Immigration and Urbanization1870 – 1900 America

Immigrants – Where and Why?

• 1870 – 1900, the U.S. grows from 38.5 million people to 76.2

• Almost 30 million are immigrants• Irish Potato Famine• 25% of immigrants

are from Germany• Japan and China• Russia expels Jews

Klassen family leaving the Ukraine for the U.S.

The Island

• Ellis Island, N.Y. & Angel Island, San Francisco

• More than 18 mil. immigrants processed here.

• Only about 2% are turned away

Differences

Assimilate?• Turner’s “Frontier Thesis” – Becoming

more American• Melting Pot – a mixture of people, cultures

and races and abandon native languages and customs

• Many do not wish to give up identities

Native-Born• English Language• Protestant• Anglo-Saxon ethnicity

and similar

New Immigrants• Foreign Language• Catholic, Jewish,

Buddhist, etc.• Different skin tones

Opposition

• Nativism – Favoritism toward native-born Americans

• Anti-immigrant groups (like the KKK) thought outsiders undermined America

• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882• Gentlemen’s Agreement w/

Japan

Final Destination

• 1/3 of the immigrants who came to the United States stayed in the city. Most scattered across the country.

Cities

• Immigrants radically changed the face of the nation’s cities.

• Before the Civil War, cities were compact. Buildings were only 5 stories tall.

• Afterwards, the percentage of Americans living in the cities doubled. Cities grew upward.

Urban Living Conditions

• “Slums” – Immigrants lived in buildings abandoned by middle-class residents and converted into multifamily units.

• Many tended to settle with others from the same country creating the ethnic sections that can still be found today.

Problems• Raw sewage and garbage littered

the streets.• Quality Water?• Fire (e.g. – Chicago Fire)• Crime• Contagious diseases

• Babies were especially susceptible.

Tenements in New York City

Tenements in New York City

A typical tenement house on the corner of Ontario and Monroe streets in Toledo, Ohio.

Solutions

• City Planners Arrive• Parks – e.g. Central Park• Skyscrapers (Steel)• Zoning