Chapter 4Lessons 3, 4

Lesson 3: New Americans

NEW IMMIGRANTS

immigrant a person that has citizenship in one country, but enters another country to set up a permanent home.

After 1890, most immigrants came from the countries of northern Europe.

These countries included Austria-Hungary, Italy and Russia

Why did immigrants come to the United States?

To escape hunger and lack of jobs

The factories and farms of the United States offered the hope of an income, food and work

Other immigrants were escaping violence, war and unfairness

Jewish Immigrants

Jewish immigrants left Europe to escape mistreatment because of their religion.

Mary Antin

A young immigrant from Russia.

She and her family left Russia because she could not attend school because she was Jewish.

Why did immigrants come to the United States?

to find jobs

political and religious freedom

Adventure

Mostly, they came hoping for opportunities to make better lives for themselves and their families

Ellis Island

immigration station

located in New York City Harbor

a place immigrants had to go before getting permission to enter the country.

What happened at Ellis Island?

doctors checked immigrants for dangerous diseases

governments officials asked immigrants questions about where they were from, what kind of work they did, and where they planned to live.

immigrants would spend a day at Ellis Island before returning to New York City

Angel Island

immigration station in San Francisco Bay for immigrants from China.

In the 1900’s, there was a law that limited the number of Chinese immigrants who could enter the United States.

What happened at Angel Island?

They were asked questions and had to prove they had family members already living in the United States.

Immigrants were held at Angel Island until they could prove they had family members already living in the United States.

Many Chinese immigrants spent weeks or months on Angel Island

A New World

It was a new world for immigrants very different from the world they had left

Most immigrants came from small farming villages and now they were in big cities

Starting a New Life

The first thing that immigrants needed to do was find a place to live

Most went to neighborhoods were there were other people from their country

Finding Jobs

Second, they needed to find a job.

Some found work in the railroads, mines and factories

Others started their own businesses or sold goods through the use of Pushcarts

Prejudice

unfair negative opinion about a group of people.

for example, many immigrants were not offered jobs at places that showed prejudice.

Diversity

means variety or assortment

for example, more than half the people in most big American cities were immigrants or children of immigrants

More people of Irish background lived in New York City than in Dublin

Diversity

Los Angeles California had the world’s second largest Mexican population – second only to Mexico City, Mexico

These examples show how immigrants contributed to the diversity (variety) of the American population