Immigration in the 1920s is a largely forgotten or at least not talked about part of history. While sure you hear a bit about it the most you really hear is how there were a lot of immigrants living in the US at the time but never about why or how they got here.
The funny thing is up until the late 1800s it was relatively easy to immigrate to the US. The change happened when an influx of Germans, Irish and Chinese immigrants began coming to the US. the first two groups, the German and Irish, were welcomed rather warmly. The Chinese on the other hand, had a rough time living in a country where racism and xenophobia were a common occurrence. In 1882 passed the Chinese exclusion act to keep any Chinese from entering the country. Side note: this …show more content…
In the early 1900s the second industrial revolution brought another wave of immigrants to the States. With the rapidly growing population in America the US congress decided to begin making it harder for people to immigrate. The Asiatic barred zone act was the first of may acts set forth by the US government to limit immigration into the country. This act banned anyone from most Asian countries excluding Russia, Japan and the American owned islands in the Philippines. 1917 was also the first time those entering the country were required to pass a literacy test before being granted access into the country. The next major law came in 1921 with the emergency quota act. The Emergency Quota Act restricted the number of immigrants admitted from any country to 3% of the number of residents from that same country living in the United States as of the U.S. Census of 1910. This meant that those who lived in Europe had a higher chance of being able to immigrate to the states than those who lived in other parts of the world. In 1924 the Johnson-Reed act, …show more content…
The main reason was xenophobia; the intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries; because this was after the World War I so everyone was afraid of Germans but also they feared the Russians because of the Russian revolution and the country’s ties to communism. This was known as the first red scare. Think of it like the McCarthy red scare’s older cousin who no one talks about. This coupled with religious intolerance and a strong sense of nativism (the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants) led the charge to keep out
The funny thing is up until the late 1800s it was relatively easy to immigrate to the US. The change happened when an influx of Germans, Irish and Chinese immigrants began coming to the US. the first two groups, the German and Irish, were welcomed rather warmly. The Chinese on the other hand, had a rough time living in a country where racism and xenophobia were a common occurrence. In 1882 passed the Chinese exclusion act to keep any Chinese from entering the country. Side note: this …show more content…
In the early 1900s the second industrial revolution brought another wave of immigrants to the States. With the rapidly growing population in America the US congress decided to begin making it harder for people to immigrate. The Asiatic barred zone act was the first of may acts set forth by the US government to limit immigration into the country. This act banned anyone from most Asian countries excluding Russia, Japan and the American owned islands in the Philippines. 1917 was also the first time those entering the country were required to pass a literacy test before being granted access into the country. The next major law came in 1921 with the emergency quota act. The Emergency Quota Act restricted the number of immigrants admitted from any country to 3% of the number of residents from that same country living in the United States as of the U.S. Census of 1910. This meant that those who lived in Europe had a higher chance of being able to immigrate to the states than those who lived in other parts of the world. In 1924 the Johnson-Reed act, …show more content…
The main reason was xenophobia; the intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries; because this was after the World War I so everyone was afraid of Germans but also they feared the Russians because of the Russian revolution and the country’s ties to communism. This was known as the first red scare. Think of it like the McCarthy red scare’s older cousin who no one talks about. This coupled with religious intolerance and a strong sense of nativism (the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants) led the charge to keep out