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7/29/2019 The Huddles Masses
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THE HUDDLED MASSES
IMMIGRATIONProf. Michael Stafford
Mercy College
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IMMIGRATION AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then
I discovered that the immigrants wereAmerican history.
Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted
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The Statue of Liberty
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Facts on Lady Liberty
The tallest metal statue ever constructed. It stands at 151 feet
high and weighs 225 tons.
The statue originally symbolized American freedom and anti-
slavery.
The statue was a gift from French Republicans trying to
advance their cause.
$100,000 for construction was donated by the American poor.
Over time the symbolic meaning has been transformed fromthe opposition to slavery to a lady of hope for immigrants
and refugees.
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Emma Lazarus
Give me your tired, your poor, yourhuddled masses
Written in 1883 to help raise money for
the statue.
Re-discovered in a Manhattan bookstore.
Placed on the pedestal in 1903.
Emma was an American Jew born inN.Y.C. in 1849.
In 1881, anti-Semitism swept across
Russia. Emma devoted herself to aiding
the refugees.
The final sum for construction came from
the auction of literary works. The New Colossus sold for $1,500.
Emma died of cancer in 1887 at the age
of 38.
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Birds of Passage
Many of the immigrants whoarrived in the United States in the
19th and early 20th centuries
intended to return home.
A good job, save money, work all
time, go home, sleep, no spend.
1907-1911 73/100 Italians
returned home. For the rest of
Southern and Eastern Europe
44/100 returned home.
Most Jewish immigrants intended
to stay in America due topersecution in their home
countries.
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Italian immigrants traveling in steerage:
All us poor people had to go down through a hole to the bottom of theship. There was a big dark room down there with rows of wooden
shelves all around where we were going to sleepthe Italian, the
German, the Polish, the Swede, the Frenchevery kindThe girls and
women and the men had to sleep all together in the same room. The
men and girls had to sleep even in the same bed with only those little
half-boards up between to keep us from rolling together.
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I CAME TO AMERICA BECAUSE I HEARD THE STREETS WERE PAVED
WITH GOLD. WHEN I GOT HERE I FOUND OUT THREE THINGS. FIRST,
THE STREETS WERE NOT PAVED WITH GOLD. SECOND, THEY
WERENT PAVED AT ALL. AND THIRD, I WAS EXPECTED TO PAVE
THEM.
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MARY ANTIN: BEING JEWISH IN RUSSIA
Somebody would start up that lie about murdering Christian
children, and the stupid peasants would get mad about it, and fill
themselves with vodka, and set out to kill the Jews. They
attacked them with knives and clubs and scythes and axes,
killed or tortured them, and burned their houses. This was calleda pogrom. People who saw such things never smiled any
more, no matter how long they lived.
It was not easy to live (in the Pale), with such bitter competitionas the congestion of population made inevitableOutside the
Pale a Jew could only go to certain designated localities, on
payment of prohibitive fees, augmented by a constant stream of
bribes; and even then he lived at the mercy of the local chief of
police.
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MARY ANTIN: LETTERS FROM FATHERThere was an elation, a hint of triumph, such as had never
been in my fathers letters before. I cannot tell how I knew it.
I felt a stirring, a straining in my fathers letter. It was there,
even though my mother stumbled over the strange words,even though she cried, as women will when somebody is
going away. My father was inspired by a vision. He saw
somethinghe promised us something. It was this
America. And America became my dream.
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Brochure distributed
in Norway by a
steamship company,encouraging
Norwegians to
emigrate to America
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th
century
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TOOLS OF AMERICANIZATIONAmerican language, clothing and customs.
The public schools.The settlement houses.
Immigrants gathered at Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago
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Recollections of a Settlement House
They used to tell us that its not nice to drink beer, and we must not
let the baby do this, and thisSo after we had about an hour, or an
hour and a half of the preaching, they would pull up the circle and
wed play games together. All together we played the gamestheNorwegian, the German, the English, and me. Then wed have some
cake and coffee and the goodnight song.
Pretty soon they started the classes to teach us poor people to talk
and write in English. The talk of the people in the settlement house
was different entirely than what I used to hear. I used to love those
American people, and I was listening and listening how they talked.
Thats how I learned to talk such good EnglishThey had the clubs
for the children too. And after a few years when they started the
kindergarten, my Louie was one of the first children to go in
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PRESSURE TO AMERICANIZE
Unkind and cruel methods sometimes used inconnection with our so-called Americanization
program.
