Industrialization, Immigration, & Urban Life

Migration to the Cities • Many people moved to the cities from rural areas in search of higher wages

Ellis Island • Inspection station for immigrants entering the U.S. through New York • From 1892 to 1924 the chief immigration station in the U.S.

Effects of Immigration • Many immigrants experienced culture shock • America became a “melting pot” • America saw an increase in nativism over competition for jobs

Chinese Exclusion Act • Law passed to decrease the number of Chinese coming to America • Chinese first to be targeted by immigration laws • Example of Nativism

Living Conditions • Lived in small, overcrowded apartments called dumbbell tenements • High crime • Streets were dirty • Water polluted • Disease everywhere

Working Conditions • Forced to work in sweatshops • Dangerous working conditions • No insurance or protection for their job • Struggled to get by

Jacob Riis • Photographer and writer • Exposed the poor working conditions in factories and sweatshops • Wrote

How the Other Half Lives

Social Gospel Movement • Based on the belief that Christians have a responsibility to improve working conditions and alleviate poverty • Salvation was received through service to the poor

Settlement Houses • Provided community assistance to residents • Used by immigrants in slum neighborhoods • Hull House

Jane Adams • Co-founder of the Hull House • Leader in the Social Gospel Movement