Life at the Turn of the 20 th Century

Life at the Turn of the 20th Century15.1 New Immigrants

“There were probably as many reasons for coming to America as there were people who came.”

- John F. Kennedy

Where did your family immigrate to the United States from?

When did they arrive here?

Where did they settle?

Did they come through Ellis Island (in New York) or Angel Island (in San Francisco)?

If not, how did they arrive in the United States?

Focus Your Thoughts

It has been said that the United States is a nation of immigrants◦ Native Americans were

the only ones who did not come here from somewhere else originally; all other Americans, at some point in their families history, came to this country as immigrants

Patterns of Immigration

Isabel’s family immigrated here from Mexico!

Old and New Immigrants

Old Immigrants New Immigrants

Arrived before 1880

Came from Northern and Western Europe

Were mainly Protestant Christians

Were culturally similar to the original American settlers

Settled both in cities and in rural areas

Arrived 1880-1910

Came from Southern and Eastern Europe

Were mainly Catholics, Jews, or Orthodox Christians

Were often culturally different from the original American settlers

Generally settled in cities

Between 1800 and 1880, 10 million immigrants came to the United States

Came primarily from United Kingdom (Great Britain), the Netherlands, the German states Sweden, and Norway

Why did they come here?◦ Economic opportunity was the primary purpose but . . .◦ They wanted to have a voice in government◦ They wanted to escape political turmoil◦ They wanted to find religious freedom◦ They wanted escape poverty and starvation

Primarily the Irish

The Old Immigrants

Between 1880 and 1910, a new wave of immigration brought some 18 million people to America

Unlike the old immigrants, most of these new immigrants were Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, or Slovak and most were not Protestant.

Chinese immigrants had flourished for decades, particularly in California; however, stricter immigration laws reduced new Chinese arrivals

Japanese immigrants were also beginning to appear

By 1910, one in twelve Americans had been born in a foreign country.

The New Immigrants

One family member usually made the journey first; typically, this was the father or an eldest son◦ The family would pool their resources and buy

him a ticket and when he got here, he would work to earn the passage of the rest of his family

In 1893, the United States created its first immigration laws and immigrants had to be pre-approved by the steamship authorities before they were allowed to come on board

The Journey to America

In order to be “pre-approved” for passage immigrants had to do all of the following:1. Present identifying information2. Demonstrate that they had at least$30 cash3. Indicate whether or not they had ever been in

prison, a poorhouse, or a mental institution4. Undergo a medical examination

They had to be examined for diseases/deficiencies They had to receive immunizations They had to be disinfected along with their luggage

“Pre-Approved?”

“The ventilation is almost always inadequate, and the air soon becomes foul. The

unattended vomit of the seasick, the odors of not too clean bodies, the reek of food and

the awful stench of the nearby toilet rooms make the atmosphere of the steerage such

that it is a marvel that human flesh can endure it . . . all of these conditions are naturally aggravated by the crowding.”

- Reports of the Immigration Commission, 1911

Conditions in Steerage

Immigrants who survived the awful ocean crossing had one last test to pass . . .

The U.S. government opened an immigration station in 1892 on Ellis Island in New York Harbor

Over the next sixty-two years, some 112 million immigrants would pass through Ellis Island on their way to begin a new life

Immigrants had to pass inspection before being allowed to enter the United States◦ Those who traveled in first or second class were checked out

aboard the ship; however, those who traveled in steerage had to make their way through the immigration checkpoint at Ellis Island.

Ellis Island

The inspection process usually took up to five hours

Immigrants waited nervously, fearful they would be sent back home

Doctors would scan each passenger for signs of disease/disability

Immigrants who did not pass the medical inspection were sent back, some penniless and without their families

In peak years, as many as twenty percent of immigrants were held for weeks or longer at Ellis Island before being allowed to land

The Inspection Process

Downtown ManhattanBoarding the Ferry to Liberty & Ellis

Island

Ashley & Miss MFerrying out to Liberty & Ellis Island

The view from the ferry as we approached Liberty & Ellis IslandThe Statue of Liberty

Ashley poses in front of the museum that now inhabits the building where immigrants went through inspection and, sometimes, rejection

Ellis Island Immigration Museum

A display of immigrant “mug shots” in the museum at Ellis Island which, when you view it from a certain angle, looks like an American flag

The Wall of Immigrants

Miss M. finds a distant relative on the wall at Ellis IslandIt’s a McDuffie!

As the immigrants would have seen it upon arrival at Ellis Island (obviously it looked a LOT different back then)

New York City

After 1910, newcomers arriving on the West Coast were processed at Angel Island, an immigration station in San Francisco Bay.

