IMMIGRATION AND URBANIZATION CHANGES IN AMERICA

A FLOOD OF IMMIGRANTS Old Immigrants Before 1865, people who came to America, excluding African Americans, were called “old” immigrants. They came from northern and western Europe. They mostly spoke English, were Protestant, and fit into the existing American society.

A FLOOD OF IMMIGRANTS New Immigrants In the mid-1880s, “new” immigrants arrived from eastern and southern Europe in large numbers. They came from Greece, Russia, Hungary, Italy, Turkey, and Poland By 1907, 80 percent of the immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe. Many were Catholics or Jews, and few spoke English. They lived together in urban neighborhoods and had a difficult time blending into American society “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” A Gift From France, 1886

FLOOD OF IMMIGRANTS Immigration from other countries increased after People came from Mexico, Latin America, China, and Japan. They also brought their own languages and religious beliefs and had trouble blending into American life.

JOURNEY TO AMERICA The first stop for millions of immigrants was Ellis Island in New York Harbor. There they were greeted by the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France that symbolized freedom, hope, and a better life in a new country. Asian immigrants arrived on the West Coast through the processing center on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE Many immigrants settled in industrial cities. If they had little or no education, they worked as unskilled laborers. Immigrants lived together in neighborhoods, and as a result, Jewish, Italian, Polish, Chinese, and other groups formed communities in large cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

NATIVIST MOVEMENT Tensions between native- born Americans and immigrants. Nativism gained strength in the late 1800s. People began to want to limit immigration. (Quota System) Some native-born American workers resented immigrants, fearing that the immigrants would take away their jobs or lower wages for everyone because they accepted lower pay

GROWTH OF AMERICAN CITIES American cities grew rapidly. By 1910 nearly half of the population lived in cities. America was changing from a rural to an urban nation.

GROWTH OF AMERICAN CITIES (URBANIZATION) - Immigrants played a major role in this growth. - Native-born Americans moved to cities from farming areas as industrialization changed farm work. - African Americans moved from the rural South to Southern cities for jobs and to escape debt, injustice, or discrimination. - After 1914 many also moved to Northern cities where industry and manufacturing offered more job opportunities and possibly less discrimination.

GILDED AGE – ( ) COINED BY MARK TWAIN – THOUGHT THIS WAS AN ERA OF SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEMS HIDDEN UNDER A THIN LAYER OF GOLD. As more and more people moved to the cities, the gap between the rich and the poor increased. Life in American cities became known as the Gilded Age, where huge wealth contrasted with horrible poverty. At the low end, there were substandard housing and poverty The poorest residents lived in tenements, apartment buildings in the slums, or poor, rundown neighborhoods. Growth of the middle class and the suburbs.