Chapter 4, Lesson 3 New Americans Mr. Julian’s 5th Grade class

Places Ellis Island Angel Island

People Mary Antin

Vocabulary Prejudice Diversity

New Immigrants 23 million immigrants arrived in America between 1880 – 1920 The U.S. had only 50 million people in 1880, so the immigrants accounted for 1/3 of the population. Before 1890 most immigrants came from England, Germany, and Sweden. After 1890 most immigrants came from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

New Immigrants People also moved from Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Others came to the U. S. from China, Japan, and the Philippines. Immigrants came for different reasons. Many were escaping poverty, hunger, or lack of jobs. From many the farms and factories in the U. S. offered hope of income, food, and work.

New Immigrants Many Jewish immigrants escaped Europe due to mistreatment because of their religion. Mary Antin was not allowed to attend school because she was Jewish. Most immigrants did not expect to find riches but they did expect jobs, political and religious freedoms. They came hoping for opportunities to make their lives better.

Ellis Island Ships that traveled from Europe arrived in New York City. From the ship the immigrants boarded a ferry to Ellis Island. This small island in New York Harbor was an immigration station – a place immigrants had to go before getting permission to enter the country.

Ellis Island At Ellis Island, doctors checked immigrants for dangerous diseases. Officials asked questions about where they were from, what job did they do, and where they planed to live. Immigrants often spent an entire day waiting in long lines. Once the exams were over, they took another ferry back to New York City to begin their new lives.

Angel Island For immigrants from China, Japan, and Korea the first stop was Angel Island. At the time there was a limit to how many Chinese could enter the U.S. To enter, Chinese had to prove they already had family in the U.S. Inspectors asked many questions of the immigrants. They would ask a son these questions and then ask the father the same questions and compare the answers.

Angel Island Many immigrants spent weeks or months at Angel Island. Despite the poor treatment, all wanted to stay in the U.S.

A New World Many new immigrants left their immigration station and arrived in a new big city. Most immigrants came from small villages and farms, so the new surroundings were very different. All immigrants needed to do two things right away: find a place to live and find job. Those who did not know anyone in the U.S. typically moved into neighborhoods with people also from their own country. Those who

A New World Living in a community where the language and traditions were familiar made it a little easier to adjust to life in a new country. After finding a place to live, most immigrants began looking for work. Many found jobs on railroads, factories, and mines. Some began their own business.

A New World Many neighborhood streets were lined with pushcarts and crowded with shoppers with many different languages spoken. Once the immigrants found a place to live and a job, most went looking to fulfill their dreams. Many immigrants faced the hardships of prejudice. Prejudice is an unfair negative opinion about a group of people.

A New World The immigrants tried to get ahead. Many had to work 12 hour days plus go to school at night to learn English. This made for very long days and it was hard to do well in school after working. No mater how hard, they understood the value of an education and hard work.

Immigration and Diversity From the 1880’s – 1920’s more immigrants came to the U.S. than any other time in history. Immigrants understood that life would be difficult. They also know that the U.S. would offer many freedoms. The immigrants made up most of the population of many big cities.

Immigration and Diversity Immigrants contributed to the diversity of the American population. Diversity is a variety of different people. Finally, in 1924, the U.S. put into effect new laws that would limit immigration.

Review Questions How were Ellis Island and Angel Island similar? How were they different? How did prejudice create problems for some immigrants?