Immigration Push & Pull
What is a pull factor?
Features that attract people to a new place to live.
What was the Great Hall at Ellis Island used for during the immigration process?
The Great Hall was where immigrants waited, answered questions, and underwent initial processing/inspections.
What is nativism?
Nativism is prejudice favoring native-born citizens and opposing immigrants.
What is a tenement?
A tenement is a crowded, often poorly built apartment housing for working-class families in cities.
True or False: Older immigrants found it harder to assimilate into American Society.
True, many older immigrants found it difficult and would take longer to assimilate in comparison to their children.
What is a push factor?
Push factors are conditions that drive people from their homeland; example: famine (e.g., Irish Potato Famine) or persecution (e.g., Jewish pogroms).
How many questions would inspectors ask immigrants during the interviewing process?
29
What is the Foran Act?
Foran Act (1885) made it illegal to import contract laborers; prevented employers from bringing in foreign workers who could undercut U.S. labor and strike efforts.
Define a political boss
Political boss = local leader who controlled city politics and patronage
What jobs were Chinese immigrants typically doing?
Many worked on railroads or mined for gold.
What is one U.S. region that attracted farming immigrants?
Midwest/Great Plains (homestead opportunities).
What would often happen to immigrant names once they arrived to Ellis Island?
They were often shortened or "Americanized."
How did nativism influence immigration policy?
It led to restrictive laws and social discrimination.
What are settlement houses?
Community centers in poor urban areas that provided services for low-income families and newly arrived immigrants.
What does "assimilation" mean in the context of immigration?
Assimilation = adopting language, customs, institutions of the host country
What is one common economic push factor for immigrants leaving their country?
Economic push: poverty or job loss (example: displacement in home country).
Describe conditions in steerage during transatlantic voyages.
Crowded, unsanitary, noisy, little privacy, very basic food and bedding.
In 1914, Congress passed a law that required what?
Literacy tests and quotas.
Name one service political machines/bosses provided to immigrant communities.
Finding jobs, housing, or helping with paperwork and legal issues.
What was the main tool for immigrants to assimilate into American society?
Education.
Religious persecution, civil war/unrest in home country.
Give one possible reason why some immigrants were detained or denied entry at Ellis Island.
Suspected contagious illness; inability to prove financial support or identity; criminal history or other legal inadmissibility.
Explain the significance of the Chinese Exclusion Act on immigration from China.
The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) banned Chinese labor immigration, sharply reducing Chinese arrivals and institutionalizing race-based immigration restrictions.
Explain why many immigrants ended up living in tenements and working in crowded urban jobs.
Low wages, limited resources, and proximity to industrial jobs made cheap tenement housing near factories the most practical option.
Name two common challenges immigrants faced immediately after arrival in U.S. cities.
Language barriers and low-paying, unsafe jobs; crowded housing and discrimination.