Immigration andUrban LifeChapter 20
Section 1: A New Wave of Immigrants
• Demographic of Immigrants coming to America in the mid-1800s:
Northern Europeans
Protestant
Many are skilled workers (or become farmers)
• By the late 1800s, this people group is known as the ‘old immigrants’
The new immigrants
• 5 millions immigrants come to the U.S. in the 1880s
• Mostly from southern and eastern Europe
• They left because…
Religious and political persecution
Job opportunities
Arriving in a New Land• Most traveled in steerage (hot, foul-
smelling, seasickness)
• Once on land, they were processed by government immigration centers:
Chinese thru Angel Island (San Francisco)
Europeans thru Ellis Island (New York City)
Mexicans thru El Paso, Texas
Ellis Island
Ellis Island
The Registry Room
Ellis Island –Registry Room
Adjusting to a New Life
• Immigrant neighborhoods -What are the advantages and disadvantages?
• Key Terms:
Benevolent societies
tenements
Finding Work in America
• Many immigrants had been farmers. Since they could not afford land in America, they stayed in cities and found jobs in manufacturing
• They became unskilled workers
• Sweatshops – workplaces with long hours and hot, unhealthy working conditions
Opposition to Immigration
• How did citizens react to the wave of immigration?
Some business owners were happy (low-wage workers!)
BUT there was a general feeling of animosity
• Nativists want laws to stop or limit immigration
Chinese Exclusion Act
Section 2: The Growth of Cities
• By 1900, 40% of the U.S. lives in cities
New immigrants
Rural families
African Americans from the south
How Cities Changed
• Cities had to change to make room for their new residents
• Questions city planners had to answer…
Where will all of the new residents live?
How will they move about the city?
Building Skyscrapers
• The strength of steel buildings rise higher than 5 stories
• Builders can use city space more efficiently
• Elisha Otis invents the safety elevator
Getting Around Town• Mass Transit : public transportation designed to move many people
In the 1860s, elevated trains (the El) run on tracks above the streets
1897– the first subway opens in Boston
• Suburbs grow
Sharing Ideas
• Mass Culture – leisure and cultural activities shared by many people
+ Growth in publishing (newspapers, books)
+ Department Stores (giant retail shops) form
+ The World Fairs
+ Parks designed (Frederick Law Olmsted)
Department Stores
The World Fair
Design & Frederick Law Olmsted
Section 3: City Life
How would you react if you saw this on the news?
Urban Problems
• Affordable housing was difficult to find, so the poor squeezed into tiny, unsafe tenements
What helped improve city life?
• Many city governments…
Improved their sewage and water systems
Hired full-time firefighters and police officers
• Journalist/photographers, like Jacob Riis, and reformers/activists, like Lawrence Veiller. exposed the terrible conditions
• Laws like the 1901 New York State Tenement House Act require housing to be built with basic amenities
What helped improve city life?
• Private organizations set up settlement houses
Neighborhood Guild (Lower East Side in NYC)
Jane Addams’ Hull House, where reformer Florence Kelley and others studied and worked to find solutions to urban problems
Chapter 20 Review
Big Idea #1:
A new wave of immigration in the late 1800s brought large numbers of immigrants to the United States
Key Terms
Old immigrants
New immigrants
Steerage
Benevolent societies
Tenements
Sweatshops
Chinese Exclusion Act
Chapter 20 Review
Big Idea #2:
American cities experienced dramatic expansion and change in the late 1800s
Key Terms
Mass transit
Suburbs
Mass culture
Joseph Pulitzer
William Randolph Hearst
Department stores
Frederick Law Olmsted
Chapter 20 Review
Big Idea #3:
The rapid growth of cities in the late 1800s created both challenges and opportunities
Key Terms
Jacob Riis
Settlement houses
Jane Addams
Hull House
Florence Kelley
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