Immigration Gateway
This immigration station, opened in 1892 in New York Harbor, was the primary entry point for millions of European immigrants.
What is Ellis Island
Before the Civil War, most immigrants to the U.S came from the Northern and Western European countries like these three.
Germany, Ireland, and England
The first sustained trade union organization in the U.S. was formed by this group of skilled artisans in Philadelphia in 1794.
Who were the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers)?
One of the earliest tactics used by unions to protest wage reductions, first recorded in 1768 by New York journeymen tailors.
What is a strike (or work stoppage)?
During the Industrial Age, the majority of Americans shifted from being self-employed farmers to this new economic status.
What are wage earners (or industrial laborers)?
In contrast to the East Coast, this island in the San Francisco Bay was the main processing center for immigrants from Asian countries, who often faced extended detention and scrutiny.
What is Angel Island
During the "great wave" of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the majority of newcomers came from these two regions of Europe.
Southern and Eastern Europe
The labor movement grew out of the need to protect the common interests of workers in areas like wages, hours, and this crucial aspect of daily work life.
What are safer working conditions?
This process, where union representatives negotiate with employers for better wages and conditions, was a key focus for the AFL.
What is collective bargaining?
This term describes the multi-story buildings divided into small, cramped apartments where many working-class immigrant families lived.
What are tenements?
Immigrants arriving at both Ellis and Angel Islands often traveled across the ocean in this crowded, inexpensive, and often unsanitary part of the ship.
What is steerage?
Driven by factors like famine, job shortages, and political unrest in their home countries, immigrants were primarily drawn to the U.S. by the promise of this.
jobs/economic opportunity
Founded in 1869, this early national union sought to include all workers, skilled or unskilled, along industry-wide lines.
What is the Knights of Labor (KOL)?
Employers often used these tactics to fight back against unions: hiring private security like the Pinkertons, creating lists of "troublemakers," and forcing workers to sign anti-union contracts. Name one of these tactics.
What is a lockout, blacklist, or yellow-dog contract?
Factory work dramatically changed family life. The work pace was often faster, hours were longer, and this new form of "discipline" was enforced by managers.
What is industrial discipline or working set hours?
Due to restrictive legislation like the Chinese Exclusion Act, immigrants processed at Angel Island faced a much higher rate of this compared to those at Ellis Island.
What is denial or deportation?
This term describes the social process where different cultures, religions, and ethnicities blend into a new, single American identity, though the reality was often more complex.
melting pot
Founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886, this powerful organization focused on skilled workers only and pursued practical goals like collective bargaining.
What is the American Federation of Labor (AFL)?
Beyond immediate workplace demands, the labor movement also advocated for broader social reforms, such as an end to this exploitative practice involving young people.
What is child labor?
While some benefited from the industrial boom, the prosperity of the "Gilded Age" largely did not extend to workers who received low wages and had no access to these two key benefits.
What are health benefits/insurance and retirement plans?
Often the first sight for immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, this iconic structure became a global symbol of freedom and opportunity.
What is the Statue of Liberty?
Immigrant labor was a key driver of the U.S. economy. Places that received median levels of immigration saw a 57% average increase in this economic metric by 1930.
manufacturing output per capita
The AFL became the dominant labor force in the U.S. and eventually peaked at this many members.
What is 4 million members?
Anti-immigrant prejudice and racial bias were sometimes intentionally fostered by employers using this cynical strategy to weaken worker unity.
What is hiring one-half of the working class to kill/undermine the other half, or fostering division among workers (e.g., using Chinese labor to replace striking miners)?
Industrialization meant tasks were broken into small, repetitive steps, allowing employers to hire large numbers of these types of workers.
What are unskilled or semiskilled workers?