HIST-H 106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Trachoma, Tuberculosis, Hull House
Moving to the City
A new national economy with large corporations drove the expansion of urban areas. IN bustling
cities the dream of free men working the land gave way to one of struggling families looking for
work as growing industries demanded a continuous supply of labor. The result was a massive
movement of immigrants and black migrants into the urban North and the emergence of ethnic
and racial tensions.
Immigrants
● Over 20 million immigrants, 1880-1920
● 1920: 15% of USA
● 2008: 12.5% of USA
● 2015: 13.7% of USA
Ellis Island and Angel Island
● Entering US: medical inspections
● Public Health Officials inspected newcomers as they arrives
○ Reject those with Infectious Disease such as Trachoma (eye infection could
spread), Tuberculosis, Venereal Disease
● Often marked clothes with a letter: “S” meant suspected “senility”; “X” meant suspected
insanity
● A small % often denied entry/ could split families
● Chinese rejected more than other Asian groups
Mexicans After 1910
● Mexican Civil War of 1920 drives many emigrants to US, mostly in agriculture in
southwest
● Mexican labor recruited to Chicago packing houses and East Chicago, IN steel mills
Chinese Exclusion and Efforts to Take Their Valuable Land for Development (1906)
● Only law ever excluding someone by race was Chinese Exclusion, 1882
● But not enforced completely so many continue to come
● Repealed in WWII when China is ally
European Immigrants to Cities
● Era of Heavy European: Italians, Irish, Jews, Germans
● Why leave the homeland?
○ Expanding number of unskilled jobs in America (demand for cheap labor in mills,
factories)
○ Overpopulation/ less land in rural Europe/ young people can’t inherit family farms
○ Decline of craft industries/ displaced workers due to factory production
Networks of Migration
● Immigrants established networks of families and friends
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Document Summary
A new national economy with large corporations drove the expansion of urban areas. In bustling cities the dream of free men working the land gave way to one of struggling families looking for work as growing industries demanded a continuous supply of labor. The result was a massive movement of immigrants and black migrants into the urban north and the emergence of ethnic and racial tensions. Public health officials inspected newcomers as they arrives. Reject those with infectious disease such as trachoma (eye infection could spread), tuberculosis, venereal disease. Often marked clothes with a letter: s meant suspected senility ; x meant suspected insanity. A small % often denied entry/ could split families. Chinese rejected more than other asian groups. Mexican civil war of 1920 drives many emigrants to us, mostly in agriculture in southwest. Mexican labor recruited to chicago packing houses and east chicago, in steel mills. Chinese exclusion and efforts to take their valuable land for development (1906)