Some passed through fairly quickly, but many Chinese immigrants were detained for weeks or months

The people detained at Angel island faced prisonlike conditions◦ Much of the time they were locked in barracks to prevent escape

and were allowed outside only for supervised recreation

To relieve the boredom, some Chinese immigrants wrote desperate poetry on the walls of their barracks

Angel Island

“Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day,My freedom withheld; how can I bear to talk about it?

I look to see who is happy but they only sit quietly.I am anxious and depressed and cannot fall asleep . . .

After experiencing such loneliness and sorrow,Why not just return home and learn to plow the fields?”

Despite the harsh realities of the immigration process, many immigrants found themselves better off in the United States than they had been in their homelands

Most immigrants settled into crowded cities and could find only low-paying, unskilled jobs

As a result, most immigrants had no choice but to live in poor housing in the slums

Some communities formed benevolent societies – aid organizations to help immigrants obtain jobs and find healthcare and education opportunities.

Typically, immigrants tried to settle into neighborhoods that were predominately filled with immigrants of the same ethnicity ◦ China Town◦ Little Italy

Building Urban Communities

New York, New YorkChinatown

New York, New YorkLittle Italy

New York City’s longest-running, biggest and most revered religious outdoor festival in the United States

Held in the streets of historic Little Italy, the lower Manhattan neighborhood which served as the first home in America for hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants who came here seeking to improve their lives beginning in the early part of the 20th century.

Attracts more than one million people from the four corners of the globe to the streets of Little Italy to participate in the annual Salute to the Patron Saint of Naples.

Although this is an annual celebration of faith, the Feast of San Gennaro is known the world over for its festive atmosphere, an 11-day event featuring religious processions and colorful parades, free musical entertainment every day, a wide variety of ethnic food delicacies, charming restaurants and cafes and even a world-famous cannoli-eating competition

The central focus of the celebration takes place every September 19th, the official Saint Day when a celebratory Mass is held in Most Precious Blood Church, followed immediately by a religious procession in which the Statue of San Gennaro is carried from its permanent home in the church through the streets that comprise Little Italy.

The San Gennaro Festival

The San Gennaro Festival

September 2007

Mmm . . . that’s pretty, Ashley! Fried Oreos – A San Gennaro Festival Favorite!

“Big as your face!”Authentic Italian Pizza in Little Italy

Many native-born Americans saw the new immigrants as a threat

Many thought they were simply too different to fit in; in addition, they felt they “stole” jobs from Americans because they’d work for lower wages

Others blamed immigrants for problems such as crime, poverty, and violence

Americans who opposed immigration were known as nativists.

Nativists Respond

How do you think nativists responded to the increasing numbers of immigrants?

For many years people had tolerated Chinese workers, although they did not welcome them

After 1873, though, the economy worsened

Many Americans blamed Chinese immigrants for taking away needed jobs

Soon this anti-Chinese sentiment spread to the federal level and in 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act◦ This law banned Chinese immigration for ten years; it also declared

that none of the Chinese who were already in the United States could become citizens

◦ In 1902, Congress banned Chinese immigration indefinitely.

Limiting Chinese Immigration

Nativists on the West Coast resented Japanese immigrants as well; as a result, in 1906, the San Francisco school board segregated its schools

Japanese students were then required to attend a separate school from white children

The problem eventually reached President Theodore Roosevelt who, in 1907, negotiated the Gentlemen’s Agreement; Japan agreed to prevent unskilled workers from immigrating to the United States San Francisco agreed to de-segregate the schools

Limiting Japanese Immigration

Some nativists opposed immigration not only from Asia but also from Southern and Eastern Europe; they claimed that those immigrants could not blend into American society because they were poor, illiterate, and/or non-Protestant

Many nativists called for immigrants to pass a literacy test, an exam to determine whether the test takers could read English◦ They wanted the test to keep many of these

immigrants out; in 1907, Congress passed the Literacy Test Act over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto

Deterring Other Immigrants

Not ALL native-born Americans wanted to prevent immigrants from coming to the United States

Some people wanted to teach the newcomers American ways to help them assimilate into American society

Schools and voluntary organizations taught immigrants English literacy skills and subjects needed for citizenship ◦ i.e., American History and Government

Americanization

Clearly we’ve seen some recurring themes as we’ve discussed the birth of our nation; compare and contrast some of these themes . . . paying special attention to concepts such as discrimination, inequality, and xenophobia.

1. Where have you seen these themes over the course of history? 2. What groups have we seen targeted during the time periods we’ve

discussed so far?

3. Will we see some of these same themes manifest themselves again later either internationally, in the United States, or both?

4. Will we ever be able to truly live in a society free of bigotry?

Assignment