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The immigrants arriving in America during the late 19h and early 20th century mostly flocked to the cities, despite the rural backgrounds of many. New York was the the major city where immigrants flocked, but other important cities included Boston, Chicago, Philadelphias, and others of the mortheast and mid-west. Because they tended to seek out family and friends, there was a curious clustering of specific nationalites in certain cities. Many were illiterate and arrived in America with little or no momey. They commonly moved into areas where others from the same country lived. Here they lived in tenments that were built in areas of the inner city to accomodate the huge number of immigranys arriving. The tenaments were crowded and often filthy. Large families crowded into small apartments. Health care and nutrition were limited as the available money first went to pay the rent. Tennaments were fire traps. Fire escapes were built which because of the cramped conditions came to be used as estra rooms, especially during the hot summer weather.
The immigrants arriving in America during the late 19h and early 20th century mostly flocked to the cities, despite the rural backgrounds of many. New York was the the major city where immigrants flocked, but other important cities included Boston, Chicago, Philadelphias, and others of the mortheast and mid-west. Because they tended to seek out family and friends, there was a curious clustering of specific nationalites in certain cities. Many were illiterate and arrived in America with little or no momey. They commonly moved into areas where others from the same country lived.
Immigrants arriving in large cities lived in tenments that were built in areas of the inner city to accomodate the huge number of immigranys arriving. The tenaments were crowded and often filthy. Large families crowded into small apartments. Health care and nutrition were limited as the available money first went to pay the rent. Tennaments were fire traps. Fire escapes were built which because of the cramped conditions came to be used as estra rooms, especially during the hot summer weather.
Immigrant school experience varied depending on when they arrived in America. America in the early 19th century was just beginning to create a pubic school system. Each state developed their own laws and school regulations. By the end of the 19th century there were mandatory attendance laws and the ages weregradually raised in the early 20th century. The schools played a najor role in aculturating immigrant children. The schools also conducted rudimentary health checks. Mass eduvation was a new experience for immigrant families. Families coming from Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Russia often came from experiences where there was either little opportunity to go to school or where authorities actively discouraged school attendance.
Immigrant children in the mid-19th century, especially the Irish often had little opportunity to go to school. Many began working from an early age. This gradually changed. Many states by the late 19th century had mandatory school attendance laws. Only after the Progressive movement promoted chuld labor laws were they enacted in the early 20th century. Some immigrant families encouraged children to study and go the school as much as fmily. Jewish families were especilly concerned with the education of their children. Many immigrant families were so desperate for money that the children had to work. Many children worked by selling newspapers or shining shoes. Some children did piece work with their siblings and prents at home. Other children got jobs in mines and factories. Immigrant children were much more likely to get these jobs than native-born children. Here gender was a factor as was the work found by their parents.
Immigrants during the 19th century had little assistance when they arrived in America. The fortunate had family connections. Some ethnic groups, especially the Jews, organized groups to assist immiigrants. Political parties especially the Democrats organized efforts to attract the support of immigrants by helping them find jobs. For the most part 19th century immigrants, however, were on their own. Social reformers concerned about the poverty in urban America began to promote a variety of government and private charity efforts in the late 19th century. One of the most successful of these efforts were the settlement houses. The settle house was conceived by Jane Addams who began to work as a social reformer in the 1880s. Her idea was to acquire a large old house and convert into facilities that could assist immigrants. These facilities included classrooms, a shelter, and a refuge. Adam's first settle house--Hull House becamee the prototype for thousands of settlement houses established in cities throughout the United States.
Photographs like this taken by social reformers in the early 20th century illustrate the living conditions faced by the immigrants when they arrived in America. They are realistic images and very graphic depictions of their lives in America. But often unaddressed is what their lives were like in Europe before they came to America. We have some images from Europe. We see a Hamburg tenament and workers' families about 1900. Many immigrants, however, came from rural areas. What is often missed is tht as bad as comditions were in the American urban tenaments, they were often an improvement over the conditions they came from in Europe.
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