Chapter 15

Essential What was it like to be an immigrant to the United States around the turn of the century?
Question

15.1 In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was unveiled on an island in New York
Harbor.

Immigrants arrive in New York Harbor, 1915

Millions of immigrants came to the United States at the turn of the century.
Many arrived with few possessions and little money. They faced many challenges
adapting to life in their new homes.
15.2 Why Europeans Immigrated to the United States

The reasons for moving can be divided into push factors and pull factors.
o Push factors are problems that cause people to move.
o Pull factors are attractions that draw them to another place.

Difficulties Push People from Europe

In the late 1800s, many Jews in Europe faced persecution for their culture and beliefs. This hostility
was very strong in Russia. The first Russian pogrom, or organized massacre of Jews, occurred in 1881.
Attacks like this reflected a brutal anti-Semitism that caused more than a million Jews to leave Russia
for the United States.

Population growth and hunger were two major push factors that caused Europeans to emigrate, or
leave their homeland.
o European rapid population grown in the 1800s, resulted in crowded cities, a lack of jobs, and
food shortages.
o Crop failures added to people's woes. Potato rot left many Irish starving in the 1840s.
o The Irish potato famine led to a wave of Irish emigration to the United States.
Another push factor was scarcity of arable land, or land suitable for growing crops.
Opportunities Pull Europeans to the United States

Most European immigrants came to this country

on steamships. The poorer ones crossed the
Atlantic in steerage, the open space below
mechanism of sailing ships. Conditions there
were so cramped that many passengers spent
most of their time on deck.

One of the great pull factors for European immigrants was the idea of life in a free and democratic
society. They longed to live in a country where they had the opportunity to achieve their dreams.
An even greater lure came in the form of personal communications from friends and relatives who
had already immigrated.
Their letters back to the old country, known as America letters, might be published in newspapers or
read aloud in public places.

Improvements in Transportation Make Immigration Easier

After the Civil War, most European immigrants crossed the Atlantic by steamship, a technological
advance over sailing ships.
What had once been a three-month voyage now took just two weeks.
Some passengers could afford cabins in the more comfortable upper decks of the ship.
But most had to settle for steerage, the open area below the main deck.

15.3 To Ellis Island and Beyond

Medical Inspections at Ellis Island

Immigrants dreaded the eye examination

because failure often meant being deported.
Doctors lifted the immigrant's eyelids for
inspection. Some used their fingers, while others
used tools such as a buttonhook. They looked for
infection, especially the highly contagious disease
trachoma, which could lead to blindness.
 Doctors watched as people crossed through the baggage room and climbed the steep stairs to the
enormous Registry Room, or Great Hall. People who limped, wheezed, or otherwise showed signs
of disease or disability would be pulled aside for closer inspection.
The immigrants underwent a physical examination and an eye test.
o During the brief physical, the doctor checked for a variety of health problems, using chalk to
mark the immigrant's clothing with a symbol for the suspected disease or other problem.
For example, an L stood for lameness, and H meant a possible heart condition, and an X
indicated a mental problem. Disabled individuals or those found to have incurable illnesses
would face deportation, a forced return to their home country.
o The doctor would check for trachoma. This disease accounted for the most deportations by
far.

Legal Interviews in the Great Hall

Along with receiving a medical exam, immigrants lined up for a legal interview. An inspector asked a
series of questions to verify that immigrants could enter the country legally. Immigrants who passed
the medical and legal tests would be free to go. Those who failed would be held for days, or even
weeks, until their cases were decided.

Immigrants with medical problems would be sent to a detention area.

One by one, they stood before the primary inspector, who usually worked with an interpreter.
The inspector asked a list of 29 questions, starting with "What is your name?"
The trickiest question was, "Do you have work waiting for you in the United States?"
About 20 percent of immigrants failed wither the medical examination or the legal interview.

Beyond Ellis Island: Life in the Cities

From 1870 to 1920, the proportion of Americans who lived in cities jumped from about 25 percent
to 50 percent.
Newly arrived urban immigrants tended to live in the least desirable districts, where housing was
cheapest.
 Immigrants generally settled among others from their home country.

The crowded tenements and dirty streets of this poor ethnic neighborhood suggest the rough life of
the urban immigrant. This scene also reveals shy these areas were so appealing. The smells, sounds,
and ethnic vitality served to sustain the new Americans in a difficult time of transition.

15.4 Responses to New European Immigrants

Immigrants typically came to the U.S. with little money and few possessions.
Because of their general poverty and lack of education, most were not welcomed into
American society.

