Unit 3
Immigration
SS8 Mrs. Francis
Immigration
Social Studies 8
Mrs. Francis
Name: ___________________________
Period______
Essential Question: How did immigration and urbanization impact the
development of the United States?
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Aim: Why did immigrants come to the United States?
Do Now: Explain the relationship between industrialization and immigration.
______________________________________________________________________________
HW:
Pull Factors
Push Factors
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
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_____________
_____________
_____________
_____________
Old Immigrants
 ___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Reasons for immigration:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
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Areas of Settlement:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Difficulties they faced:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Contributions:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
New Immigrants
 1850-1924
 ___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Reasons for immigration:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Areas of settlement:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Difficulties faced: Adjusting to life in the US caused a strain on many immigrant
families. Children were learning English and American customs which concerned
Immigrant parents. Faced discrimination in jobs and housing since backgrounds
were so different from earlier immigrants.
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Contributions:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
The New Immigrants
In the 1880s, the number of immigrants entering the United States from Europe was larger than
ever before. Throughout the decade, wave after wave of hopeful foreigners entered the land of America.
Prior to the 18802, most immigrants had come from northern Europe, especially from England, Ireland,
and Germany. Now they came from eastern and southern Europe as well (Poland, Greece, Italy, and
other nations).
The majority of these new arrivals settled in the urban centers of the East, causing the population
of cities such as New York to increase dramatically. Before the end of the decade, over 5 million
Europeans had come to America, and by 1900, another 3.75 million had joined them.
Why did this wave of “new immigrants “travel to America? Many had been suffering as
underpaid farm workers in a system of serfdom. Others were attempting to avoid military service, for in
nations such as Russia and Germany, young men could be drafted, which meant they were forced to do
military service. Many Jews came to America because of religious and ethnic persecution. AntiSemitism, or hatred of Jewish people, was a real problem for Jews in many countries in Europe. Some
nations, particularly Russia, even carried out official government persecution of the Jews.
Having left old problems behind, the new immigrants soon were faced with problems of a
different sort. A major stumbling block was the fact that the majority did not speak English. Most of the
jobs they could find paid low, “immigrant wages,” and they were often forced by circumstances to live in
urban slums or decaying neighborhoods. There was also a lack of acceptance by “native Americans”
(Europeans who had been settled in their adopted country for several generations). Moves were made by
a variety of groups, including some members of the Congress, to oppose this great influx of foreigners.
Although many immigrants came to America with the hope of finding a free, easy life with
golden opportunities for all, most soon discovered the existence of harsher realities. In order to succeed
in America, hard work and determination were required. Still, the quality of life in America did prove
superior to that which had been left behind. For most, America was truly a “promised land.”
COMPLETE THE CHART
List the problems that motivated Europeans to come to America in the 1880s. Then list the problems that
they encountered when they arrived.
Problems Left Behind
Problems Encountered
___________________________
_____________________________
___________________________
_____________________________
___________________________
____________________________
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Directions: Use the information from the flowchart to answer the following questions:
1. What were three ways in which immigrants were grouped or classified on board ship and
during the inspection process?
2. Make a chart listing some of the challenges, tragedies, and triumphs of the Ells Island
Experience.
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Comparing Ellis Island and Angel Island
Aim:
Do Now:
HW:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/
Welcome to Ellis Island! Over 12 million immigrants entered the United States through this
small island in New York Harbor and more than 40% of Americans can trace their ancestors
back to Ellis Island. The importance of this island on society during the Gilded Age and on
American society as a whole cannot be overstated.
Activity: Follow the immigrants’ footsteps and learn more about their journey through Ellis
Island.
Part I: The Passage
1. Read the information on this page and answer the following questions:
a. Where did most of the immigrants entering the US through Ellis Island come
from?
b. Why did immigrants come to the United States?
c. Define the word “steerage”. Who usually traveled in the steerage?
2. Click on the “Learn More” link in Did you Know? Box on the right hand of the screen.
What is the difference between an immigrant and an emigrant?
3. Click on the “Photos” tab at the top of the screen. Click through each of the pictures.
What do these images show about the journey to Ellis Island and how the immigrants felt
on the journey?
4. Click the Next button at the top, until you get to the 4th stop: The Stairs at the Registry
Room.
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Part II: The Stairs to the Registry Room
1. Read the information on this page and answer the following questions:
a. What were doctors looking for as they watched the immigrants climb the stairs?
b. What feared medical inspection did immigrants receive once they reached the top
of the stairs shown in the photo on the right?
2. Click on the “learn more” link in the Did you Know? Box. How many immigrants were
