The New Immigrants

Chapter 21 Section 1

Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America

According to the lyrics1) Who are they?2) Why are they coming to America?3) What does Diamond mean “Freedom’s light burning

warm?”

Reasons for Immigration

• Push Factors – conditions that drive people from their homes

• Pull Factors – conditions that attract immigrants to a new area

Push Factors• No land to farm• Political and religious persecution

- Russian government issued pogroms, which were organized attacks on Jewish villages

- Armenians killed by Ottoman Empire• Lack of Jobs• Revolution• - Revolution in Mexico

• Poverty and harsh lives– Poverty in China

Pull Factors

• Promise of freedom and hope for a better life• Jobs

– American factory owners sent agents to different countries to hire workers at lower wages

– Steamship companies offered lower fares to cross ocean

• Usually one family member set out for the U.S. and would write home to their family about the rich land– Eventually the rest of the family would join them– Late 1800s many Eastern Europeans came to the

U.S. (Greeks, Italians, Poles)

The Long Voyage• Voyage to America was long and

miserable• Very crowded• Disease spread rapidly (measles)• How did they travel?

A “Golden Door” in New York

• Most immigrants arrived in NYC where they were welcomed by the Statue of Liberty– Symbol hope/freedom

“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-tossed to me:I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

~ Emma Lazarus

Ellis Island – East Coast

• New receiving station for European immigrants

• Here immigrants faced medical inspection– Doctors fully examined

each immigrant– Those who were sick had to

stay on Ellis Island until they got healthy

• If they didn’t they were sent home

Angel Island – West Coast

• Harbor for Chinese, Japanese immigrants

• Americans discouraged Asian immigration so immigrants faced long delays

Changing of Names

• Since officials processed so many immigrants each day, they often changed immigrants names that were difficult to spell– Ex: Krzeznewski Kramer,

Bartolomeo Bill

Changing Patterns of Immigration• Before 1885: immigrants were mostly

people from Ireland, England, Germany (NW Europe)– “Old Immigrants”– Mainly Protestant

• Late 1800s: more immigrants from Italy, Greece, Russia, Poland (SE Europe) as well as Asian immigrants– “New Immigrants”– Few spoke English– Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish,

Buddhist, Daoist• Really set them apart

Adjusting to a New Land

• Immigrants had to face reality• American streets NOT paved with gold• Most stayed in the cities they landed in• City slums became filled with poor

immigrants

Ethnic Neighborhoods

• Immigrants settled in neighborhoods with their own ethnic groups, or a group of people that share a common culture

• Cities looked like patchwork– Italian, Greek, Irish, Polish

neighborhoods– Speak own language, celebrate own

holidays

Becoming Americans

• Immigrants struggled to learn English• Some blended native language with

English• Assimilation – the process of

becoming part of another culture– Children able to more quickly

because they attended American schools

A New Surge of Nativism

• Some Americans opposed the increase in immigration

• Worried immigrants wouldn’t assimilate

• Angry immigrants took many of the jobs– Jews & Italians targeted in the NE– Mexicans in the SW– Chinese in the West

The Chinese Exclusion Act• Chinese were important to the west• Lived in communities known as

“Chinatowns”• As the number of Chinese immigrants

increased so did the prejudice towards them– Attacks and murders caused

Congress to issue the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

• Made it so NO Chinese laborer could enter the US and no Chinese living in the US could return if they left the country

Other Limits

• 1887 – American Protective Association formed– Goal: restrict immigration– Congress eventually passed a bill,

denying immigrants entry to the US if they could not read their own language (1917)

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