Immigration to the USA

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Immigration to the USA
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Aims

• Identify the main groups who arrived in the USA
  between 1870 and 1920.
• Examine the difference between Old and New
  immigrants.

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Old and New
Old and New Immigrants

• The first wave of immigrants arrived from
  Britain, Ireland, Germany and other northern
  European countries from the mid 1800s to late
  1800s. These were called Old Immigrants
• The second wave came from countries in Southern
  and Eastern Europe such as Italy, Poland and
  Russia and were known as New Immigrants

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Growing Tension
Growing Tensions

• Overall, the population of America was increasing
  dramatically in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
• In 1870 the US population was 40 million by 1920
  this had risen to 106 million.
• This increase in population led to competition
  for jobs and houses.
• The lack of integration between different groups
  led to tensions between old and new
  immigrants.

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Tasks

• Copy down the heading Where the Immigrants Came
  From?.
• Complete Activities 1-3 on pages 16-17.
• Complete Activities 1-2 on page 18.
• Complete Activities 1-2 on page 19.
• Extension Effects of Immigration. Activities
  1-4 on page 20.

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The Roaring Twenties

• America in the 1920s seemed like an exciting and
  modern country.
• Skyscrapers were built, radio and cinema spread
  new forms of music and dance to a mass audience.
• It was a period of great social change and
  modernisation.

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Times Sure Do Change
It was also a period of liberation for women who
could vote, work and enjoy more freedom
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Prohibition

• Prohibition From January 1920 the sale and
  consumption of alcohol was banned throughout the
  USA.
• Illegal bars called speakeasies appeared, alcohol
  was imported or manufactured illegally.

Bootlegging
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St Valentines Day Massacre

• It was also a time when violent gangsters got
  away with murder.
• Police and government took bribes.
• The most famous gangster was Al Capone.

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American Dream

• None the less many people were driven by poverty,
  and persecution to leave their own countries to
  go to America in the hope of living the American
  Dream.
• Immigrants travelled to America in the hope they
  would find a better standard of living, get a
  better job and give a better start in life to
  their children.
• No matter what your background was you could make
  a fresh start in America and if you worked hard
  you would be successful.

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Effects of Immigration

• Aims
• Examine the divisions which existed between the
  different groups who had emigrated to the USA.

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Old and New
Old and New Immigrants

• The first wave of immigrants arrived from
  Britain, Ireland, Germany and other northern
  European countries from the mid 1800s to late
  1800s. These were called Old Immigrants
• The second wave came from countries in Southern
  and Eastern Europe such as Italy, Poland and
  Russia and were known as New Immigrants

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Effects of Immigration

• In 1920 the US President Wilson described the USA
  as a Melting Pot different immigrant groups
  mixed well together and became Americans.
• However other people did not believed immigrants
  mixed well together. They described America as a
  Salad Bowl immigrants became Americans but
  they still tried to keep their old cultures
  alive.
• Some people were concerned that this was causing
  growing tension between immigrants.

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The Reality of Life for Migrants

• Despite promises
• that life in
• America was
• going to be a
• huge
• improvement,
• many migrants
• faced many
• hardships.

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Effects of Immigration

• Complete Activities 1-2 on page 21 of your
  workguide.
• Write down the heading The Immigrant Experience
• Complete Activities 1-2 on page 22.

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Immigrant Tensions

• Aims
• Understand the meaning of the WASP hierarchy.
• Examine the problems faced by new immigrants
  living in the USA.

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Effects of Immigration

• Old Immigrants
• Lived in the USA for several generations.
• From countries such as Britain, Germany, Ireland.
• Saw themselves as the Founders of America.
• English speaking
• Mainly rich and wealthy
• Also known as WASPs

• New Immigrants
• Spoke little English
• Stayed with relatives or friends from their old
  country
• From countries such as Italy, Poland, Russia.
• Rarely mixed with other groups

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WASPs

• White Anglo Saxon Protestant
• Old immigrants were usually WASPs.
• They were some of the most successful people in
  America.
• They thought they were better than everyone else.
• This contributed to the ignorance and prejudice
  between groups.

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Source A is from a letter to the Boston News in
1910.

• We created this nation by our sweat and blood.
• We made this country a Protestant nation. We
• came from countries in Europe that shared an
• Anglo Saxon tradition of hard work. Now we
• must suffer the arrival of the dirty, unwashed
• crowds from lazier countries. People with brown
• skins and yellow skins arrive daily. Catholics
• and Jews spread their superstitious beliefs in
  this
• Protestant country. Power in America should be
• in the hands of the WASP people who made it
• great.

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The WASP Hierarchy
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WASPs

• Copy down the diagram of the WASP hierarchy.
• Complete Activities 1-3 on page 24.
• Copy down the heading Different Ethnic Groups.
  
• Complete Activities 1-3 on page 26.

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Growing Tension

• Mexicans
• Moved North from Mexico to escape poverty and
  war.
• Many were Catholic and had a coloured skin.
• Orientals
• Came from Asian countries e.g. China, Japan.
• Many found work building the railways.
• They were regarded as yellow people.

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Growing Tension

• Red Indians
• Original inhabitants of the USA. Now called
  Native Americans.
• By the 1900s they had been defeated in wars with
  the US Government.
• Allocated land known as reservation.
• Blacks
• At the bottom of society. Until the middle of
  the 1850s most had been slaves.
• Largest minority group - mainly concentrated in
  Southern states.
• Discriminated in schools, workplace and legally.

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Slums and Immigrants

• Many immigrants crowded into the growing cities.
• New York was the city most immigrants poured into
  after coming into the USA at Ellis Island.
• Slums quickly developed in overcrowded cities.
• People lived in terrible conditions where disease
  spread easily and crime rates for high.
• Many new immigrants settled next to family or
  friends from their old countries areas such as
  Little Italy.

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• Activities
• Read pages 27-28 from your workguide.
• Complete questions 1-5 from pages 28-29.