Life at the Turn of the 20 th Century

1. Life at the Turn of the 20th Century 15.1 New Immigrants “There were probably as many reasons for coming to America as there were people who came.” - John F. Kennedy

2. Focus Your Thoughts 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?

3. Patterns of Immigration • 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 Isabel’s family immigrated here from Mexico!

4. Old and 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 Old Immigrants New Immigrants

5. The Old Immigrants • 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

6. The New 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.

7. The Journey to America • 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

8. “Pre-Approved?” • In order to be “pre-approved” for passage immigrants had to do all of the following: • Present identifying information • Demonstrate that they had at least$30 cash • Indicate whether or not they had ever been in prison, a poorhouse, or a mental institution • 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

9. Conditions in Steerage “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 Immigrants who survived the awful ocean crossing had one last test to pass . . .

10. Ellis Island • 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.

11. The Inspection Process • 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

12. Boarding the Ferry to Liberty & Ellis Island Downtown Manhattan

13. Ferrying out to Liberty & Ellis Island Ashley & Miss M

14. The Statue of Liberty The view from the ferry as we approached Liberty & Ellis Island

15. Ellis Island Immigration Museum Ashley poses in front of the museum that now inhabits the building where immigrants went through inspection and, sometimes, rejection

16. The Wall of Immigrants 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

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

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

19. Angel Island • 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

20. “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?”

21. Building Urban Communities • 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

22. Chinatown New York, New York

23. Little Italy New York, New York

24. The San Gennaro Festival • 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.

25. The San Gennaro Festival September 2007

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

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

28. Nativists Respond • 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. How do you think nativists responded to the increasing numbers of immigrants?

29. Limiting Chinese Immigration • 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.

30. Limiting Japanese 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

31. Deterring Other Immigrants • 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

32. Americanization • 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

33. Assignment • 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. • Where have you seen these themes over the course of history? • What groups have we seen targeted during the time periods we’ve discussed so far? • Will we see some of these same themes manifest themselves again later either internationally, in the United States, or both? • Will we ever be able to truly live in a society free of bigotry?