1 / 42

The Great Immigration and Urbanization

The Great Immigration and Urbanization. 1880-1921. Urban Growth: 1870 - 1900. Urbanization and the Electric Streetcar. Allowed middle class shoppers and workers to move farther away from the inner city core to greener and cleaner suburbs-”t he Streetcar Suburb ”

kherrera
Download Presentation

The Great Immigration and Urbanization

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Great Immigration and Urbanization 1880-1921

  2. Urban Growth: 1870 - 1900

  3. Urbanization and the Electric Streetcar • Allowed middle class shoppers and workers to move farther away from the inner city core to greener and cleaner suburbs-”the Streetcar Suburb” • Led to immigrants and poorer working class to pour into the cities where the middle class left

  4. 23.5 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 The Great Migration

  5. 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 The Southern and Eastern European Immigrants

  6. PUSH and PULL Factors causing the Great Immigration Eastern and Southern European Immigrants

  7. PUSH Factors (what pushed people away from where they lived) • Famine and disease (cholera epidemic) • Natural disasters-earthquakes and volcanoes-especially in Italy • Lack of jobs and overpopulation • Religious Persecution (especially for Jews in Russia and Poland)

  8. 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

  9. The Journey to America • Often cost a family or individual a whole life’ssavings • 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

  10. Arrival in America-Ellis Island • 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 • Ellis Island replaced Castle Garden

  11. Ellis Island, NY

  12. Where is Ellis Island?

  13. The Medical Inspections • 1st and 2nd class boat passengers didn’t have to endure the medical inspections • 6-second exam • 45-minute thorough physical • Especially checked for a very contagious eye infection called trachoma • They checked your entire body and marked you w/ an “X” with chalk if you had a “medical defect”

  14. Medical Exam

  15. Legal Inspection • Occurred at the Registry Hall • You were asked your name- many times the inspectors couldn’t spell it right • Asked you 32 questions and then they processed you • Only 3% of the immigrants failed and were sent back home • 20% of immigrants were kept in hospitals due to physical or mental reasons

  16. Legal Inspection

  17. The Registry Hall (Ellis Island) Break for “The Cities” video

  18. The Immigrant Experience Working and Living in America The Cities and Factories

  19. 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

  20. 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) Ethnic Neighborhoods

  21. Mulberry Street – “Little Italy”

  22. The Melting Pot Theory • Melting Pot-the belief that a new and mixed society would develop blending all the new and old immigrant groups • Unlike many of the Mexican immigrants today, the immigrants learned English • 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?

  23. Polish immigrants

  24. Italian Immigrants

  25. Greek Immigrants

  26. Jewish Immigrants

  27. 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

  28. 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

  29. Struggling Immigrant Families

  30. Tenement Slum Living

  31. New York City Tenement Apartments

  32. 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

  33. 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

  34. American-born citizens’ attitudes towards Immigrants

  35. Society’s Reaction to Immigrants-Settlement Houses (Positive) • Jane Addams-Hull House (1889) • Chicago • Provided classes in academic, vocational and art, English and US History • Est. welfare clinics and free medicine • Inspired other settlement houses in other cities

  36. Society’s Reaction to Immigrants (Negative) • Groups like the American Protective Organization worked to limit or end migration • Used offensive words like “kike” or “hebe” for Jews, “wop” or “dago” for Italians, etc. • Anti-Catholicism and Anti-Semitism abounded • The Immigration Restriction League (1894)-demanded literacy tests for new immigrants…vetoed by president Cleveland

  37. 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

  38. “The Great Fear”

  39. Nativist Flag

  40. 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

More Related