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Immigrtation Photos Lesson

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4 views

Immigrtation Photos Lesson

Uploaded by

jmael2014
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Immigrant Experience

Back in their home countries, immigrants viewed America as


the land of opportunity, where they can make better lives for
themselves. They may have pictured something like this…
But when they got here, many experienced
something like this… (photo of immigrants
living in a New York slum by Jacob Riis,
author of How the Other Half Lives)
A closer look…
Essential question:
• In what ways was the America immigrants experienced so different
from the America they pictured when they decided to come here? In
what ways did it meet their expectations?
Immigrants arriving in New York, 1903
• This ship, the S.S. Batvia, arrived in NYC in 1903 carrying more than 2,500
immigrants, a US record at the time. (Boat was the only method of emigration
from Europe during this time period).
Ellis Island
• The busiest immigration center in US History
• Located in New York/ New Jersey Harbor
• In use 1892-1954
• It has been estimated that close to 40 percent of all current U.S. citizens
can trace at least one of their ancestors to Ellis Island.
• More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island during its
active years
• Major groups included German, Italian, English, Irish, Jewish, Greek,
French, Scandanavian, Polish, etc
• One of many immigration stations in major port cities in America
Angel Island
• At Angel Island in San Francisco, immigrants from China, Japan, and
India arrived between 1910 and 1940
• Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which forbid Chinese laborers
from coming to the US, Angel Island rejected far more people than
Ellis Island (around 18% of all immigrants)
Health inspection on Angel Island
And when Immigrants make it out of
their centers into America…
Slums and tenements
• Immigrants in big cities (where most jobs were) usually found it difficult to find housing,
because of financial issues and often times anti-immigrant sentiments in communities,
who made great efforts to keep certain ethnic groups out
• The solution was to live in places where mainstream Americans refused to. Tenements
were cramped, hot, low rise apartment buildings that housed immigrants in big cities
(most famously New York).
• For those immigrants that couldn’t afford tenement housing, the only other option were
slums, living often under garbage dumps, in shacks in alley ways, cellars, even subway
tunnels.
• Because of the overcrowding of tenements and slums, disease was a major issue, and
cholera, tuberculosis, and yellow fever spread quickly
• Trash was often dumped in the streets, and sewer systems often failed in the poorer
neighborhoods. Crime, prostitution, and alcoholism were major issues.
• Immigrants used to rural life in their home country had trouble adjusting to life in the city
Italian immigrant in slum
Left side: Right side:

Left side of the room: write from the perspective of someone aboard that ship, writing to a friend living in America saying that you’ve decided to
come join them. Explain why you left your home country (pick one) and what you’re expecting to experience in America.

Right side: write from the perspective of someone in the Jacob Riis photo, writing back to a friend still in your home country. Talk about how you
were greeted when you arrived in America, what you’ve experienced, and whether or not America has lived up to your expectations.

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