Between the 1880s and 1900s, millions of new immigrants arrived in the United States from southern and eastern Europe, fleeing poverty, persecution, and seeking opportunities. They faced difficult journeys and were processed through immigration centers like Ellis Island upon arrival. The new immigrants largely settled in cities and took on unskilled jobs, living in overcrowded tenement housing. As cities grew rapidly, urban infrastructure expanded through skyscrapers, subways, and parks to accommodate the large populations. However, this also led to problems like unsanitary living conditions that reformers worked to improve through legislation, investigative journalism, and social programs.

1. Immigration and
Urban Life
Chapter 20

2. Section 1:
A New Wave of Immigrants
• Demographic of Immigrants coming to America in the
mid-1800s:
 Northern Europeans
 Protestant
 Many are skilled workers (or become farmers)
• By the late 1800s, this people group is known as the ‘old
immigrants’

3. The new immigrants
• 5 millions immigrants come to the U.S. in the
1880s
• Mostly from southern and eastern Europe
• They left because…
 Religious and political persecution
 Job opportunities

4. Arriving in a New Land
• Most traveled in steerage (hot, foul-smelling,
seasickness)
• Once on land, they were processed by
government immigration centers:
 Chinese thru Angel Island (San
Francisco)
 Europeans thru Ellis Island (New York
City)
 Mexicans thru El Paso, Texas

5. Ellis Island

6. Ellis Island
The Registry Room

7. Ellis Island –
Registry Room

8. Adjusting to a New Life
• Immigrant neighborhoods -
What are the advantages and
disadvantages?
• Key Terms:
 Benevolent societies
 tenements

9. Finding Work in America
• Many immigrants had been farmers. Since they could
not afford land in America, they stayed in cities and
found jobs in manufacturing
• They became unskilled workers
• Sweatshops – workplaces with long hours and hot,
unhealthy working conditions

10. Opposition to Immigration
• How did citizens react to the
wave of immigration?
 Some business owners were
happy (low-wage workers!)
 BUT there was a general
feeling of animosity
• Nativists want laws to stop or
limit immigration
 Chinese Exclusion Act

11. Section 2: The Growth of Cities
• By 1900, 40% of the
U.S. lives in cities
 New immigrants
 Rural families
 African Americans
from the south

12. How Cities Changed
• Cities had to change to make room for
their new residents
• Questions city planners had to answer…
 Where will all of the new residents
live?
 How will they move about the city?

13. Building Skyscrapers
• The strength of steel  buildings rise higher than 5
stories
• Builders can use city space more efficiently
• Elisha Otis invents the safety elevator

14. Getting Around Town
• Mass Transit : public
transportation designed to move
many people
 In the 1860s, elevated trains (the
El) run on tracks above the
streets
 1897– the first subway opens in
Boston
• Suburbs grow

15. Sharing Ideas
• Mass Culture – leisure and cultural activities shared by
many people
+ Growth in publishing (newspapers, books)
+ Department Stores (giant retail shops) form
+ The World Fairs
+ Parks designed (Frederick Law Olmsted)

16. Department Stores

17. The World Fair

18. Design & Frederick Law Olmsted

19. Section 3: City Life
How would you react if you saw this on the news?

20. Urban Problems
• Affordable housing
was difficult to find, so
the poor squeezed
into tiny, unsafe
tenements

22. What helped improve city life?
• Many city governments…
 Improved their sewage and water systems
 Hired full-time firefighters and police officers
• Journalist/photographers, like Jacob Riis, and
reformers/activists, like Lawrence Veiller. exposed the
terrible conditions
• Laws like the 1901 New York State Tenement House
Act require housing to be built with basic amenities

23. What helped improve city life?
• Private organizations set up settlement
houses
 Neighborhood Guild (Lower East Side in
NYC)
 Jane Addams’ Hull House, where
reformer Florence Kelley and others
studied and worked to find solutions to
urban problems

25. Chapter 20 Review
Big Idea #1:
A new wave of immigration
in the late 1800s brought
large numbers of immigrants
to the United States
Key Terms
 Old immigrants
 New immigrants
 Steerage
 Benevolent societies
 Tenements
 Sweatshops
 Chinese Exclusion Act

26. Chapter 20 Review
Big Idea #2:
American cities
experienced dramatic
expansion and change in
the late 1800s
Key Terms
 Mass transit
 Suburbs
 Mass culture
 Joseph Pulitzer
 William Randolph Hearst
 Department stores
 Frederick Law Olmsted

27. Chapter 20 Review
Big Idea #3:
The rapid growth of cities
in the late 1800s created
both challenges and
opportunities
Key Terms
 Jacob Riis
 Settlement houses
 Jane Addams
 Hull House
 Florence Kelley