New Immigrants American History

Goals Students will be able to: Terms to know: Compare the experience of European and Asian immigrants Use geographic terms and tools to analyze human migration Use geographic terms and tools to analyze the effects of migration Analyze the cultural effects of transportation, trade, and communication Terms to know: “new” immigrant, steerage, Ellis Island, Angel Island, Americanization, “melting pot”, nativism, Chinese Exclusion Act

Immigrants Between the 1870’s and the outbreak of World War I, Irish and German immigrants, as well as new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe flooded into America There were a variety push and pull factors that brought immigrants came to the United States Push factors included: poor farming conditions, poor economies, religious conflict Pull factors included: plentiful land, jobs in mines, on railroads, in oil fields, in fields, and in factories, religious freedom

The Immigrant experience Most immigrants who made their way to the United States took steamers across the ocean Passengers generally traveled as steerage, which were the worst accommodations on the ship In this part of the ship it was crowded and dirty, illness spread quickly, and there was almost not enough supplies for the people to make it across the ocean The first stop for many European Immigrants was at Ellis Island First and Second class passengers were generally allowed to make their way immediately to the main land Steerage passengers were subjected to legal and medical inspections prior to their admission to the U.S.

Angel Island Chinese and other Asian immigrants crossed the Pacific ocean and were processed at Angel Island Asian immigrants were largely pushed back across the ocean unless they could prove they had relative living in the U.S. While most European immigrants were allowed into the country within hours, Chinese immigrants were often held for weeks or even months at a time

Opportunities and Challenges Most new immigrants stayed in cities close to industrial jobs in factories Once in the cities many new immigrants had to learn new customs and a new language In these cities ethnic neighborhoods spring up revolving around a shared native language, religion, and culture In many cities, volunteer institutions known as settlement houses ran Americanization programs, helping newcomers learn English and adopt American dress and diet Many look at the United States as being a melting pot, a place in which people of different cultures melted into a common culture

Nativism Nativism was the belief that native-born white Americans were superior to new European immigrants New comers to the United States often had to deal with extreme discrimination because of their heritage Religious conflicts were also prevalent Feuds between Protestants and Catholics resulted in Catholics and Jews not being voted for or not being hired for work. Many Protestants refused to work with Catholics and Jews as well. Nativists also took aim at Chinese Citizens The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited immigration by Chinese laborers, limited the civil rights of Chinese immigrants already in the U.S. and forbade the naturalization of Chinese residents