Industrialization and Progressivism (1877-1920)

Immigration and Migration

Figure 1 An aerial view of Ellis Island, which served as a primary U.S. immigration port from 1892 to 1954.

Content Statement #10

Immigration, internal migration and urbanization transformed American life.

Content Elaboration

Mass immigration at the turn of the 20th century made the country more diverse and transformed American life. Effects of mass immigration included:

Ø filling a demand for workers;

Ø diffusion of ethnic traits into American culture;

Ø impacting the growth of cities; and

Ø increased nativist sentiment.

Internal migration contributed to the growth of urban areas. Many people left their farms for the cities seeking greater job opportunities.

The Great Migration was the mass movement of African Americans who fled the rural South for the urban North. They sought to escape discrimination and secure better-paying jobs. The Great Migration helped transform northern cities economically (e.g., as workers and consumers) and culturally (e.g., art, music, and literature).

Urbanization transformed the physical nature of cities, including:

Ø buildings becoming taller and tenement buildings providing housing for working families;

Ø increased crime, disease, overcrowding, poor living conditions, and lack of sanitation services;

Ø the emergence of ethnic neighborhoods;

Ø improvements in public transportation; and

Ø a growing middle class that could easily commute for employment and leisure activities.

Section A
Mass Immigration Figure 2 Ellis Island, New York Line Inspection of Arriving Immigrants (1923)
1)	Early 19^th century: Immigration Ø No policies on immigration Ø Few immigration restrictions Ø Workers needed
2)	Late 19^th century: Immigration Ø Nativism: restriction in immigration Ø Restricted Asian immigration
3)	1850 – 1930 Ø Most immigrants came from central and southern Europe

Let’s Practice

Click below to watch a video and complete activities on Immigration.

Section B
Migration, Immigration, and Emigration Figure 3 Lined up waiting for the medical examination, 1912
4)	Migration Ø Movement of people with a region or country Ø Example: “Great Migration” was a massive movement of African Americans from the southern United States into the northern United States
5)	Immigration Ø Movement of people into a country Ø Both the early- and late-1800s are notable for the large numbers of immigrants coming into the U.S. from Europe and from Asia.
6)	Emigration Ø Movement of people out of the country Ø Going to a new country Ø Example: Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s

Let’s Practice

Click below to play a game called Immigration Nation.

Section C
The Great Migration Figure 4 African American Family from the rural South arriving in Chicago, 1922
7)	Ø Movement of African Americans out of the South o Early 20^th century o 90% of African Americans lived in the southern states o During the Reconstruction Era, some African Americans began to leave the South
8)	Ø Why the shift in population? o African Americans in World War I § Discrimination in the United States in the South o New job opportunities in the North § Chicago, Detroit, New York City § Industrial jobs § Rural to an urban population § New and better economic opportunities
9)	Ø Challenges o Discrimination in new areas § Housing o Riots against African Americans o Slowed in the Great Depression but o Increased in the 1940s-1960s

Let’s Practice

Click below to view an interactive map on The Great Migration.

Section D
Urbanization Figure 5 Mulberry Street in New York City, 1900
10)	Ø Americans increasingly moved into cities over the course of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a movement motivated in no small measure by industrialization.
11)	Ø Eleven million people migrated from rural to urban areas between 1870 and 1920, and a majority of the twenty-five million immigrants who came to the United States in these same years moved into the nation’s cities.
12)	Ø By 1920, more Americans lived in cities than in rural areas for the first time in US history.
13)	Ø The movement of populations from rural to urban areas is called urbanization.
14)	Ø The wealthy lived in urban mansions while the poor crowded into tenement houses, apartment buildings with tiny rooms, no ventilation, and poor sanitation.
15)	Ø At the turn of the twentieth century, New York City was the national capital of finance, industry, shipping and trade, publishing, the arts, and immigration, a magnet that drew to it much of the best and most avant-garde in art and literature.

Let’s Practice

Click below to read an article on the Mapping Gilded Age New York