THE HUDDLED MASSES IMMIGRATION

Prof. Michael Stafford

Mercy College

IMMIGRATION AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history. Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted

The Statue of Liberty

Facts on Lady Liberty

The tallest metal statue ever constructed. It stands at 151 feet high and weighs 225 tons. The statue originally symbolized American freedom and antislavery. The statue was a gift from French Republicans trying to advance their cause. $100,000 for construction was donated by the American poor. Over time the symbolic meaning has been transformed from the opposition to slavery to a lady of hope for immigrants and refugees.

Emma Lazarus
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses Written in 1883 to help raise money for the statue. Re-discovered in a Manhattan bookstore. Placed on the pedestal in 1903. Emma was an American Jew born in N.Y.C. in 1849. In 1881, anti-Semitism swept across Russia. Emma devoted herself to aiding the refugees. The final sum for construction came from the auction of literary works. The New Colossus sold for $1,500. Emma died of cancer in 1887 at the age of 38.

Birds of Passage
Many of the immigrants who arrived in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries intended to return home. A good job, save money, work all time, go home, sleep, no spend. 1907-1911 73/100 Italians returned home. For the rest of Southern and Eastern Europe 44/100 returned home. Most Jewish immigrants intended to stay in America due to persecution in their home countries.

Italian immigrants traveling in steerage:

All us poor people had to go down through a hole to the bottom of the ship. There was a big dark room down there with rows of wooden shelves all around where we were going to sleepthe Italian, the German, the Polish, the Swede, the Frenchevery kindThe girls and women and the men had to sleep all together in the same room. The men and girls had to sleep even in the same bed with only those little half-boards up between to keep us from rolling together.

I CAME TO AMERICA BECAUSE I HEARD THE STREETS WERE PAVED WITH GOLD. WHEN I GOT HERE I FOUND OUT THREE THINGS. FIRST, THE STREETS WERE NOT PAVED WITH GOLD. SECOND, THEY WERENT PAVED AT ALL. AND THIRD, I WAS EXPECTED TO PAVE THEM.

MARY ANTIN: BEING JEWISH IN RUSSIA

It was not easy to live (in the Pale), with such bitter competition as the congestion of population made inevitableOutside the Pale a Jew could only go to certain designated localities, on payment of prohibitive fees, augmented by a constant stream of bribes; and even then he lived at the mercy of the local chief of police.

Somebody would start up that lie about murdering Christian children, and the stupid peasants would get mad about it, and fill themselves with vodka, and set out to kill the Jews. They attacked them with knives and clubs and scythes and axes, killed or tortured them, and burned their houses. This was called a pogrom. People who saw such things never smiled any more, no matter how long they lived.

MARY ANTIN: LETTERS FROM FATHER

There was an elation, a hint of triumph, such as had never been in my fathers letters before. I cannot tell how I knew it. I felt a stirring, a straining in my fathers letter. It was there, even though my mother stumbled over the strange words, even though she cried, as women will when somebody is going away. My father was inspired by a vision. He saw somethinghe promised us something. It was this America. And America became my dream.

Brochure distributed in Norway by a steamship company, encouraging Norwegians to emigrate to America

Ellis Island, established in 1890

Italian Harlem, early 20th century

TOOLS OF AMERICANIZATION
American language, clothing and customs. The public schools. The settlement houses.

Immigrants gathered at Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago

Recollections of a Settlement House

They used to tell us that its not nice to drink beer, and we must not let the baby do this, and thisSo after we had about an hour, or an hour and a half of the preaching, they would pull up the circle and wed play games together. All together we played the gamesthe Norwegian, the German, the English, and me. Then wed have some cake and coffee and the goodnight song. Pretty soon they started the classes to teach us poor people to talk and write in English. The talk of the people in the settlement house was different entirely than what I used to hear. I used to love those American people, and I was listening and listening how they talked. Thats how I learned to talk such good EnglishThey had the clubs for the children too. And after a few years when they started the kindergarten, my Louie was one of the first children to go in

PRESSURE TO AMERICANIZE
Unkind and cruel methods sometimes used in connection with our so-called Americanization program. Forget your native land Forget your mother tongue Do away with your inherited customs Either become an American citizen or get out

