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Immigration 1880-1925

Immigrants with their belongings pictured outside the Main Building at Ellis Island.

Immigration• Old Immigrants

– Before 1880

– From Northern & Western Europe

– White Anglo Saxon Protestant

– Middle Class

• New Immigrants– After 1880

– From Southern & Eastern Europe

– Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish

– Poor & Illiterate

– Entered the U.S. in large numbers until 1925

Ellis Island, New York City

•1892-1954

•Primary Immigration Processing station

Immigrants aboard a ship heading for the Port of New York, circa 1892.

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Most traveled 3rd class or steerage.

Ellis Island was designed to process 5,ooo Immigrants a day1907-1924 Ellis Island processed 20,000 Immigrants a day

The Great Line Inspection

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Immigration officials perform medical examinations on each arriving passenger.

Immigrants being given a mental test at Ellis Island.

Urbanization• By 1900 American cities looked like patches of

ethnic groups.

• Close knit neighborhoods with shared similarities.– Language

– Religion

– Traditions

– Holidays

– Food

– History

Under the Imperial Russian coat of arms, traditionally dressed Russian Jews, packs in hand, line Asia's shore as they gaze across

the ocean. Waiting for them under an American eagle holding a banner with the legend "Shelter me in the shadow of your

wings" (Psalms 17:8), are their Americanized relatives, whose outstretched arms

simultaneously beckon and welcome them to their new home. Hebrew Publishing

Company, between 1900 and 1920. Offset color lithograph postcard.

Benevolent Societies

•Helped Immigrants adjust to their new homes.

•Helped them find jobs, find homes, learn English, and a place to share their culture.

Reality of Immigrant Life in America• Lived in Slums

– Streets filled with raw sewage & garbage– Near factories that polluted the air.– Tenements

• Overcrowded, airless, small apartments

• Work– Labor intensive– Menial jobs– Low pay

• Discrimination– Many native born Americans blamed Immigrants for all of

societies ills.– Unemployment, overcrowded cities, health problems, illiteracy

rates, & poverty

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Restriction of Immigration Nativism

• Favoritism toward native-born Americans• Promoted anti-immigrant groups & immigration

restriction• Many Nativist blamed immigrations for the

country’s problems• Problems were caused by Immigrants from the

“Wrong” countries. (Slavs, Italians, Asians)• They also believed that Catholics & Jews would

undermine democracy

The large number of fatalities aboard overcrowded vessels carrying immigrants away from famine-devastated Ireland led them to be labeled "coffin ships." This political cartoon from Harper's Weekly, by W. A. Rogers, ran with the caption, "The balance of trade with Great Britain seems to be still against us. 630 paupers arrived at Boston in the steamship Nestoria, April 15th, from Galway, Ireland shipped by the British Government." The Irish vessel is labeled "Poor House from Galway." The smaller vessel to the left is marked with the words, "From New York. The Dynamite." The small box on which the man in the plaid coat is seated also contains the words

"the dynamite."

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

• Banned immigration for all Chinese except students, teachers, merchants, tourist, and government officials.

• Denied citizenship to all Chinese born

• Prohibited immigration of Chinese laborers

• Repealed in 1943

“Every Dog Has His Day”

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Immigration Restriction League

• Formed in 1894 by a group of wealthy Bostonians.

• Wanted to restrict immigration by requiring literacy to enter the U.S.

• The law was finally passed in 1917

1924 Immigration Restriction Act

• Restricted Immigration based on a quota system

• The quota for each ethnic group was based on the census population from 1890.

• This discriminated against groups of immigrants that arrived in large numbers after 1890.

• After 1924 immigrants had to have a VISA to enter the U.S.

Irish family at Ellis Island, anticipating a future in America (circa 1905). Hungarian mother and daughters specially dressed for their arrival in America.

Approved for entry, these immigrants wait in the Ellis Island Railroad Ticket Office.

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A view of immigrants inside the Ellis Island Dining Room. View inside the Ellis Island Dining Room, circa 1902.