Migrating for opportunities
Immigration
Reasons for migration
•Religious
•Education
•Money
•New start
•Opportunities
•Instant wealth
•Freedom
•Equality
•Chance to improve theirlives
•1865-1920: 30 millionadditional peopleentered the country
• Immigrants’ life before they wereimmigrants
- Probably didn’t own land
-Sharecroppers
-Pogroms (Russia) violent massacres of Jews
-Could not take part in the government
-Probably could not move through social ranks
Coming to America
•Crossing the Ocean
–Steamships shortenedtrip to one week
–Steerage – large openarea beneath ship’s deck
•Physical Exams
–Disease – could bedeported
•Later on Literacy test
•Then off to find theirrelatives if they had any
70% of immigrants came through NY
•“Golden Door”
Inside Ellis Island
Settling down
•Often sought to live in communitiesestablished by previous settlers from theirhomeland
•Some urban neighborhoods became ghettos
•Restrictive covenants
–Agreements among homeowners not to sell realestate to certain groups of people
Expanding cities
•Brought explosive growth to the nation’surban center
•1880-1910 population on farms fell from 72 to54 percent
•Subways and skyscrapers
•Smog and slums
•Suburbs – residential communitiessurrounding cities
Slums
•Poverty, overcrowding,neglect
•Fire constant danger
•Open sewers
•Lack of good ventilationhelped disease tospread
Asians
•Chinese and Japaneseformed two largestgroups
•Chinese worked onrailroads
•Japanese
–Migrated from Hawaii
–Most settled in LosAngeles
–Produced large % offruits and vegetables
–Prejudice
Mexicans
•Farmland
•Hired to work land
•Helped construct railroads
–Southern Pacific
–Santa Fe
Result of Immigration
•Political Machines
–Unofficial cityorganization designed tokeep a particular partyor group in power
•Political Boss
–Handpicked others torun for office and thenhelped them win
–William Marcy Tweed
•Most notorious
•Peddled bills and stolemoney
