6.8 Immigration and Migration in the Gilded Age
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain how cultural and economic factors affected migration patterns over time
INTRODUCTION
Chicago has become the country’s 2nd largest growing nation
There was a “confusion of tongues”
- Chicago was a city of immigrants
- 3/4ths of its population were foreign-born
GROWTH OF IMMIGRATION
Connections between the US and world were evident
Immigration
- US population tripled in last half of the century
- arrival of 16.2 million immigrants fueld growth
PUSH AND PULL FACTORS
Combination of pushes and pulls increased migrations around the world
Push factors (negatice factors which people are feeling) from Europe
- poverty from political turnoil and mechanization of farm work
- overcrowding and joblessness in cities from population growth
- religious persecution
Pull factors (factors that attract people to a region) to United States
- political and religous freedom
- economic opportunities (settlement west and industrial jobs)
- years of porsperity attracted more than years of depression
- large steamships and one-way passages made it possible to migrate
“OLD” IMMIGRANTS FROM EUROPE
Vast majority of immigrants came from northern and western europe
“Old” immigrants
- Britian, Germany, Scandinavia
- mainly Protestant
- language, literacy skills, and occulaptional skills allowed them to blend into rural American society
Irish and German Roman Catholics still faced discrimination
- predjudice for their religion
- competed with people for jobs
“NEW” IMMIGRANTS FROM EUROPE
National origins of immigrants began to change
“New” immigrants came from southern and eastern europe
- Italians, Greeks, Croats, Slovaks, Poles, Russians
- many were poor and illiterate who weret used to democratic traditions
- were Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, or Jewish
- crowded into poor ethnic neighborhoods of major cities
- 25% were “birds of passage” (young men who worked and went back)
IMMIGRANTS FROM ASIA
California Gold Rush—→ large migration of Asians to the US
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
- ended immigration of people from China
Japanese, Korean, & Filipinos found work in Hawaii and other states
- immigration from South Asia arrived early 1900s
anti-Asia feelings—→ immigration restrictions
- almost stopped immigration from entire continennt
- US took possession of Phillipines, allowing Filipinos to migrate
IMMIGRATION AND GROWTH OF CITIES
Urbanization and industrialization developed together
Cities provided laborers for factories and new markets to sell goods
- population shift from rural—→ urban (increasingly evident)
- 40% of Americans lived in towns or cities
movement to cities included immigration and internal migration
- migrants in rural America wanted new economic opportunities
- left farms for industrial and commercial jobs (some returned)
- African Americans from the south also migrated
PATTERNS OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Cities underwent significant developments
Grew in size, internal structure, and design
Mass transportation segregated urban workers by income
- upper/middle class moved to streetcar suburbs (communities that gew along transit routes to urban centers, allowed them to escape pollution and poverty)
- higher income residents left older sections to the working poor
- residental areas reflected and led to class, race, & ethinic divisions
ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Poor people took over residents of rich people as they moved near business
Landlords divided housing tenement apartments (slums)
- could cram more than 4,000 people into one city block
- New York City passed law requiring each bedroom to have a window
- Dumbbell tenements (ventilation shafts that acted as “windows” )
- overcrowding and filth—→ deadly diseases (cholera, typhiod, tuberculosis)
Immigrations groups created distinct ethnic neighboords (“ghettos”)
- each group maintained their own language, culture, religion, & society
- supported newspapers and schools
- served as spingboards for the “American Dream”
- growth of immigrants renewed protest for restricted immigration