Chapter 15 Urban America

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Chapter 15Urban America

• Section 1
• Immigration

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Europeans Flood Into the U.S.

• By the 1890s, eastern and southern Europeans made
  up more than half of all immigrants.
• Of the 14 million, many were European Jews.
• America offered immigrants
• Employment
• Few immigrant restrictions
• Avoidance of military service
• Religious freedom
• Chance to move up the social ladder

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The Atlantic Voyage

• Most immigrants took the difficult trip to the
  U.S. in steerage, the least expensive
  accommodations on a steamship.
• Normally took 14 days and ended at Ellis Island,
  the processing center on the East coast after
  1892.

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Ellis Island - 1910
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The Atlantic Voyage

• Most passed through Ellis Island in a day.
• Some faced possible separation from family and
  deportation due to health problems.

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Ethnic Cities

• Most immigrants settled in cities.
• Neighborhoods were separated into ethnic groups.
• They duplicated many of the comforts of their
  homelands, including language and religion.

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Asian Immigration to America

• Factors in the increase in Asian immigration
• Severe unemployment, poverty, and famine in
  China.
• Discovery of gold in California
• The Taiping Rebellion in China
• Demand for RR workers in the U.S.

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Asian Immigration to America

• In Western cities, Chinese immigrants worked as
• Laborers
• Servants
• Skilled tradesmen
• Merchants
• Some opened their own laundries

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Asian Immigration to America

• B/w 1900 1919, Japanese immigration to the U.S.
  drastically increased as Japan began to build an
  industrial economy and empire.

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Angel Island
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Asian Immigration to the U.S.

• 1910 barracks opened on Angel Island in
  California.
• Asian immigrants, mostly young men and boys,
  waited sometimes for months for the results of
  immigration hearings.

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The Resurgence of Nativism

• The increase in immigration led to nativism, an
  extreme dislike for foreigners by native-born
  people and the desire to limit immigration.
• 1840s 1850s nativism was directed toward the
  Irish.
• Early 1900s, it was the Asian, Jews, and eastern
  Europeans.

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The Resurgence of Nativism

• Nativism led to the formation of 2
  anti-immigration groups
• The American Protective Association
• Workingmans Party of California

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American Protective Association

• 500,000 members by 1887.
• Henry Bowers founder
• Disliked Catholics and foreigners.
• Wanted to stop immigration.

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Workingmans Party of California

• Denis Kearny, an Irish immigrant, organized the
  party.
• They wanted to stop Chinese immigration.
• Racial violence resulted
• Party won seats in CA legislature and made
  Chinese immigration a national issue.

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Impact of the Anti-Immigration Movement

• 1882 Congress passed Chinese Exclusion Act.
• Barred Chinese immigrants for 10 years
  prevented Chinese already in America from
  becoming citizens.
• Act renewed in 1892, made permanent in 1902.
• Repealed in 1943.

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End of Section 1

• Next Section 2
• Urbanization