1. SECTION1 Immigration Immigration at the Turn of the Century

2. SECTION2 People on the Move  What were the experiences of immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s?  What different challenges did immigrants from Europe and Asia face?  What type of resistance did immigrants face in the United States?  Here is not merely a nation, but a teeming nation of nations. Walt Whitman Chapter 8, Section 2

3. SECTION3 The Immigrant Experience  Immigrants came to the United States fleeing crop failures, shortages of land and jobs, rising taxes, famine, and religious and political persecution. (Push Factors)  Attracted to the U.S. by economic opportunities, land, modern life, religious and political freedoms, educational opportunities. (Pull Factors)  Steam-powered ships could cross the Atlantic Ocean in two or three weeks. Most immigrants traveled in steerage, a large open area beneath the ship’s deck. –Limited toilets, no privacy, poor food, but cheap tickets. (1-2 week passage) –$25 1900=$650 today/Steerage –$54 1900=$1300 today/1 st class Chapter 8, Section 2

4. SECTION4 The Immigrant Experience  Between 1865 and 1890 about 10 million immigrants arrived. Most came from northwestern and central Europe.  In the 1890s, most new immigrants came from central, southern, and eastern Europe and the Middle East.  Between 1865-1920 close to 30 million people entered the U.S.  More than 70 percent of all immigrants came through New York City (Ellis Island) which was called the “Golden Door.”  Other ports of entry on the East coast were Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and on the West coast Seattle and San Francisco.

5. SECTION5 Ellis Island Experience  Getting off the boat  Sometimes new arrivals had to wait aboard their ships for days before being transferred to Ellis Island. Once there, confined to the overcrowded barges for hours without food or water, waiting for their turn to disembark for inspection.  Their assortment of baggage contained what must have been their most prized but portable belongings: clothing, feather beds, dinnerware, as well as photographs, family prayer books and other mementoes of the homeland.  Baggage  Here, the immigrants checked their heaviest baggage before proceeding to the Great Hall for processing by United States Immigrations Inspectors.  Most families could only bring a single possession of value to the United States—a violin, for example, or a samovar for brewing tea.

6. SECTION6 The Ellis Island Experience  After an inspector nodded his approval the immigrants went down the stairs to make their way to New York City, or they went to the railroad ticket office below seeking passage towards some other destination.  The Health Inspection  As the immigrants walked up this staircase, United States Public Health physicians watched them for signs of a number of illnesses.  Those who showed signs of disease, insanity, or other conditions were marked with chalk for a more detailed examination.  United States Public Health physician observed them in what came to be known as the "six-second exam;" he was looking for tell tale signs of a list of diseases.  Next, the new comers lined up in front of the "eye man," who used a buttonhook to turn eye lids up as he looked for trachoma and other contagious eye diseases, Trachoma, a highly contagious ailment, was, and remains, grounds for refusal of entry.

7. SECTION7 The Ellis Island Experience  For the vast majority of immigrants, Ellis Island meant three to five hours of waiting for a brief medical and legal examination. For others, it meant a longer stay with additional testing or a legal hearing.  If a doctor found any indication of disease, he marked the shoulder or lapel of an immigrant's clothing with chalk: "L" for lameness, "E" for eyes, for example.  Marked immigrants were removed and led to special examination rooms.  There a doctor would check them for the ailment indicated by the chalk mark and give them a quick overall physical. Many had to be sent to the hospital for observation and care.  Patients who recovered were usually allowed to land. Others, whose ailments were incurable or disabling, were sent back to their ports of origin.  For a woman who had never been touched by a man other than her husband, being examined by a male doctor could be a traumatic experience. In 1914 two women doctors were appointed to the medical staff, and prior to that, Public Health Service rules, required the presence of a matron during the examination of an immigrant woman by a male doctor.

8. SECTION8 The Ellis Island Experience  The Mental Tests  According to a 1917 U.S. Public Health Service manual, 9 out of 100 immigrants were marked with an "X" during the line inspection and were sent to mental examination rooms for further questioning.  During this primary examination, doctors first asked the immigrants to answer a few questions about themselves, and then to solve simple arithmetic problems, or count backward from 20 to 1, or complete a puzzle.  Out of the 9 immigrants held for this "weeding out" session, perhaps 1 or 2 would be detained for a secondary session of more extensive testing.  Out of the 9 immigrants held for this "weeding out" session, perhaps 1 or 2 would be detained for a secondary session of more extensive testing.  Can you draw a diamond? Doctors found that this test, which required immigrants to copy geometric shape, was useful only in the examination of immigrants who knew how to write or were used to holding a pencil.

9. SECTION9 The Ellis Island Experience  Legal Inspections  After the medical inspection, each immigrant filed up to the inspector's desk for his or her legal examination, an experience that was often compared to the Day of Judgment.  To determine an immigrant's social, economic, and moral fitness, inspectors asked rapid-fire series of questions, such as: Are you married or single? What is your occupation? How much money do you have? Have you ever been convicted of a crime?  The interrogation was over in a matter of minutes after which an immigrant was either permitted to enter the United States or detained for a legal hearing.

