United States History
Unit 7: The Progressive Era &
Roaring 20s (1890 – 1929)
Lesson 1-The Immigrant
Experience
Bell Ringer
Famous Immigrants to the U.S.
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Charles Atlas (Italy)
Irving Berlin (Belarus)
Max Factor (Poland)
Frank Capra (Italy)
Bela Lugosi (Hungary)
Bob Hope (England)
Lucky Luciano (Italy)
Lou Gehrig (son of
German Immigrants)
• Knute Rockne (Norway)
• Rudolph Valentino (Italy)
• Mike Strank
(Czechoslovakia)
• Ettore Boiardi (Italy)
• Hyman Rickover (Russia)
• Yogi Berra (son of Italian
Immigrants)
• 22 Presidents of the U.S.
are descended from ?
Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants
• 1865 –U.S. Population = 31.5 Million
• 1865–1920 – 30 Million Immigrants entered
the U.S. Most from Europe.
• 1840–1880 – Most from N & W Europe.
These were the Old Immigrants.
• 1880-1920 – New Immigrants from E & S
Europe (Slavs, Italians, Russians, and many
Jews; Culturally different from Old
Immigrants & many didn’t assimilate well ).
Why did they come?
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Push Factors
Factors that caused
them to leave home
Wars
Famines
Lack of Freedom
Lack of Opportunity
No Jobs or Land
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Pull Factors
Factors that drew
them to America
Freedom
Desire to Own Land
Mostly the
availability of Jobs
Identifying Pushes and Pulls
Handout 3-33
• Examine the 12
Facts.
• Complete T-Chart
for Pushes/ Pulls
• List the reasons
people came to
America and
classify them as
Pushes/ Pulls
Push or Pull?
1. In 1800 there were no railroads in America; by 1900
railroads connect virtually every city in the U.S.
2. Ireland was devastated by a potato famine between
1845 and 1850. One million died; ¼ of Irish
population moved to U.S.
3. “My dear brother, in America, we eat everyday.” –
letter from Polish boy to younger brother in Poland.
4. During the 1880s, due to improved farming
technology, peasant farmers in southern Italy are
forced off lands they had lived on for generations.
5. President Lincoln signs the Homestead of Act of 1862
which allots 160 acres of free western land to any
married male, 21 years of age, who agrees to farm the
land for five consecutive years.
Ellis Island, NYC (1892-1954)
• By 1900, crossing took
7 days
• Most traveled in the
steerage b/c it was
cheaper
• 12 Million came (2%
failed physicals)
• Most lived in ghettoes
• Discrimination/
Nativism were
common
Immigrants from Asia
• Angel Island, SF
(1910) – Most Asians
came into here
• Chinese Exclusion Act
(1882), 92, & 02
• Gentlemen’s
Agreement with Japan
(1907)
• Webb-Alien Land Law
(CA) – prevented land
ownership by aliens
Immigrants from Latin
America
• 1900-1920 more than
10% of Mexico’s
population came to
the U.S.
• Settled in CA and
S.W. U.S.
• WW I created labor
shortage in mines
and on farms
Shutting the Golden Door
• Xenophobia – the fear of
immigrants
• Nativism – the belief that
native-born white
Americans were superior
to newcomers
• Emergency Quota Act of
1921 (3% or 1910 Census)
• Immigration Act of 1924
(2% of 1890 Census)
• End of WW I in 1918 saw a
revival of the KKK
Exit Slip – Immigration
1.
The major port of entry after 1892 for
European immigrants to America?
a. Long Island
b. Ellis Island
2. Immigrants who came mostly from countries
of Eastern and Southern Europe?
a. New Immigrants b. Old Immigrants
3. Most of the 12 million who came to the U.S. in
NYC were turned away.
a. True
b. False
4. Most immigrants from Asia arrived here?
a. San Diego, CA b. San Francisco, CA
The Immigrant Experience:
The Long, Long Journey
• As you watch the DVD, list 8 difficulties
or hardships Janek and his family faced
as they struggled to assimilate into
American society upon emigrating here
from Poland in 1907.