Immigration and Urbanization Turning America into a “Melting Pot”

"Old" Immigrants “New” Immigrants Protestants from northern and western Europe  Irish and Germans Adopted the American culture (assimilated) Families came to stay Had money, were skilled and were educated Catholics and Jews from southern and eastern Europe  Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary and Russia Didn’t assimilate as quickly Birds of passage: making money then going back home Came alone No money and no skills Settled in cities Immigration

Southern Europe: New Immigrants Northern Europe: Old Immigrants Eastern Europe: New Immigrants Western Europe: Old Immigrants

Why Leave Home? Push Factors: things happening at home that are bad  Famine  Low crop prices  Religious persecution… but still get some of that in America Pull Factors: things attracting immigrants to America  Plentiful land and employment  “The American Dream”  Meet up with other family members  Political and religious freedom

The Journey Only brought what they could carry…looked poor Ship was crowded and dirty Chinese immigrants landed on Angel Island…not as accepting as Ellis Island was of European immigrants…stayed weeks for inspections Upon arrival immigrants would be processed to make sure they could stay in America…this happened on Ellis Island  Medical inspections  Legal inspections  Few were turned away but could be the end of the road for others

Ellis Island Inspections Angel Island Inspections

Life in America Took jobs in factories because they were unskilled, provided cheap labor…fueled nativism Settlement Houses were established to help these immigrants be “Americanized”…learn English, American dress, diet and culture  Jane Addams established many of these homes, Hull House Amusement Parks and Spectator Sports emerge  Coney Island (rollercoaster's)  Baseball, football, boxing, horse racing Many immigrants were too poor to move out of cities  Formed ethnic neighborhoods called “ghettos” with people who shared their language, religion and culture

Hostility Nativism: belief that native-born Americans were superior to immigrants  Fueled by job and housing competition as well as religious (Catholic and Jews) and cultural differences Extreme Nativism led to the Chinese Exclusion Act  Prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers  Limited the rights of Chinese in America  Would not give citizenship to Chinese  First time immigration had been restricted

Urbanization A time in which America experienced a dramatic growth in cities and people living in them Occurred in the Midwest along rivers, the Northeast and on the Pacific Coast (connected to RR) Jobs could be found as well as new forms of entertainment and opportunities Cities were more glamorous than rural areas

Migration African Americans leave the south to move North and West (Great Migration) Many farmers move to cities (rural to urban) Life was completely different:  Indoors, dark  Fast pace routine/schedule  Paid in cash  Life was more exciting

Technologies Improve Cities Build parks as getaways  Frederick Law Olmstead built NYC’s Central Park  Really only made it for the wealthy class Architecture:  Skyscrapers were built thanks to steel  Elisha Otis invented the elevator Mass Transit: public systems that could carry large numbers of people cheaply  Electric trolleys  Some cities use subways to remove congestion  Used mainly by upper and middle class that lived in suburbs and could afford the fares

Problems with Urbanization Majority are poor in the city so they live close enough to work to walk…overcrowding occurs Most lived in dumbbell tenements (low cost family housing designed to squeeze as many families in as possible)  Entire family lives in one room  Few windows  Dangerous because their was no ventilation

Problems with Urbanization Crime: ethnic and racial tensions erupt, gangs form  Need paid police force Fire: fireplaces and gas lights could quickly burn an entire block  Need firefighters Sanitation: alleys were clogged with trash  Tenements had not been updated with indoor plumbing  Government starts to lay sewage and bring in water from reservoirs

Attempts to Solve the Problems Jacob Riis  Compiled a photo collection called “How the Other Half Lives”  Documented the horrible conditions of slum housing in NYC Gospel of Wealth:  Promoted by Andrew Carnegie  Suggested that the wealthy should be charitable and philanthropists instead of just accumulating huge masses of wealth