Transcript Document

Late 1800s US
Immigration
The Spirit of Immigration
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I looked at that statue with a sense of
bewilderment, half doubting its reality.
Looming shadowy through the mist, it
brought silence to the decks of the
Florida. This symbol of America—this
enormous expression of what we had all
been taught was the inner meaning of
this new country we were coming to—
inspired awe in the hopeful immigrants.
Many older persons among us,
burdened with a thousand memories of
what they were leaving behind, had been
openly weeping ever since we entered
the narrower waters on our final
approach toward the unknown. Now
somehow steadied, I suppose, by the
concreteness of the symbol of America's
freedom, they dried their tears.
—Edward Corsi, In the Shadow of
Liberty, 1935
Statue of Liberty, seen by immigrants
Why Immigrants Came
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Push Factors
– Push factors were problems in home
countries that caused people to leave to
come to US
– Shortage of farm land in Europe
– Crowded cities in Europe
– Irish potato famine in 1840s
– Pogroms: attacks on Jewish communities
•
Pull Factors
– Pull factors were features or events in the
US that attracted people to come to the
US
– Available farmland (Homestead act, etc.)
– Industrial jobs in cities
– Gold rushes
– Building railroads
– Letters from family members already in
US
Ellis Island
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New York’s immigration processing
location
1st and 2nd Class Passengers did
not have to go to Ellis Island
“Steerage” passengers went to Ellis
Island
– “Steerage” was the cheapest form
of travel, with no rooms or shelter
on boat
– Only healthy immigrants were
allowed to enter the US
– Medical Examinations
– Eye Examinations
– Sick passengers went to hospital on
island
– Illegal to have signed work
contracts before coming to US
– Only 2% were deported
How Immigrants Assimilated
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Assimilation: joining into the new group
or country (like into US society)
Most were poor and had no possessions
– Help from friends and families already in
US
– “Settlement Houses” helped immigrants
with day care, classes, clinics
– Political “bosses” sometimes gave jobs in
factories in exchange for votes
•
Education became main tool for
assimilating
– Skills
– Language
– Culture
•
Although all non-Indian Americans are
descended from immigrants, “Nativists”
opposed immigration
– Feared competition for jobs
– Prejudiced against immigrants, Catholics
and Jews
Asian Immigration
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Most Asians immigrated into
California
Railroad and Gold Rush were large
pull factors
Many took agricultural jobs at low
wages
1882: Chinese Exclusion Act
– Nativism and prejudice led to Act
– Stopped all new Chinese
immigration
– Non-citizen Chinese in America
could not become citizens
– San Francisco’s Angel Island
became a strict version of Ellis
Island for the few Chinese who tried
to immigrate
• Californian farmers hired
Mexican, Japanese and Korean
immigrants instead
Early Mexican Immigration
• Mexicans had lived in the Southwest
US since before the MexicanAmerican War
• In late 1800s, Mexicans came to
Texas, Southwest, and California as
agricultural workers
• Mexican Revolution of 1910 pushed
more to US
• Racism affected Mexicans just as it
affected Chinese, Irish, Italians, and
others
• Many families crossed border
several times over generations
Three Waves US Immigration