1. THE “NEW” IMMIGRANTS Southern & Eastern Europeans After 1882

2. The “New Immigrants”

3. Polish Immigrants  Poland divided between German, Austrian & Russian empires  In all 3 commercial agriculture, industrialization & population increase pushed surplus ag. labor off the land  3 phases of Polish immigration:  1870 – 93: German sector Artisans, intellectuals, lower gentry & farmers Ended by U.S. depression & improved conditions in Germany  1890 – 1914: Russian sector Smallholders & ag. wage laborers; some small town folk Ended by World War I  1880 – 1914: Austrian sector Peasants, day laborers & servants Ended by World War I

4. Za Chlebem: For Bread  Migrants moved in search of work, pulled by urbanization & industrialization  Left depressed rural areas for commercial & industrial ones  Went from rural to urban areas  Seen as necessary sacrifice to preserve family  Viewed destination as God’s provision through Mary’s intervention on behalf of suffering Catholics  Not poorest of poor, but upwardly mobile peasants  Gov’t attitudes & private opinions mixed  Germany tried to replace Poles with Germans  Russia & Austria tried to keep cheap labor supply

5. Polish Immigrants in America  2.5 million Poles came to the U.S. in late 19 th – early 20 th century  Few had craft skills or factory experience – mostly farmers & day laborers  Vast majority became unskilled factory labor in U.S.  Factory managers simultaneously reinforced & repressed ethnic identities  Ethnic segregation of dept.s used to impede unionization  Changed names, dress, language, etc. to achieve conformity

6. Polonias  Polonias = attempt to recreate traditional Polish village  Failed due to increased social & geographic mobility  Middle class fought with clergy for control of churches & communities  Polish Catholic nationalism promoted as alternative to labor radicalism  Rev. Francis Hodur founded Polish National Catholic Church in 1904  30 parishes & 30,000 members by 1916  ¾ of all immigrants belonged to nationalist fraternal organizations by 1910  Polish Roman Catholic Union (1873)  Polish National Alliance (1880)  Polish Falcons (1887) 1910 Polish Steelworker’s Home, Pittsburgh (recreated at John Heinz History Center)

7. Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Polish Hill, Pittsburgh

8. Italian Immigrants  Divided into 2 phases:  Early immigration from the North (Venetia, Lombardy, Piedmont)  1890s-1910s immigration from the South (Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily)  1875-1915: 14 million left Italy – 9/10 to rest of Europe  2/3 left temporarily  2.1 million Italians arrived in U.S., 1901-1910, but only 1.3 million in 1910 census

9. Little Italy  Naples was largest immigrant - sending port by 1907  30%-50% return migration rate  97% of all Italians after 1880 entered through NYC  NYC had almost 400,000 Italians by 1920 (1/4 of all Italian Americans)  Men outnumbered women 3:1  Mostly manual laborers  Padroni (labor contractors) exploited them shamelessly  Localist traditions (campanilismo) hampered formation of ethnic fraternal organizations Little Italy, New York City