Transcript HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION - Ms. Power's US History

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION
Stringing Beans in Baltimore
Shucking Oysters in Florida
Immigrants in a tenement
The Population of The U.S
Unless you are a Native American,
everyone has immigrants as their
ancestors.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your
teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden
door!
Immigration is a CHOICE
In most cases, immigrants make a conscious
choice to UPROOT themselves and families from
their current lives
“Immigrate or die”
Literally DIE in some cases (Irish Potato Famine,
African slavery)
Questions
Where did the immigrants come from?
When did they arrive?
Why did they leave their home countries?
Where did they settle?
Where did they work?
What aspects of their culture did they bring with them?
What impact did immigrant cultural traditions have on
the United States?
FACTS
Due to potato rot which began in 1845, the
potato crop in Ireland began to fail.
From 1845 to 1850 there were famine conditions
in Ireland.
More than one million people died of starvation.
One-fourth of the Irish population moved to the
United States.
FACTS
Because of improved farming methods such as
crop rotation-and therefore greater abundance of
food-the population of Europe doubled between
1750 and 1850.
These improvements reduced the need for farm
workers → many peasants were forced off land
that they had lived on for generations
FACTS
The passage to the United States in sailing
vessels took three months, on the average, at
the beginning of the 1800s.
The passage in steamships (which began to be
used in the mid-nineteenth century) took ten
days.
FACTS
The Russian government began to carry out
pogroms (organized attacks) against the Jews of
eastern Europe.
A Norwegian worker could earn up to 4-5 dollars
a day in the United States.
This was more than triple the wage that the
same person could have earned in Norway at
that time
FACTS
The U.S. Congress passed the Contract Labour
Law in 1864
Employers could make contracts with workers in
other countries and many employers lent money
to foreign workers to pay for their transportation
to the United States.
After the workers arrived, they were required to
pay the money back out of their wages.
Three great waves of immigration
1815-1860:
5 million immigrants mainly English, Irish,
Germanic, Scandinavian,
and others from
northwestern Europe
1865-1890:
10 million immigrants again mainly from
northwestern Europe
1890-1914:
15 million immigrants –
mainly from Eastern Europe
Reasons for immigration
There are two types of motivation for immigration
PUSH factors (reasons to leave home country)
PULL factors (reasons for settling in USA)
PUSH FACTORS for immigration
Scientific farming/change in
economy
Lack of political freedom in
homeland
Religious Intolerance in
homeland
Political Refugees fear for
their lives
Starvation/lack of options
Forced Immigration (Slavery)
PULL FACTORS for immigration
Land plentiful, and fairly
cheap.
Jobs were abundant, wages
high. (comparitivly)
Industry and urbanization →
increase
Notion that in America, the
streets were, "paved with
gold,"
Religious and political
freedom.
Reasons for immigration 1890-1914
Jews came for religious
freedom
Italians and Asians came for
Work
Russians came to escape
persecution
America had jobs
America had religious
freedom
America was hyped up in
many countries as "Land of
Opportunity"
Who were the immigrants? 1890 - 1914
Look at the chart on page 489 for differences
between OLD and NEW immigrants
Eastern/Southern Europe Immigrants
Immigrants from Southeastern
Europe blamed for increasing
problems
1880 – 1920 →New York grew by
300%, Chicago → 400%,
L.A→1000%
These newcomers were often
described by what they were not:
Not Protestant
Not English-speaking
Not skilled
Not educated
Not liked.
Living Conditions in America –
not usually the American Dream
Filthy, dirty, diseases spread, cramped
Gambling, drinking, etc.
Ethnic Neighborhoods
“Ghetto” – Italian word for describing Jewish
section, being trapped in at night by an Iron gate
Immigrants TRAPPED in to this lifestyle
Tenement Housing and Ethnic
Neighborhoods
Tenement Housing:
poor, rundown
housing where many
families lived in small,
cramped conditions in
the big cities
Ethnic
Neighborhoods:
Helped embrace New
World hardships
Continuation of OLD
WORLD customs that
weren’t as accepted
in mainstream USA
Ellis Island and Angel Island
Ellis Island, NY
1892 – immigration station
112 million immigrants
would pass through Ellis
Island
Immigrants held for
SICKNESS, tests of
mental ability
Angel Island, CA
Chinese detained for
weeks (Chinese
Exclusion Act)
Prisonlike conditions
Accused of being
SICK more often than
European immigrants
Nativism
Feeling of hatred towards those not “American”
What is the message of this Cartoon?
The Irish
Settled in New York (too poor to travel)
Discriminated against
Poor living conditions (80% of Irish
infants died in New York)
Took the jobs no one wanted
"Let Negroes be servants, and if not
Negroes, let Irishmen fill their place..."
With the arrival of Eastern
Europeans the Irish were no
longer lowest class
Became policemen & firemen
How the Irish became American
Anti-Chinese Nativism
Anti-Chinese immigrant feelings:
•Chinese FLOODED to the U.S. after 1850s (100,000)
•Chinese labor essential to American West
industrialization (railroads)
•ONCE projects were done they were NOT needed anymore
•Nativists backlash against Chinese was widespread
-They LOOKED different
-Language, customs, etc were different
-CHEAP LABOR
Chinese Exclusion Act
First Immigration law
to ban a certain
RACE of people from
coming to America
1884 - 1943
Americanization of Immigrants
Immigration Laws
1790 → Naturalization rule establishes →a two-year residency requirement
for immigrants wanting to become U.S. citizens.
1875 → No convicts or prostitutes.
1882 → Immigration from China is curtailed; ex-convicts, lunatics, idiots, and
those unable to take care of themselves are excluded. A tax (50 cents) must
be paid by immigrants.
1892→ Ellis Island opens.
1903 → No political radicals, epileptics, professional beggars.
1907 → No feeble-minded, tuberculars, persons with physical or mental
defects, and persons under age 16 without parents. Tax on new immigrants is
increased ($8).
1910 → No criminals, paupers, diseased.
1917 → Immigrants over 16 years old must pass literacy exam.
Immigration Laws
1917 → Immigrants over 16
years old must pass literacy
exam
1924 → immigration limited
to 165,000 annually.
The nationality quota is
revised to 2% of each
nationality's representation
More Recent Immigration
Cuba → 1950’s – settled
mainly in Florida
South America →
Legal/Illegal immigrants
→ California
Asia
Melting Pot vs Salad Bowl
Melting Pot→All immigrants mixed together form
the ”American”
Salad Bowl →All immigrants are American, yet
keep their cultural heritage from their ”home”