2. Immigration and Urbanization
Turning America into a “Melting Pot”

3. Immigration Protestants from northern and western Europe
"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

4. Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants

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

6. 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

7. The Journey Only brought what they could carry…looked poor
Ship was crowded and dirty
Two unloading locations in America:
Angel Island, CA is where Chinese Immigrants landed
Tough inspections
Ellis Island, NY is where European Immigrants landed
Upon arrival immigrants would be processed to make sure they could stay in America
Medical inspections
Legal inspections
Few were turned away but could be the end of the road for others

11. Angel Island Inspections Ellis Island Inspections

15. Interactive Ellis Island tour
Modern Day Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty (NPS)

16. Life in America
Took jobs in factories because they were unskilled, provided cheap labor…fueled nativism because Americans said they were stealing their jobs
Settlement Houses were established to help these immigrants get “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

18. 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
US government was nativist when it passed the Chinese Exclusion Act
Prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers into America
Limited the rights of Chinese in America
Would not give citizenship to Chinese
First time immigration had been restricted

20. Urbanization
A time in which America experienced a dramatic growth in cities and people living in them
Jobs could be found as well as new forms of entertainment and opportunities
Cities were more glamorous than rural areas

21. Migration
African Americans leave the south to move North and West (Great Migration)
Many farmers move to cities (rural to urban)
Suburbs were created on the outskirts of cities but mainly wealthy whites lived in suburbs

22. 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 Transportation: public systems that could carry large numbers of people cheaply
Electric trolleys
Some cities use subways to remove congestion on streets
Used mainly by upper and middle class that lived in suburbs and could afford the fares

25. 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 there was no ventilation

26. 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: allies were clogged with trash
Tenements had not been updated with indoor plumbing
Government starts to lay sewage and bring in water from reservoirs

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