The Urban Experience

1. The Urban Experience 34

2. The Urban Experience Compare and contrast the origins of “Old” and “New” immigration. What opportunities and problems were present in the growing urban areas? Describe the evolution of the Social Gospel Movement.

3. IMMIGRATION -Old Immigration Western Europe -New Immigration, 1890 Eastern & Southern Europe Asian Immigration Hispanic Immigration

4. New Immigrants • In the decades after the Civil War, more and more Europeans immigrated to America. • They differed from earlier immigrant groups from northern and western Europe who were typically Protestant, spoke English, and arrived with the government’s welcome. • The new immigrants came from eastern and southern Europe, often were Jewish or Catholic, and usually spoke no English. • The U.S. government welcomed the wealthy but forced poorer people to pass health and welfare tests at government reception centers such as Ellis Island in the New York Harbor.

5. Immigration • Whether Asian or European, these new immigrants tended to settle in areas populated by people from the same countries who spoke the same languages and worshipped in the same ways. • The new immigrants were usually poor because they came from politically unstable countries. • They usually worked as unskilled laborers in big cities because they could not afford to buy farmland. • In cities, they created communities to imitate cultures of their home countries. • These immigrants did not blend into American society like earlier immigrants had.

6. NEW LIFE -Difficult journey -Ellis Island, NY immigrant processing -Angel Island, SF -Culture Shock

7. Anti-Immigration • Ellis Island: Immigrant Station in New York Harbor • Between 1870 and 1920, approximately 20 million Europeans passed through the “Golden Door” • Many Americans were not open to the “melting pot” idea of the US and some strong anti-immigrant feelings grew • Chinese laborers in the West faced racism and violence

8. NEW LIFE -Culture Shock *ethnic communities formed -Melting Pot -Nativism Old immigrants vs. new immigrants * Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 No more immigration of Chinese laborers

18. URBAN GROWTH -Urban life 1 in 12 in 1840 1 in 3 by 1900 -Immigrant settlements -Decline of farmers new technology required fewer workers -Closing of the frontier -Industrialization -Cultural opportunities

19. URBAN PROBLEMS -Poor housing row houses and tenements- substandard multi-family dwellings in major urban areas. -Transportation -Rising crime rates Typical urban tenement living

21. URBAN PROBLEMS -Few city services no water no sanitation no fire -Pollution and disease

22. RAISING AWARENESS -Social Gospel Christian theme of helping the less fortunate “It is the responsibility of those who have to help those who have not” Salvation Army -Jacob Riis “How the Other Half Lives” Photographer Jacob Riis

23. Jacob Riis’How the Other Half LivesPhotographs Bandit’s Roost Children Sleeping Homeless Children

24. RAISING AWARENESS -Social Gospel Christian theme of helping the less fortunate Salvation Army -Jane Addams Hull House, Chicago Settlement Houses Provided social services for the poor

25. The Urban Experience Compare and contrast the origins of “Old” and “New” immigration. What opportunities and problems were present in the growing urban areas? Describe the evolution of the Social Gospel Movement.