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Immigration and Progressivism Slide 2 Immigration Waves in US History antebellum, 1840-1860largely northern European, especially England, Ireland and Germanyapprox. 4.5 million late 19th-early 20th century, 1900-1920largely Southern and Eastern European, including Polish and Russian Jews, Italian, Greekapprox. 14.5 million also Asian immigrants in the late 19th-early 20th century, in much fewer numbers (for example, Chinese immigrants built US railroads) Slide 3 Immigration Waves > Naturalization Law and Race in US History 1790 - Congress limits naturalization to white persons 1870 - Congress adds African Americans (naturalization limited to free white persons and persons of African descent) 1952 - racial prerequisite for naturalization eliminated Slide 4 Immigration Waves > Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907 Slide 5 Immigration Waves > Arrival of Immigrants, Ellis Island, May 9, 1906 Slide 6 Immigration Waves > The Godfather, Part II (1974) Slide 7 Construction of Racial Difference > Fragment What is this mans ethnic background? Slide 8 Construction of Racial Difference > Entire Cartoon, ca. Civil War Slide 9 Construction of Racial Difference > Arnold Genthe, An Unsuspecting Victim, 1908 Slide 10 Construction of Racial Difference > Emphasizing difference Slide 11 Slide 12 Slide 13 Construction of Racial Difference > Pigtail Parade, 1908 Slide 14 Construction of Racial Difference > Making exotic Slide 15 Slide 16 Chinese Exclusion > Acts of 1882, 1884, and 1888 and related legislation Only Chinese non-laborers and those who were born in the U.S. can enter Those who resided in the U.S. prior to 1880 can remain if they dont leave the country If they leave they can come back if they have at least one thousand dollars worth of property or debts owned to them The status of wife and child followed that of a husband No Chinese could be naturalized as U.S. citizen Slide 17 Chinese Exclusion > Cartoon on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 Slide 18 Chinese Exclusion > The Chinese: Many Handed But Soulless, The Wasp, 1885 Slide 19 Chinese Exclusion > Labor leaers response Denis Kearney, Californias Workingmens Party (typical) Chinese laborers are cheap working slaves who lower white workers standard of living and should be banished from the U.S. Joseph McDonnell, an Irish-born socialist Intolerance against the Chinese repeats earlier intolerant, silly and shameful cry against the Irish. Workers should learn from this history and unite B.E.G. Jewett, a socialist Corporate employers--oppressors, money-mongers--are to blame and must go Slide 20 Chinese Exclusion > The Bradys and the Chinese Dwarf, c. 1907 Slide 21 Chinese Exclusion > Salyer, Captives of Law Many Chinese were able to get into the U.S. by appealing to U.S. Courts even after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 The prohibition of judicial review of immigration decisions did not apply to the Chinese because unlike other immigrants until 1903 they did not come under purview of the Bureau of Immigration and immigration law Judges often ruled in favor of Chinese plaintiffs because they adhered to Anglo- American common law traditions of habeas corpus and evidentiary rules of witness testimony (for example, did not require two white witnesses) Newcomers relied on community groups and white lawyers to make their case for citizenship based on witness testimony This continued until 1905 when the Bureau of Immigration took over Chinese immigration and was granted final jurisdiction in the question of citizenship Slide 22 Progressivism > Main Tenets Denounce corruption, want to reform business Active in muckcracking journalism, documentary photography, and realist art Self-image: pragmatic, efficient, morally righteous crusaders Want to reform the poor urban immigrants as well, set up settlement houses to teach middle class values to working class immigrants Recognize the distance between immigrant slums and the middle class (themselves) Their goal is to Americanize immigrants, not to learn from their cultures or to preserve them Slide 23 Progressivism > Cartoon about the Melting Pot, 1889 Slide 24 Progressives > Jane Addamss Hull House Complex, 1902 Slide 25 Progressives > Hull House Kindergarten Class, 1902 Slide 26 Progressives > Hull House Labor Museum, 1902 Slide 27 Progressivism > Jacob Riis, Bandits Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street, c. 1888 Slide 28 Progressivism > Jacob Riis, Bandits Roost, How the Other Half Lives (1890) Slide 29 Progressivism > Jacob Riis, Mullens Alley, Cherry Hill, 1888 Slide 30 Progressivism > Jacob Riis, A downtown Morgue(unlicensed saloon), c. 1890 Slide 31 Progressivism > Jacob Riis, A Black-and-Tan Dive in Africa, c. 1890 Slide 32 Research Assignment > Compare Arnold Genthes and Jacob Riiss Photographs