Immigration, 1877-1924

1. Immigration, 1877-1924 U.S. History II

2. A Century of Immigration: 1820 - 1920 • 5,907,893 Germans • 16.4% of all immigrants • 25-36% between 1830-1890 • 4,578,941 Irish • 12.7% of all immigrants • 35-45% between 1830-1860 • 4,195,880 Italians • 3,000,000 between 1901-1920 • 2,147,859 Scandinavians

3. Why They Left – Push Factors • Lack of jobs • Agriculture no longer viable • Escaping persecution • Dodging the draft Irish Tenants Evicted

4. Why They Came – Pull Factors • Wages 2-3 times higher in U.S. • Friends & relatives already here • Greater economic, social, & political freedom Immigrants on board

5. How They Came – Means • Recruitment • Padrones • Steamships • “Birds of Passage” HMS Majestic, White Star Line, 1889

6. Cabin vs. Steerage Accommodations

7. Ellis Island, New York

8. Stop 1: Arrival • New arrivals were taken by ferry to the main building at Ellis Island. Opened in 1892, the first immigrant to arrive was a 15-year-old girl from Ireland named Annie Moore to join her parents in New York City.

9. Not everyone arriving in New York had to go to Ellis Island. Immigrants in first- and second-class were processed aboard their ships soon after docking on the mainland. Onboard exams were shorter than those on the island, since inspectors were more accepting of anyone who could afford the higher fare.

10. Most of the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island were poor. They crammed by the thousands aboard steamships that took weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Most spent all the money they had just to ride in third class — called steerage. Photo: Library of Congress

11. The single busiest day in Ellis Island history came on April 17, 1907, when 11,747 immigrants were processed for admission into the United States. Some of them had been waiting days just to get on to the island. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

12. After 1907, children under 16 had to be accompanied by their parents or else they would be sent back. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

13. On September 27, 1907, so many English and Irish young women arrived at Ellis Island aboard the steamship Baltic that the New York papers referred to them as the "1,000 Marriageable Girls." Many of them hoped to find work as domestic servants or shopkeepers. Photo: CORBIS

14. Stop 2: Baggage Claim • Immigrants entered the main building through its ground floor baggage room. They left their trunks, suitcases and baskets here until they were finished. Immigrants with only a few belongings carried their things as they climbed the stairs to the Great Hall for medical and legal examinations.

15. Children were a common sight at Ellis Island. During its 62 years in operation, 355 babies were actually born on the island! Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS

16. More Italians entered through Ellis Island than any other group. Between 1892–1954, four million immigrants arrived from Italy. Photo: Library of Congress

17. In addition to Europeans, immigrants of African descent passed through Ellis Island. Coming mainly from the Caribbean and Cape Verde, 100,000 of them entered between 1900 and 1920 alone. Photo: CORBIS

18. Between 1921–1930, over 100,000 families from Czechoslovakia came through Ellis Island, up from just 3,500 a decade before. Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS

19. Stop 3:Stairway to the Great Hall • The first test the immigrants had to pass became known as the "six second medical exam." As the immigrants climbed the stairs to the Great Hall, doctors stood at the top and watched. They were looking for anyone having difficulty coming up the steps. If a medical problem or disability was suspected, one of seventeen different chalk marks was put on the person's clothing. They were then sent for a full physical examination. If they weren't marked, they went on to wait in the Great Hall.

20. Covered Entrance

21. Great Hall

22. Inspection

23. Hearing Room

24. The 15 medical buildings of Ellis Island stood across the ferry slip from the main building, and included hospital wards, operating rooms, an X-ray plant, and even a morgue. Photo: Library of Congress

25. The dreaded "eye man" was the name immigrants gave to the doctor who inspected them for trachoma, a highly contagious disease that caused blindness. Using a hooked tool or his fingers, he would pinch a person's eyelid, turn it over, and look for any signs of the disease. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

26. Any immigrant chalk-marked with an "X" underwent mental exams that tested their intelligence. Often these exams were wooden puzzles of the human face. If a person didn't pass, they would be sent back. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

27. Parents were allowed to carry their small children through Ellis Island. But during the medical exam, all children two years or older were required to show doctors that they could walk on their own. Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS

