Immigration

US History

Nation of Immigrants

• Always has been a “nation of immigrants”

• After Civil War, industrialization brought even more immigrants.– 1865-1900 13.5 million people from

abroad.– 1920s immigration slows down.

Three “Waves”

• Colonial Immigration (to 1776)

• Old Immigration (1776-1850)

• New Immigration (1850-1924)

Colonial Immigration

• From arrival of Europeans to Declaration of Independence.– In North America, mostly English, but also Scotch-

Irish, German, Swedish, Dutch.– Many Africans.

• Why?– Europeans: political and religious freedom;

economic improvement.– Africans: forced

Old Immigration

• 1776-1850• From Northern and Western Europe:

Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia• Why?

– Irish: Potato famine in late 1840s.– Germans: wars and failed revolution in

1848.– In general, economic opportunity.

Old Immigration

• Areas of Settlement– Irish: Northeastern cities (5-point area of

NYC)– Germans and Scandinavians: Some cities;

mostly farms in west

Old Immigration

• Problems Old Immigrants faced:– Irish and German Catholics experienced

resentment from Protestant establishment.– Also fear of economic competition.

New Immigration• 1850-1924• Shift in immigration to

southern and eastern Europe (Italy, Russia, Poland, Greece, Armenians) as well as Asia (Japan, China)

• Why?– Again economic opportunity,

political freedom.– Religious freedom (Jews in

Russia faced pogroms)

New Immigration

• Most new immigrants settled in cities:– Industrial centers, ports– Concentrated in ghettos

• “Urban area, usually poor, dominated by a single ethnic group.”

• In NYC “Lower East Side” - Jewish; “Little Italy”; Chinatown

New Immigration

• Chinese Immigration to US– China: overcrowded; food shortages;

Taiping Rebellion (1850)– US Gold Rush; Central Pacific RR

advertised for workers on transcontinental RR

New Immigration

• Japanese Immigration– Between 1900-1910– Rapid industrialization disrupted Japanese

economy; Japanese looked to US for a “start over”

– 1910 Angel Island in SF Bay• Immigrants waited for weeks or months for

immigration hearings.

Reaction to Immigration• Nativism: belief that native-born

Americans were superior to immigrants.– 1880s-90s Nativism emerged even

among descendants of “Old Immigrants.”

– Believed that immigrant languages, religions and traditions impacted American society negatively.

– Nativist workers feared low wages and loss of jobs.

– Much discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes.

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Reaction to Immigration

• Nativist legislation!– 1850s Know-Nothing Party: tried to limit

voting strength of immigrants; to keep Catholics out of office; to require lengthy residence before citizenship.

• Unsuccessful; party died out in late 1850s.

Reaction to Immigration

• Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)– Using Wilhelm II’s phrase “Yellow Peril”– Common in newspapers owned by William

Randolph Hearst on West Coast– California barred Chinese from owning

property or working in certain jobs.– Congress followed suit by limiting Chinese

immigration.

Reaction to Immigration

• “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1907)– Pres. Theodore Roosevelt reached

informal agreement with Japan to halt emigration of its people to US.

Reaction to Immigration

• Literacy Tests (1917)– Congress barred immigrants who could not

read or write [in their own language].

Reaction to Immigration

• Emergency Quota Act (1921)– Limited number of immigrants to US each year to

350,000.

• National Origins Quota Act (1924)– Further reduced immigration.– Favored immigrants from northern and western

Europe.

• National Origins Act (1929)– Limited number to 150,000 per year.

Immigrants and American Society

• Sociological theories on absorption of immigrants into a society:– Melting Pot:

• people from various cultures meet in a place and form a new culture. Difficult to distinguish contributions of any one culture.

Immigrants andAmerican Society

• Assimilation– Immigrants become like the established

American culture; they give up languages and customs for the dominant society.

– Immigrants from Africa, Asia, Caribbean who looked least like nativists had hardest time assimilating.

Immigrants andAmerican Society

• Pluralism (salad bowl or mosaic)– No group really loses its distinctive

characteristics.– People live side by side with each group

contributing in its own way.