Immigrants in America-Culture-Mishael Theis

Nearly 25 million Europeans came to America in between 1865 and 1914. Many came to for jobs and a hope of a better life, some other reasons were high food prices, unwanted military force, and religious persecution. In Europe, social classes were still in place, while in the United States it was much easier to climb the social ladder because it is a democracy. After 1892, immigrants came to the United States through Ellis Island, where they would be checked for medical conditions. If they failed the medical inspection, they could be separated and sent back to their original country.

In 1850, the Taiping Rebellion began in China. This caused a lot of Chinese to begin leaving the overpopulated country. When the Central Pacific Railraod began being built in the 1860s, the Chinese began migrating even more for the available jobs. Japanese people started immigrating in small numbers, but the numbers skyrocketed between 1900 and 1910. After 1910, California (the immigrants arrived at San Francisco) created Angel Island as a holding area for the immigrants as they awaited their immigration hearing. Before this, they stayed in a two-story shed on the San Francisco wharf, this shed could only around 500 people.

                                   

 Ellis Island

Asian immigrants being inspected at Angel Island