Section 6-1

Immigration

Through the “Golden Door”

• What were these immigrants trying to escape?

-famine

-land shortages

-religious or political persecution

Through the “Golden Door”

• Europeans:– Between 1870-1920 around 20 million arrived

in the U.S.– Escaping religious persecution, land

shortages, and rising population.

Through the “Golden Door”

• Chinese and Japanese:-Between 1851-1883 300,000

Chinese arrived.-Seeking fortune (California Gold

Rush-1848).-200,000 Japanese lived on the West

Coast by 1920.-Annexation of Hawaii in 1898

increased Japanese immigration.

Through the “Golden Door”

• West Indies and Mexico:

-Between 1880-1920 about 260,000 arrived from the West Indies.

-They were seeking jobs.

-About 700,000 came from Mexico between 1910-1930.

-They were seeking jobs and escaping political turmoil.

Through the “Golden Door”

• Steerage- The cheapest accommodations on a steamship. Most immigrants booked passage in steerage. Very bad conditions.

Life in the New Land

• Ellis Island- Immigration station in New York Harbor. From 1892 to 1924 it was the chief immigration station in the U.S. An estimated 17 million immigrants passed through it between this time.

Life in the New Land

• Angel Island- Immigration station in San Francisco Bay. Between 1910 and 1940 about 50,000 Chinese immigrants entered through Angel Island.

Immigration Restrictions

• Melting Pot- mixture of people of different cultures and races who blended together by abandoning their native languages and customs.

• Nativism- overt favoritism toward native born Americans.

• Chinese Exclusion Act- Banned entry to all Chinese except students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials.

• Gentlemen’s Agreement- Japan’s government agreed to limit immigration of unskilled workers to U.S. in exchange for the repeal of the San Francisco segregation order.