Urbanization and Immigration

1
Urbanization and Immigration
2

• Prospect of good jobs and excitement lured
  millions to cities
• Urbanization growth of cities

3
(No Transcript)
4

• New technology let cities expand vertically
• Radiator
• Heat from steam no more fireplaces
• Elevator
• Would you want to walk up 15 floors?
• Steel frame construction
• Where did the steel come from?

5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7

• Other technology lets cities spread horizontally
• Cable Car Subway aka Mass Transit
• Leads to growth of suburbs
• Economic segregation
• rich and poor no longer live close to each other

8

• Why did people move?
• Electric lights, streetcars, telephones,
  department stores, new amusements, newspapers,
  and thousands of other things you couldnt get on
  a farm

9

• Cities arent paradise
• Especially in Northeast, they become extremely
  cramped
• NYC builds dumbbell tenements
• Overcrowded, poorly ventilated, diseased, and
  dangerous

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
Immigration

• Between 1860 and 1920 millions immigrated to the
  U.S.
• In 1890 4/5 New Yorkers were foreign born
  higher than any other city in the world
• Push factors
• Persecution
• Poverty
• Political revolutions
• Pull factors
• American industry needed labor
• Cheap land
• Freedom

13

• New Immigrants
• 1880 to 1920 many immigrants came from Southern
  and Eastern Europe
• Different language
• Different religion

14
(No Transcript)
15
Statue of Liberty

• Given to America by France to commemorate
  Franco-American alliance Dec. of Independence
  dedicated 1886
• Statue of Liberty was often the first thing
  immigrants saw of America
• Originally meant as a symbol to inspire other
  Europeans to adopt democratic/republican values
• A famous poem by Emma Lazarus changed the meaning

16
Colossus of Rhodes
17

• The New Colossus
• Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
• With conquering limbs astride from land to land
• Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
• A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
• Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
• Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
• Glows world-wide welcome her mild eyes command
• The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
• "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries
  she
• With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your
  poor,
• Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
• The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
• Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
• I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

18
(No Transcript)
19

• Ellis Island
• As immigration to NYC soared, Congress
  constructed new reception center for newcomers on
  island off Manhattan
• Average of 5,000 immigrants a day passed through
  over 1 million overall
• Old Italian saying -- I came to America because
  I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I
  got here, I found out three things First, the
  streets werent paved with gold second, they
  werent paved at all and third, I was expected
  to pave them.

20

• Life for immigrants was hard
• Long hours of work, living in tenements
• Italian immigrants
• More male immigrants many intended to work a few
  years go back to Italy
• Jewish immigrants
• Fleeing pogroms most immigrated as entire
  families
• Set down roots quickly more likely to succeed
• Most immigrants lived in ethnic communities in
  cities where language culture was familiar

21
(No Transcript)
22
Angel Island

• West coast equivalent to Ellis Island
• Processed immigrants from China and Japan
• Asian immigrants were disliked even more than
  new immigrants on East coast

23
The Melting Pot

• Before it was a restaurant, this was a theory
  regarding immigration
• Theory argued that as more immigrants came to the
  U.S., their culture would mix with those already
  here to create a new American culture

24
(No Transcript)
25
Nativist Response

• Many Americans resented newcomers
• They worked for low wages
• Immigrants work for almost nothing
• Numerous immigrants were illiterate or didnt
  speak English
• Also, many Americans were anti-Catholic or
  anti-Semitic
• Stanford professor called immigrants illiterate,
  docile, lacking in self-reliance and initiative,
  and not possessing the Anglo-Teutonic conceptions
  of law, order, and government.
• Not all Americans agreed New York Nation said
  the Asians greatest sin was perpetuating those
  disgusting habits of thrift, industry, and
  self-denial.

26
(No Transcript)
27
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

• Workingmens Party in California (led by an
  Irishman) agitated to end Chinese Immigration
• Ended most Chinese immigration until 1943

28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)