Late 1800s US Immigration

The Spirit of Immigration• I looked at that statue with a sense of

bewilderment, half doubting its reality. Looming shadowy through the mist, it brought silence to the decks of the Florida. This symbol of America—this enormous expression of what we had all been taught was the inner meaning of this new country we were coming to—inspired awe in the hopeful immigrants. Many older persons among us, burdened with a thousand memories of what they were leaving behind, had been openly weeping ever since we entered the narrower waters on our final approach toward the unknown. Now somehow steadied, I suppose, by the concreteness of the symbol of America's freedom, they dried their tears.

• —Edward Corsi, In the Shadow of Liberty, 1935

Statue of Liberty, seen by immigrants

Why Immigrants Came• Push Factors

– Push factors were problems in home countries that caused people to leave to come to US

– Shortage of farm land in Europe– Crowded cities in Europe– Irish potato famine in 1840s– Pogroms: attacks on Jewish

communities

• Pull Factors– Pull factors were features or events in

the US that attracted people to come to the US

– Available farmland (Homestead act, etc.)

– Industrial jobs in cities– Gold rushes– Building railroads– Letters from family members already in

US

Ellis Island• New York’s immigration

processing location• 1st and 2nd Class Passengers did

not have to go to Ellis Island• “Steerage” passengers went to

Ellis Island– “Steerage” was the cheapest

form of travel, with no rooms or shelter on boat

– Only healthy immigrants were allowed to enter the US

– Medical Examinations– Eye Examinations– Sick passengers went to

hospital on island– Illegal to have signed work

contracts before coming to US– Only 2% were deported

How Immigrants Assimilated• Assimilation: joining into the new group

or country (like into US society)• Most were poor and had no

possessions– Help from friends and families already

in US– “Settlement Houses” helped immigrants

with day care, classes, clinics– Political “bosses” sometimes gave jobs

in factories in exchange for votes

• Education became main tool for assimilating– Skills– Language– Culture

• Although all non-Indian Americans are descended from immigrants, “Nativists” opposed immigration– Feared competition for jobs– Prejudiced against immigrants,

Catholics and Jews

Asian Immigration• Most Asians immigrated into

California• Railroad and Gold Rush were

large pull factors• Many took agricultural jobs at

low wages• 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act

– Nativism and prejudice led to Act– Stopped all new Chinese

immigration– Non-citizen Chinese in America

could not become citizens– San Francisco’s Angel Island

became a strict version of Ellis Island for the few Chinese who tried to immigrate

• Californian farmers hired Mexican, Japanese and Korean immigrants instead

Early Mexican Immigration• Mexicans had lived in the

Southwest US since before the Mexican-American War

• In late 1800s, Mexicans came to Texas, Southwest, and California as agricultural workers

• Mexican Revolution of 1910 pushed more to US

• Racism affected Mexicans just as it affected Chinese, Irish, Italians, and others

• Many families crossed border several times over generations

Three Waves US Immigration