Newspaper Editorial Excerpt

1. Newspaper Editorial Excerpt • “These immigrants are an invasion of venomous reptiles…long-haired, wild-eyed, bad-smelling, atheistic, reckless foreign wretches, who never did a day’s work in their lives”

2. The Rising Tide of Immigration “In America, the streets are paved with gold”

3. Periods of Immigration: • Colonial Immigration (1600s-1700s) • 1st Wave(1880s-1920) • 2nd Wave (1965-present)

4. “Push” Factors: Econ decline Europe Ag. Econ. V. Industr. Lack of landownership Rising pop. (underfed, disease) Natural disasters Political & ReligiousPersecution Jews in Russia (restricted jobs, land, attending school) 3/4 Russian Jews came to America 1/3 of European Jews came to America Greeks, Turks, Poles also left “Pull” Factors: Family descriptions Businesses sought cheap labor Land, opportunity Why Leave? (1800s)

5. Going to America

6. 2.2A Embarking • 1865-1915 flood of immigrants • 1865-1900 13.5 million • Why go to America? • Wars • Famine • Religious persecution • overpopulation

7. 2.2B Steerage • Cheap, least comfortable • Cost a life savings • Who came? • Poor farmers • Schoolmasters • Artisans • Young people

8. Travel Conditions • 8-14 days • No windows, 6-8’ high ceilings • 1 toilet for 47 to 1,000 passengers • Straw mattresses • Smallpox, typhoid spread rapidly

10. 2.2C Ellis Island • Main processing point • 1890 made into imm. Station • By 1910, 6 million came through there • 1954 closed • Made a monument in 1960s

11. 2.2D Immigration Inspection • Quarantine inspector boarded to check for life-threatening diseases • Higher class - briefly questioned on board and then were free to disembark

12. Steerage Class • Rigorous inspection • Tag or pin • Groups of 30 ckecked in belongings • Upstairs to Great Hall • Received inspection card • Medical examination • 45 minutes • Eye exam, physical probs

13. Processing

14. Chalk marks on immigrants for ailments

15. Waiting Hall • Held 5,000 people • Tagged, waited for processing • Tagged for language • Chalk marks with medical probs. • 2-3 hours wait • 2-3 minute interview

16. Legal Inspection • Noted tag # • Asked 32 questions with help of interpreter • Marital status • Purpose for coming • Ever in prison • More than $30 • 2% sent back

17. Americanization Movement • A program of education about immigrants new country • Schools and voluntary associations provided education in subjects, history, etiquette, English etc… • Designed to assist in assimilating into American culture

18. City Dwelling • Majority settled in big cities • 1900: • 2/3 of foreign-born lived in cities • 4/5 residents of NYC were either immigrants or children of immigrants

20. 2.2G Italian Neighborhood • “culture shock” • Settled in ethnic neighborhoods (enclaves) • Familiar language, customs, food, religion • Support network • Slowed assimilation

21. 2.2H “5-cents-a-spot” lodging • Jacob Riis • “In a room not 13’ either way slept 12 men and women, 2 or 3 in bunks set in sort of alcove, the rest on the floor. A kerosene lamp burned dimly in the fearful atmosphere”

22. 2.2H Living Conditions • Lodging crowded, sometimes life-threatening • New York • 1,231 people living in just 120 rooms in one part of city! • Not one single bathtub in 3 square blocks! • Chicago • 60% newborns did not reach 1st birthdays

23. 2.2H Living conditions • Lack of decent lighting and fresh air • Babies asphyxiated in air of own homes • Sleepers rolled off of roofs, sills • 40% NY immigrants stricken with TB • Fires, disease, death

24. Rural Living Conditions • Italians CA - vineyards, fruit farms • Armenians farmed Fresno, CA • Greeks sponge fishing in west Florida • Polish farmed corn, wheat in Midwest • European farm laborers $33/year compared to $200/year for avg. American, but “still better than the old country!”

25. 2.2I Immigrant Child in Textile Factory • Stockyards, coal mines, steel mills • Unskilled workers • 80% unskilled labor • 10¢/hour ($5.50/week) • Children barely 1/2 of that • 1910 avg. workweek 55 hours • 12, 14, 16-hour days not uncommon • Needed $16/week , textile workers made $4/week • Garment workers 108 hours/week for $1.25/week

26. 2.2I Working Conditions • Dangerous work • 1880-1900 over 35k killed (1 every 2 days!) • “Black lung”, “white lung” • Compensation rarely provided

27. Work

28. 2.2J Chinese Immigrants • 1865-1882 320,000 Chinese arrived • 1850s…3,000/year • 1872…23,000! • By 1877 17% of CA pop. was Chinese! • Settled on west coast • Lured by “mountain of gold” in California

29. Angel Island San Francisco

30. Chinese Journey • More than 1 month • Chinese separated from others upon arrival • Men separated from women • Sent to dorms, left after 3 weeks

31. Medical examinations • Some afflicted with parasitic diseases • “Medically unfit” were deported • After exams, sent back to dorms to await hearings on applications

32. 2.2J Chinese Immigrants • Took menial jobs • Stuck to themselves • Lived in segregated neighborhoods • “if possible, avoid contact” - thought American backwards compared to Chinese • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

33. After 1882, only merchant Chinese or relative of American citizen exempt from Exclusion Act • Waited 3 weeks for interrogation • Interrogations took more than an hour, asked about home villages, determined truthfulness

34. New Americans

35. Nativism • Competition for jobs • Accepted lower wages& poorer working conditions • Used as strike breakers • Increasing resentment

36. Legislation to limit Immigration • Chinese Exclusion Act - 1882 banned all entry into the U.S. to all chinese immigrants for 10 years. 1892 - Congress extended the law for another 10 years • 1902 - Chinese immigration was prohibited indefinitely, the law was not repealed until 1943 • Gentleman’s Agreement 1907-1908 Japans government agreed to limit immigration to the United States