Immigration and Urbanization

1. Immigration and Urbanization

2. The New Immigrants • Massive amounts of immigration • Late 19th and early 20th century • Escape difficult conditions • Famine • Land shortages • Religious reasons • Political persecution

3. “Birds of Passage” • Immigrate temporarily to earn money and then return to homeland • Going through the “Golden Door”

4. Europeans • 1870 and 1920 = 20 million Europeans • Before 1890 = Western and Northern European countries • Late 1890s = Southern and Eastern European countries

5. European • Jews were driven out of Russia by pogroms • Organized attacks often encouraged by local authorities against Jews • Left because of rising population • Scarcity of farming land • Spirit of reform and revolt

6. Chinese and Japanese • Europeans on the east coast while Asians on the west coast • Asian immigration was smaller than European • Wave of immigrants peaked in 1907

7. Chinese • Seek fortunes (gold mining) • Helped build railroads • Railroads finished = farming, mining, domestic service • Started businesses

8. Japanese • Government allowed Hawaiian planters to recruit Japanese workers • Annexation of HI = increased Japanese immigration to the west

9. The West Indies and Mexico • Came to eastern and southeastern United States • Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico • Left because • Jobs were scarce • Industrial boom in the US had promise

10. Mexicans = jobs and flee political turmoil • National Reclamation Act 1902 • Encourage irrigation of arid land • Created new farmland in western states • Drew Mexican farm workers north

11. Life in the New Land • Difficult journey • 1870s = almost all immigrants traveled by ship • Trip from Europe = 1 week • Trip from Asia = nearly 3 weeks

12. Traveled in steerage • Cheapest accommodations • Cargo hold • Rarely allowed on deck • Crowded together in poor conditions • Disease

13. Ellis Island • In NY harbor • 20% of immigrants who passed through were held for a day or more before inspection • Only about 2% were denied entry • Inspection took 5 hours or more

14. Ellis Island • Inspection • Pass physical from the physician • Tuberculosis • Sent home if you were found ill • Passed medical onto government inspector • Checked documents • Questioned whether they met legal requirements • Prove they have never been convicted of a felony • Demonstration of ability to work • Showing they had some money

15. Angel Island • West coast in San Francisco Bay • Process stood in contrast to the procedure at Ellis Island • Endured harsh questioning • Long detention in filthy buildings

16. Immigrants had to cooperate for survival • Challenges • Place to live • Job • Getting along in daily life • Language • Sought out people who shared with cultural values, religion, language • Creation of neighborhoods in cities • Social clubs, newspapers

17. Hyphenated Americans • Tried to fit in but it just did not work out • Native born often disliked the immigrants unfamiliar customs and languages • Threat to the American way of life

18. Immigration Restrictions • Melting pot = mixture of people of different cultures and races who blend together by abandoning their native customs • Immigration increase = anti-immigration feelings increased

20. Ireland • Other America • Great Britain • Mexico • Scandinavia and other NW Europe • Africa • Australia and Pacific Islands • Germany • Southern Europe • Asia • Central and Eastern Europe

21. Ireland = 2 • Other America = 11 • Great Britain = 1 • Mexico =10 • Scandinavia and other NW Europe = 3 • Africa = 8 • Australia and Pacific Islands = 9 • Germany = 4 • Southern Europe = 6 • Asia = 7 • Central and Eastern Europe = 5

22. Rise of Nativism • Favoritism toward native-born Americans • Gave rise to anti-immigration groups • Led to demand for immigration restriction • Anglo Saxons = Germanic ancestors of the English • Superior to other ethnic groups

23. Did not object to immigrants from the “right” countries • Immigration Restriction League 1894 • Desirable immigrants = British, German, Scandinavian • Wrong immigrants = Slavs, Latin Americans, Asians

24. Objected more to religion than ethnic background • Jewish immigration would undermine the democratic institution • American Protective Association 1887 • Catholics start to plot • Colleges, businesses, social clubs = No Jews!

25. 1897 Congress passed a bill • Required a literacy test for immigrants • Couldn’t read 40 words in English or native language = refused entry • Eventually it was vetoed however there was a literacy requirement later on

26. Anti-Asian Sentiments • Western Americans were worried that their jobs would go to the Chinese • Ultimately lower wages • Workingmen’s Party • Anti-Chinese movement in CA • “The Chinese must go!”

27. Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 • Banned entry to all Chinese except • Students • Teachers • Merchants • Tourists • Government officials • 1892 = extended the law for another 10 years • 1902 = Chinese immigration was restricted indefinitely until 1943

28. The Gentlemen’s Agreement • Chinese hate transferred to all Asian American immigrants • CA segregated Japanese children by putting them in separate schools • Japan = raised an angry protest at the treatment of its emigrants

29. The Gentlemen’s Agreement • President Roosevelt worked out a deal • Japan’s government would agree to limit the emigration of unskilled workers to the US • The US would repeal the San Francisco segregation order in schools

30. Urban Opportunities • Urbanization = rapid growth of cities • Mostly in NE and MW • Immigrants settled in cities • Cheapest and most convenient • Offered unskilled laborers steady jobs in mills and factories

31. Americanization Movement • Assimilate people of wide ranging cultures into the dominant culture • Schools and other placed provided programs • Citizenship • Literacy • History/government • Cooking • Social etiquette

32. Many immigrants did not wish to give up their traditions • Had to find their own support system • Language, religion, customs • Neighborhoods formed = overcrowded

33. Migration from country to city • Rapid improvements in farming technology • Good for some and bad for others • Farming more efficient = less labor • African Americans • Moved north and west to cities Chicago and Detroit • Escape racial violence, economic hardship, political oppression • Segregation and discrimination

34. Urban Problems • Job competition between white and black • Government problems • How to provide residents with needed services and safe living conditions

35. Housing • Options • Buy a house on the outskirts of town = transportation problem • Rent room in boardinghouse in the central city = sanitation, disease, and over all living conditions

36. New types of housing developed • Row houses = single family dwellings that shared side walls with other similar houses • Tenements = multifamily urban dwellings • Working class families left central city • Immigrants took over their old housing

37. Improvement in slum conditions in 1879 • Set min. standards for pluming and ventilation • Windows in each room • Fire safety • Ventilation

38. Transportation • Mass transit = designed to move large numbers of people along fixed routes • Enabled workers to get to and from jobs easily • Linked city neighborhoods • Open to public • Difficult to repair and expand

39. Central Place Theory • Walter Christaller • Noticed a regular pattern to the locations of different sized urban places • Theory explains the size and location of cities • Shape of a hexagon • Center = Metropolitan area • Second = Suburbs • Third = Rural areas

40. Central Place Theory • Smaller towns offer fewer goods and services • Not really a hexagon shape • Physical factors (mountains, rivers) • Cultural factors ( political boundaries, trade routes)

42. Water • Problem = supply of safe drinking water • NY and Cleveland = public waterworks to meet demand • Filtration introduced in the 1870s • Chlorination introduced in 1908

43. Late 1860s • Grossly inadequate piped water • Some people had no water at all • No indoor pluming • Cholera and typhoid fever were common

44. Sanitation • Horse manure on the streets • Sewage flowed through open gutters • Factories = air pollution • No dependable trash collection • By 1900 • Most cites = sewer lines and sanitation departments

45. Crime • Population increase = crime increase • First full time salaried police force 1844 • NYC • Most departments were too small to have significant impact on the crime rates • Corrupt officials

46. Fire • Limited water supply = accidents waiting to happen • Buildings made from wood • Use of candles and kerosene • Fire fighter volunteers = not always available

47. Introduction of automatic fire sprinkler 1874 • Replacement of wood with brick, stone, concrete and steel

48. The Great Chicago Fire • Oct. 8-10, 1871 • Burned for 24 hours • Estimated 300 deaths • 100K left homeless • 3 square miles, 17,500 buildings = destroyed • Property loss = $200 million

49. Reformers Mobilize • Social welfare reformers targeted efforts at relieving urban poverty • Many 19th century reformers responded to the call to help the urban poor • Social Gospel movement = preached salvation through service to the poor

50. Settlement Houses • Founded by Stover and Coit in NYC 1886 • Community centers in slum neighborhoods • Provide assistance to people in the area • Immigrants especially • Provided education, cultural, and social services • Run by the middle class