ImmigrationChapter 7

Objectives:To look at the rise of immigration at the turn of the century

To evaluate the promise of the “American Dream”

To analyze the economic, social, and political effects of immigration and to understand the immigrant experience

To explore the rise in urbanization

To understand the problems faced by people in the new cities

To describe the attempts at reform of the cities

Immigration Overview

Immigrants came to US for a better life.

Some were “birds of passage” intending to earn $ and return home

Between 1870 – 1920, about 20 million people came to America.

Before 1890, immigrants came from western and northern Europe.

Immigration Overview 2

After 1890, they came from southern and eastern Europe, esp. Italy, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.

(lots of prejudice against new immigrants) Why?

Why these immigrants came:

Escape persecution

Better jobs

Independence/freedom

European immigrants came through Ellis Island (New York).

Ellis Island

7 steps an Immigrant Followed at Ellis Island

Ellis Island Images

More Images

West Coast Immigration

Chinese and Japanese immigrants came through Angel Island in San Francisco.

They were discriminated and restricted.

Immigration factsAll Immigrants suffered from culture shock.

Some Americans took advantage of this.

Ethnic communities sprang up for protection.

They thought of themselves as “hyphenated Americans” – Chinese-Americans, Italian-Americans, etc.

Some wanted a melting pot – mixture of different cultures and races

Some immigrants refused to “melt in”, causing anti-immigrant feelings among native born Americans. (salad bowl idea)

Anti – Immigrant sentiment

Americanization movement – attempt to assimilate different cultures into American.

Nativism – favoritism toward native-born Americans.

Led to xenophobia and restrictions on immigrants.

Nativists believed Anglo-Saxons were superior to other ethnic groups.

Anti – Immigrant sentiment 2

Much anti-immigrant reaction to Jews and Catholics.

Literacy tests were eventually required for immigrants

Chinese immigrants worked for lower wages, so….

1882, Chinese Exclusion Act - closed Chinese immigration- except for students, teachers, merchants, tourists and gov’t officials.

This fear was extended to most Asians.

Law was not changed until 1943.

Solutions

1907-1908 – Gentlemen’s Agreement between Pres. T. Roosevelt and Japan, required limited emigration of Japanese unskilled workers to the US, and in exchange, San Francisco would not segregate Japanese already in America.

Urbanization – Chapter 7

Factors leading to Urbanization:

1. Population Explosion. a. Between 1870 and 1920, the urban population

exploded from 10 million to 54 million causing serious problems in the cities of the Midwest and Northeast.

2. As farming improved, a. Fewer farmers were needed leading many to move to the

cities.

3. African American Migrationa. 1890-1930, Southern African-Americans

moved north and west to cities to escape oppression.

b. Job competition between blacks and whites caused racial tension and segregation in Northern cities.

Urban Problems:

1. Housing:a. Row houses, Tenement

houses, Slums resulted….

2. Transportation:a. Lack of transportation for

the poor b. Result: street cars and the

electric subway.

Images

Urban Problems Cont.

3. Water:a. Safe drinking water was a problem, little indoor

plumbing..b. Cholera and typhoid fever were spread in water supplies

c. Result - Filtration and chlorination were introduced in the late 1800’s and early 1900’’s

4. Sanitation:a. horse manure/garbage in the streets

b. sewage in open gutters

c. foul factory smoke

d. undependable trash collection

e. dirty outhouses

Result - sanitation departments were opened

5. Crime:a. Pickpockets and thieves flourished b. Result - New York City organized the

first full time police force in 1844. too small to make a difference

6. Fire:a. Limited water supply, wooden housing, candles and

kerosene heaters contributed to fires.

Result:Fire departments (mostly voluntary, but by 1900, cities had full time fire depts.)Brick and stone replaced wood.

Two major city disasters:

Great Chicago Fire, 1871

Burned for 24 hours

Killed about 300

3 square miles burned

17,500 bldgs. destroyed

San Francisco Earthquake, 1908

1000 people died

200,000 homeless

Fire swept 5 square miles

28,000 bldgs. destroyed

City Reformers:Social Gospel movement preached salvation through service to the poor.