Chinese Exclusion Act

First U.S. law to ban immigration by race or nationality From 1882 to 1943 most Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the country Federal law prohibited Chinese residents from becoming citizens Human smuggling of Chinese became popular because of the need for labor on the West Coast The Geary Act of 1892 required Chinese aliens a residence certificate at all times upon penalty of deportation

Angel Island
Ellis Island of the West Used as a detention center for Chinese and Japanese Immigrants Immigration officials asked immigrants insulting and personal questions to find any reason to deport families Under U.S. law in effect from 1882 to 1943, the Chinese wives of resident alien laborers could not join them in this country

Japanese Immigrants
Overpopulation and Poverty led many Japanese to leave home Intense racial prejudice met them in the U.S. California imposed limits on land ownership by Japanese Newspaper headlines like The Yellow Peril: How Japanese Crowd out the White Race Japanese children faced segregation in schools: Oriental Schools Japanese government protests to Pres. Theodore Roosevelt led to a gentlemens agreement to limit Japanese emigration

Contract Labor
High demand for labor in the 19th century Indentured Servitude laborers served under a contract to pay the cost of passage credit ticket system a broker advanced the cost of passage and workers repaid the loan plus interest out of their earnings Beginning in the 1840s over 400,000 migrated to the U.S. under these systems Between 1885 and 1924 about the same number of Japanese migrated to the U.S. under these systems The United States passed legislation hindering the migration of Asian women

Immigration Restrictions
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the U.S. imposed additional restrictions on immigration Restricted laborers in 1885, illiterates in 1917, Asian immigrants in 1917 Other acts restricted criminals, immoral people, people suffering from disease and paupers 1907 Japan and America agreed that Japanese wives can migrate but limited the number of overall Japanese migrants 1917 the U.S. barred all Asians except for Filipinos Immigration Act of 1924 placed a numerical cap on European immigrants 1965 the U.S. adopted a new immigration law ending the quota system

Migration and Diseases

Migration has been the cause of disease germs to spread around the world The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 Along with migration comes the fear of disease 1892 Typhus epidemic 1881-1896 Cholera epidemic and quarantine 1900 and the Bubonic Plague 1924 Pneumonia outbreak 1980s and the risk of AIDS

Health Inspection on Ellis Island

Why Do People Migrate?

Some scholars emphasize individual decision-making. Some emphasize structural forces. 1) What advantages individuals hope to obtain by migrating? Increased opportunity? Higher standard of living? Escape from social turmoil? 2) Focus on family needs. Many kin groups receive remittances. 3) The broad social, political and economics encourage migration. Transportation, communication or income differentials between more advanced and less advanced areas.

Why Do People Migrate?

Why Do People Migrate?

Who Migrates?
Migrants usually share certain social characteristics, including sex, age, marital status, occupation, and ethnic background. Migration often takes place during a particular stage of life adolescence or early adulthood. They are less tradition- bound, more restless, or more aspiring.

Effects of Migration on Homeland

Migration entails the loss of people with certain characteristics age, sex, social attitudes, education, religion, ethnicity, and income. Disproportionate number of young males migrate which tends to reduce a communitys population growth. Brain Drain a loss of societys most educated and highly skilled members to wealthier countries.

The Changing Face of the United States

One in ten U.S. residents was born in another country. The number of Hispanics in the U.S. has triples and the number of Asians has increased eight-fold. 80% of immigrants are either Latin American or Asian. The U.S. has become the first truly multi-racial advanced industrial society. Three-quarters of all immigrants live in six states: California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Native-born Americans are leaving the Big Cities and are being replaced by immigrants. The South has the fewest foreign immigrants. Work is the greatest magnet for immigrants. Each wave of immigrants spark anti-immigrant sentiment. Many fear that newcomers make use of services like welfare more than natives.

Costs and Benefits of Immigration

Critics
Immigrants take jobs away from native-born Americans Immigrants depress wages Immigrants make greater use of public services Immigrants of today are lesseducated and less-skilled than those that preceded them Restricting immigration would open up job opportunities for Americans

Proponents
Immigrants contribute to living standards Low-wage immigrant workers make it cheaper to buy goods and services Immigrants assume less desirable jobs Immigrants are not simply producers but consumers as well Immigrants are attracted to areas of high economic growth and labor shortages therefore they have little effect on wages or unemployment rate

Pre and Post Recession

The End