During the first half of the 20th century, the U.S. saw rapid urban growth driven by industrialization and immigration, leading to the creation of jobs in cities. Immigrants, particularly from Europe, were often met with discrimination and faced challenges integrating into American culture, prompting anti-immigration sentiments. Labor unions emerged to protect workers against competition from low-skilled immigrant labor, while the melting pot theory suggested that diverse cultures would blend to create a new American society.

1. What population changes occurred in the
U.S. during the first half of the 20th Century?

2. Continued and rapid growth of
cities

3. Why did immigrants settle in
urban areas?

4. Rapid industrialization created
many job opportunities

5. Use of children in workforce in
early 1900’s?

6. Paid 2$ a week

7. Urbanization

8. Movement of people to the cities
for factory jobs

9. Who wrote How the other Half
Lives, and what was it about?

10. Jacob Riis wrote book focused on the living
conditions of residents of urban slums

11. Europeans who came to U.S. between
1889-1920 have been described as
new immigrants because

12. Came generally from different countries
than most earlier immigrants

13. Chinese Exclusion Act

14. Wanted to prevent a policy of unlimited
immigration from occurring in the U.S.

15. Why did early 1900 Immigrants to
the U.S. have an advantage over
immigrants of today?

16. They found that unskilled jobs
were more available

17. Why do people immigrate to the
U.S.?

18. Is a result of circumstances abroad as
well as in the U.S. Push and Pull factors

19. Melting Pot Theory

20. A new and different society would
emerge from the blending of cultures.

21. Why were few restrictions placed
on immigrants early on?

22. A steady demand for cheap labor
existed

23. What problems did immigrants
face?

24. Frequently discriminated against

25. Why such an anti-immigration
movement in U.S.?

26. 1. Immigrants competed with native born Americans for
jobs 2. many refused to assimilate into American Culture
3. Spoke different languages and had different customs

27. Nativism

28. Discrimination against immigrants by Americans
who can trace their ancestry back for
generations

29. Why were Labor Unions created?

30. Protect the American worker from the flood of
low, unskilled, ignorant, foreign workers who are
pouring into the country

31. Quote on the Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired,
your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free….What would this person be in favor of?

32. Unrestricted Immigration