10. SECTION10 The Ellis Island Experience  Deportation  During the peak years of immigration, detention on Ellis Island ran as high as 20% for all immigrants inspected.  A detainee's stay could last days or even weeks. Many were women and children who were waiting for a relative to come for them or for money to arrive.  Perhaps the most poignant of the detainees were the families waiting for a sick parent or child to be released from the Ellis Island hospital. –Single women were not allowed to leave Ellis Island with a man who was not related to them. –When a fiancé and his intended were reunited at Ellis Island, their marriage was often performed right on the island--then they were free to leave.

11. SECTION11 The Ellis Island Experience  After the immigrants were approved for admission to the United States, they walked down the staircase - to meet the parents, children, or spouses they hadn't seen in years.  This place became known as the "kissing post" because of the many happy reunions that took place here.  Only one third of the immigrants who came to the United States through Ellis Island stayed in New York City.  The majority scattered to all points across the country via a railroad.  After immigrants had arranged their travel plans they were given tags to pin to their hats or coats.  The tags showed the railroad conductors what lines the immigrants were traveling and what connections to make to reach their destinations.

12. SECTION12 Life for Immigrants  Urban neighborhoods dominated by one ethnic or racial group of immigrants were called ghettos.  Some ghettos formed because immigrants felt more comfortable living near people with the same language and traditions.  Other ghettos formed from restrictive covenants, when homeowners agreed not to sell real estate to certain groups.  Still other ghettos formed when ethnic groups isolated themselves because of threats of violence, mostly from whites.

13. SECTION13 Typical Tenement Apartment  Features of a typical tenement include:  a building that has 4-6 stories.  a number of families or tenants living together.  each apartment has 3 rooms (the living or front room, the kitchen, and a small bedroom).  dimensions of the rooms are as follows: living room is 11' x 12' 6", bedroom is 8' 6" square, and the kitchen is 12' x 10' square.  no toilet/shower/bath  bathrooms located in rear yard  fireplace in the kitchen  no water available inside the building  no electricity

14. SECTION14 City Life in the Gilded Age Photographs by Jacob Riis http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Davis/photography/slideshows/slideshows.ht ml

15. SECTION15 Mulberry Bend, New York

16. SECTION16 Dens of Death

17. SECTION17 A Flat in the Pauper's Barracks with All Its Furniture

18. SECTION18 It Costs a Dollar a Month to Sleep in These Sheds

19. SECTION19 Scene on the Roof of the Mott Street Barracks

20. SECTION20 In Poverty Gap, an English Coal-Heaver's Home

21. SECTION21 Ready for Sabbath Eve in a Coal Cellar

22. SECTION22 Peddler Who Slept in the Cellar of 11 Ludlow Street Rear

23. SECTION23 In Sleeping Quarters, Rivington Street Dump

24. SECTION24 Men's Lodging Room in the West 47th Street Station

25. SECTION25 Eldridge Street Police Station Lodgers

26. SECTION26 A Seven-Cent Lodging House, Pell Street

27. SECTION27 Night School in the Seventh Avenue Lodging House

28. SECTION28 Pictures by Lewis Hine

29. SECTION29 Tenement Rookeries, Washington, DC

30. SECTION30 Poor Home, New York City Tenement

31. SECTION31 Family in Tenement, New York

32. SECTION32 Playground in Mill Village

33. SECTION33 Immigrants from Asia  Most immigrants who entered the United States through the West Coast were from Asia.  Angel Island, located in San Francisco, California is considered the Ellis Island of the West.  Chinese and Japanese formed the largest groups.  In the mid-1800s, American railroad companies recruited about a quarter of a million Chinese workers.  Lived in communities already dominated by own countrymen.  Greater cultural differences, made them targets of suspicion and hostility, harder to fit in and be accepted. Chapter 8, Section 2  Angel Island Immigration Station Overview

34. SECTION34 Angel Island Experience  Between 1910 and 1940, there were as many as 175,000 Chinese immigrants detained and processed at Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, California.  Unlike Ellis Island in New York's harbor, Angel Island is a visible reminder of a shameful period in U.S. immigration history.  Generally, Chinese without family connections in the United States were excluded from entry.  Later, legal loopholes emerged for Chinese merchants and wealthy travelers.  At that time, no other racial groups were denied entry into the United States.

35. SECTION35 Angel Island Experience  To enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and other subsequent Chinese exclusion laws, the Immigration Station at Angel Island was built in 1910.  Chinese arriving in San Francisco were inspected. Those who passed by luck or bribe were allowed to enter San Francisco.  Those who were suspected were sent to Angel Island for further processing.  For 30 years, Angel Island served more as a detention and deportation center than an immigration processing center.

