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Immigration. European and Asian Immigration to America 1870-1920. European Immigration. The Industrial Revolution caused the population of Europe to double between 1800-1900. This caused great competition for land, jobs, and food.
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Immigration European and Asian Immigration to America 1870-1920
European Immigration • The Industrial Revolution caused the population of Europe to double between 1800-1900. • This caused great competition for land, jobs, and food. • Competition led to increased tension between religious groups and social classes. • This caused many Europeans to move to America.
European Immigration, cont. • Between 1870 and 1920, 20 million Europeans arrived in the United States. • Most left Europe because of religious persecution. • The Russian government organized violent attacks on Jews called “pogroms” that caused the populations of entire villages to leave the country. • Mass immigration from Europe to the United States started due to the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s.
The Great Potato Famine • In the 1840’s, the Irish potato crop became diseased. Only 20% of the normal crop could be eaten. • Over 1 million Irish people died of starvation, and another 1 million people moved to America. • The Irish Catholics were harassed and resented by the mostly Protestant populations in American cities due to their religion and their willingness to work cheaply. • Irish-American populations grew, and America become an attractive option for Europeans who were forced to relocate.
Steamship Voyage • By the 1870’s, immigrants from Europe traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to America on steamships. • The trip took one week. • Most immigrants could only afford a “steerage” ticket that forced them to stay in cramped conditions below deck for most of the trip. • Very little fresh air, shared toilets, and dirty conditions in steerage led to death and disease, and some immigrants died before they reached America.
Ellis Island • New immigrants from Europe were inspected at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. • From 1892-1924, 17 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island. • Only 2% were denied entry and were deported.
Requirements • Immigrants at Ellis Island were examined to determine if they should be allowed to enter the country. • A physical exam was given to evaluate health. A person with a serious or contagious illness was sent home. • A government official checked passports and criminal history. • The immigrant had to prove that they had never been convicted of a felony, were able to work, and had at least $25.
Chinese Immigrants • Between 1851-1883, 300,000 immigrants came to the United States from China. • The first immigrants came to California to find gold; later immigrants worked to build the railroads and started businesses.
Angel Island • Chinese immigrants entered the country at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. • Unlike Ellis Island, the process at Angel Island was made difficult on purpose to exclude immigrants. • Chinese immigrants were forced to prove they had a husband or father in America. They were detained (weeks, months, years) and interrogated. • Immigrants had to answer unusual questions that they had trouble answering:- What is your floor made of?- What does your living room look like?- How many windows were on your street? • Men and women were housed separately
American Reactions to Immigration • Some native-born Americans did not approve of America’s willingness to let so many immigrants enter the country. • Americans thought of their country as a “melting pot” where people gave up their native language and customs to blend together with people of other backgrounds in one shared “American” culture. • Many immigrants did not want to give up their cultural identities and become “Americanized”
Nativism • Nativism was a movement by native-born Americans to exclude immigrants. • Nativists wanted to preserve traditional American culture and maintain its Anglo-Saxon (English-German) heritage. • Immigrants from England, Germany, and Scandinavia were welcomed; all others were not. • Many native-born Americans were Protestant, and they viewed Catholics and Jews as a threat to their culture. • Catholics and Jews were discriminated against by schools, businesses, and social clubs who refused to allow them to enter.
Anti-Asian Movement • In 1873, the California economy collapsed and many people lost their jobs. • The Chinese immigrant community in California was targeted for abuse because they were willing to work for low wages and could “steal” jobs from whites. • “The Chinese Must Go!” became a popular slogan throughout the state.
Chinese Exclusion Act • In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which strictly limited Chinese immigration until it was repealed in 1943. • The law was designed to keep Chinese workers out of the United States. • The only Chinese people allowed to enter the country were people who did not intend to stay; students, teachers, tourists, merchants, and government officials.
In Chapter 5 of The Second Promise, Cali Leung overhears a frightening conversation between two white men: “Did you see them Chinks run? Chased ‘em clear out of the work camp into the bush. Cut off a couple of their queues, too, for souvenirs.” The man chuckled. “Wish we could’a chased them all the way into the Pacific Ocean,” said the other man. “Damn heathen Chinamen got no business doin’ white men’s jobs.” Today, most Americans would condemn those men as racists. But to Cali, a Chinese-American girl in 1883, this kind of talk was all too commonplace.
Chinatown – San Francisco • In San Francisco, immigrants and natural-born Americans of Chinese and Japanese decent were forced to live in segregated ghettos and attend segregated schools. • “Chinatown” was the least-desirable real estate in the late 1800’s, but now it’s worth billions of dollars.
The Gentlemen’s Agreement • The Japanese government complained about how Japanese immigrants were being treated. • In 1907, President Roosevelt agreed to force San Francisco to end segregation. • Japan agreed to limit the number of unskilled workers it allowed to immigrate to America. • This was called “The Gentlemen’s Agreement”
East and West • The Exclusion Act and the Gentlemen’s Agreement made it much more difficult for immigrants to move to the western United States. • As a result, the cities and farmlands of the East and Midwest had much larger immigrant populations and struggled with how to adapt to include them. • Eastern and Midwestern cities became very overcrowded and unsafe.
