Immigration: The movement of
People
Essential Questions:
What were the challenges immigrants faced as they moved to
America?
How did immigrants influence the development of NC and the USA?
Challenges: Prejudices
Prejudice between Old Immigrants and New
Immigrants: Nativism reborn
• Immigrants before 1880’s from
Northwestern Europe, predominantly
Protestant
• New Immigrants from southern and eastern
Europe, predominantly Jewish & Catholic
• War-torn regions like Italy, Greece, Poland,
Russia, Croatia, and Czechoslovakia
African Americans: segregated in Urban Ghettos
• De facto segregation – Jim Crow Laws not in North but
racism still issue
Cultural Differences: Language, Religion, and Race
• Many different languages
• Catholic & Jewish vs. Protestant already here
• Majority white so Chinese and Japanese did not look
like “real Americans”
Immigrants from Europe
Old
New
New
New
Challenges: Cultural Differences
• Language Barriers
• Contributes to assimilation issues: new immigrants look for other of same national origin to live and work with
• Creates lack of trust between ethnic groups both old and new
• Religious Beliefs
• Catholics feared because of concern over allegiance to Pope
• Anabaptists – Germans that believed in adult baptism
• Political Beliefs
• German’s fleeing unification thought to be anarchists
• Agricultural vs. Industrial: rural clashes with urban
• New immigrants from old agricultural European heritage, clashes with urban-industrial characteristics of cities
• New immigrants lack skills necessary for higher paying jobs
Challenges: Quotas & Nativism
Desire to limit amount of immigrants coming leads to creation of laws:
• Chinese Exclusion Act 1882: response to economic fears of Chinese taking jobs causing recession
• Immigration Act (Literacy Act) 1917: meant to limit number of undesirables entering
• Specifically limit southern and eastern Europeans and Asians
• Take reading test in English
• Quota Law 1921 – 1924:
• Limits immigrants to 2% of their national group in 1890 – target eastern, southern Europeans & Jews
Ellis & Angel Islands: created to limit immigration by ‘screening’ immigrants
• Ellis Island physical screening
• Angel Island screening for “Paper Sons”
• Approx. 75% of immigrants come thru Ellis Island
Nativism: movement supported by white, American-born Protestants who believed the swelling tide of
immigrants and, in particular, the rapid growth of Catholicism in the United States were harming the public
welfare. Middle- and upper-class citizens felt the majority of European immigrants were uneducated and
would not be able to contribute to American society.
Challenges: Living & Working Conditions
• Tenement Housing:
• Dumb-bell shaped construction, thinner in center allow for light & air
• Garbage and waste – greater disease (cholera, tuberculosis) and fire easily spreads
• Low wages:
• Cycle of poverty leading to criminal elements: gambling, prostitution
• Dangerous working conditions
• Child Labor
• Rapid urban growth: 1890NYC & Chicago hit million citizens
• Poor services like sanitation & plumbing
• Little to no water service
Challenges: Living & Working Conditions
• Creation of ‘Company Towns’ or Mill Towns
• Gastonia, North Carolina – Loray Mill
• Living community developed and built by the
company
• Company requires one worker for each room
occupied
• Influences child labor
• If fired then kicked out of home
Immigrant Influence of NC & USA: Labor
Immigrants provided cheap labor – Companies could pay less
• Used as strike breakers
• Immigrant steelworkers were generally willing to put up with the long hours, hard, work, and bad conditions as long
as they had steady employment. They were usually stuck with the dirtiest, hottest, most hazardous jobs.
• Abundant cheap labor helped grow economy during industrialization
Immigrant Influence of NC & USA: Cultural
• “Melting Pot”: America was compared to soup where all the ingredients melt or mix together
• Assimilation of new cultural groups achieved by offering “Americanization” through public
education and learning the English language
• Some immigrants had harder time than other accepting American culture
Immigrant Influence of NC & USA: Rapid Growth of Cities
Chicago – Polish immigrants
New York City: Italians, Jewish, Irish, etc. (Ethnic neighborhoods)
• Italians tended to live near others from same village in Italy
• “Little Italy” neighborhoods found in most major US cities
• Immigrants associate with neighborhoods creating own environment
• Assist one another social issues – finding work, housing, food
• Justice handled within
• Italians – piasans
• Irish - Molly McGuire
African Americans “The Great Migration”
• Former slaves move in great numbers from rural
south to northern industrial cities
• Push: sharecropping, tenant farming, poor harvests, Jim
Crow laws, Racism
• Pull: industrial jobs influenced by WWI, better pay, schools
better, blacks could vote
• Harlem Renaissance: Harlem in New York City
destination for many African Americans
• Cultural explosion of African American heritage: writers,
poets, musicians, artists, scholars
• Broke down racial barriers between young whites and
African Americans
• Reinforced pride among African Am.