1. Unit 2A:The Gilded Age
Immigration

2. Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

3. Why Immigrants Came? Jobs - factories, mines, railroads, farms
Free Land - Homestead Act
Education – free public schools
Freedom – political and religious

4. of Jews in Russia in the late 1880’s
Pogroms
Violent massacres
of Jews in Russia in the late 1880’s
Many immigrants came to have religious freedom and escape religious persecution, such as the Pogroms in Russia.

5. How Many Came? Between 1865 and 1920 About 30 million came
Nearly doubled population of U.S.

6. 1st Wave—The “Old Immigrants”
Source of original Europeans who came to America
Mostly from Northern and Western Europe
England, Ireland, Germany, and France
Numbers grew very large from 1840s to 1880s

7. Germany

8. 2nd Wave—The “New Immigrants”
Came to the US from 1880s to the 1920s
Where From?
Southern and Eastern Europe
Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Poland
Also smaller numbers from Mexico, China, Japan
How Many?
2100 per day by the 1880s
As many as 20 million come in the 2nd Wave

11. Why did they Leave? Push Factors:
Old World population grew too rapidly
Flocked to cities for jobs; many unemployed
Freedom from military conscription
Fleeing persecution (Jewish especially)
Pull Factors:
Letters from America painted a land of opportunity
Ads from America – cheap land, labor available, need more people in new states

12. Industrialization as a pull factor
The industrialization in the North created factory jobs
This led to an increase in immigration
Increased immigration led to increased “urbanization”

13. Steam-powered ships accelerated immigration—Crossed the Atlantic in 2 – 3 weeks

14. A famous steamship from 1912
The RMS Titanic – the largest, most luxurious passenger ship of the time (2222 passengers)

15. The Main Staircase on the Titanic

16. Parlor on the Titanic

17. Did the poor travel
like this?

18. Steerage
Large open area beneath a ship’s deck near the steering mechanism
Cheap tickets
Limited toilet facilities
No privacy
Poor food

19. 1875 Steerage Rates from Europe to New York
Average Fair: Adults $22
Children $12
Infants $3

20. Typical Steerage Accommodations

21. Centers of Immigration
Most Europeans came in through the port of New York – Ellis Island
Ellis Island was open from
Approximately 12 million people passed through its halls.
They received:
Medical inspections:
Healthy? Needed to prevent contagious diseases from entering the nation.
Legal inspections:
Capable of supporting themselves? Criminals?

23. Ellis Island Registry Room, 1905

28. Tenements Low-cost apartment buildings No windows in some rooms
Crowded
No electricity
No plumbing
Sinks and toilets in hall or basement

30. Urban Living Conditions
Crowded - Insufficient adequate housing
Air Pollution – soot from factories made the air dark and foul
Water Pollution - Poor sanitation – human and animal waste, garbage, rats in streets
Diseases - Tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid
Fire – Wooden buildings burned rapidly – No fire/safety codes
Great Chicago Fire of 1871
18,000 buildings destroyed
250 died

31. Great Chicago Fire of 1871