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Immigrants Come to America Events and Ideas #2 U.S. History Unit 2 Essential Question: Ellis Island Angel Island What challenges faced immigrants to the United States during this time period? What were the three different groups (they are underlined in the PowerPoint) that helped them and what did they do and why? Immigration in the United States • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRhjq qe750A Immigration • Post-1860s, millions of immigrants arrive from Europe and Asia. • More than half of are from eastern and southern Europe. • Italians, Greeks, Poles, Slavs, Slovaks, Russians, and Armenians. Immigrants disembarking at Ellis Island Immigration • Immigration to the U.S. was driven by poverty. Taking the Oath of Citizenship • Governments encouraged their poor to immigrate to the U.S. • Getting to the U.S. was often difficult. Ellis Island Immigration and Migration in the United States • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkNi MOPCD8 Political Machines • Immigrants got help with their most urgent problems from politicians (bosses) • City bosses offered them jobs, housing, or help with becoming full citizens in exchange for their votes. • Many immigrants supported the political machines. William “Boss” Tweed Gangs of New York clip • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Dw nNPHVAU Anti-Political Machines • Middle-class reformers (Progressives)wanted city government to be more efficient and responsive to citizens. • They distrusted immigrants’ power in politics. • Cities began to use a commission of experts to run the cities. By 1917 commissions ran 500 cities. • Other cities elected a city council, which appointed a manager. Americanization • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geMjlJ Xlw9g Americanization • With the population boom of millions immigrants, many native-born Americans feared immigrants to be a threat to the American way of life. • They wanted immigrants to assimilate and adopt the language and customs of American society. Americanization • Immigrant children attend public schools to learn English, American history & government. • Thousands of adult immigrants attended night school. Employers, such as Henry Ford, offered daytime programs to their immigrant workers. • Classes were designed to help immigrants learn American customs Americanization • Children learning English assimilated quickly. • Some immigrants combined American language and customs with those from their native countries. • Others chose to live in neighborhoods with immigrants who shared their language, customs, and religion. Immigration in the West • Chinese begin to arrive in the U.S. in the mid-1800s. • China was suffering from severe unemployment, poverty, and famine. • Many Chinese immigrants worked laying track for railroads Working on the Transatlantic RR • 1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act • From 1910 – 1940, Chinese immigrants went through Angel Island. Many spent years there. Medical examination of immigrants. Chinese Exclusion Act • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWIAv7 yTqLE Japanese Immigrants • Matthew C. Perry opens Japan to American goods • The industrialization of Japan forces many Japanese to immigrate. • Japanese immigration picks up after 1900. Nativism • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKKrh SxJ1g Nativism • Focused on the Irish in the 1840s and 1850s. • 1880s on, anti-immigrant feelings against Asians, Jews, and Eastern Europeans. • Labor unions opposed immigration. Chinatown, San Francisco • Immigrants were often used as strikebreakers. Urbanization • Most immigrants settled into America’s largest cities. • Demand for land in cities made it very expensive. • Mass transit developed in the late 1800s to move large numbers of people. Urbanization • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_LS1 hrWXW0 Urbanization • Cities were often divided by class. – Upper, middle, lower • The wealthy created fashionable districts in the hearts of cities. • The middle class lived in “streetcar suburbs.” New York Street Scene, 1905 • The lower working class filled in the tenement districts. Urbanization • Large cities posed threats such as crime, violence, fire, disease, and pollution. • Alcohol contributed to violent crime. • Improper sewage disposal contaminated city drinking water. Tenement District Stores • Political machines traded votes for jobs, housing, food, heat, and police protection. Looking to Improve Conditions • The Social Gospel Movement and Progressives worked to improve conditions in cities • Supported programs to help the poor • Established settlement houses to help poor residents, mostly immigrants • Supported legislation to improve citizens lives Summary: Answer the Essential Question in five sentences Ellis Island Angel Island What challenges faced immigrants to the United States during this time period? What were the three different groups helped them and what did they do and why?