Immigration Unit PPT
Mr. Macpherson
9/10th grade Resource Lab
Day 1
Warm-up
 You’ve just been elected the ultimate ruler of a
new country.
 Think: How would you design your perfect
society? What rules does it have? What type
of things does your society value?
 Think of it this way… you’re a “founding father (or
mother)” of a country.
 Create a list of the top 10 rules in your society or
country. Be ready to share and justify your
answers.
Your rules!
If you ran a country…
 Now it’s your turn to decide and be immigration
police.
 Read the following scenarios and decide:
 Do you want this person in your country?
History of Immigration
Outline
 Colonial
 Old
 New
 Current Issues/ Update
WOW! From 1865 to 1900 13.5 million people
arrived from abroad!
Colonial Immigration
 Ran from the first people from England to Declaration
of Independence
 Places of Origin: English, Scotch-Irish, German,
Swedish, Dutch and African
 Reasons: political and religious freedom, economics,
and as slaves
 Settled on east coast
 Africans eventually settled in the South
Problems
 Native American
conflicts
 Building farms
homes and a new
life in unknown
territory
Contributions
 Language
 Government
 Religion
 Cultural Traditions
Old Immigration
Reasons
 Ran from est. of
U.S. until about
1850
 Famine from failure
of the Potato Crop
in Ireland
 Most from
Northern and
Western Europe,
especially Ireland,
Germany, and
Scandinavia
 Revolutions in
Germany
 Economic
Opportunity
Difficulties
 Irish and German
Catholics often
faced hostility on
arrival
 Many feared
competition for jobs
from the new
immigrants
Contributions
 RR s and Canals
 Labored in factories.
 Brought advanced
farming techniques
 Idea of
Kindergarten and
other educational
techniques
New Immigration
 From 1850 to 1924
 From Southern and Eastern and Europe, Usually
Poland, Italy ,and Russia as well as substantial
numbers of Japanese and Chinese
Reasons
Places
 Hope for greater economic
opportunity
 Cities, especially industrial
centers and ports
 Political Freedom
 Often were concentrated in
Ghettos
 Religious Freedom
 Asian Immigrants settled on
the West Coast (usually
California)
Difficulties
 Fear of losing their religious
and cultural heritage
 Reactions of fear and
hostility from native born
Americans
 Discrimination in jobs and
Immigration
 Competition from other
minority groups
Contributions
 Italian and Jewish girls
Worked in Sweatshops of
the garment industry
 Poles and Slavs labored in
coal mines and steel mills of
Pa. And Midwest
 Chinese built
transcontinental RR and
aided expansion as well as
contributing to U.S. cultural
diversity
Reaction to Immigration
 Brought new wave of Nativism
 Often Racism came from descendants of Old
Immigrants
 Belief was traditions of Immigrants have negative
impact on U.S. society
 Felt Immigrants kept wages low
 Jokes and stereotypes common
 Tried to Influence law against natives
Immigrants and Society:
Theories of Different
Absorption
 Melting Pot Theory: People
from Various cultures met in
U.S. to form new American.
 Groups not easily
distinguished (all one new
mixture)
 Assimilation: Immigrants
disappear into established
culture. Give up traditions
and attitudes to be
accepted.
 Pluralism: recognizes that
groups do not always lose
distinctive characters. Can
live with each group
making different
contributions. Often called
Salad Bowl Theory