“new immigration” lecture 1880-1921

“New Immigration” Lecture1880-1921

Turn of the Century Immigration to the U.S.1880

•49% from NW Europe•27% from Eastern and Southern Europe•24% from the Rest of the World

1880

Northwestern Europe

Southern and EasternEurope

Rest of the World

1910•16% from NW Europe•73% from Eastern and Southern Europe•11% from Rest of the World

1910

Northwestern Europe

Southern and EasternEurope

Rest of the World

Characteristics of the “New Immigrant”

• From Southern and Eastern Europe• Many young males• Many Catholics and Jews• Mostly unskilled agricultural laborers• Little money or education

• “I once thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that immigrants WERE American history.”

--Oscar Handlin (Journal 1)

Push and Pull Factors

Push Factors (Get OUT!)• Economic decline in Europe1. Effect of Industrial Revolution2. Rising populations, decreasing death rate3. More people + fewer resources = TROUBLE!!• Political and Religious Persecution

in Eastern Europe1. Legal restrictions on Jews 2. Pogroms=violent mob attacks3. Other ethnic minorities

Pull Factors• The Lure of Life in America (Work,

land, and LIES!!)– “That was the time, you see, when America was

known to foreigners as the land where you’d get rich. There’s gold on the sidewalk– all you have to do is pick it up!”-Lithuanian immigrant

Leaving the Homeland

Journal 2

Journey Across the Atlantic

Steerage on the SS Pennland 1893

Steerage Conditions

•Crowded, unsanitary, little food, enclosed! –Journal 3

Arrival in America—AT LAST!!75% go thru Ellis Island (1892-1920)aka “Island of Tears”

--”Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore…I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” –Statue of Liberty inscription

Unloading and Baggage

Time For Inspections

Medical Inspections

Legal Inspections– Registry Hall

The Final Inspection

Journal Entry 4

Leaving Ellis Island

• Make travel arrangements• Exchange money• Collect baggage• 2/3 going elsewhere; 1/3 stay in NY• Welcome to America…Now what???

Ethnic Enclaves

• 2/3 settle in urban centers (community, familiarity)

• Newspapers, customs, food, churches, clothing

“Here no one goes to bed on an empty stomach because one Pole will save another, if he can.” –Polish immigrant

Living Conditions

5 cents a spot

Tenement Living

60% die before 1st birthday120 rooms for 1231 people

Journal Entry 5

Working Conditions

Immigrants Seek Industrial Jobs

1. High supply/high demand

2. Prefer to agricultural work

3. 80% unskilled workforce

Struggling Families

Child Labor

Journal Entry 6

Americans’ Treatment of Immigrants/Nativism

Motivation For Nativism• Fear, hostility, and suspicion• Prejudices based on race,

ethnicity, religion• Old Immigrants vs. New

Immigrants“The immigrants are an invasion of venomous reptiles…long-haired, wild-eyed bad-smelling, atheistic, reckless foreign wretches, who never did a day’s work in their lives.” –from a newspaper editorial

• Some similarities to today (i.e. jobs)

The ‘Golden Door’ Slams Shut

• Literacy tests to prevent ‘inferior races’

• Call for laws restricting immigration– 1921 Dillingham Bill sets quotas

Journal Entry 7