officials expecting to pass through Ellis Island in a year? Were their predictions correct?
How many immigrants passed through in 1907?
3. Click on the Next button to get to the 5th stop: The Registry Room.
Part III: The Registry Room
1. The Registry Room is nicknamed the Great Hall because it is so big. What was the main
use of the Great Hall at Ellis Island?
2. Click on the Photos tab and examine the images of the Great Hall. Based off these
images, what do you think the process was like of passing through Ellis Island?
3. Click on the Next button at the top, to get to the 6th stop: The Medical Exam.
Part IV: The Medical Exam
1. Read the information on this page. What happened during the “6-second physical”?
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2. Click on the Photos tab at the top of the page. The last image shows the chalk markings
that were drawn on immigrants’ clothing to explain what kind of medical condition they
had. What did an “X” stand for? What did a Pg stand for?
3. After the medical inspection, immigrants then had to complete a legal inspection before
completing the process at Ellis Island. Unfortunately, some had to be detained for further
examination or questioning, however, most made it through without incident.
Follow the link below to take the next journey:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/asian-american/angel_island/index.htm
Welcome to Angel Island. This was the gateway for immigrants coming from Asia who arrived
on the West Coast. Click the Start! Button to begin following the voyage of a young Chinese
girl name Li Keng Wong from a small Chinese village to the United States of America.
Click the preparing to leave link on the left of the page
1. What did Li Keng and her family have to do in order to prepare for the immigration
laws?
2. What was the purpose of the questions?
3. What would happen if someone in Li Keng’s family answered a question “incorrectly?”
Click on Arriving at Angel Island
1. What countries did immigrants come from that went through Angel Island?
2. Look at the photo and its caption on this page. What event led to the immigrants shown
in the photo to come to the US?
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Click on the Detained on Angel Island link
1. Define the word detain:
2. What was the major fear of those who were being detained on Angel Island?
3. What was life like on Angel Island for someone waiting to move to the US?
Complete the diagram below – comparing Ellis Island and Angel Island
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Which Immigrants Shall We Take?
Directions: In this worksheet, you will determine which immigrants the United States should
take and the order in which they should be taken. Choose 3 people (or families) that you would
allow to immigrate to the United States. You must five reasons why you chose these people. Be
prepared to justify why you would not choose others.
1. Joseph Gonzales, age 37, has been unemployed for most of the last four years. Last year
he moved with his wife and five children to Mexico City to look for work, but since he is
illiterate and has few skills he could find none. He wants to come to the United States to
be a migrant farm worker, picking grapes, lettuce, tomatoes, and other crops.
2. Irma Munoz, age 36, wants to move from Colombia to New York City with her three
children. Her husband died last year of a heart attack. She speaks English and has
secretarial skills. She plans to put her youngest two children in day care centers while
she works. She has many relatives in New York City.
3. Fidel Ruiz, age 43, has escaped from communist- Cuba with his wife and four children
and wants to move to Miami. He is a well-educated teacher who speaks English fluently.
He says he is hard-working and ambitious.
4. Woojin Chin, age 26, is a college physics professor at the University of Beijing. He
wants to move to the United States to improve his career, he says.
5. Lua Nguyen, age 40, and her three children are boat people who escaped from Vietnam.
While at sea, she and her family were robbed of all their possessions by pirates. They are
now in a refugee camp in Thailand. Lua and her children are all very smart in
mathematics. They speak no English but do speak French in addition to Vietnamese.
They are currently suffering from malnutrition in the refugee camp.
6. Ramon Duvalier, age 28, wants to come with his wife and one child as a legal immigrant
to the United States. He has been caught and deported four times for entering the United
States illegally from Haiti to work as a migrant farm worker.
7. Maria Persuad, age 31, and her six children want to move to the United States from
Guyana. Since her husband left her three years ago, Maria and her family have lived in
terrible poverty and on the edge of starvation. She has had two children die of
malnutrition in those three years. She has no skills and does not speak English
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Aim: Can America be considered a “Melting Pot” or a “Salad Bowl”?
Do Now: Explain the difference between “old” and “new” immigrants.
___________________________________________________________________
HW:
•
“Give me your tired , your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breath free, the
wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to
me…”
Nativism
•
_____________________________________________________________________
•
_____________________________________________________________________
Problems
•
_____________________________________________________________________
•
_____________________________________________________________________
•
_____________________________________________________________________
•
_____________________________________________________________________
•
_____________________________________________________________________
Ethnic Ghettos
•
Most settled in neighborhoods with immigrants of the same background. WHY??
•
_____________________________________________________________________
•
_____________________________________________________________________
Conflicts
•
_____________________________________________________________________
•
_____________________________________________________________________
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Immigration Restrictions
Aim: Was the US government justified in restricting immigration?
Do Now: Define cultural pluralism
HW:
Reaction Against Immigration

