The condition of the cities during the 20th century, were terrible. Due to the extreme amount of people coming to cities looking for work they were crammed. There was limited housing causing people to live on the street. The streets were filled with waste and nastiness due to people not disposing of garbage and human waste properly. Also, garbage was not picked up off the streets often, nor were the streets cleaned. This made the odor bad as well as a health risk. Private monopolies in utility companies were created. This resulted in a law to regulate the rate a utility company could charge. The cities did not have safe water or sewer systems. Not only were the living conditions bad, but working conditions were just as bad if not worse. The …show more content…
This made population rise significantly due to the overwhelming number of immigrants. These immigrants also tried to enter the workforce. This made many citizens of the country mad. This is what started immigrant restriction. Citizens started forming restriction groups as well as placing restrictions on who could be in their union. For example, the American Federation of Labor was concerned that immigrants would try and take their jobs, so they supported a restriction be placed on immigrants. Congress tried to pass a law requiring immigrants to take a literary test to be able to work but this was vetoed. Other citizens that were anti-immigrant tried to control the reproduction of immigrants. Immigrants often lived in ghettos or slums with other immigrants. Just like the other living conditions these were unsanitary and crammed. Immigrants often had the worst living conditions, second to living on the street. They were in not great parts of town and the neighborhoods were not made to house the amount of people living there. This helps to provide a support system for them. Immigrants had to rely on each other. People living in cities during the 20th century did not live a life that you would want to live. The streets were full of human waste and garbage, making diseases and illnesses easily attainable. The working conditions were not good either. It was common for workers to end up injured or sick due to the factories that
The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families.
In the 19th century we have seen the rise of the industrial revolution, this led to the construction of urban cities and urban life. Many immigrants were seen migrating to the United States in search of jobs opportunities and a better life. Most of the immigrants were Europeans. All the people working together in industries were of different cultures and were supposed to live in the same urban communities. Kasson writes that, they would not talk to each other and a sense of racial tension could be seen in the urban cities.
The homes lacked stability or any regard for sanitation, which lead to disease and harm to the dwellers. Document 11 describes the industrial towns as, “[unpaved streets], full of holes, filthy and strewn with refuse” and Document 10 elaborates by stating, “that the annual loss of life from filth and bad ventilation are greater than the loss from death or wounds in any wars”. The poor construction and sanitation stems from the need to quickly build the homes to quickly house the workers. Through urbanization, resulting from the Industrial Revolution, the towns became overpopulated at exhausting rates and only worsened the issues at hand. Had the industry not boomed so quickly, there would have been ample opportunity to ensure safe and clean living conditions, which in turn would have resulted in less death and disease to the
They were denied education and never got an opportunity in their life. These reform movements were necessary as they sought to expand democratic ideals so the people being oppressed were given a chance in life. Immigrants started coming to America during the 1800's for many different reasons. Some came for the American Dream, such as the Germans. While others came because of disease, such as the Irish.
As a result citizens sold the few things they owned and migrated. Chicago offered job opportunities there was a variety of factories, but racial inequality was experienced. Although there was an outnumber employment opportunities blacks were underpaid in comparison to whites. They were also prohibited from entering certain jobs. As a result brought about the lack of bus drivers, and sales clerks all due to the segregation.
This collective anger at immigrants manifested in a widespread public outcry for a fix to the immigration system, leading to the introduction of the quota
Although their religions may not have been directly prejudiced against, the immigrants’ values were often challenged by American ones. Many of these cultural values differed in an economic manner, as most immigrants were not prepared for the American mindset of getting ahead in business. Other distinctions between these cultures applied to the treatment of immigrants. Many nativist Americans regarded the immigrants with disdain and were not interested in giving them equal rights, whereas those who shared similar cultures often banded together in order to cope with these injustices.
Emma Lazarus’s poem suggests that America welcomed “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Doc. C) and Document A suggests that America shielded newcomers from anti-immigrant slander; however, the American government was alarmed at the large rates of immigration and also regarded foreigners as burdens. The government passed legislation that severely restricted the numbers of immigrants and made immigration exclusive to certain ethnic groups. In the Emergency Immigration Act, as referenced in Document J, the American government prohibited the numbers of incoming immigrants from exceeding 3% of the total immigrants of that nationality currently in America. To further discourage immigration, the government also required literacy tests, as Document I illustrates, for entry to America. Also, the American government viewed certain immigrant groups deemed as undesirable.
Those two cities were London and Paris. By the end of the 19th century, several cities had a population over a million people. Those cities included New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Berlin, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Buenos Aires, and Osaka. In “Edison Newsreels: San Francisco Earthquake aftermath”, it showed big groups of people, overly crowed, on the streets of San Francisco. Cars were trying to weave through all these groups.
The treatment of immigrants was very hostile. In America there were immigrants who were German Americans, Italian Americans and Japanese Americans whom U.S. official considered dangerous, hostile, and enemies. Many living in the United States were second and older generation Germans, Italians and so forth. Those who fought in World War 2 were seen as friendly. But part of those who stayed home were seen to a degree suspicious.
As the immigrants poured in and took jobs wherever they could find, finding a job became much harder. American citizens became infuriated that the immigrants were taking their jobs. This issue also stems back to racism as the main reason they were upset was that a minority was taking jobs. The American citizens feared that they would in essence be replaced by the immigrants. It almost became an every man for himself situation.
Immigration in the past few decades have grown within the world as many are fleeing their own countries for others, by both legal and illegal means. However, with such a large influx of immigrants, this has put a notable strain on the receiving countries. Thus raising the question of what can be done and what to do with those who have illegally entered the country. In the United States the issue of illegal immigration and immigrants has progressively worsened, splitting the citizen’s opinion between either allowing them to stay or deporting every illegal within the country. On November 20, 2014 President Obama gave a speech to answer such questions with his immigration reform.
Impact of race/ethnicity, gender, and class on immigrants The early 20th century was the time of economic development in Canada which attracted immigrants to fill the spaces for almost exclusively labour intensive jobs. Most of the immigrants were of eastern European descent but some from Asian countries such as China. However due to the Anglo-Canadian tradition and values, some immigrants were regarded highly over others and, as a result, some were impacted more by discrimination compared to others. The economic growth of Canada during the early 20th century invited immigrants into the public sphere, however, the collective project of negative nation building led to the creation of an environment of hostility towards the immigrants in the
In the early 19th century, millions of immigrants from Europe had traveled to the United States to escape difficulties faced in their native lands such as poverty and religious persecution. Italian, German, Irish, and many other eastern European immigrants sought the prosperous and wealthy lifestyle advertised in the land of opportunity, the United States. However, after settling down they often faced the difficulties they had fled from as well as sentiments of prejudice and mistrust from the American people. Most immigrants were discriminated against due to their religious beliefs as well as their language barriers which fostered the beliefs that they were intellectually inferior to Americans.
During the 1840s-1850s Americans saw a huge increase in the number of immigrants arriving in America, and this only lead to white American citizens fearing them during that period. There was fear for many reasons, the main reason being Americans feared that immigrants would steal their jobs. Namely these jobs were in New York city and other large coastal