Chapter 20

Toward an Urban America

• Immigrants came to the United
States in the late 1800s and
early 1900s for jobs and to
escape persecution
(mistreatment).
• Immigrants who came from
Europe crossed the Atlantic
Ocean and landed at Ellis
Island.
Ellis Island- where immigrants had to stop before entering the U.S.
Registry room at Ellis Island
• The immigrants who landed at Ellis Island saw the
Statue of Liberty standing in New York Harbor. The
Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from
France.
Kids at Ellis Island
• Immigrants who came from Asia crossed the Pacific
Ocean in a few weeks and landed at Angel Island in
San Fransisco Bay.
• In the mid 1800s, many immigrants who came to the
United States could not speak English.
• Some people in the U.S. blamed immigrants for
crime, unemployment, and other problems.
• For an immigrant to become a citizen, they had to go
through a process called naturalization. This process
involved living in the U.S. for 5 years, take and pass a
test in English, and say the pledge.
8. The first law passed to
limit immigration was
the Chinese Exclusion
Act.
9. Jacob Riis was an
author who wrote about
gangs in New York. As
cities grew, crime
increased.
10. In cities, many people lived in crowded, poorly
built apartment houses called tenements.
11. Tenements were located in slums, poor urban
areas.
• Many Public schools were built in the early 1900s. John
Dewey, wanted schools to not just make kids memorize,
but to relate learning to the students interests.
• Booker T. Washington started Tuskegee Institute in
Alabama to provide practical education for African
Americans.
• George Washington Carver worked at Tuskegee
Institute. He developed hundreds of uses for the
peanut: plastic, rubber, shaving cream, paper.

Booker T. Washington
George Washington Carver invented several uses for the peanut
15. The Brooklyn Bridge was opened in New York in
1883. It connected Manhattan with Brooklyn in New
York.
16. Many people in the early 1900s began to attend
spectator sports, like baseball, football, and basketball

High school football team

17. Different types of music became popular. Ragtime was a
popular music.
18. Nickelodeons were short films that cost 5 cents.
These were the beginning of the film industry.

The first
theaters were
called
nickelodeons