Wednesday 12/12/12

Goal: discuss why immigrants came to the United States.

Warm up Think about the longest and most difficult

trip you have ever taken. Write a journal entry that answers the following questions: Where were you going? Why was it

important to get there? Why was the journey so difficult? Was it worth the effort?

Homework: Write a one paragraph essay on why or why not your family should immigrate to the United States in the early 1900s. Information will be in today’s video. (Imagine your family is living in Europe or Asia at the time.)DUE ON THURSDAY!

Immigration

1865-1915More than 13.5 Million Immigrants

came to the United States

Today’s activity Read who you are on your index card. Find family members. Have a family meeting and decide what

factors would cause you to immigrate to the United States. (pages 600-601)

Fill out Manifest form. Be sure to list each family member. Use your imaginations on the form.

Push factors Pull factors

Coming to America

*In the five decades after the Civil War, roughly 1865-1915, a flood of immigrants came to America. From 1865 to 1900, some 13.5 million immigrants arrived in America.

Why did they come? * Wars, famine,

religious persecution, and overpopulation were the four major reasons why people left Europe and came to the United States.

How did they get here?

* Passage to the United States often cost a life’s savings. Because of this cost, entire families would often save enough money to send just one or two family members to America, hoping that eventually these members could afford to bring over the rest of the family.

On the Boat

*The crowded steerage deck usually contained a diverse group of people. Many were poor farmers whose fathers’ or grandfathers’ land had been divided so often that the plots were no longer large enough to support even single families.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4wzVuXPznk

The Promise of a Better Life

Others were schoolmasters unable to find work or artisans looking for greater opportunities. Many were young men and women willing to risk traveling to an unknown land in hopes of finding a brighter future.

Travel Dangers

As for conditions below decks, an agent for the United States Immigration Commission described them as follows: “During the twelve days in the steerage I lived in…surroundings that offended every sense. Only a fresh breeze from the sea overcame the sickening odors. Everything was dirty, sticky, and disagreeable to the touch.” In such conditions, disease and even death were not uncommon.

Ellis Island *In 1890, Congress

designated low-laying, three- acre Ellis Island in Upper New York Bay as an immigration station. By the end of 1910, six million immigrants had come through Ellis Island.

Inspection

*The immigration inspection process was a humiliating and dehumanizing experience for many. Newly arrived immigrants were given medical inspections and asked 32 background questions. Immigrants with contagious diseases were shipped back.

With the huge numbers of immigrants, inspectors had just 2 minutes to complete the process and many immigrants had their last names changed by the inspectors because they didn’t have the time or patience to struggle with the foreign spellings.

Waiting *Long lines of

immigrants were tagged according to what language they spoke and marked with chalk according to the medical ailments they suspected of having and they waited for the inspectors to decide their fate.

What was it like here for them?

Some native-born Americans feared and resented the new immigrants. Their languages, religions, and customs seemed strange. They also competed for jobs. Desperate for jobs, immigrants often accepted lower wages and worse working conditions.

Where did they live?

*The majority of immigrants settled in the big cities where factory jobs were available. By 1900, 4 out of every 5 people in New York City were immigrants or children of immigrants.

* Many immigrants lived in areas with people of similar ethnic background. Such neighborhoods provided support but separated the immigrants from the rest of Americans thus slowing their assimilation into US culture.

Thursday 12/1/11

Warm up City Life!! Free write for three minutes

on positive and negative images or feelings of what it would be like to live in a large city.

GOAL: to describe where immigrants lived when they came to the United States.

Activity Text book read pages 606-610 Groups of four

City officials Tenement dwellers Middle-class/wealthy city dwellers Reformers Each group should find and present at least two

problems that the group can discuss. Write out your problems and solutions to the

problems and present to the class.

Activity follow up

Which of the problems that the groups presented do cities still face?

What new problems do cities face? What are possible solutions to the

new problems?

In the Tenements *Many immigrants

lived in crowded tenement buildings. Families shared living space and decent lighting & fresh air were scarce.

*

Living Conditions

Conditions were uncomfortable, crowed, and dirty.

In New York, 1,231 people lived in only 120 rooms in one part of the city.

In Chicago in one year, over 60% of newborns never reached their first birthdays. Many babies asphyxiated in their own homes.

“Five Cents a Spot” Rooms

Many immigrants had no home and slept in 5 cents a spot rooms where people paid for a small space to spend the night.

Can you imagine sleeping crowded against strangers?

Jacob Riis An immigrant

himself, Jacob Riis was well known for his photographs documenting the lives of immigrants & the urban poor in his book How the Other Half Lives.