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Chapter 21

Section 1

The New Immigrants

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A Flood of Immigrants

  • What would make someone leave their

native country?

  • What would attract immigrants to

America?

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Coming to a New Land

  • 1880s - “New” immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
  • “Old” immigrants from northern and western Europe dropped
  • Catholics and Jews
  • Few spoke English
  • Ethnic neighborhoods
  • Immigrants also from China, Japan
  • Mexicans after 1900

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“Push” Factors:

Leaving Troubles Behind

  • Many emigrated due to economics
  • Overcrowding and poverty
  • Difficult to find jobs
  • Farmers could not own

enough land

  • Crop failures, machine put people out of work
  • Unfair laws against certain ethnic groups

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“Pull” Factors: Opportunity

  • Immigrants saw America as

a place for jobs

  • Some saved money and

returned to homeland

  • Travel to US was difficult
    • Travel to port city
    • 12 days to U.S.
    • Travelled in steerage
  • Little money

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Entering the United States

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  • Most European immigrants landed in New York City
  • Statue of Liberty - Symbol of Hope
  • New York - Ellis Island
  • Asian immigrants came through Angel Island in SF
  • Health exams
  • Sometimes names were changed or shortened

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The Immigrant

Experience

  • Government recorded names, occupations, destinations
  • Where would they go?
  • Many had no relatives

in U.S.

  • Had to find jobs

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Finding a Job

  • Greatest challenge - finding a job
  • Sometimes organization in home country recruited workers for US companies
  • Fastest growing industries in US relied on immigrant workforce

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New Ways of Life

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  • Immigrants wanted to hold onto their cultures but also need to assimilate
  • Parents usually spoke old language, children English
  • American women had more freedom than European women- sometimes caused conflict

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Setting up Neighborhoods

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  • Most immigrant came from rural areas
    • Too poor to buy land
    • Worked unskilled jobs
  • Formed ethnic neighborhoods
    • Recreate aspects of old country
    • Native language newspapers

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Setting up

Neighborhoods (Cont.)

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  • Some Americans resented immigrants
    • Feared loss of jobs
  • Nativists blamed immigrants for crime, etc.
  • Congress passed Chinese Exclusion Act-1882
  • Other limits on immigration followed