History 1BB3: America and the World: The Twentieth Century

Dr. Stephen M. Streeter

McMaster University, Winter 2002

 

Immigration and Nativism in the 1920s

slides (html)
slides (pdf)

I. Immigration Demography

Old World immigration before and after 1896
"push-pull" factors
Ellis Island
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Robert Hunter, Poverty (1904)

II. Impact of Immigration on America

population growth
shaped American ideology
altered voting patterns
shaped urbanization
diversified culture

III. Nativist Reaction

nativism
Republican Party
Ku Klux Klan
Immigration Restriction League
American Protective Association
Immigration Restriction Act of 1921
Immigration Restriction Act of 1924
Chinese Exclusion Act

Further Reading

Return to Class Schedule