Settlement houses – community houses in the slums to provide services and education for the poor.

Hull House was started by Jane Addams (in Chicago).

Politics in the Gilded Age:

Political Machines took over city politics.

Mostly operated like a pyramid with the mayor at the top – The Boss.

City Bosses:

Bosses provided services in exchange for kickbacks.

The machine helped immigrants get jobs and places to live in exchange for their votes.

Political Machines used fraud and graft (illegal use of political influence for personal gain) to get re-elected and to gain personal wealth.

Ex: Boss Tweed of New York:William Tweed of New York City became the head of Tammany Hall, NYC’s Democratic machine (1868) and got wealthy from kickbacks, etc.

Tweed Ring

Patronage

Politicians gave patronage (giving govt jobs to people who helped them get elected). Like Jackson’s spoils system.

Many govt officials were not qualified for their jobs.

Thomas Nast, the cartoonist, helped turn the public against Tweed and finally brought his downfall in 1871.

Boss Tweed

Presidential reform of the political system.

1876, Pres. Hayes tried to reform the patronage system.

Stalwarts – opposed changes in the patronage systemMugwumps – wanted civil service reformHalf-Breeds – wanted reform but were loyal to their party

Garfield became president in 1880; his v.pres. was a Stalwart. Garfield gave jobs to reformers.

Garfield was shot July 2, 1881, by a Stalwart (died in Sept.)

Arthur became pres. (1881) and turned to reform.

Pendleton Civil Service Act, 1883 – authorized a civil service commission to make appointments to federal jobs based on a candidate’s performance on exams (merit system).

As gov’t officials improved, an alliance grew between politics and business leading to the question of protective tariffs.

Businesses wanted a high tariff to protect their goods.

Reformers wanted a lower tariff to help competition.

Presidential ActionPres. Cleveland (1885) tried to lower the tariff, but failed.Cleveland didn’t think the gov’t needed lots of $. He didn’t want the gov’t to take care of the people, he believed people should take care of themselves

Pres. Benjamin Harrison (1888) defeated Cleveland in the next election with help from big business.

He passed the McKinley Tariff Act, 1890, raising the tariff.

Cleveland (1892) was reelected after Harrison and tried to lower the tariff again.

Then, after him, Pres. McKinley(1896) raised the tariff.

Chapter 8

Life at the Turn of the 20th CenturySegregation and Discrimination

Objectives:

To analyze significant turn-of-the century trends in such areas as technology, education, and mass culture.

Urban Planning

Skyscrapers – built because of limited space

Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright – leading architects

Early Sky Scrapers

Louis Sullivan’s Wainwright Bldg.

St. Louis, Missouri

Burnham’s Flatiron Building

New York City

First slender tower

Frederick Law Olmsted – landscape designer - led movement for planned urban parks. He designed Boston’s Emerald Necklace parks.

Central Park in New York was a haven from busy city life.

New Technologies:

1. Printing revolution – use of wood pulp to make cheaper paper led to more newspapers and higher literacy rates

2. Orville and Wilbur Wright – first successful air flight lasted for 12 seconds. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Turn of the Century Public Education:

School 12-16 weeks per year

Ages 8-14

Strict discipline, physical punishment

By late 1880’s, kindergartens began to be popular

By early 1900’s, high schools offered variety in courses, including sciences, social studies, & vocational courses.

A-Am. mostly attended private high schools with no help from the gov’t.

Not until late 1940’s did education become available to majority of A-Am.

Even immigrants were more encouraged to go to school.

Only a small number of students attended colleges and universities, but between 1880-1920, numbers quadrupled.

Education affected culture:

As education improved, people’s culture improved. Art galleries, libraries, and museums opened.

At least one art gallery in every major city.

Important Am. artists: Thomas Eakins and Robert Henri emphasized social realism.

The Ashcan School of art portrayed urban poverty and everyday life.

Public libraries called “poor man’s universities” opened.

Realism also affected literature.

Writers:

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Theodore Dreiser

Willa Cather

Stephen Crane

Jack London

“Dime novels” were popular novels that glorified the West.

