Urbanization & Immigration

A Nation of Immigrants

  • In the last half of the 19th century, the U.S. population more than tripled. From 23.2 million in 1850 to 76.2 million in 1900.
  • 16.2 million of those were immigrants.
  • 8.8 million more will arrive from 1900-1910

Reasons for Immigration to U.S.

  • **Push Factors (**negative)   * Poverty of displaced farm workers   * Overcrowding and joblessness   * Religious persecution, especially Jews in eastern Europe
  • Pull Factors (positive)   * American reputation for political and religious freedom   * Economic opportunities   * Abundance of industrial jobs in American cities

Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants

OLD

  • British, German, Irish, and Scandinavian
  • Protestant
  • Mostly English speaking

\ NEW

  • Southern and Eastern Europe: Italians, Greeks, Croats, Slovaks, Poles, and Russians
  • Poor and illiterate
  • Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, and Jewish
  • Many languages
  • Crowded into poor ethnic neighborhoods in New York, Chicago, and other large cities

Arrival

  • Physical exams
  • Quarantine
  • Name changes
  • Culture shock

Restricting Immigration

  • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882- placed a ban on all immigrants from China
  • 1882 restriction on “undesirable” immigrants (criminals & mentally ill).
  • Contract Labor Law- restricted temporary workers to protect American workers
  • Literacy test passed in 1917
  • By 1892, immigrants had to pass more rigorous medical examinations and pay a tax

Supporters of Immigration Restrictions

  • Labor Unions- feared immigrants would depress wages and break strikes
  • Nativist societies as as American Protective Association prejudice against Roman Catholics
  • Social Darwinists- saw new immigrants as biologically inferior

Urbanization

  • Urbanization and industrialization developed simultaneously.
  • Cities provided both laborers and a market for factory made goods.
  • By 1900 almost 40% of Americans lived in towns or cities.
  • By 1920 most Americans lived in Urban areas than in rural areas.

Urban Residents

  • Both immigrants and internal migrants from rural areas moved to cities.
  • Migrants left farms in search of factory jobs.
  • African-Americans joined the movement from farms to cities. Between 1897-1930, nearly 1 million southern Blacks settled northern and western cities.

Changes in Nature of Cities

  • Streetcars for transportation
  • Skyscrapers
  • Ethnic neighborhoods

Chinatown

  • San Francisco
  • Los Angeles
  • New York City

Tenements

  • One or more families living in a small apartment
  • Poor sanitation & ventilation

Sweatshops

  • Urban factories with poor wages & working conditions

Birth of the Suburbs

Wealthy moved outside of the cities for various reasons:

  1. Abundant land at low cost
  2. Inexpensive transportation by rail
  3. Low-cost construction homes
  4. Ethnic and racial prejudice
  5. Privacy

City Needs

  • By the end of the 1900s, the need for water purification, sewage systems, waste disposal, street lighting, police departments, and zoning laws were implemented.

Boss and Machine Politics

  • Cities came under control of tightly organized groups of politicians known as political machines.
  • Bosses gave order to give government jobs to loyal supporters.
  • Tammany Hall in NYC coordinated to meet the needs of businesses, immigrants and the underprivileged. In return the machines ask for people’s votes on election day.

Reform

  • Books on social criticisms: Progress and Poverty and Looking Backward both promoted greater government regulation.
  • Settlement Houses: provided social services for underprivileged. Taught English to immigrants, early childhood education, industrial arts, established neighborhoods theaters, and music schools/   * Ex: Hull House in Chicago

Jacob Riis

  • How the Other Half lives (1890)
  • Described the working and living conditions of immigrants
  • First “muckraker”

Jane Addams

  • Settlement Houses   * Educated, trained Americans   * Living in poor immigrant communities   * Art, education, economic development
  • Hull House, Chicago

Social Gospel

  • Protestant Clergy preached the importance of applying Christian principles to help with social problems such as poverty.

Intellectual and Cultural Movements

Changes in Education

  • Public Schools: New compulsory education laws
  • Higher education
  • Social sciences
  • Professions: doctors, educators, social workers, and lawyers

Literature and Arts

  • Realism and Naturalism
  • Painting
  • Architecture
  • Music
  • Popular Press
  • Amusements
  • Spectator Sports
  • Amateur Sports

Main Ideas

Immigration

  • Push & Pull factors
  • Ellis & Angel Island
  • Ethnic neighborhoods
  • “Melting Pot” vs. “Salad Bowl”
  • Backlash against immigration

Urbanization

  • Population explosion
  • Growth in city size
  • New opportunities for both men & women
  • Tenement slums
  • Mass transit
  • Skyscrapers

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