Immigration

USH&G

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Thomas Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence, 1776

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth…a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Abraham Lincoln, in the Gettysburg Address, 1863

“America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement.” Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835

“We are the pioneers of the world; the advance guard sent through the wilderness of untried things to break a new path in the New World that is ours.” Herman Melville, 1852

• “America is a land of unlimited possibilities.” Ludwig Max Goldberger, 1903

• “What then is the American…here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.” J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur, 1782

• “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty…is entrusted to the hands of the American people.” George Washington, 1789

• “My country tis of thee;Sweet land of liberty;Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died;Land of the Pilgrim’s Pride;From every mountainside, let freedom ring.”– Lyrics from “My Country Tis of Thee” by Samuel

Francis Smith, 1900ish

• What principles, ideals &/or values do these quotes uphold?

• Are these appropriate principles or ideals for the US to follow?

• How well does the US follow these ideals/ principles today? Give examples.

• This unit’s Essential Question: To what degree should we be proud or ashamed of American society and government between 1890 and 1920?

For the following lecture:

• Receive: Notes and Journal on Immigration Between 1865 and 1915– Take notes on the pictures you see and from

the notes on the slides– Ask questions and participate!– Write in the right-hand column journal of your

note-taking sheet when we’re done discussing each slide

Immigration: An OverviewOriginal “Old” “New” Now

-1600-1800-The population of the US was only 5.3 million in 1800-They were mostly English speakers, though other Western Europeans and Africans were common, too

- 1800-1880- 5 million immigrants came between 1815-1860- They were mostly Western European; ¾ were Germans & Irish Catholics

-1880-1921… -1921 until now- 85 million have come to the US between 1960-2000- They are mostly from Asia & North America

“New Immigration” 1880-1921• Over half of all the people

who left their homelands between 1880-1921 came to the US: 23 million of them

• The US had “Open Door” policy which meant that we didn’t have any quotas or limits on who could come

• After 1880 over 70% of those who came were either Southern or Eastern European

Transparency A

• Push Factors– Economic decline in Europe

• Industrial Revolution changes

• Lack of land• Disease• Natural disasters• Rising population

– Political &/or Religious Persecution

• Russian Jews• Other ethnic minorities…

• Pull Factors– Economic opportunity

• Newspapers & letters lured people to come

• Jobs – Religious Freedom

• US tolerance• Leaving the Homeland

• High cost to leave• Hard travels to port

Push and Pull: Leaving the Homeland

Transparency B

• Steerage Class– 8-14 day journey– Crowded, stinky, few toilets, no privacy, poor

food

Journey Across the Atlantic

Transparency C

• Ellis Island was open from 1892- 1920s

• 75% of immigrants came through Ellis Island

• New arrivals were taken by ferry to the main building at Ellis Island. Near the Statute of Liberty – the symbol of refuge and hope. The first immigrant to arrive was a 15-year-old girl from Ireland named Annie Moore to join her parents in New York City.

Arriving in America

Transparency D

• Immigrants entered the main building through its ground floor baggage room. They left their trunks, suitcases and baskets here until they were finished. Immigrants with only a few belongings carried their things as they climbed the stairs to the Great Hall for medical and legal examinations.

Ready for Processing

• The first test the immigrants had to pass became known as the "six second medical exam." As the immigrants climbed the stairs to the Great Hall, doctors stood at the top and watched. They were looking for anyone having difficulty coming up the steps. If a medical problem or disability was suspected, one of seventeen different chalk marks was put on the person's clothing. They were then sent for a full physical examination. If they weren't marked, they went on to wait in the Great Hall.

Going Up the Big Stairs

Medical Inspections

• By 1917, complete medical exams were required for every immigrant. The main purpose of these exams was to find persons with contagious diseases or conditions that would make them unable to work. If their problem was curable, immigrants were sent to the island's hospital. If it was not, the steamship company that brought them would have to pay to send them back. Only about 2% were ever sent back before the 1920s.

Transparency E

• The Great Hall was the large waiting room of Ellis Island. Immigrants waited here for their interviews with legal inspectors after finishing their medical exams. At best, the entire process through Ellis Island took three to five hours. But sometimes problems came up, like family members waiting for a relative to be treated in the hospital ward. Some families stayed for days on Ellis Island, others for weeks, and still others for months.

The Great Hall

• After passing the medical exams, immigrants had to prove they could legally come into America. They had to prove their country of origin and where they expected to live and work once they entered the country. Inspectors rejected any immigrant with a criminal record or those suspected of being indentured servants. By 1921, immigrants had to pass a literacy test and show a passport and visa.

The Legal

Inspection

Transparency F

• In the money exchange area immigrants exchanged the money of their homeland for dollars, and purchased any train tickets they needed. Laws passed in 1909 required each immigrant to have at least 20 dollars before they were allowed to enter America.

Finally Getting In

• Just beyond the money exchange was the exit from Ellis Island. Staff members referred to this spot as the kissing post because of all the emotional reunions that were witnessed there. Two thirds of the new Americans then boarded a ferry to New Jersey, where the next leg of their American journey would begin. The remaining third took the ferryboat to Manhattan to begin their new life in New York City, only one mile away.

The Kissing Post

Life in the Immigrant City• Many newly arrived immigrants were met by friends and family

as soon as they stepped off the boat in New York City. From there they made their new lives in close-knit ethnic neighborhoods that provided them with security, familiarity & a place that they could speak their native language. These neighborhoods were full of life: buying, selling and other activities. However, it wasn’t all good; often times the only places they could afford to live in were crowded and dirty.

Transparencies G & H

• The majority of immigrants worked in factories because many didn’t have any other skills and it was easy to find work, though the pay was bad. Families typically needed about $16 per week to achieve a minimum standard of living, but textile workers typically only made $4 per week—this meant that most all of the family members had to work just to survive.

Working Conditions

Transparency I

• Some Americans were fearful of immigrants coming into the US, based on their language, race (at the time it was viewed the same as ethnicity), politics, social beliefs and religion. Also, many Americans blamed immigrants for taking their jobs and forcing wages down. By 1921 America started setting quotas on how many people could come into the US.

Nativist Fears

Transparency J

• Opened in 1905• “Ellis Island in the West”

• Reading: Chinese Immigration to the United States in the 1800s

Angel Island, CA

Guidelines for Writing a Poem About Chinese Immigration

Your poem must include:• Title• Three, four-line verses that address the

experience of the Chinese on Angel Island & portray how they might have felt about being kept on the island.

• An illustration/picture related to the poem.• Neatly printed in ink or typed.