2.04 US History - Coming to America

Califoria Gold Rush

rush of immigrants following the discovery of gold in 1848

• immigration was big in 1830s and 40s

push pull factors

conditions that either drive someone away from their home country to pull them towards a new area

great famine

famine in Ireland in 1845-52 that pulled pushed millions to emigrate, some places being the United States

• unskilled, poor, had the bad jobs I the US

nativists

believed new catholic immigrants from Ireland were taking jobs away from Americans and were dangerous criminals

• us welcomed immigrants at first, but started not to because of nativism

tenements

small crowded apartments with no plumbing that poor Italian immigrants often lived in that led to diseases such as cholera

antisemitism

antisemitism in germany and especially rushed pushed Jews to emigrate to new countries

pogroms

happened against Jewish people in Russia that pushed them to emigrate, most of them immigrates to the western US

piecework and sweatshops

piecework - garment work paid based on the amount produced

jewish people after the emigrated often worked in these factories and lived in tenements with other jewish people, just like Italian immigrants

Chinatowns

Chinese communities created where Chinese immigrants due to the gold rush often faced discrimination and had to do hard work such as mining

• built their own factories and businesses

• upheld Chinese traditions

migrant laborer

a worker who moves from place to place seeking work

• Japanese immigrants became these after moving away from hard work in Hawaii, Japanese immigrants faced discrimination and also opened their own restaurants like Chinese immigrants

steerage

below deck area on a ship where steering equipment is located

• most immigrants traveled here because of inexpensive tickets

Ellis Island

the main immigrant center in the United States for European immigrants

angel island

Asian immigration center

• much stricter than ellis island due to Chinese exclusion act and false papers

naturalization act of 1870

expanded citizenship process to former ensalved people and other Black Americans who were not granted citizenship by the 14th amendment

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

denied citizenship to people born in china and banned immigration from China for 10 years

Alien Contract Labor Law (1885)

prohibited migration of people under a labor contract

• made exceptions for domestic servants and skilled workers

"Gentlemen's Agreement" (1907)

a contract between Japan and US where only people whose families were already in the US could emigrate from Japan

Alien Land Law (1913)

originally passed in California then other states, targeted Japanese immigrants, prohibited anyone ineligible for citizenship from owning land

Immigration Act of 1917

increased tax on new immigrants, banned immigrants from a certain area,

Immigration Act of 1924

aka, johnson reed act

• limited number of migrants from each country