13.2 and 19.3

Trachoma

Chronic, contagious form of conjunctivitis that typically leads to blindness.

Settlement House

Few government programs existed to help the urban poor in the late 1800s. However, many private aid organizations assisted poor people. In addition, settlement houses-neighborhood centers in poor areas staffed by professionals and volunteers- offered education, recreation, and social activities. Settlement houses began in Great Bitain and then became common in the U.S. Janie Porter Barrett established an African American settlement house in Hampton, Virginia. The most famous settlement house was Chicagos Hull House, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889.

Tenement

Other major problems in most cities were the lack of safe housing and public services. Many people, particularly immigrants, could afford to live only in dirty, overcrowded buildings called tenements.

Benevolent Societies

Some immigrant communities formed benevolent societies, which offered help in case of death, sickness, and unemployment. At that time, there were few national government agencies to provide such aid.

African Americans

African American religious groups organized and needed urban communities. Ministers often served as both political and spiritual leaders in black neighborhoods.

Urban Development

American cities in the early and mid 1800s faced many challenges as a result of their rapid growth. Because public and private transportation was limited, many city residents lived within a short distance of their workplaces. The crowded conditions meant that poor wage workers, members of the rising middle class, and the wealthy often lived near each other. Poor city dwellers often felt that they were treated unfairly by the rich- who in turn often accused the poor of being rude and violent. Disagreements between these social classes led to increasing conflict and sometimes even led to riots. Other major problems in most large cities were the lack of safe housing and public services. Many people, particularly immigrants, could afford to live only in dirty, overcrowded buildings called tenements. Many cities did not have clean water, public health regulations, or clean ways to get rid of garbage and human waste. Diseases spread easily in these unhealthy conditions. In 1832 and 1849, for example, New York City suffered Cholera epidemics that killed thousands of people. Urban areas also became centers of criminal activity. Most cities including New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia had no permanent police force to fight crime. Instead, they used volunteer night watches, which offers little protection. Fire protection was often poor as well. Most cities were served by volunteer fire companies. Firefighters had to use hand pumps and buckets to put out fires. All of these conditions combined to make life difficult for many city residents.

Steerage

Immigrants usually faced a difficult journey to America. Most of them bought the cheapest tickets available. They traveled in steerage, an area below deck on a ships lower levels near where the steering mechanisms for the ship were located. In these cramped conditions, passengers experienced overcrowding and seasickness. Some passengers even died from disease.

Second "new" immigrants

Immigrants who had come to the United States before the 1880s were mostly from Britian, Germany, Ireland, and Scandalnavia. Most were Protestants, except for the Irish and some Germans who were Catholic. During the 1880s the number of immigrants to the United States increased dramatically. Many of these so called new immigrants came from southern and Eastern Europe. The jobs created by the second industrial Revolution attracted many people. Other groups, including Armenians and Jews, were escaping political and religious persecution. New immigrants brought cultural practices with them that were unfamiliar to many native born Americans. They also held diverse religious beliefs, such as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and Judaism.

First "old" immigrants

Immigrants who had come to the United States before the 1880s were mostly from Britian, Germany, Ireland, and Scandalnavia. Most were Protestants, except for the Irish and some Germans who were Catholic. Many of them spoke English. These people, often called old immigrants, frequently settled outside cities and became farmers.

Emigrate/ Immigrate

Immigrate is to come into new new homeland, and to emirate is to leave homeland. In the mid 1800s large numbers of immigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean to begin new lives in the U.S. More than 4 million immigrants settled in the U.S. Between 1840 and 1860, most of them from Europe. More than 3 million of these immigrants were German or Irish. Many immigrants were fleeing economic or political troubles in their native countries.

Know-Nothing Party

In 1849, nativists founded a secret society that became a political organization known as the Know Nothing Party. The party was so named because when asked a question by outsiders, its members usually answered, "I know nothing." The Know-Nothing's wanted to keep Catholics and immigrants out of public office. They also wanted immigrants to have to live in the United States for at least 21 years before they would become citizens. Party politicians had some success, winning several state elections during the 1850s. They also controlled the Massachusettes legislature for a short time.

Chinese Exclusion Act

In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This law banned Chinese people from coming to the United States for 10 years. The law marked the first time people of a specific nationality were banned from entering the country. Congress later extended the ban into the 1900s.

Jane Addams/ Hull House

Jane Addams was a founder of the most famous settlement house, it was in Chaicago and was called the Hull House. Founder alongside Ellen Gates Starr in 1889. Like many upper-class women of their era, they had received a college education. However, they found few job opportunities open to them. Addams wanted to help the poor. To reach this goal, she and Starr opened Hull House in a run-down building in a poor Chicago neighborhood. The work at Hull House focused most on the needs of families, especially immigrant families. Hull House served as a model for other settlement houses. Addams and her staff took part in a variety of activities. They started the first kindergarten and public playground in Chicago. They also taught classes in English and U.S. government to help immigrants become citizens. In addition, the staff worked to reform of child labor laws and the adaption of an eight hour workday for women. Many of the women involved in running Hull House later became in a variety of national reform movements.

Immigration Restriction League

To further decrease the flow of immigrants, nativists formed the Immigration Restriction League in 1894. The league wanted all immigrants to prove that they could read and write in some languages before being allowed into the country. Congress passed a law requiring a literacy test for immigrants in 1897. However, President Cleveland vetoed the bill, calling it "narrow, and un-American."

Ellis Island

When immigrants reached the United States, they had to go first to immigration processing centers. In 1890 the federal government began assuming control of these immigration centers. One of the largest centers opened in 1892 on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. At these centers, officials interviewed immigrants to decide whether to let them enter the country. Officials also conducted physical examinations, deporting any person who carried a disease such as tuberculosis.

Push and pull systems

When people migrate, they don't leave one place and just go to another. Usually something pushes them away from their native county and pulls them toward a new place.

Angel Island

an island in the San Francisco Bay that was an immigration station for many Asian immigrants in the U.S. Beginning in 1910.