36. SECTION36 Angel Island Experience  Facilities  Thousands of Chinese were detained and interrogated at the barracks in a prison-like atmosphere for weeks, months, or years. Many were deported.  Conditions often crowded, ie. 100 women in 30 x 30 foot room.  One hundred persons would sleep in bunk beds, three high in columns, in a room about 1,000 square feet.  Some chose to escape their humiliation by suicide.  Life for the detainees was strange, stressful, demoralizing, and humiliating.  Separated from family members, they were placed in crowded communal living quarters.  Barbed wire surrounded the area around the building and armed guards were posted in towers, ordered to shoot if there were any attempts of escape. The environment was that of imprisonment.  Husbands and wives would call out to each other to let their partners know they were doing ok.  Husbands and wives would call out to each other to let their partners know they were doing ok.

37. SECTION37 Angel Island Experience  Examinations-Medical  One of the most traumatic experiences the Chinese immigrants went through, especially the women, was the humiliation of being stripped naked, jabbed and examined by white doctors.  In fact, the Japanese were not examined because the Japanese government threatened to do similar checks to U.S. citizens coming into Japan.

38. SECTION38 Angel Island Experience  Interrogations  To verify their status or prove they were children of residents, the main reason for the existence of the immigration station was the interrogation.  That is because the general attitudes towards the Chinese was to assume guilt. The immigrants, then, had to prove innocence.  One island official admitted that his own children would not have passed the exam given. An interpreter said "I used to think it was easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a Chinaman to pass through the Golden Gate"  One island official admitted that his own children would not have passed the exam given. An interpreter said "I used to think it was easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a Chinaman to pass through the Golden Gate"  Women were scrutinized because there was a push to limit any sort of growth in the Chinese community.  This is in contrast to how lone women at Ellis Island were worried about, guarded, and cared for.

39. SECTION39 Angel Island Experience  Food  The food was described as terrible and there being no variety.  Breakfast and snacks usually consisted of saltine crackers, bread, jam, and butter.  Lunch and dinner included beef and vegetables boiled, pickled cucumbers, and rice.  "Food was edible but not tasty" and "food thrown together like pig slop" are examples of some descriptions of the food.

40. SECTION40 The Misery at Angel Island  There are tens of thousands of poems on these walls They are all cries of suffering and sadness The day I am rid of this prison and become successful I must remember that this chapter once existed I must be frugal in my daily needs Needless extravagance usually leads to ruin All my compatriots should remember China Once you have made some small gains, you should return home early  Written by one from Heungshan

41. SECTION41 Controlling Immigration and Behavior  Many Americans linked the problems of the cities to the new immigrants. By controlling immigrants, they hoped to restore what they believed was a past of purity and virtue.  Groups were formed to pursue this goal. Some sought to keep immigrants out of the United States. Others wanted to change their behavior.  Many people were Nativists, who believed in nativism, or favoring native-born Americans over immigrants.  Several groups, such as the American Protective Association, tried to make it more difficult for immigrants to assimilate to American culture or to even come into this country at all. Chapter 8, Section 4

42. SECTION42 Controlling Immigration

43. SECTION43 Asian Discrimination  Under pressure from labor unions, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The act prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the country. It was not repealed until 1943.  In 1906, the San Francisco school board ruled that all Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students should attend separate schools. The Japanese government condemned the policy.  President Theodore Roosevelt made a compromise with the Japanese government. It was called the Gentlemen’s Agreement because it was not official. It called for San Francisco to end it’s policy and for Japan to stop issuing passports to laborers.

44. SECTION44 People on the Move– Assessment What was the Gentlemen’s Agreement? A)An agreement to secure jobs for Russian immigrants in return for American manufactured goods. B) A compromise that China would provide more labor for the railroads in return for American wheat. C) A compromise that schools in the United States would not segregate Japanese students in exchange for Japan to stop issuing passports to laborers. D) A compromise between homeowners not to sell real estate to certain groups of people. What was a restrictive covenant? A) Immigrants felt more comfortable living near people with the same language and traditions. B) The labor party did not want Chinese people lowering pay rates. C) A compromise between homeowners not to sell real estate to certain groups of people. D) A group of people that wanted to sell their land to speculators.

45. SECTION45 People on the Move– Assessment What was the Gentlemen’s Agreement? A)An agreement to secure jobs for Russian immigrants in return for American manufactured goods. B) A compromise that China would provide more labor for the railroads in return for American wheat. C) A compromise that schools in the United States would not segregate Japanese students in exchange for Japan to stop issuing passports to laborers. D) A compromise between homeowners not to sell real estate to certain groups of people. What was a restrictive covenant? A) Immigrants felt more comfortable living near people with the same language and traditions. B) The labor party did not want Chinese people lowering pay rates. C) A compromise between homeowners not to sell real estate to certain groups of people. D) A group of people that wanted to sell their land to speculators. Chapter 8, Section 2