Nativism___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Immigrants faced prejudice and discrimination.

Nativists called for legislation.

Know-Nothing Party – worked to limit voting strength of immigrants. Died out by 1850s.

Chinese Exclusion Act – ______________________________________________________

Gentlemen's Agreement _______________________________________________________

Literacy Tests – _____________________________________________________________

Immigration Act 1917 – Halted Immigration from the Far East
Quota Acts of the 1920s

Emergency Quota Act (1921) – _________________________________________________

National Origins Quota Act (1924) – further reduced immigration - favored those from
northern and western Europe.

National Origins Act (1929) – further limited immigration to 150,000 people a year.
Recent Restrictions

Immigration Act 1965 – Replaced immigration policy based on
1. ________________________________________________________________________
2. Immigrants skills
3. ________________________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________________________

Immigration Act 1990 – Raised total number of immigrants admitted per year to 714,000
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Stations: Each group will receive 4 documents. After analyzing each document, answer the
following questions.
Document 1
1. The man in the cartoon labeled “white” is supposed to be Irish. What is the message of
this cartoon?
2. Thomas Nast, the cartoonist, drew for Harper’s Weekly. Based on this cartoon, what sort
of people do you think read Harper’s Weekly?
Document 2
3. Why did the ‘Know –Nothings’ hate the Catholics so much? List at least 4 reasons.
4. According to the ‘Know-Nothings’ could the Irish ever be true Americans? Why or why
not?
Document 3
5. What type of employers is not interested in Irish help?
6. In the editorial, how is the author trying to advocate for the Irish?
Document 4
7. The angry woman in the cartoon is supposed to be Irish. Describe what she looks like
and how she’s acting.
8. Based on this cartoon, what job do you think many Irish women had in the 1880s?
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AIM: How has the United States dealt with recent immigrants?
Do Now: What should be our policy with regard to immigration?
Recent Immigration
Where they came from
Vietnam and Cambodia
Why they came
Soviet Union
Cuba, Haiti, and Central America
Mexico, Korea, and the Philippines
Immigration Policies Since 1965
Immigration Act of 1965
Refugee Act 1980
Immigration and Control Act of
1986
Review for Quiz
1. Reasons for immigration
2. Problems they faced
3. Why did the government restrict immigration?
4. Examples of how immigration was restricted.
5. Impact on industrialization and urbanization
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Immigration to Urbanization
Aim: Why did immigration lead to urbanization?
Do Now: Define settlement house
HW –
Growth of Cities
 ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
 US cities grew by about 15 million people due to the expansion of industry.
 Noise, traffic jams, slums, air pollution, and sanitation and health problems became
commonplace.
 Mass transit, in the form of trolleys, cable cars, and subways, were built, and skyscrapers
began to dominate city skylines.
City Life
 ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
 Neighborhoods, especially for immigrant populations, were often the center of
community life.
 Many immigrant groups attempted to hold onto and practice precious customs and
traditions.
Tenements
 ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
 They usually were occupied by more than three families who resided in separate
compartments.
 The tenement problem was further compounded by the lack of proper waste management
organizations and facilities being offered.
 Alleys would pile up with garbage, human excretions, and horse dung.
Hull House
 A community center that offers services to the poor.
 _______________________________________________________________________
 In 1931 she won the Nobel Peace Prize.
 Provided nurseries, organized sports and theater. Taught English and gave classes in
health care.
Questions to answer
What was life like in the city?
Why did immigrants settle in cities?
How could city life be improved?
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How were the poor helped?
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1. What does this selection tell us about the Settlement House movement of the late
nineteenth century?
2. How did the growth of cities and the influx of immigrants lead to the Settlement House
movement?
History through Documents
New York Tenements in 1890
Journalist Jacob Riis took a special interest in exposing living conditions in New York
Tenements. He toured the slums where many new immigrants lived and took photographs of
what he saw. Then in 1890 he published a book that combined his written descriptions with his
vivid photographs. The following excerpt is taken from Riis’s book How the Other Half Lives.
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The Expanding Cities
Aim: How did American city life change in the late 1800s?
Do Now: What was life like in the city?
HW:
Skyscrapers

