Boom or Bust

Mapping an Immigrant’s Story

The American Dream

Maps, music, artifacts tell the immigrant stories of push

pull factors in the early 1900’s

Resources1.http://www.pbs.org/fmc/timeline/eimmigration.htm2.http://www.footnote.com/page/92600263_a_history_of_american_immigration3.http://library.thinkquest.org/

20619/Eivirt.html Ellis Island4.http://www.loc.gov/pictures/

item/2001701379/ 5.http://www.maggieblanck.com/Immigration.html 6. Icivics.org (Immigration

Nation Game)

Dreams of a Better Life

The Face of America Changes

• From 1890 to 1920, the population of American cities doubled and doubled again.

• From 1880 to 1930, 27 million people migrated to the United States. It was the largest migration in human history, before or since. Immigrants came primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe.

East Coast West CoastEllis Island Angel Island

They sought economic opportunities and political liberty. But the immigrants were “not Protestant, not educated, not skilled and not liked.” 

• 1880-1930

• 20.8% Italy• 18.1% Austria-Hungary• 14.9% Russian• 12.7% Germany

• 1910-1940

• 175,000 Chinese came to US through Angel Is.

Passage Across the Atlantic• Steamships=Floating Villages• 2,000 in steerage • Dozens of nationalities• “the atmosphere was so thick and

dense with smoke & bodily odors that your head itched & when you when to scratch your head…you got lice in your hands.”

Mapping the Trip

• Why they came to America?

• What transportation modes did they use to get to California?

• What challenges did they have?

Landing at Ellis Island

• Push factors economic difficulties and political persecution

• Pull factors economic opportunities and freedom from persecution

Immigrant Inspection

• New York medical officer checks a woman’s eyes for trachoma, a disease that would cause immediate deportation. 1907 legislation barred people with TB, epilepsy & physical disabilities.

Map of Ellis Island

• Immigrants disembarked at the Hudson River Piers & then were ferried on barges to Ellis Island where they were given numbered tags.

A welcoming site…

• “I go to the United States to seek to earn a living.

• Goodbye, my beloved land; I bear you in my heart.”