Immigrants Receive Aid from Several Sources

While adult immigrants often found it hard to assimilate, their children made a much smoother
transition. education was the key to their Americanization. As they learned to speak English and
studied American history and civics, they quickly adapted to their new homeland.

The first sources of aid were usually relatives or friends, who might provide housing and food.
If necessary, the needy might seek assistance from an immigrant aid society.
During the 1890s, a type of aid organization called a settlement house arose in the ethnic
 neighborhoods of many large cities. A settlement house was a community center that provided a
variety of services to the poor, especially to immigrants. It might offer daytime care for children, as
well as classes, health clinics, and recreational opportunities for the entire community.
Immigrants might also turn to political bosses for help.

The Assimilation of Immigrants

Education was the main tool of assimilation. They more eagerly adopted American customs.
Some patriotic organizations pushed for the Americanization of immigrants, fearing that increased
immigration posed a threat to American values and traditions.

Some Americans Reject Immigrants

Opponents of immigration claimed that the "garbage" of Europe was being dumped on American
shores. Political parties included anti-immigration statements in their platforms. For example, in
1892 the Democratic Party said the country should not become "the dumping ground for the known
criminals and professional paupers of Europe."

Dislike and fear provoked demands to limit immigration and its impact on American life. This policy
of favoring the interests of native-born Americans over those of immigrants is called nativism.

15.5 Immigration from Asia

Although immigration after the Civil War was mainly from Europe, many immigrants also
arrived each year from Asia.
Chinese Immigrants Seek Gold Mountain

The Chinese referred to California as Gold Mountain

Many businesses hired the Chinese because they were willing to work for less money. As a result,
friction developed between working class whites and Chinese immigrants.

The Exclusion Act: Shutting the Doors on the Chinese

Mob violence against Chinese immigrants broke

out in several American cities in the late 1800s.
Anti-immigrant forces blamed the Chinese for
economic problems at the time. This engraving
shows an anti-Chinese riot in Denver in 1880.
Anti-immigrant forces blamed the Chinese for
economic problems at the time. As a result,
Chinese immigration was banned for 10 years.
 Seeking a scapegoat, many Californians blamed Chinese workers for their economic woes.
The Chinese made an easy target.
o They looked different from white Americans, and their language, religion, and other cultural
traits were also very different.
o Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. This law prohibited the immigration of
Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, for a period of 10 years. It also prevented Chinese
already in the country from becoming citizens.
Angel Island: The Ellis Island of the West

Angel Island Immigration Station

Completed in 1910, it was designed to enforce the exclusion act by keeping new Chinese arrivals
isolated from friends and relatives on the mainland and preventing them from escaping

Starting in 1910, immigration officials

processed Asian immigrants at Angel Island
Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay.
Some newcomers faced lengthy detention.
Here a Chinese immigrant endures a legal
interview.

Other Asian Groups Immigrate to the United States

 State laws barred Japanese men from marrying non-Asian women. In the picture-bride system,
families arranged marriage between a son living in the U.S. and a daughter in Japan. The prospective
bride and groom exchanged photographs and personal information.

15.6 Immigration from North and South

Crossing the Southern Border: Immigrants from Mexico

A demand for low-wage labor in the late 1800s contributed to a surge of immigration from Mexico.
Mexican immigrants worked in various industries, from railroads and steel mills to canneries.
Hundreds of thousands labored in the fields as migrant farm workers, like these men above.
Crossing the Northern Border: The French Canadians

Most French Canadian immigrants formed communities in New England and typically worked in
textile mills and lumber camps. Others opened businesses that catered to French-Canadian
customers. This Rhode Island clothing store announced sales events in both French and English.

U.S. Immigration, 1820-1920

Key Events That Affected Immigration

1845-1849 Irish Potato Famine

1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
1914-1918 World War I
1924 National Origins Act*
1929-1941 Great Depression
1939-1945 World War II
1965 Immigration Act**

*established quota system, placing limits on

immigration from some countries
**abolished quota system, easing limits on
immigration

1851-1860 Ireland 914,000

1881-1890 Northern Europe 2,316,000
1881-1890 United Kingdom 807,000
1901-1910 Eastern Europe 3,836,000
1901-1910 Southern Europe 2,310,000
1921-1930 Canada 925,000
1991-2000 Latin America 4,295,000
1991-2000 Asia 2,796,000
1991-2000 Africa, Oceania, and 453,000
Other

This graph shows numbers of legal immigrants who have come to the United States from various parts
of the world, beginning in 1820. The surges or waves of immigration shown here often reflected events
or policies of the time.