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THE NATURE OF, AND RESPONSE TO IMMIGRATION IN THE 1920S. - Coggle Diagram
THE NATURE OF, AND RESPONSE TO IMMIGRATION IN THE 1920S.
RESPONSE OF 'OLD AMERICANS' (WASPs) TO 'NEW' IMMIGRANTS.
Thought that Catholic and Jewish immigrants threatened national values e.g. Russian Jews might bring in communism.
Immigrant willingness to accept lower pay/conditions contributed to unemployment for American-born workers, which angered them.
Old Americans resented the impact of immigrants on urban life.
IMPACT OF IMMIGRANTS ON URBAN LIFE
Immigrants were concentrated in slums in big cities because:
Cheap accommodation
the presence of others of their own national origin.
1920s - 1/3 Chicago's population was foreign-born.
Slums/ghettos has more violent crime, drunkenness, and prostitution. Therefore immigrants were blamed for urban problems such as disease or crime.
Old Americans thought places such as little Italy were unamerican.
INCREASED OPPOSITION TO IMMIGRANTS AFTER 1917
WW1 generated a desire for less contact with Europeans
Brief Post-war depression created resentment of immigrants as competitors for jobs.
Events such as the First Red Scare, Russian Revolution and immigrant participation in strikes, created fears that immigrants would bring unamerican ideals to the country (e.g. communism).
Sacco and Vanzetti:
charged with murder and robbery in the middle of the red scare
some people think they were punished for their ethnic background and anarchist beliefs
RESTRICTIONS ON IMMIGRATION
1921 Emergency Immigration Act - cut immigration to 350,000 per year.
1924 Johnson-Reed Immigration Act cut immigration to 150,000 per year, and banned the Japanese
1920s immigration favoured Northern and Western Europeans.
Immigration from the Western Hemisphere such as Mexico was not restricted. It remained unlimited because California farmers wanted cheap Mexican labour to pick their crops.
Living and working conditions for these Mexican workers were very poor:
no running water
poverty
illiteracy
low pay
Treated as inferior
The 1920s Immigration policies dominated US Immigration policy until 1964. Few criticised these immigration restrictions.