IMMIGRATION AND URBANIZATION CHAPTER 5 SECTION 1 THE

IMMIGRATION AND URBANIZATION CHAPTER 5

SECTION 1: THE NEW IMMIGRANTS

THE NEW IMMIGRANTS • Immigration is a central theme in America • Between 1870 and 1900 foreign-born population doubled • Immigrants and Americans adopted parts of each others cultures

NEW IMMIGRANTS COME TO AMERICA • Economic opportunity and religious freedom drew many new immigrants • • • Family units Farms / family/friends Money Educated Skilled • “New” Immigrants – from southern and eastern Europe arrived in greater numbers until WWI

IMMIGRANTS DECIDE TO LEAVE HOME • Push Factors – things that compel people to leave their homes / famine, war, or persecution • Pull Factors – things that draw people to a new place / economic opportunity or religious freedom (worship and vote without fear of persecution) • Chain Immigrants – joining family or friends who have already settled in America

THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE • Themes: tough decision to leave home and family, hard and costly journey, uncertain end, new language and culture • The Long Journey • Brought only what they could carry (make a list) • Steerage – the worst accommodations of the ship

IMMIGRANTS ARRIVE AT AMERICAN PORTS • To enter immigrants must show that they were healthy, had money, a skill or sponsor • Ellis Island – island in New York that served as an immigration station for millions (video) • Classes 1 st, 2 nd, and then… 3 rd class passengers • Primary Source (pg. 131) • Angel Island – immigrant processing station that opened in San Francisco Bay in 1910 (serving mainly immigrants from China and other Asian nations)

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN AMERICA • Assimilation into society • Americanization – programs to assist newcomers with English, dress, and diet • Most newcomers stayed in cities close to people who shared their native tongue, religion, and culture • “Melting Pot” – white people of all different nationalities blended to create a single culture

NEW IMMIGRANTS FACE HOSTILITY • Nativism – a belief that native-born white Americans were superior to newcomers • Many workers worried that immigrants would work for lower pay • Chinese Exclusion Act – was passed by Congress because of extreme hostility toward Chinese laborers • Limited civil rights • Could not go back to China to “visit”

NEW IMMIGRANTS FACE HOSTILITY CONT. • Congress passed an act that limited newcomers if they were criminals, immoral, or a pauper and likely needing public assistance • Law bared handicapped and poor

IMMIGRANTS CHANGE AMERICA • Fueled industrial growth, acquired citizenship, elected politicians, and made their traditions part of America

CITIES EXPAND CHANGE SECTION 2

AMERICA BECOMES A NATION OF CITIES • Urbanization – the number of cities and people living in them increased dramatically • Rural-to-Urban-Migrants – moved to cities from farms (what changed? ) • Cities offered Advantages: • Manufacturing and transportation centers • Women’s Opportunities: factory work boarding, piecework, servants, teachers, and secretaries • Cities offered churches, theaters, social clubs, and museums

TECHNOLOGY IMPROVES CITY LIFE • City growth put demands on water, sewers, schools, and safety • Building Skyward • Skyscrapers ten-story and taller buildings with steel frames • Elisha Otis – developed a “safety” elevator that would not fall if the lifting rope broke • Central heating

ELECTRICITY POWERS URBAN TRANSIT • Mass Transit – public systems that could carry large numbers of people fairly inexpensively

CITY PLANNERS CONTROL GROWTH • City planners began to think about functionality and beautification • Zoning designated certain areas of the city for a particular use (i. e. homes, merchants, factories) • Frederick Law Olmsted – landscape engineer who designed Fairmount Park and Central Park

URBAN LIVING CREATES PROBLEMS • Growing cites faced overcrowding, and poverty, New York’s Lower East Side had more than 700 people per acre. • 62 square feet

HOUSING CONDITIONS DETERIORATE • Tenements – low-cost multifamily housing designed to squeeze in as many families as possible. (Primary Source – “Go into any of the ‘respectable’ tenement neighborhoods…you shall come away agreeing [that]… life there does not seem worth living… [T]he airshaft… seems always so busy letting out foul stenches… that it has no time to earn it name by bringing down fresh air…”)

WATER AND SANITATION POSE RISKS • City planners began to understand the problems and benefits of proper sanitation. Water was “piped” from reservoirs, and company's began to compete for distribution contracts.

FIRE, CRIME, AND CONFLICT • Fire was an ever present threat to cities • Crime gave rise to professional uniformed city police

SKYSCRAPERS • (read pg. 143)

SECTION 3: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TRENDS

AMERICANS BECOME CONSUMERS • Gilded Age – the new lifestyle that middle-class Americans adopted during this period –shopping, sports, and reading • Conspicuous Consumerism – people wanted and bought the many new products on the market • Advertising attract customers • Higher standards of living

MASS CULTURE • Mass Culture – household gadgets, toys, and preferences were often the same from house to house • Joseph Pulitzer – published the Evening World and placed advertisements in the pages • William Randolph Hearst – Morning Journal (sensational styles of journalism) • Literature and the Arts Flourished • Horatio Alger – wrote about characters who succeeded by hard work

NEW FORMS OF POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT • • Time and Money!!! Clubs, music halls, and sports venues Amusement Parks Outdoor Events Sports