The New Immigrants

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The New Immigrants

• Note
• Chapter 7 Section 1

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I.) Why Leave?

• Reason Immigrants come to America
• 1. Lured by promise of better life
• 2. Escape difficult conditions at home
• a. Famine
• b. Land Shortages
• 3. Escape religious/political persecution
• 4. Jobs supposedly plentiful in America
• 5. Come to earn money then go back
• (Bird of Passage)

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II.) Came from where?

• European Immigrants
• 1. English, Irish, German, Scandinavian,
  Italian, Russian, and Polish
• Asian Immigrants
• 1. Chinese and Japanese
• West Indies and Mexico
• 1. Mexican, Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Rico

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III.) The Journey to America

• Traveled by steamship to America
• 1. trip across Atlantic took 1 week
• 2. trip across Pacific took 3 weeks
• Traveled in Steerage or the cheapest
  accommodations in a ships cargo hold
• Conditions

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IV.) Ellis Island

• Ellis Island immigration station in New York
  Harbor which decided whether or not immigrants
  would be admitted to America
• 17 million immigrants passed through
• 1. Had to pass a physical health exam
• 2. Had to pass a government inspectors test
• a. able to work?
• b. have some money?
• c. never been convicted of a felony?

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V.) Angel Island

• Angel Island immigration station in the San
  Francisco Bay which decided whether or not
  immigrants would be admitted to America
• Between 1910-1940 50,000 Chinese enter U.S.
• 1. much more harsh
• 2. longer decision time

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VI.) So Your IN! Now What?

• Challenges Faced by Immigrants
• 1. find a place to live
• 2. find a job
• 3. understand language
• 4. understand culture
• Coping with new life
• 1. create ethnic communities

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VII.) Immigration Restrictions

• Native born Americans saw country as a Melting
  Pot
• Most immigrants did not give up old culture
• Outcome as immigrants numbers increased
  anti-immigrant feelings emerge

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• Nativism favoritism toward native-born Americans
• 1. anti-immigration groups begin to form
• - Immigration Restriction League
• - American Protective Association
• 2. demand for immigration restrictions grow

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• 1897 Congress pass law requiring literacy test
  for immigrants (President Cleveland veto's)
• 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act law passed by
  Congress which banned Chinese immigrants for a
  period of 10 years (few exceptions)
• 1906 San Fransico Board of Ed. Segregate Japanese
  school children
• Outcome Gentlemans Agreement Japan will limit
  immigration if segregation repealed