Chapter 20 (Immigration and Growth of Cities)

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CHAPTER 20
IMMIGRATION AND THE GROWTH
OF CITIES
IMMIGRATION PATTERNS
 Many “old immigrants” who came to America during the
1800s were from northern Europe
 Old immigrants came from England, Ireland, Germany,
and Scandinavia
 “New immigrants” who arrived during the late 1800s came
from southern and eastern Europe
 New immigrants came from Greece, Italy, Hungary,
Poland, Russia
ARRIVING IN A NEW LAND
 Immigrants faced a difficult journey by ship to America
 Many traveled in steerage which was an area below a ship’s deck
where steering mechanisms were located
 Tickets were cheap; many immigrants did not have a lot of money
 Cabins were hot, cramped, and foul-smelling
 Some immigrants died from disease due to these conditions
ELLIS ISLAND
 Opened in 1892; located in New York Harbor
 Immigration center
 Officials turned away immigrants with contagious diseases
or legal problems
 Less than 2 percent of arrivals were prevented from
entering the country = we accepted many immigrants
BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES
 Organizations set up by immigrant communities
 They offered immigrants help in cases of sickness,
unemployment, or death
 Federal government did not provide much aid
TENEMENTS
 Tenements were poorly built and overcrowded apartment buildings
 Fire escapes were often blocked or broken
 Many immigrants lived in these buildings
 Immigrants moved into neighborhoods with people from the same
country in order to adjust to American life
FINDING WORK
 Employers welcomed immigrant workers because they
were willing to work for lower pay than native-born
Americans
 Many immigrants worked in factories and sweatshops
 Sweatshops = textile (clothing) workplaces that had long
hours, and hot, unhealthy working conditions
OPPOSITION TO IMMIGRATION
 Nativists = Americans who believed that too many immigrants were
coming into the country
 Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 = prevented Chinese from coming to
America for 10 years; first time a law banned a specific nationality from
entering the country
 Labor unions = opposed immigration because they feared immigrants
would take jobs away from native-born Americans
AFRICAN-AMERICANS
 In the 1890s, African-Americans moved from the
rural South to northern cities
 They wanted to escape discrimination and find
better economic opportunities
GROWTH OF CITIES
 Urban = city
 Both immigrants and native-born Americans were moving to urban
areas in record numbers during the late 1800s and early 1900s
 They were seeking job opportunities
 The large population of cities mean mass transit had to be provided
MASS TRANSIT
 Mass transit = system of transportation created to
move a large number of passengers
 Elevated trains and subways were used
 Suburban areas became connected with the city
STEEL INDUSTRY
 New technologies in the steel industry during the late 1800s led to
increased activity in the building industry
 Steel changed American architecture because it was used to build
skyscrapers (city space was limited)
 Skyscrapers = tall buildings designed to increase building space
MASS CULTURE
 Population boom led to the emergence of mass culture
 Mass culture = leisure and cultural activities shared by many people
 Examples = publishing, department stores (giant retail shops), world
fairs, amusement parks (Coney Island)
 Widespread growth of publishing contributed to the formation of mass
culture
 Joseph Pulitzer added a comic strip to New York World newspaper in
1896 in order to compete with other newspapers
URBAN PROBLEMS
 Causes = Tenements were unsafe due to overcrowding, buildings with
poor structures, unsanitary conditions, scarce running water, and poor
ventilation
 Effects = diseases, such as typhoid, influenza, tuberculosis and
cholera spread, high child death rates, fires spread, crime
 Jacob Riis = journalist and photographer who became famous for
exposing the horrible conditions of NYC tenements
 Pollution was caused by smoke from a steelmaking district, especially
in Pittsburgh, PA
IMPROVING CITY LIFE
 City governments built water purification systems
 New York State Tenement House Act (1901) – new
buildings had to have better ventilation and running water
 Settlement houses were built
SETTLEMENT HOUSES
 Settlement houses = neighborhood centers in poor areas that offered
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education, recreation, and social activities
They were needed because of overcrowding and poverty in cities
They were privately funded
Jane Addams – built the Hull House in 1889 which contributed to the
survival of the immigrant population in Chicago
Hull House inspired reform movements throughout the United States
CHILD LABOR
 Florence Kelley = child labor reformer who visited
sweatshops and wrote about their poor conditions
 She became the state of Illinois’ chief factory inspector and
enforced the law
 Her efforts led to the passage of a factory law in Illinois in
1893 that required child workers to only work eight-hour
days
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