28. Stop 5: The Great Hall • The Great Hall was the large waiting room of Ellis Island. Immigrants waited here for their interviews with legal inspectors after finishing their medical exams. At best, the entire process through Ellis Island took three to five hours. But sometimes problems came up, like family members waiting for a relative to be treated in the hospital ward. Some families stayed for days on Ellis Island, others for weeks, and still others for months.Photo: Library of Congress

29. The dining hall for detainees could seat up to 1,200. The menu featured beef stew or baked beans, and extra crackers and milk were provided at each meal for women and children. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

30. Many reforms to improve Ellis Island began under President Theodore Roosevelt. One simple improvement came in 1903 — benches were added for immigrants to sit on while waiting in the Great Hall. Photo: Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS

31. After World War I, beds replaced bunks in the over crowded dormitories. But men and women still slept in separate dormitories until individual family bedrooms were added in the late 1920s. Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS

32. Over the years, private charitable societies provided classes for children of detainees on Ellis Island. Volunteers also operated a library and offered cultural events like music performances to familiarize immigrants with their new country. Photo: Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS

33. Stop 6: Legal Inspection • After passing the medical exams, immigrants had to prove they could legally come into America. They had to prove their country of origin and where they expected to live and work once they entered the country. Inspectors rejected any immigrant with a criminal record or those suspected of being indentured servants. By 1921, immigrants had to pass a literacy test and show a passport and visa. Photo: Library of Congress

34. Quote: • “The doctors and everybody else that were supposed to interrogate us were dressed in uniforms. That had terrible effect on me. We were scared of the uniforms. It took us back to the Russian uniforms that we were running away from.” -Katherine Beychok, Russian Jewish Immigrant in 1910

35. Quote: “I remember my grandfather always telling me how he knew he could be rich in America because he saw riches in the architecture of Ellis Island. He felt that if they let the poor in such a gorgeous hall then life in this country was just.” -Rosanne Welch, granddaughter of Guiseppe Italiano (1904)

36. Quote: “I remember my grandfather always telling me how he knew he could be rich in America because he saw riches in the architecture of Ellis Island. He felt that if they let the poor in such a gorgeous hall then life in this country was just.” -Rosanne Welch, granddaughter of Guiseppe Italiano (1904)

37. Quote: “They asked us questions. ‘How much is two and one? How much is two and two?’ But the next young girl, also from our city, went and they asked her, ‘How do you wash stairs, from the top or from the bottom?’ She says, ‘I don’t come to America to wash stairs.’ -Pauline Notkoff, a Polish Jewish immigrant (1917)

42. Stop 7: Money Exchange • In the money exchange area immigrants exchanged the money of their homeland for dollars, and purchased any train tickets they needed. Laws passed in 1909 required each immigrant to have at least 20 dollars before they were allowed to enter America. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

43. Immigrants continuing by train to points beyond New York could buy food for their journey at a concession stand. A box lunch of sandwiches, fruit, and pie sold for 50 cents — that's well over ten dollars by today's standards. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

44. Often immigrants arrived to the United States dressed in the exotic clothing of their homeland. This made them easy targets for anyone looking to take advantage of a recent arrival. To aid their transition, charitable societies offered immigrants free American-style clothing before they left Ellis Island. Photo: CORBIS

45. Women traveling alone were not allowed to leave Ellis Island until immigration officers felt they were in safe hands. In some cases, concerned officers took it upon themselves to escort a woman to a connecting train or proper lodgings in New York City. Photo: National Park Service/US Dept. of Interior

46. Stop 8: The Journey’s End • Just beyond the money exchange was the exit from EllisIsland. Staff members referred to this spot as the kissing post because of all the emotional reunions that were witnessed there. Two thirds of the new Americans then boarded a ferry to New Jersey, where the next leg of their American journey would begin. The remaining third took the ferryboat to Manhattan to begin their new life in New York City, only one mile away. Photo: Library of Congress

47. Where Immigrants Settled

48. Urban Immigrants

49. Ethnic Ghettoes • Never completely homogenous • Dumbbell tenements • Created organizations to preserve culture • Churches • Schools • Benevolent associations • Singing clubs Mulberry St., Manhattan Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000

50. Tenement Sweatshop Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000