Ch. 20, Section 1 “A New Wave of Immigration”

1. Ch. 20, Section 1 “A New Wave of Immigration”

2. Old Immigrants • Old immigrants – name that was used in the late 1800s for immigrants who arrived in the mid-1800s • They were from Northern Europe (Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia) • They were mostly Protestant • Many were skilled laborers and many were able to buy their own farms

3. New Immigrants • New immigrants – they were part of a new wave of immigrants in the 1880s that were mostly from southern and eastern Europe • There were fewer skilled laborers and they were generally poorer than those who arrived earlier • They brought new cultures and religions to the U.S. • Most found work in cities in the new industries of the time period

4. Arriving in a New Land • Immigrants faced a difficult journey to America • Tickets were cheap, but they were crowded on ships and sickness and disease was common

5. Ellis Island • Ellis Islandwas an immigrant processing center in New York Harbor • It opened in 1892 and processed millions of immigrants from Europe over the next 40 years • These processing centers interviewed and examined immigrants and turned away those with diseases or with legal problems (#3)

6. Other Immigration Centers • Angel Island – a West Coast immigrant processing center in San Francisco Bay • It opened in 1910 and processed mostly Chinese immigrants • These immigrants were detained longer than those at Ellis Island and more were sent back to where they were from • Mexican immigrants came in large numbers in the late 1800s and came through El Paso, Texas (#5) • Mexican immigrants found work in construction, in mills, in mines, and on large farms

7. Adjusting to a New Life • Immigrants after arrival had to find homes and work and had to adjust to a new language and a new culture (#1) • Chain migration – when immigrants moved into new neighborhoods with others from their old country so they could keep their language and culture after they arrived (Immigrant Neighborhoods #1)

8. Immigrant Neighborhoods • New immigrants published newspapers in their own neighborhoods and founded schools, clubs, and churches to help preserve their customs (#2) • Immigrants opened local shops and small banks that often gave credit to new arrivals to help them as they started out (#3) • Benevolent societies – aid organizations that offered immigrants help in cases of sickness, unemployment, or death (which wasn’t provided by govt. at the time)

9. Tenements • tenements– poorly built over-crowded apartment buildings in cities which many immigrants lived in during the late 1800s • Immigrants worked hard to adjust to their new country and their children learned more quickly as they attended public schools (#6) • assimilation – process of immigrants adjusting to their new country and adopting the new country’s culture

10. Finding Work • Most immigrants had been farmers, but in the US most couldn’t afford land so they got jobs in cities in manufacturing (#1) • Few of the new immigrants had skills in industrial work and took low-paying, unskilled jobs with long hours (#2) • Sweatshops – small shops or mills located in immigrant neighborhoods know for long hours for workers and hot, unhealthy working conditions in the late 1800s • Some immigrants with skills and those with a little money to start small businesses became more successful than other immigrants (#4)

11. Opposition to Immigration • Some Americans welcomed new immigrants, particularly business people whose businesses profited from using lower paid immigrant workers (#1A) • Anti-immigrant feelings rose in the late 1800s as people believed immigrants would take jobs away from native-born Americans (#1B) • Nativists – Americans who held prejudices against other races and ethnic groups, who feared that too many immigrants were coming to the US and would destroy American culture

12. Opposition to Immigration(continued) • Chinese Exclusion Act – 1882 law that banned Chinese people from immigrating to the US for 10 years (which was renewed for decades afterwards) • Despite opposition, immigrants came in large numbers and helped power the industrial growth of the late 1800s and early 1900s