The Great Immigration

1
The Great Immigration

• 1880-1921

2
The Great Migration

• 23 million immigrants arrived in the USA from
  1880-1921
• They were called the New Immigrants
• 70 came from Southern and Eastern Europe
• 30 came from Asia (especially China) and some
  from Latin America

3
The Southern and Eastern European Immigrants

• Italy, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Russia and Jews
  from many of these countries
• Religion-mostly Catholic Christian or Jewish
• Spoke little or no English
• Unskilled farmers with little money or little
  education

4
PUSH and PULL Factors causing the Great
Immigration

• Eastern and Southern European Immigrants

5
PUSH Factors (what pushed people away from where
they lived)

1. Famine and disease
2. Natural disasters-earthquakes and
   volcanoes-especially in Italy
3. Lack of jobs and overpopulation
4. Religious Persecution (especially for Jews)

6
PULL Factors (factors in America that attracted
them to immigrate)

• 1. The USA was viewed as the magic
  land-unlimited opportunities
• 2. Factories recruited overseas
• 3. Pamphlets with false advertising
• 4. The Homestead Act-free land

7
The Journey to America

• Often cost a family or individual a whole lifes
  savings
• Usually 1 or 2 members of a family would come
  here first
• The boats to the America were overcrowded
• RMS Titanic (1912) most of the poorer immigrants
  were trapped on lower decks when the ship sank

8
Arrival in America

• 75 of immigrants arrived at Ellis Island in New
  York Harbor
• 1910- 6 million came to Ellis Island
• The immigrants were inspected, questioned and w/
  any luck cleared for entry into the USA

9
Ellis Island, NY
10
Where is Ellis Island?
11
The Medical Inspections

• 1st and 2nd class boat passengers didnt have to
  endure the medical inspections
• 6-second exam
• 45-minute thorough physical
• They checked your entire body and marked you w/
  an X with chalk if you had a medical defect

12
Medical Exam
13
Legal Inspection

• Occurred at the Registry Hall
• You were asked your name- many times the
  inspectors couldnt spell it right
• Asked you 32 questions and then they processed
  you
• Only 2 of the immigrants failed and were sent
  back home
• 20 of immigrants were kept in hospitals due to
  physical or mental reasons

14
Legal Inspection
15
The Registry Hall (Ellis Island)
Break for The Cities video
16
The Immigrant Experience Working and Living in
America

• The Cities and Factories

17
Leaving Ellis Island

• You either took a ferry to settle in New York
  City greeted by waiting friends or relatives
• Or you took a ferry to a railroad station in New
  Jersey and traveled to another city or to the
  Western homesteads

18
Ethnic Neighborhoods

• 2/3 of all immigrants settled in the big cities
  of the east (Philly, New York, Boston, Baltimore)
• The immigrants settled in ethnic neighborhoods or
  enclaves- very crowded
• Greek, Italian (Little Italy), Polish, German,
  Jewish and Irish neighborhoods were
  established-some still exist (South Philly is
  still mostly Italian)

19
The Melting Pot Theory

• Melting Pot-the belief that a new and mixed
  society would develop blending all the new and
  old immigrant groups
• At the same time each ethnic group would still
  maintain some of its own culture, foods, religion
  and language, etc.
• Are we a melting pot today?

20
Polish immigrants
21
Italian Immigrants
22
Greek Immigrants
23
Jewish Immigrants
24
Living condition for the New Immigrants

• The big cities were not ready to handle all the
  new immigrants
• Many immigrants lived in tenements
• Tenements were run-down, low-rent apartment
  buildings
• Immigrants were crowded together sometimes as
  many as 20 in a 3-room apartment
• 10-20 a month for rent

25
Living condition for the New Immigrants

• No windows, no bathrooms-as many as 100 people
  had to share a community bathroom
• The tenement apartments were havens of foul
  stink, disease and rats
• Some immigrants could escape the cities and live
  on the frontier, but there were other challenges
  as you saw in Frontier House

26
(No Transcript)
27
New York City Tenement Apartments
28
Working Conditions for New Immigrants

• Most immigrants worked in the city factories
• Why hire immigrants?
• 1. Plentiful and cheap labor
• 2. Immigrants were desperate for any kind of job
• 3. Factory jobs required little skill

29
Working Conditions for New Immigrants

• The Immigrants were exploited (taken advantage
  of)
• Worked 12-16 hour work days 6 or even 7 days a
  week
• Dangerous working conditions
• Despite all these hardships, most immigrants were
  better off in the USA than they were in their
  home country

30
American-born citizens attitudes towards
Immigrants
31
Nativism

• Nativists believed that new immigrants were a
  threat to native-born American citizens and their
  way of life
• Many Northern and Western European Americans
  (Nativists) considered the Southern and Eastern
  Europeans a different and inferior race
• Nativists accused the new immigrants of taking
  the jobs away from the real Americans

32
The Great Fear
33
Nativist Flag
34
Nativism Successful

• The Emergency Quota Acts (1921 and 1924) passed
  by the US Congress-put a quota (limit) on the
  amount of immigrants coming to America from
  Eastern and Southern Europe and Asia
• End of the Great migration

35
Attitudes Towards Immigrants today

• 21st Century

36
Latin American Immigrants

• Many legal immigrants arrive from
  Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico,
  Guatemala, and The Dominican Republic
• Most do not speak a word of English when they
  arrive here
• Most come to USA as farm laborers and then seek
  to make a better life and obtain an education

37
Mexican and Terrorist Illegal Immigration

• Hundreds sneak across the US-Mexican border each
  day despite the US Immigration Services efforts
• Private citizens in Arizona have formed their own
  militias to catch illegals
• Many Mexican illegals die along the way
• The 9-11 terrorists (some legally and some
  illegally) crossed the US-Canadian border

38
Other Illegal Immigration

• Many Cubans seeking freedom from communist
  dictator Fidel Castro escape across the Gulf of
  Mexico into Florida
• Many Dominicans fleeing poverty and corruption
  escape across the Mona passage into Puerto Rico
  (USA)
• If a Cuban makes it to Florida without being
  caught along the way, he/she can legally stay
• Dominicans and Mexicans who are caught are either
  detained or sent home

39
Cuban, Haitian, and Dominican boat people