Immigration

Objective
Students will analyze political cartoons
depicting U.S. views toward immigration at
the turn of the century (1880s 1910s).

Warm Up
What is Jacob Riis famous for?
A. Writing The Jungle
B. Exposing bad business practices
C. Taking pictures & How the Other Half Lives

Agenda

Vocabulary
Immigration at the turn of the century
Immigration packet and political cartoons
Writing a letter back home

Vocabulary
Immigration - the movement of people into a
country
Ellis Island - location of an immigration
station in New York Harbor where 12 million
Europeans passed through between 1892 and
1954
Angel Island - location of an immigration
station in San Francisco Bay that processed
newcomers from Asia after 1910

Vocabulary
Benevolent society - aid organization that
helped immigrants
Denis Kearney - Irish immigrant who led the
Workingmens Party of California to oppose
Chinese immigration
Chinese Exclusion Act - law that banned
Chinese immigration for 10 years; passed in
1882, renewed in 1892, and made permanent
in 1902, repealed in 1943

Vocabulary
Gentlemens Agreement - agreement in
which Japan agreed to prevent unskilled
workers from immigrating to the U.S. and
San Francisco stopped the practice of
segregating Japanese school children
Literacy Test - exam to determine whether a
person could read English
Nativists - native-born Americans who saw
the new immigrants as a threat

Immigrants Fill Up the Cities

The Changing Immigrant

People
came to
America to
improve
their lives

 1865 1890:
most came from
northern Europe
Germany,
England, Ireland,
Scandinavian

 After 1890
immigration
shifted to southern
and eastern Europe
& Asia

Italy, Russia,
Greece, China,
Japan

All new immigrants must pass

health exam at Ellis Island or Angel
Island

Children becoming
Americanized at Ellis Island

Some Americans wanted to help

the new immigrants
They formed benevolent societies.
These societies helped immigrants obtain
jobs, health care, or education.
At this time there were no government
programs to help people in need, so these
societies helped the immigrants make it in
America.

Problems for the New Immigrants

1- Assimilation

2. MANY
DIFFERENT
LANGUAGES

3. DIFFERENT RELIGIONS

4. FACED MUCH MORE

DISCRIMINATION

Xenophobia
Nativists opposed the new immigrants
coming to America.
They were convinced that the immigrants
were behind the problems that cities faced.
Nativists such as Denis Kearny organized
the Workingmens Party specifically to
oppose Chinese immigration.

5. LOOKED DIFFERENT

Life in the Cities

1880 1920 11 million
Americans moved from
farms to cities
Cities grew up as well
as out (steel and
elevators)
African Americans
migrated to northern
cities

Urban Living Conditions

Many lived in
tenements (low cost
apartments, house as
many families as
possible)

Contagious diseases
spread easily

 Fire became
serious danger

Wood buildings,
close together, no
sprinklers)

Life in the Ghettos

Area where one ethnic
or racial group
dominated

 Many chose to live

near people that
were the same
(language &
traditions)

Some banned from

other communities