IMMIGRATION AND NATIVISM The Gilded Age 91713 Looking

IMMIGRATION AND NATIVISM The Gilded Age 9/17/13

“Looking Backward: They would close to the new-comer the bridge that carried them and their fathers over”

Immigration Shift in immigration around 1870 from Northern/Western Europe to Southern/Eastern Europe. Increased number of Jewish and Catholic immigrants. • Reasons for European immigration • • • US had plenty of jobs Few immigrant restrictions Avoid forced military service at home Avoid religious persecution Escape Europe’s class system Reasons for Chinese immigration • • Overpopulation, poverty, famine 1848 discovery of gold in CA; demand for workers in the mines Rebellion in China (20 million dead) Reasons for Japanese immigration • • • Building an industrial economy Building an empire caused hardships

Immigration • The Atlantic Voyage • Most traveled in steerage (cheapest) • Miserable conditions • Arrival in US • Medical exams often led to quarantine or forced return to Europe • Language and intelligence testing • Interrogation • Processing centers • Galveston Island • Ellis Island (NY) • Angel Island - the “Ellis Island of the West Coast”

Angel Island “Ellis Island of the West Coast”

Ethnic Cities • Immigrants settled in neighborhoods separated into ethnic groups • Spoke native languages • Recreated churches, synagogues, clubs, & newspapers of their homelands. • Their adjustment depended partly on: • Learning English • How well they adapted to the American culture. • Whether they had marketable skills or $$$.

Nativism • Some fearful of immigrants • Catholic immigrants might get too much power • Take low-paying jobs from Americans • Hurt union strikes • American Protective Association • Workingman’s Party of California • Reaction to racial violence • Wanted to stop immigration • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 • Barred Chinese immigration for 10 yrs • Kept Chinese in US from becoming citizens

Americanization • American Indian children were taken away from their homes and raised in boarding schools to become “Americanized” • Immigrants – schools were “Americanization” centers for new immigrants to learn English and patriotism

Emma Lazarus “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. . . The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Today’s Activity • Pretend you are an immigrant to the USA. Write a journal entry reflecting on your experience at Ellis Island or Angel Island. Describe your experience including your thoughts and dreams. • • 1/2 to 1 page long Work quietly You may listen to music Due at the end of class

Main Ideas: Immigrants • Sometimes separated from family members, detained for health or legal reasons, or deported before entering the US • Threat of poverty due to competition for jobs and living space • Immigrants often crowded into city tenements or moved westward in search of opportunities. • Skilled immigrants used their trade skills to establish businesses of their own. • Sweatshops - home factory-like operations where skilled and unskilled laborers worked in poor conditions • Immigrant Optimism is typically based on the idea that each generation will do better in life than the one that preceded it (pursuit of the American Dream)

Main Ideas: Nativism and Assimilation • Nativists: individuals opposed to the new waves of immigrants • Nativism was based on competition for resources (jobs, living spaces) which created tension and division between racial and ethnic groups • Some minority groups faced exclusion from employment or housing • The Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United States • Passed in response to nativist sentiment • Immigrants were encouraged to assimilate into American culture • Public schools played a large role in the assimilation of immigrants.