1871- __________________________________________________________________

New technology allowed for the building of tall towers.

1st high rise – Chicago in 1885 – 10 stories tall.
Mass transit

New York built an elevated train called the El to eliminate traffic congestion.

_______________________________________________________________________

Trolley, or streetcar – ran on electric carried by wires above the tracks. 1st one set up in
Richmond Virginia.

1897 – Boston 1st Am city to build a subway.

1904 – NY opened its subway.
Department Stores

________________________________________________________________________

1902 – Macy’s opened in Herald Square – a 9 story building. This was a new form of
entertainment – shopping for hours.
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Leisure time
Aim: How was leisure time affected by the development of cities?
Do Now: Describe city life.

City life

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Traffic jams were common. First electric streetcar system was a solution.

________________________________________________________________________

Department stores allowed for shopping in one store.

Daily Newspapers

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Many immigrants learned to read English by reading the paper.

Joseph Pulitzer –
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

William Randolph Hearst –
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Women Journalists

Newspapers included sections on fashion, social events, health and homemaking to
attract women readers.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Entertainment
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Vaudeville – a variety show that included comedians, song and dance routines and
acrobats.

Popular music –
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Sports and Leisure

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Baseball was the most popular sport. The first game was played in NY in the 1840s.

Football grew out of soccer which Americans had been playing since colonial times.

Basketball – James Naismith invented it in 1891.

Public Education

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

School lasted from 8- 4 p.m.
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1. What does this magazine article say about baseball?
2. What are the benefits of baseball, according to the author?
3. In your opinion, does baseball have these benefits? Why or why not?
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Review for Test on Immigration
1. Where did immigrants come from during the first half of 19th century?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Why did many leave Ireland?
________________________________________________________
3. What were the reasons for many immigrants to come to the US?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Why did farmers leave Europe?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5. Why did many immigrants flock to America in the late 1800s?
______________________________________________________________________________
6. Where did the “New Immigrants” come from?
______________________________________________________________________________
7. What is the melting pot theory?
______________________________________________________________________________
8. Where did the “recent immigrants” come from?
________________________________________
9. Where did immigrants settle when they arrived in the 1900s?
_____________________________
10. How were immigrants treated when they arrived during the 19th century?
______________________________________________________________________________
11. Why did nativists object to immigration?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
12. What political party blamed immigrants for taking jobs?
______________________________________________________________________________
13. Where did immigrants enter when they arrived in the US?
______________________________________________________________________________
14. What group of Americans opposed immigration?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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15. What problems did the new immigrants face?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
16. Why did Americans want to restrict immigration?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
17. Why did immigrants settle in ghettos with people that were similar to them?
______________________________________________________________________________
18. Identify the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Gentlemen’s Agreement: Chinese Exclusion
______________________________________________________________________________
Gentlemen’s Agreement –
______________________________________________________________________________
19. Why did the city and population increase during late 19th century?
______________________________________________________________________________
20. What is a pluralistic society?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
21. Who lived in the tenements?
______________________________________________________________________________
22. Why were skyscrapers built during the beginning of the 20th
century_______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
23. Identify: Nellie Bly and Scott Joplin – Bly:
______________________________________________________________________________
Joplin:
_____________________________________________________________________________
24. Define yellow journalism:
______________________________________________________________________________
25. Who was Horatio Alger?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
26. What role did newspapers play in the late 1800s?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
27. Identify importance of mail order catalogs and department stores. Catalogs enabled
those that lived in rural areas to get products. Department stores – offered many
products in one location.
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