URBAN AMERICA
1865-1896
I. Immigration
GUIDING QUESTIONS
 WHY DO PEOPLE MIGRATE?
 HOW IS URBAN LIFE DIFFERENT FROM RURAL LIFE?
Europeans Flood Into America
How did European immigrants of the late
1800s change American society?
Let’s find out!
Europeans Flood Into America
 Between 1865 – 1914, 25 million people
immigrated to the U.S.
 1890s ½ the immigrants were from eastern and
southern Europe
 Old Immigrants- mostly Protestant from
northwestern Europe
 Irish, British, German, French
 Arriving between 1800-1880
 New Immigrants- mostly south and eastern
Europe
 Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish,
Russian, Chinese, Japanese
 Arriving between 1891-1910
Push
Factors
 Something that “pushes” you out of your
Pull Factors
 Something that “pulls” or “attracts” an
home country or “causes you to leave”
immigrant to a new country
 Push factors: Religious persecution,
 Pull factors: Job opportunities,
scarce (limited) land, famine, no jobs,
wars, family already left
land, religious freedom, political
freedom, to be with family
Travel was long and could take weeks – months. Most could only
afford to travel in steerage. Steerage- below deck compartment in the
poorest conditions, cramped, dark, overcrowded
Ellis Island
 New York Harbor, next to the Statue of Liberty
 Most European immigrants passed through
Ellis Island
 12 million people pass through between 1892
– 1954
Angel Island
 San Francisco
 Processed Asian immigrants
HISTORY CHANNEL:
Deconstructing history: Ellis Island
Statue of Liberty Unknown
Ellis Island
Stop and Think
 Explain what a pull factor is and give three examples
 Explain what a push factor is and give three examples
 Describe the conditions that many immigrants faced as they traveled to
America
Immigration Station
 Extremely loud, crowded
 Had to undergo medical exam
 Criminal record check
 Sometimes had name changed or altered
1.
Why was it important to know
whether an immigrant could read and
write?
2.
Why might the immigration agents be
interested in who paid for an
immigrant’s passage and how much
money the immigrant had?
3.
Why do questions about being a
polygamist or an anarchist seem out of
place?
4.
Immigrants were asked if they had
family living in the United States. Why
might this be important?
Marie Priesland
“It was a warm day and were thirsty. . . . The guard withdrew
and returned shortly with a pail of water, which he set before the
group of women. Some men stepped forward quickly to have a
drink, but the guard pushed them back, saying "Ladies first!"
When the women learned what the guard had said, they were
dumbfounded, for in Slovenia, women were always second to
men. . . . Happy at the sudden turn of events, one elderly lady
stepped forward, holding a dipper of water, and proposed this
toast . . . "Long live America, where women are first!
”
—Marie Priesland, recalling her arrival in the United States
Diverse Cities
 1890s immigrant made up large
portions of cities’ population
 Separated in ethnic groups
 Little Italy
 Lower East Side (Jewish
neighborhood)
 Spoke native languages
 Re-created churches and synagogues
 Clubs
 Newspapers from their homeland
Asian Immigration
How were the experiences of Asian
immigrants different from those of European
immigrants?
Let’s find out!
Asian Immigration
China
 1800s China had severe unemployment,
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poverty and famine
1850 Taiping Rebellion caused suffering for
thousands
Settled mainly in the West (California)
Central Pacific Railroad employed thousands of
Chinese
Some opened their own business
Japan
 Japanese immigrants soared upward between
1900 and 1910.
 As Japan industrialized, economic problems
caused many Japanese to leave their homeland
for new economic opportunities.
Asian Immigration
How did the experiences of immigrating to the
United States compare for Chinese and
Europeans?
Asian Immigration
 The Chinese suffered severe unemployment and famine, unlike the
Europeans. The Chinese often waited for weeks or months in
crowded barracks before allowed into the Unites States, while the
Europeans were hurried through Ellis Island
Nativism Resurges
Why did nativism oppose immigration?
Nativism Resurges
Nativism – hostility toward
immigration by native-born
people
 Surfaced during the heavy wave of
Irish immigration in the 1840s and
1850s.
 By the late 1800s it was focused
mainly on Asians, Jews, and eastern
Europeans.
Nativism Resurges
 Some feared the influx of Catholics
from Ireland, Italy and Poland would
swamp Protestants
 Labor unions argued immigrants
undermine American workers
 Would work for low wages
 Accept jobs as strike breakers
Backlash Against Catholics
American Protective Association
founded by Henry Bowers (1887)
 Voted not to hire Irish Catholics
 Later all Catholic immigrants
 They were usually illiterate
 Worked at lowest paying jobs
Restrictions on Asian Immigration
 In West, Chinese sentiment led to
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racial violence
Denis Kearney (Irish) organized
Workingman’s Party in 1870s
Fought Chinese immigration
Won seats in California legislature
Pushed to stop Chinese immigration
Restrictions on Asian Immigration
 1882 Congress passes the
Chinese Exclusion Act
 Barred Chinese immigration for
10 years
 Prevented Chinese in the
country from becoming citizens
 Law made permanent in 1902
 Law repealed in 1943
Restrictions on Asian Immigration
 October 1906, San Francisco Board of
Education ordered all Chinese, Japanese,
Korean children to attend “Oriental
School”
 Japan took offense to this Act
 President Theodore Roosevelt proposed
a limit on Japanese immigration
 If school board rescinds segregation order
 Roosevelt negotiated and agreement
with Japan. Ban lifted.
 Became know as the “Gentlemen's
Agreement”
Nativism Resurges
How did President Roosevelt respond to
Japan’s protest about the treatment of
Japanese students?
Nativism Resurges
 He brokered a “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” by which San
Francisco schools agreed not to segregate students if Japan
accepts limits on immigration to the United States.
Journal
 You are an immigrant from a country of your choosing. You just made the very
long and difficult journey to America. Write a letter back home to describe for
your family and friends what the journey was like and what they can expect.
 Be sure to include the following:
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What country your from
Why you are leaving (2 push factors)
Why you are going to America (2 pull factors)
The journey itself
Your experience at Ellis Island
Where you are living in NYC