1. Immigration
US History

2. Nation of Immigrants Always has been a “nation of immigrants”
After Civil War, industrialization brought even more immigrants.
million people from abroad.
1920s immigration slows down.

3. Three “Waves” Colonial Immigration (to 1776)
Old Immigration ( )
New Immigration ( )

4. 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

5. Old Immigration
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.

6. Old Immigration Areas of Settlement
Irish: Northeastern cities (5-point area of NYC)
Germans and Scandinavians: Some cities; mostly farms in west

7. Old Immigration Problems Old Immigrants faced:
Irish and German Catholics experienced resentment from Protestant establishment.
Also fear of economic competition.

8. New Immigration
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)

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Reaction to Immigration
“Gentleman’s Agreement” (1907)
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt reached informal agreement with Japan to halt emigration of its people to US.

17. Reaction to Immigration
Literacy Tests (1917)
Congress barred immigrants who could not read or write [in their own language].

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Immigrants and American 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.

21. Immigrants and American 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.