GROWING IMMIGRATION

Where did they come from?

• The Americas• Asia• Northern Europe (before the Civil War)

– English, Scots, Irish, Germans, Scandinavians

• Southern Europe, Eastern Europe (After the Civil War)

• E. European Jews/Southern Italians/Greeks Slavic peoples (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Croats, Serbs, Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians)

To clarify…• Before 1890, most

European immigrants came from northwest Europe

• After 1890, most European immigrants came from southwest Europe

Why did they leave?

Push and Pull Reasons Push and Pull Reasons of Course!of Course!

Over-PopulationOver-Population

Lack of Jobs

Government Tyranny

Crop Failures!

Land Shortages!

Famine

High High Taxes/ Taxes/ Cost of Cost of LivingLiving

Political or Religious Persecution

How did they get here?• Steamships made of iron and

steel

• 2-3 weeks to 1 week by 1900

• Created “birds of passage”-single male worker who came for a short time, earn money, and return home

Steamships cont.• Most immigrants traveled in

Steerage (large open area beneath ship’s deck)

• Cheap fares

• Limited toilet facilities,

• no privacy, poor food

Castle Garden (1855 - 1892)

• In 1886 greeted by Statue of Liberty in NY harbor

ELLIS ISLAND“Gate to America” or “Golden Door”

• 70% of European immigrants arrived in NYC

• In 1892 an immigration center opened at Ellis Island in NY harbor

• Immigrants were given medical check-up and a series of questions

Vito’s Story

• Sometimes immigrants were “quarantined” (isolated to prevent the spread of disease): tuberculosis, small pox, measles

• Some were even deported due to serious diseases: trachoma or other reasons

The caption reads . . .

Held at Ellis Island – Undesirable emigrants to be taken back by

steamship company that brought them

• Name?

• Occupation?

• Who paid your fare?

• Can you read or write?

• How much money do you have?

• Have you been to prison or in a poorhouse?

• Where are you going?

• Do you have a job already?

• Many immigrants received new names

• Buchenroth=Roth

• Stefanopoulous= Stevens

The Ellis Island of the West Coast

Angel Island• San Francisco

• Horrible conditions

• On Ellis Island, immigrants were processed through within hours or days;

on Angel Island, they spent weeks or months.

Where did immigrants settle?

• Most lived with friends and relatives in established communities

• Communities formed in ports of entry (NY/Boston) and inland cities (Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago)

• Only 2% went to the south

• In other cases, a Padrone (labor boss) found jobs, provided food and shelter in exchange for large percentage of immigrant wages

•Mines, mills, and factories

•Friends and relatives helped each other

Jobs for immigrants