Many people didn’t want to read realism.

African-Ams were excluded from libraries and art museums, and basically all other cultural events.

Rise of Mass Culture:

Middle class Americans shared cultural activities by the late 1800’s – called mass culture.

Mass Culture 2

Amusement parks opened = Coney Island in NYC.

Bicycling and tennis became popular sports, even for women.

New snacks became common such as Coca Cola and Hershey’s chocolate bars.

Spectator sports

Spectator sports rose in popularity. (boxing and baseball)

Baseball – 1869 – first professional team called Cincinnati Red Stockings

1876 – National Baseball League and 1900 –American Baseball League

1903 – first World Series

Negro National League was formed in 1920

There were also many other new forms of entertainment.

Vaudeville theatre formed. These were performances including songs, dancing, juggling, slapstick comedy, chorus lines, etc. became popular.

The circus of Barnum and Bailey hosted the “Greatest Show on Earth”, 1871.

The first one-reel movie, 1903. An 8-10 minute silent feature called “The Great Train Robbery” debuted in 5 cent theatres called nickelodeons.

Ragtime music blended A-Am. spirituals and European music forms, originated in the south.

Scott Joplin’s ragtime compositions made him famous in the early 1900’s.

Ragtime paved the way for jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll.

Joplin

Newspapers

o Mass production and circulation of newspapers rose.

o U.S. newspapers used sensational headlines to sell papers

o Joseph Pulitzer started the first Sunday newspaper edition, first comics, first sports coverage, and first women’s news page.

His newspaper was the New York World.

Randolph Hearst

Joseph Pulitzer

“Yellow Journalism”.

William Randolph Hearst – Pulitzer’s biggest competitor, published scandals and exaggerated stories of sensational events that became known as sensationalism or “yellow journalism”.

Newspapers also advertised new kinds of shopping.

Marshall Field’s in Chicago was the first department store.

Chain stores such as Woolworth’s opened. Sold cheap goods…nickel and dime store.

Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck brought retail to small towns through catalogs.

By 1896, the Post Office developed RFD – rural free delivery to every home.

Despite this new prosperity, social reform was needed...

Segregation and Discrimination at the Turn of the CenturyChapter 8

Objectives: 1. To trace the race relations

at the turn of the century

2. To describe the est. of segregation and discrimination

at the turn of the century

Segregation

By the 1900’s, the South had adopted a system of legal discrimination and segregation.

African-Am. fought back through the use of education.

African-Am. universities opened – Howard, Atlanta and Fisk Universities.

Booker T.

WashingtonBooker T. Washington – believed racism would end when blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society.

Started Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama.

W.E.B. DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois opposed BTW, he believed blacks should seek a liberal arts education just like whites and should get rights now.

He led a movement called the Niagara Movement.

He joined with whites to leadthe NAACP (National AssociationFor the Advancement of Colored People)., 1909

Voting restrictions

All Southern states imposed voting restrictions.

Poll taxLiteracy testsTo help the poor and uneducated whites, a grandfather clause was added to make anyone who voted before 1867 eligible. (before slaves could vote legally)

The Supreme Court upheld these restrictions.

Southern states segregated public and private facilities.

Jim Crow Laws

These laws of separation became known as Jim Crow laws.

(after an old minstrel song that ended in Jump, Jim Crow).

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Plessy vs. Ferguson – S.C. case to test the constitutionality of segregation, 1896. It ruled that separation of races in public accommodations was legal and did not violate the 14th Amendment as long as the accommodations were equal.

This legalized separation lasted for about 60 years.

Segregation Images

Racism in the U.S.

Racial etiquette was expected.

Severe punishment resulted, including lynching.

1882-1892 – 1,400 African-Am. men and women were shot, burned or hanged without a trial. Lynching cont. into the 20th century.

Discrimination

There was discrimination in the North as well.

Mexicans were also discriminated.

Many were forced into debt peonage – a system that bound laborers into slavery in order to work off a debt to an employer.

1911 – debt peonage was declared illegal.