1. Objectives – At the end, you should be able to:
Identify the causes of Immigration
Two general causes
Many specific causes
Describe the difficulties immigrants faced adjusting to their new lives.
Discuss how immigrants assimilated and contributed to American life.
Explain the positive and negative experiences had by immigrants
Compare the immigrant experiences for people coming from different parts of the world.
Experiences for Europeans
Experiences for Asians, specifically, the Chinese

2. A Flood of Immigrants
Before 1865, most immigrants coming to the United States came from northern and western Europe (the Old World).

3. A Flood of Immigrants In the mid-1880s, that pattern began to change.
“New” immigrants began to come from eastern and southern Europe – Greeks, Russian, Italians, Poles, etc.”
By 1907, 4 out of 5 immigrants were from these parts of Europe.

4. A Flood of Immigrants – Who are they?
Many of these new immigrants are Catholic or Jews. They do not speak English.
After 1900, immigration from Mexico will increase, and many thousands will arrive from China and Japan.
These new ethnic groups and their religions and beliefs do not “blend” well with the old immigrants, who are generally Protestant and English-speaking (Irish, Scottish, English, etc.)
Because of this, these groups clustered together in neighborhoods made up of the same nationality.

5. A Flood of Immigrants – Why are they here?
For many immigrants, they had no choice but to LEAVE their home. They were “PUSHED” from their country.
Some left home because of economic troubles. In Italy, overcrowding and poverty made it hard to find a home and shelter.
In Sweden and Ireland, major crop failures led to thousands dying from starvation.
All across Europe, Industrialization resulted in new machines that replaced the need for skilled, manual labor. Hundreds of thousands were left without jobs as a result.

6. A Flood of Immigrants – Why are they here?
For many immigrants, they had no choice but to LEAVE their home. They were “PUSHED” from their country.
Persecution (targeted and abused for one’s beliefs) also drove people from their homes.
Some countries passed laws that targeted certain ethnic groups.
Targeted groups genuinely fled for their lives and came to the United States.
One example is the immigration of Russian Jews who came to America to flee the pogroms; the systematic discrimination and violence toward people of this particular religion.

7. A Flood of Immigrants – Why are they here?
For other immigrants, many saw the United States as a land of opportunity, promise, and potential. They felt “PULLED” here.
America promised the chance for a better life than they one they would leave behind.
Industrialization was just beginning in the United States, and thousands of jobs needed to be filled.
Cities were just beginning to grow and it was said the streets “were paved with gold.”.
A vast majority of the country had not even been settled and many moved out west, where land was everywhere and it was cheap or free.

8. The European Immigrant Experience– Finding work
An immigrant’s greatest challenge was finding work.
Fast-growing industries needed thousands of workers. In the steel mills of Pittsburg, the majority or workers were recent immigrants.
Immigrant women and children worked in sweatshops, cutting, sewing, and producing the latest fabric fashions.
The hours were long, the work could be very hazardous, and the pay low. Still, immigrants found opportunity.

9. The European Immigrant Experience– Adjusting to America
While most immigrants tried to preserve their own cultures, most wanted to assimilate, or become part of America.
Immigrant parents continued to speak Italian, German, or Russian at home while their children learned English at school.
These children of immigrants, speaking both languages, eventually had children that would speak English only. These people had become “American,” but at the loss of their ancestral culture.
Most immigrants tended to form separate communities in the cities in which they lived. Cities such as Chicago, New York, and San Francisco would have a separate neighborhood for Italians, Poles, Chinese, etc.

10. The Immigrant Experience– The Nativist Movement
Immigrants’ attempts to assimilate and become part of the American culture often faced criticism from native-born Americans.
Immigrants’ attempts to assimilate and become part of the American culture often faced criticism from native-born Americans.
Still other native-born Americans were intimidated by new immigrants. They argues that new foreign languages, unfamiliar religions, and unique customs would not “fit in” to American society.
People found it easy to blame immigrants for these problems and the Nativist Movement took hold. Nativists called for immigration restrictions.

11. The Asian Immigrant Experience
Unlike immigrants from Europe, the Chinese and other Asian immigrants experienced far more discrimination and difficulties coming to America.
While most Europeans immigrants were free to come to America in large numbers, the Chinese were not.
Because of this, the number of Chinese and Asian immigrants were much lower than the number of Europeans.
Notice the year and location of the printed advertisement

12. The Asian Immigrant Experience - Discrimination
Most Americans were European in ancestry. Regardless of the country they came from, most Europeans were similar to one another in terms of language, religion, and customs.
Because the Chinese were from a different continent, spoke and wrote in an entirely different language, and had an unrecognizable religion to most in America, they faced harsh racism.
Americans ignorantly feared racial problems, public disturbances, and political unrest would occur with the arrival of more Chinese immigrants.
Simply, many feared the Chinese would change American civilization.

13. The Asian Immigrant Experience – Chinese
In 1882, The United States passed The Chinese Exclusion Act.
The Act had several details:
1. It prohibited Chinese from immigrating unless they were certified as being “fit.”
2. Chinese immigrants already in America were unable to leave the country and return without special permission.
3. ALL Chinese immigrants were denied U.S. citizenship.

14. The Asian Immigrant Experience – Japanese
Congress and Japan also came to a “gentlemen’s agreement” concerning Japanese immigrants.
Congress agreed not to prohibit and Japanese immigrants, and Japanese agreed to control the number of people leaving for the United States.
Still later, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917, requiring a literacy requirement in order for any immigrant to enter the United States.
Not until 1943 would restrictions be eased. And only 105 Chinese immigrants were allowed in the United States.

15. The Immigrant Experience – Final Analysis
Regardless from where one emigrated, the experiences of every person were indeed harsh and negative. These negative experiences included:
Living in cities and neighborhoods that were filthy, dusty, and strewn with garbage of all kind.
Diseases from animals and crowded living spaces were spread easily. Illness was common and everywhere.
Learning a new language and culture was difficult, especially when surrounded by people like them.
This failure to speak English and adopt the American culture often resulted in less job offers and increased discrimination.

16. The Immigrant Experience – Final Analysis
Despite the overwhelming challenges faced by millions of immigrants, for many, the United States was the “promised land” and the “land of opportunity for several positive reasons:
Life in the United States was better than the country they left and offered freedom and hope.
Opportunities in terms of jobs, money, homes, and land existed in the United States more than they did in the old country.
For immigrant parents, the U.S. was a place with better schools, quality education, and chances for their children to live healthy lives.
Even though they were far from their native lands, living with extended family in the United States provided comfort, safety, and insured the traditions and customs would continue.