What are some factors that caused immigrants to come to America?

Who came here? Old Immigrants – Northern, Western Europe (England, Ireland, Scotland) New European Immigrants - southern and eastern Europe (Russia, Italy, Poland)

Push Factors Poverty Famine Religious and political persecution (genocide) War

Pull Factors Farm land in the west Jobs and Higher wages in the cities Gold in the west Religious and political freedom

How did Immigrants find out about America? American letters

steerage Open area below the main deck of the passenger ships that housed poorer travelers

With my ears I hear the screams of my neighbors during the pograms my fellow jews and I endured With my heart, I feel hope that I can find work in a factory in America and make a better life for my family and myself With my hands, I hold the America letter from my relatives which tells me of all the opportunities available in that country With my nose, I smell the awful stench of the steerage section on the ship that takes me and hundreds of other immigrants to America

With my eyes I see the medical inspectors at Ellis Island quickly examine each immigrant as we pass through. Some have to return home. With my ears, I hear the legal inspectors ask me questions in a language that I don’t understand. If I answer them incorrectly I have to return home With my hands, I carry the suitcases that holds all of my belongings as I board the ferryboat to New York city With my nose, I smell the familiar aromas of my home country as I walk down the block of my ethnic neighborhood in New York’s lower east side

Ellis Island Immigration center in New York Harbor that was the port of entry for European Immigrants in 1892

Ellis Island First class passengers sent on through Steerage passengers undergo medical exam and interview

What happened to those who had incurable eye diseases? Eye disease like Trachoma meant deportation

Is it true that people’s original names during the interview process were changed?

What was the “trickiest question” for immigrants? 1885 Foran Act made it illegal for U.S employers to import foreign laborers Prevent new immigrants to replace striking workers

What percentage of immigrants to Ellis Island were denied entry? 20% failed the medical exam or legal interview Only 2% were deported Process lasted about two hours

Where did Immigrants live once they made it to America? Lived in undesirable slums New York’s Lower East Side tenements Ethnic neighborhoods

Why did immigrants settle in “ethnic communities”

With my hands, I pass the hat at the Sons of Italy in America meeting, where we collect money to help the family of one of our countrymen who has lost his job. With my eyes, I see the local political boss helping us immigrants with jobs and social services if we promise him our votes come election day. With my nose I smell the aroma of food from my new grocery store With my ears, I hear the Americanization of my daughter, who learned to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the free public school she attends with other immigrant children.

What challenges did Immigrants face here in America?

Americanization The assimilation of immigrants into American culture in order to promote loyalty to American values.

Who helped them? Settlement House – community center that provided help to the poor Politicians provided food and jobs in exchange for votes

Why did some Americans reject immigrants?

They were taking jobs away from native born citizens Odd customs and culture Different political views

Nativism The policy of favoring the interests of native-born Americans over those of immigrants.

Chinese Immigrants

What types of opportunities did Chinese immigrants find in America?

What hardships did Chinese immigrants face here in America?

Chinese Immigrants Came in search of gold White miners responded with violence Special taxes took half of their wages Could not testify against whites in court

Railroads recruit Chinese workers Unequal pay and treatment $1,000 workers lost their lives

Enduring Violence Brutal beatings and no arrests

Facing Harassment Laws forced them to cut their braids Children could not attend white schools

How did government limit immigration in the late 1800’s

How did the government respond to Nativist demands for curtailing Chinese immigration?

Chinese Exclusion Act Law in 1882 that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years

Angel Island Chinese immigration station located in San Francisco Bay

What hardships existed for Chinese immigrants being detained at Angel Island?

What did Chinese immigrants to do express their feelings while being detained?

Soon after their arrival, Chinese immigrants were given medical examinations. Because of poor health conditions in rural China, some immigrants were afflicted with parasitic diseases. The U.S. government classified certain of these ailments as ghastly and dangerously contagious and sought to use them as grounds to deny immigrants admission. Those considered medically unfit were often deported to China. One immigrant remembered the medical examination:

“When we first came, we went to the administration building for the physical examination. The doctor told us to take off everything. Really though, it was humiliating. The Chinese never expose themselves like that. They checked you and checked you. We never got used to that kind of thing—and in front of whites.”

I cannot bear to describe the harsh treatment by the doctors. Being stabbed for blood samples and examined for hookworms was even more pitiful. After taking the medicine, I also drank liquid, Like a dumb person eating the huanglian [a bitter herb ].* *The phrase in the last line means “like a victim who cannot speak to complain.”

Chinese who passed the medical examination returned to their dormitories to await hearings on their immigration applications. Guards sat outside the dormitories’ locked doors. Immigrants usually languished on their bunks, spending their waking hours daydreaming or worrying about their futures. Some spent their time gambling. Others read Chinese newspapers from San Francisco or books brought from home.

Some women passed the time sewing or knitting. Immigrants were periodically allowed to go to a small, fenced, outdoor recreation yard. And women and children were sometimes allowed to walk the grounds in a supervised group, a privilege denied to men. Mr. Lowe, who was 16 when he arrived at Angel Island, recalled his stay:

“I had nothing to do there. During the day, we stared at the scenery beyond the barbed wires—the sea and the sky and clouds that were separated from us. Besides listening to the birds outside the fence, we could listen to records and talk to old- timers in the barracks. Some, due to faulty responses during the interrogation and lengthy appeal procedures, had been there for years.... The worst part was the toilet. It was a ditch congested with filth. It stank up the whole barracks. We slept on three tiers of canvas bunks. The blankets were so coarse that it might have been woven of wolf’s hair. It was indeed a most humiliating imprisonment.”

Bored and filled with a hundred feelings, I am imprisoned in the building. Seeing the surroundings stirs one who is sad. How can one stop the tears? I recall the ship starting off for the land of America. Looking back, the moon has repeated a cycle.

With my heart, I feel the hostility that some Americans feel toward Chinese immigrants like me, hostility that eventually led to the Chinese Exclusion Act. With my hands, I carve a poem into the walls of my barrack on Angel Island, describing my frustration as I wait for weeks to be allowed into America. With my eyes, I see the school board in San Francisco unfairly segregate the children of Asian immigrants into separate schools from white children. With my ears, I hear rumors of a Gentlemen’s Agreement between the governments of Japan and the U.S. that severely limits Japanese immigration to America.

What are some examples of discrimination of Asians in America during the early to mid 1900’s?

What groups of immigrants are targets of nativists today?