1. The Immigrant Experience EQ: Should the United States be a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl”?

2. Basics Immigration –Process by which millions of people left their home countries and moved to the United States. Process also includes the reaction to the immigrants by the U.S. Push/Pull: Reasons why immigrants come to the United States –“Push”: People forced to leave their home country –“Pull”: People drawn to the United States for certain reasons

3. RECREATE THIS PUSH-PULL MAP! continued... Pushes Disease, Drought, Famine Freedom, job opportunities, more opportunities in general More space, abundance of natural resources Poverty, religious persecution, shortage of land, lack of jobs Pulls Unstable government, shunned criminal Stable economy, justice, fresh start Pushes and Pulls

4. Where are they Coming From? 1.c. 1815-1860----5 million: mainly English, Irish, Germanic, Scandinavian, others from northwestern Europe 2.c. 1865-1890----10 million: mainly from northwestern Europe 3.c. 1890-1914----15 million: Austro- Hungarian, Turkish, Lithuanian, Russian, Jewish, Greek, Italian, Romanian

5. The Early Immigrants: Western Europe

6. The Later Immigrants: Eastern Europe

7. How many are coming?

8. The Journey Most immigrants traveled to America via steerage (ship’s lower level where steering mechanism is located) Trip = long, uncomfortable, unsanitary!

9. Not Lookin’ So Comfortable!

10. Ellis Island – The Gateway to America

11. Immigrants Unloading @ Ellis Island

12. Ellis Island Ellis Island welcomed new immigrants beginning in 1892 Immigrants experienced a battery of tests upon arrival –Mental illness, trachoma, physical disabilities, cholera, TB

13. Families Awaiting Their Fate on Ellis Island

14. Where are People Going? Individuals tended to follow their group and settled close to their extended families

15. What happened once they got here? Culture Shock –Problem faced by all immigrants; trying to get used to the new culture Assimilation –Abandoning the old culture and completely adopting the American culture* ( to conform) Accommodation –Refusing to abandon the old culture, language, etc. and instead incorporate the old with the new “Melting Pot” –U.S. ideal: everyone brings a little bit and it melts into one new U.S. culture

16. Immigrant Life Immigrants settled in clusters of familiarity Tenements = poorly built, overcrowded apartments

17. Immigrant Work Long hours / low pay –10 hrs a day, 6 days a week Harsh conditions Many = unskilled in manufacturing –Construction, garment, steel “Wherever the heat is most…scorching, the smock and soot most choking” - Hungarian Immigrant

18. Benevolent Societies Aid organizations, aka, settlement houses - founded to provide help in cases of sickness, unemployment, and death

19. How did the United States React? Nativism –Favoritism towards native-born Americans; socially acceptable discrimination against non- natives

20. Immigrant Restrictions Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) - prohibited Chinese people from immigrating to the U.S. for 10 years Immigration Restriction League (1884) - All immigrants prove they could read and write before allowing entry –Hoped to limit immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe and preserve immigration from Western and Northern Europe.

21. Your In-Class Assignment! Put yourselves in the shoes of an immigrant (if they had shoes) and, in your notebook, write four journal entries from his or her perspective. 1st Journal Entry = Conditions in home-country 2nd Journal Entry = Journey to America 3rd Journal Entry = Ellis Island Experience 4th Journal Entry = New life in America Each entry should be AT LEAST a half-page of quality, relevant thoughts of what an immigrant might have been thinking and feeling during this time! Don’t forget to label each entry 15 pts per entry!