IMMIGRATION IN THE LATE 19 TH CENTURY We’re coming to America!

OLD IMMIGRANTS From the 1850s – 1870s, more than 2 million people immigrated to America 1880s – more than 5 million came Up to the 1880s, most immigrants: Came from the British Isles and Western Europe (Germany, Scandinavia) Protestant Christians (except for Irish Catholics) High literacy rates Accustomed to a from of representative government

NEW IMMIGRANTS By 1890, the flow of immigration changed: Southern and eastern Europe (Italians, Slavs, Greeks, Poles, Russians) Orthodox Christians or Jews Native countries had little or no tradition of representative democracy Largely illiterate and impoverished Chose factory work in cities to farms

WHY DID NEW IMMIGRANTS COME? Out of room in Europe (massive population growth) America was seen as the land of opportunity No military conscription No religious persecution Wealthy industrialists recruited workers Persecution in Europe ex. Pogroms by the Russian government against Jews

JOURNEY TO AMERICA Virtually all immigrants up to the 20 th Century traveled by boat Length of journey Across the Atlantic – about 1 week Across the Pacific – about 3 weeks Most immigrants traveled in steerage Rarely allowed on deck Louse-infested bunks Shared toilets Disease spread quickly

ELLIS ISLAND First stop: inspection stations European immigrants went through Ellis Island in New York (above) Asian immigrants went through Angel Island in San Francisco Bay About 20% were detained a day or more before being inspected Only about 2% were denied entry

INSPECTION To gain admittance to the country, immigrants had to: Pass a physical examination by a doctor Meet with a government inspector who checked to see that the immigrants had the legal requirements to enter the US No criminal record, prove one could work, had to have some money From 1892 to 1924, an estimated 17 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island Between 1910 to 1940, about 50,000 Chinese immigrants passed through Angel Island

INSPECTION STATION

DORMITORY FOR THOSE WHO WERE DETAINED

FIND YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS Ellis Island

RETAINING THEIR CULTURE Many immigrants resisted assimilation: Lived in neighborhoods with others from their native lands Sent children to religious schools Read foreign language newspapers Made the same food and celebrated old world holidays and traditions Often their children grew up American and abandoned the old traditions

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO NEW IMMIGRATION Governments did little to help these new immigrants assimilate The task often fell to political machines and party bosses who traded jobs and services for votes and provided: jobs for the city Housing, food, and clothing for new arrivals Ex. – Boss Tweed in NYC, The Jungle

NATIVISTS URGE IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION Nativists were a group that favored Native born Americans over immigrants Why did Nativists dislike the New Immigrants? Spoke unfamiliar languages Weren’t Protestant Christians High birthrate Worried they would quickly outnumber Anglo-Saxons Worried about blood mixing with “inferiors” Worked for very low wages Had different political ideas like socialism, communism, and anarchism Labor leaders eventually support cutting off the flow of immigration Worked cheap, often used as strikebreakers, language barrier made it hard to unionize them

CONGRESS MOVES TO LESSEN IMMIGRATION 1882 – Congress passes a law banning paupers, criminals, and convicts Laws later ban polygamists, prostitutes, alcoholics, anarchists, and people with contagious diseases 1917 – a literacy test was enacted after 3 presidents vetoed it