Transcript Push and Pull Factors

Immigration
A scholar, Oscar Handlin, once wrote:
“Once I thought to write a history of the
immigrants in America. Then I discovered
that the immigrants WERE American
history.”
The Great Migration
 1880-1921 - 23 million immigrants
 old immigrants - before 1880 -
northwestern Europe
 new immigrants - after 1880- southern and
eastern Europe
Push and Pull Factors
 Reasons for leaving
•
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wars
famine
religious persecution
overpopulation
 Leaving the homeland - hardships
Journey Across the Atlantic
 Crowded steerage - diverse group
 Horrible conditions
• no windows - little ventilation
• 1 toilet for 1000 passengers
• spread of disease
Arrival in America
 75% processed through Ellis Island (Island
of Tears)
 Lady Liberty
• “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-tossed to me, I lift my lamp
beside the golden door.”
Medical Inspections
 1st and 2nd class had short examination
 Steerage class loaded on to barges and
taken to Ellis Island
 Medical inspections were often harsh and
traumatic
Inspectors Examine Female
Immigrants
Inspectors Examine the eyes of immigrants
Legal Inspections
 Long wait in Registry Hall
 Inspectors asked 32 questions
 Many remember Ellis Island as one of their
worst experiences
• “Why should I fear the fires of hell? I have been
through Ellis Island.”
Immigrants leave ship after
inspections
Ethnic Enclaves
 Two thirds of immigrants settled in urban
areas
 By 1920 75% of foreign-born U.S. residents
lived in Cities
 Many stayed in close-knit ethnic enclaves
 Enclaves provided:
• sense of community and security
• familiar food, languages and institutions
Living Conditions
 Most cities ill-equipped
• no adequate sewage system
• housing scarce
 Tenement Conditions
• crowded
• filthy and run-down
• fire, diseases and death common
 Some traveled west to small towns
Nativism: policy of favoring the interests of
native-born Americans over those of
immigrants.