Forget your native land Forget your mother tongue
Do away with your inherited customs
Either become an American citizen or get out
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Chinese Exclusion Act
First U.S. law to ban immigration byrace or nationality
From 1882 to 1943 most Chinese
immigrants were barred from
entering the country
Federal law prohibited Chinese
residents from becoming citizens
Human smuggling of Chinese became
popular because of the need for labor
on the West Coast
The Geary Act of 1892 required
Chinese aliens a residence certificateat all times upon penalty of
deportation
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Angel Island
Ellis Island of the West
Used as a detention center for
Chinese and Japanese Immigrants
Immigration officials asked
immigrants insulting and personal
questions to find any reason todeport families
Under U.S. law in effect from
1882 to 1943, the Chinese wives
of resident alien laborers could
not join them in this country
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Japanese Immigrants
Overpopulation and Poverty ledmany Japanese to leave home
Intense racial prejudice met themin the U.S.
California imposed limits on landownership by Japanese
Newspaper headlines like TheYellow Peril: How Japanese Crowdout the White Race
Japanese children facedsegregation in schools: OrientalSchools
Japanese government protests toPres. Theodore Roosevelt led to agentlemens agreement to limitJapanese emigration
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Contract Labor High demand for labor in the 19th century
Indentured Servitude laborers served under a contract to pay
the cost of passage
credit ticket system a broker advanced the cost of passageand workers repaid the loan plus interest out of their earnings
Beginning in the 1840s over 400,000 migrated to the U.S. under
these systems
Between 1885 and 1924 about the same number of Japanese
migrated to the U.S. under these systems
The United States passed legislation hindering the migration of
Asian women
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Immigration Restrictions
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the U.S. imposed
additional restrictions on immigration
Restricted laborers in 1885, illiterates in 1917, Asian immigrants in
1917
Other acts restricted criminals, immoral people, people suffering fromdisease and paupers
1907 Japan and America agreed that Japanese wives can migrate but
limited the number of overall Japanese migrants
1917 the U.S. barred all Asians except for Filipinos
Immigration Act of 1924 placed a numerical cap on European
immigrants 1965 the U.S. adopted a new immigration law ending the quota
system
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Migration and Diseases
Migration has been the cause of
disease germs to spread around the
world
The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918
Along with migration comes the fearof disease
1892 Typhus epidemic
1881-1896 Cholera epidemic and
quarantine
1900 and the Bubonic Plague 1924 Pneumonia outbreak
1980s and the risk of AIDS
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Health Inspection on Ellis Island
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Why Do People Migrate?
Some scholars emphasize individual decision-making. Some
emphasize structural forces.
1) What advantages individuals hope to obtain by migrating?
Increased opportunity? Higher standard of living? Escape
from social turmoil?
2) Focus on family needs. Many kin groups receive
remittances.
3) The broad social, political and economics encourage
migration. Transportation, communication or incomedifferentials between more advanced and less advanced
areas.
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Why Do People Migrate?
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Why Do People Migrate?
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Who Migrates?
Migrants usually share certain social
characteristics, including sex, age,
marital status, occupation, and ethnic
background. Migration often takes place during a
particular stage of life adolescence
or early adulthood.
They are less tradition- bound, more
restless, or more aspiring.
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Effects of Migration on Homeland
Migration entails the loss of people with
certain characteristics age, sex, social
attitudes, education, religion, ethnicity, and
income. Disproportionate number of young males
migrate which tends to reduce a communitys
population growth.
Brain Drain a loss of societys mosteducated and highly skilled members to
wealthier countries.
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The Changing Face of the United States
One in ten U.S. residents was born in another country.
The number of Hispanics in the U.S. has triples and the number of Asians
has increased eight-fold. 80% of immigrants are either Latin American or
Asian.
The U.S. has become the first truly multi-racial advanced industrial society.
Three-quarters of all immigrants live in six states: California, Florida,
Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
Native-born Americans are leaving the Big Cities and are being replaced by
immigrants.
The South has the fewest foreign immigrants. Work is the greatest magnet for immigrants.
Each wave of immigrants spark anti-immigrant sentiment.
Many fear that newcomers make use of services like welfare more than
natives.
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Costs and Benefits of Immigration
Critics
Immigrants take jobs away from
native-born Americans
Immigrants depress wages
Immigrants make greater use of
public services
Immigrants of today are less-
educated and less-skilled than those
that preceded them
Restricting immigration would openup job opportunities for Americans
Proponents
Immigrants contribute to living
standards
Low-wage immigrant workers make it
cheaper to buy goods and services
Immigrants assume less desirable
jobs
Immigrants are not simply producers
but consumers as well
Immigrants are attracted to areas ofhigh economic growth and labor
shortages therefore they have little
effect on wages or unemployment
rate
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Pre and Post Recession
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The End