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MacionisChapter 6

Southern, Central

And Eastern Europeans

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Sociohistorical Perspective

• 1870s saw an increase in immigration from Southeastern Europe

• Clear physical and cultural differences

• Arrived in large numbers

• Able to preserve old-country cultures and social boundaries

• Increased prejudice and discrimination

• See Figure 6.1, p. 184

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Push – Pull Factors

• Push factors: encourage immigration– Persecution, … repression, … hard economic

times, …

• Pull factors: positive inducements– Family and friends already here, … freedom,

… opportunity, … better living standards, …

• Peasant life was harsh in Europe– Political and economic unrest– Pressures of over population

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Push – Pull Factors Cont.

• Hundreds of thousands of immigrants– Italians, Portuguese, Greeks, Turks,

Armenians, Hungarians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Austrians, Swiss, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Ruthenians, and others

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Structural Conditions

• Structural conditions in the U. S.• Frontier was rapidly disappearing• Industrialization and Urbanization were

changing the U. S.• Immigrants mostly illiterate, unskilled,

rural peasants– Had virtually no resources

• Settled in oldest sections of cities• Established their own social institutions

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Societal Reaction 2

• Racism– This time the reaction to immigrants had a

racist element– Nativist reaction (See quote on p. 187)– See the cartoon on p. 190

• Americanization– Designed to deliberately assimilate SE

Europeans– A national program at a number or levels

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Societal Reaction Cont. 3

• Xenophobia, an example of– The Haymarket Affair, Chicago, May, 1886– General Strike for and 8 hr. work day– Police approached a peaceful gathering– Someone threw a bomb killing a policeman

and wounding 70 people– Bomb thrower was never identified but 6

immigrants and one U. S. citizen were sentenced to death

– Newspapers promoted a negative response

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Legislative Action

• 1907, Pressure to investigate the immigration situation

• The Dillingham Commission report, ..1911– Somewhat negative, (p. 193)– Solution: literacy test, or restrictions

• National Origins Quota Act of 1921– Adopted the proposals of the Dillingham

Commission (See Fig. 6.3, p. 195)

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Major Immigration Acts

• 1875: barring criminals, prostitutes and “Collie” labor

• 1882, 1902: Chinese Exclusion Acts

• 1891: Bureau of Immigration established

• 1921: Limited immigration to 3% of foreign born in the U.S. in 1910

• 1924: Banned Japanese immigration; set immigration to 2% of foreign born persons of each nationality

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South Eastern Europeans• The Poles• Third largest group of “new” immigrants

– One million between 1899 to 1914– Child labor (Picture, p.199)

• Culture Shock: Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant

• Community Organization• Polonia Today

– 90 Million,… NE and MW states,… Chicago

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SE Europeans Cont.• The Italians• Some important early explorers• 5.4 Million immigrated, 80% from 1880 to

1920• Most peasants from rural areas• Societal Hostility• Social Patterns: “Little Italys”

– Extended Italian family life extended to U.S.– Marginality, [Cavello, N.Y.]

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The Portuguese

• Settled in New England, … as Whalers– Jews erected the first Synagogue in New

Port RI, in 1763

• Some settled in California, others in Hawaii– Those in Hawaii assimilated whereas those

in California encountered conflict– Concentrated in MA, RI, CA, and NJ