Population Migration 8 5 7 Population Migration Ariel

Population Migration 8 -5. 7

Population Migration Ariel view of Pickens Mill village • Much of the white population was pulled from rural areas to urban areas in SC with the establishment of mill villages • Prior to the Civil War, Southerners were moving west in search of new land as their cotton crops depleted (removed nutrients from) the soil.

Population Migration • Settlers were drawn to the West by: – Free land (the Homestead Act) – The transcontinental railroad’s aggressive advertising & land sales – Access to new markets for farming An advertisement for the transcontinental railroad. • New towns grew along its routes creating more urban areas

Population Migration • SC’s African-American freedmen & poor whites lacked the money to move west • Instead they concentrated on making use of the available land economic opportunity in their own state. Woman in South Carolina standing near a bee hive circa 1900.

Population Migration • Some African Americans were drawn to opportunities for jobs in factories that were not open to them in the mills of SC • Moved from rural areas in SC to urban areas in the Northeast and the Midwest. Many African Americans moved to Northern cities such as this family who were headed to Chicago.

Population Migration Exodusters in Kansas • African Americans were also pushed out of the state by: – The continued agricultural depression – The ravages of the boll weevil – Social discrimination of Jim Crow laws – Increasing violence • Some African Americans moved to towns in the West such as the Exodusters who moved to Kansas.

Population Migration • Large numbers of immigrants stayed away from SC because of the depressed economic conditions in agriculture, the lack of available land, and the lack of industrial jobs. • The mills had plenty of transplanted farmers from the rural areas of the state & had little need for immigrant labor. • Immigration had a much greater impact on the cities of the Northeast and Midwest. Factory workers in New York

Population Migration • The immigrants who did come to the state made significant cultural and economic contributions to South Carolina. • Many immigrants established businesses Ambrose Gonzales and his brother, William, were the founders and editors of The State newspaper. • Including the founder & editor of The State newspaper – Who was an immigrant from Cuba

Population Migration • Although Some immigrants moved to the plains & established farms, many immigrants were too poor to move beyond the port cities where they landed. • Ethnic neighborhoods grew as immigrants looked for the familiar in a strange new land • Churches, schools, businesses and newspapers reflected the ethnicity of Little Italy, Greektown or Polonia. • South Carolina city neighborhoods were divided by race into black and white sections (by law), not by nationality. Little Italy, Manhattan NY

Population Migration • Just as the immigrant communities helped each other… – The African American community in South Carolina developed organizations and churches that supported them as they attempted to protect themselves against the white political machine. • Reflecting the pre-Civil War hostilities against the Germans and Irish of the Up Country, racial hostility led to restrictions on immigration. Graph of immigrants’ country of origin by population.

Population Migration • Some people who helped immigrants had hidden agenda in politics. – Immigrants voted for those who found them jobs & helped them through hard times – This is how city bosses controlled immigrant votes. Immigrants’ first sight of America.

Population Migration A Harper’s Weekly illustration in which Boss Tweed challenges people to oppose him. • Even though some bosses used their power to solve important urban problems, abuses still occurred • The political machine in SC’s were the Tillmanites – They were involved in corruption and controlled the votes of the people through disfranchisement of the African American voter and racist rhetoric.

Population Migration • Northern resentment against the immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe • In an attempt to restrict immigration, literacy tests for immigrants were proposed in Congress in the 1890 s – Immigration restrictions in the form of a quota system passed in the 1920 s – Nativism-favoring the interests of established inhabitants over those of immigrants An anti-immigration political cartoon showing a hardworking American’s food being stolen by an immigrant gypsy.