GROWING IMMIGRATION

GROWING IMMIGRATION

Where did they come from?

• The Americas• Asia• Northern Europe (before the Civil

War)–English, Scots, Irish, Germans,

Scandinavians

Where did they come from?• Southern Europe, Eastern Europe

(After the Civil War)• E. European Jews/Southern

Italians/Greeks Slavic peoples (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Croats, Serbs, Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians)

Why did they leave?• Overpopulation• Lack of jobs• Government tyranny• Crop failures• Land shortages• Rising taxes and famine• Escaping religious/political persecution

How did they get here?• Steamships made of iron and steel

• 2-3 weeks to 1 week by 1900

• Operated on a schedule like railroads

• Created “birds of passage”-single male worker who came for a short time, earn money, and return home

Steamships• Most immigrants traveled in

Steerage (large open area beneath ship’s deck)

• Cheap fares• Limited toilet facilities, • no privacy, poor food

• In 1886 greeted by Statue of Liberty in NY harbor

ELLIS ISLAND“Gate to America” or “Golden Door”

• 70% of European immigrants arrived in NYC

• Processed through within hours or days

ELLIS ISLAND“Gate to America” or “Golden Door”

• In 1892 an immigration center opened at Ellis Island in NY harbor

• Immigrants were given medical check-up and a series of questions

• Sometimes immigrants were “quarantined” (isolated to prevent the spread of disease)

• Some were even deported due to serious diseases

• Name?• Occupation?• Who paid your fare?• Can you read or write?• How much money do you have?• Have you been to prison or in a poorhouse?• Where are you going?• Do you have a job already?

• Many immigrants received new names

• Buchenroth=Roth• Stefanopoulous= Stevens

Angel Island

• San Francisco• Horrible conditions• Processed through within weeks

or months.

Angel Island

• Designed to enforce Chinese Exclusion Act

• Prohibited immigration of Chinese workers for 10 yrs.

• Prevented Chinese living in US from becoming citizens

• Thought they were taking jobs of whites

Asian Immigrants

• Exclusion Act created labor shortages

• Hired more workers from Japan, Korea, & Philippines

Asian Immigrants

• Segregated Asian children in schools - TR ended this in 1906

• Gentlemen’s Agreement – Japan agreed not to allow workers into US. US agreed to let families of Japanese living in US to immigrate

Mexican Immigrants

• Farmers needed cheap labor–(TX, NM, AZ, CA)

• High wages attracted Mexican workers

• Treated as inferior, low wages, & segregated schools

French Canadian Immigrants

• Many were Catholics from Quebec

• Settled in New England & Great Lakes

• Took jobs in textile mills & logging camps

•Mines, mills, and factories•Friends and relatives helped each other

Jobs for Immigrants

Where did immigrants settle?

• Most lived with friends and relatives in established communities

• Many stay in port city neighborhoods called Ghettos–Areas dominated by one ethnic or

racial group

Where did immigrants settle?

• Only 2% went to the south

Immigrant Ghettos

• Filled w/ tenements – low cost apartments, designed to hold many families

• Very poor living conditions–Rats, Open Sewers, Disease, &

Fire

City Growth

• Increase city pop. = creation of suburbs

• Suburb – residential communities surrounding the cities

Rise of Political Bosses

• Political Machine – unofficial city org. that kept a party / group in power.

• Headed by a single leader / “Boss”

Rise of Political Bosses

• Why does no one stop the Political boss?– City government grows powerful to provide for

people’s (immigrants) needs• Fire protection, transportation, etc

– Exchange of favors• Politicians offer jobs, contracts to immigrants for

their support (votes)• They helped poor people when gov’t or industry

would not

Rise of Political Bosses

• Most Famous - William “Boss” Tweed

• Ran Tammany Hall - Democratic Party in NYC

• Brought down by Political Cartoonist – Thomas Nast