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Chapter 20. Immigrants and Urban Life 1872 - 1914. Essential Question. How did immigration during the late 1800s affect the United States?. I. A New Wave of Immigration. Changing Patterns of Immigration Old Immigrants: immigrants from northern and western Europe (1800-1870)
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Chapter 20 Immigrants and Urban Life 1872 - 1914
Essential Question • How did immigration during the late 1800s affect the United States?
I. A New Wave of Immigration • Changing Patterns of Immigration • Old Immigrants: immigrants from northern and western Europe (1800-1870) • Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia • Protestant (except the Irish) • Skilled workers or farmers (except the Irish) • “New” Immigrants: immigrants from southern and eastern Europe (1870 – 1930) • Greece, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Italy, Czechoslovakia • Roman Catholic, Jewish • Unskilled workers, escaping religious or political persecution
Arriving in a New Land • Steerage: an area below a ship’s deck where steering mechanisms are located • Inexpensive • Cramped • Foul-smelling
Immigration Centers • Ellis Island, NY • Angel Island, CA • El Paso, TX • Tests • Documentation • Literacy • Health • Trachoma – contagious eye disease
Adjusting to a New Life • Immigrants had to find jobs, find homes, and learn a new language • Ethnic Neighborhoods: areas where people shared same language and culture • Benevolent Societies: offered immigrants help in cases of sickness, employment, or death
Tenements and Finding Work • Tenements: poorly built, overcrowded apartment buildings • Often took low paying, unskilled jobs in factories • Sweatshops: work places known for hot, unhealthy working conditions
Opposition to Immigration • Business leaders wanted immigrants because they work for less • Nativists feel too many immigrants are coming into the country • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): banned Chinese people from immigrating to the United States for 10 years • Even with restrictions, immigrants still came in large numbers
II. The Growth of Cities • Immigrants responsible for large urban (city) growth – Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland • African Americans move to northern cities to escape discrimination and find opportunity (Great Migration) • Chicago, 1900
Changing Cities • The rise of the steel industry made building skyscrapers possible • Mass Transit: public transportation designed to move many people • Elevated trains • Subways • Electric trolleys • Suburbs: residential neighborhoods outside of downtown areas • Boston Subway, 1897
New Ideas • Mass Culture: leisure and cultural activities shared by many people • World fairs brought merchants together • Department Stores: giant retail shops • Low prices • Store restaurants • Fancy window displays • Public Entertainment • Amusement parks • Open public space • Frederick Law Olmstead: designed Central Park, New York City
III. City Life • Shortage of affordable housing forced many poor families to squeeze into tenements • Jacob Riis: famous journalist and photographer who exposed these horrible conditions • Sanitation problems • Poor fire escapes • No clean water • Pollution • Disease
Improving City Life • Because there was little government aid available, private organizations helped urban poor • Settlement Houses: neighborhood centers in poor areas that offered education, recreation, and social activities • Hull House: most famous – started by Jane Addams in Chicago to help poor immigrants • Florence Kelley: reformer from Hull House that exposed conditions in sweatshops – convinced lawmakers to limit working hours for women and end child labor
Statue of Liberty Colossus of Rhodes Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty Facts • Official dedication ceremonies held on Thursday, October 28, 1886 • Total overall height from the base of the pedestal foundation to the tip of the torch is 305 feet, 6 inches • There are 154 steps from the pedestal to the head of the Statue of Liberty • There are seven rays on her crown, one for each of the seven continents, each measuring up to 9 feet in length and weighing as much as 150 pounds • Total weight of the Statue of Liberty is 225 tons (or 450,000 pounds) • At the feet of the Statue lie broken shackles of oppression and tyranny • “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free; the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” • Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”