeast– Why?

1)Farming more efficient (less jobs on farms)

2)African Americans move from South

3)Immigrants live in cities (cheapest & convenient)– By 1890 2x as many Irish in NYC than in Dublin, Ireland– By 1910 immigrants were more than half of total

population in 18 major US cities– Ethnic communities develop in cities

Challenges of City Life: Disease and Fire

• Housing issues– Many middle class families left cities as a result of

mass transit systems– As a result, their old houses were often divided up for

multiple families• Tenements• Airshafts filled with garbage

• Drinking water– Development of piped water and filtered water slow to

come in larger cities– Unclean water: cholera and typhoid fever

Challenges of City Life: Disease and Fire

• Lack of Sanitation (spread disease)– Sewage often in streets– Smoke from factories unfiltered– Garbage in streets

• Fires Spread Easily– Buildings made of wood – Lighting by candles and kerosene in homes– Frequent occurrences in large cities (1870s-1880s)

• 1871: Great Chicago Fire

– Lack of fire departments till 1900

Living Conditions of Immigrants and Urban Poor

• Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives 1890– Riis's reform argument targeted six major areas: men, women,

children, workplaces, living and housing conditions, and improvements, real and imagined.

– Inspired investigative journalism

• Tenement Housing and slums• Crime, disease, fires• Clip on Jacob Riis

For following photos… Write the one adjective that comes to mind to describe the

condition of the people portrayed.

Photo by Jacob Riis portraying tenements

Entitled “Children Sleeping in Mulberry Street” 1890

Entitled “A Cave Dwellar, One of 4 Peddlars Who Slept” 1890

Homeless Children, 1890

Living Conditions for women

Tenement housing from the outside

view

Society Assists Urban Poor and Immigrants:

• Americanization Movement– Attempt to give immigrants opportunities such

as classes in English to help them assimilate.

• Social Gospel Movement– Salvation through service to urban poor :

Protestant ethics– Later contributed to Progressive Movement in

early 1900s

Jane Addams

– Inspired middle class women to get involved in community

– Basis: Believe that poverty and the lack of opportunity breed the problems of the ghetto. Ignorance, disease, and crime are the result of economic desperation and not the result of some flaw in moral character.

– First woman to win Nobel Peace Prize

Jane Addams 1860-1935Hull House Chicago, Illinois

Founded 1889

Jane Addams: Founder of Hull House

– Settlement houses• Community centers in urban, slum areas• Toynbee Hall: London, England• Purpose: social responsibility taken for urban

poor

– Hull House: Chicago• Paid for by her inheritance• One of first American settlement houses• Assisted many immigrants and brought attention to

problems of urbanization• Offered dance, school, day-care, music, health

services, etc.