The New Immigrants

Key Demographic Shifts and Waves of Immigration

• Overview of Growth:

  • Between $1870$ and $1900$, the number of foreign-born people in America doubled.

  • Immigrants and native-born Americans shared and mixed their cultures together.

• "Old" Immigrants:

  • Came before the $1870$s, mostly Protestants from northern and western Europe.

  • Came as families to farm near friends.

  • Often had saved money, job skills, or school education.

• Catholic Migration:

  • Many Irish and German Catholics arrived in the $1840$s and $1850$s.

  • Irish spoke English, and Germans had good reputations.

  • Their children fit into American life easily.

• "New" Immigrants:

  • Came from the $1870$s until World War I from southern and eastern Europe.

  • Mostly Catholic or Jewish, settled in big cities, and often came alone.

  • By $1900$, made up over $70\%$ of all new arrivals.

Push and Pull Factors Driving Immigration

• Push Factors (reasons to leave home):

  • Hard times on farms, losing land, and low crop prices in Mexico, Poland, and China.

  • Wars and fights in China and Eastern Europe.

  • Mean treatment and unfair rules targeting Jewish people in Russia.

• Pull Factors (reasons to come to America):

  • Cheap land from the $1862$ Homestead Act and cheap train tickets.

  • Lots of jobs in factories, mines, and building train tracks.

• Chain Immigration:

  • Moving to join family or friends who came first.

  • Relatives sent money, travel tickets, and help finding jobs.

The Immigrant Journey and Entry Processing

• Ocean Trip:

  • Fast steamships by the $1870$s, but poorer passengers rode in steerage.

  • Lower decks were dirty, crowded, and full of sickness.

• Ellis Island:

  • Opened in $1892$ in New York for European immigrants.

  • Quick medical and legal checks; only $2\%$ were sent back.

• Angel Island:

  • Opened in $1910$ in San Francisco for Asian immigrants.

  • Very strict and unfair; held people in bad conditions for weeks or months.

  • Detainees carved sad poems into the wooden walls.

Urban Integration, Americanization, and Social Issues

• City Neighborhoods:

  • Immigrants lived together in city neighborhoods with people from their home country.

• Americanization:

  • Helper centers called settlement houses taught English and American habits.

  • America was called a "melting pot", but Asian people were left out.

• Keeping Traditions:

  • Parents kept old customs, while kids learned American ways fast.

  • Built their own churches and schools.

Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, Nativism, and Legislation

• Nativism:

  • Some native-born Americans disliked immigrants and feared losing jobs to them.

• Religious Hate:

  • Unfair prejudice against Catholics and Jewish people was common.

• New Restriction Laws:

  • Chinese Exclusion Act ($1882$): Banned Chinese workers from coming to the U.S.

  • General Restriction Act ($1882$): Stopped poor, sick, or disabled people from entering.

Immigrant Contributions to American Society

• Work Force:

  • Built the train tracks across the country and worked in coal mines and factories.

• Culture:

  • Brought yummy foods like bagels, spaghetti, and hot dogs (wieners).

  • Famous people: Andrew Carnegie (steel), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), James Naismith (basketball), Nikola Tesla (electricity), and Leo Baekeland (plastics).

• Union Leaders:

  • Leaders like Mother Jones and Samuel Gompers created worker groups called unions to help people get safer jobs and better pay.