A Congressman Denounces Immigration Quotas as "Un-American"
Immigration and Migration
Restrictions on immigration, largely aimed at would-be migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, gained considerable popular support during the 1920s. Anti-immigrant sentiment culminated in the Quota Act of 1921, which effectively reduced immigration from those areas to a quarter of pre-World War I levels, and in the even more restrictive Immigration Act of 1924. Although the later bill passed the Senate with only six dissenting votes, not everyone was persuaded. Robert H. Clancy, a congressman from Detroit, defended the Jewish, Italian, and Polish immigrants that comprised much of his constituency and denounced the quota provisions of the bill as "un-American." In a speech before Congress on April 8, 1924, Clancy traces the history of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. and reminds his fellow congressmen that all Americans are of foreign origin.
Robert H. Clancy
Speech by Robert H. Clancy, 8 April 1924, <em>Congressional Record, </em>68th Congress, 1st Session (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1924), vol. 65, 59295932.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1924
1862, 1865
English
Speech
Modern America (1914-1929)
The Pay Envelope: A Role Play
Immigration and Migration
Work
In this activity students perform a role play of immigrant mothers and daughters arguing over who should get to keep the daughter's wages. This activity is used to teach with the film <em><a href="http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/heaven-will-protect-the-working-girl/" target="_blank">Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl</a><span style="font-style:normal;">, but can be completed without the film. Â </span></em>
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2009.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2009
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Immigration Debates in the Era of "Open Gates"
Immigration and Migration
In this activity students analyze a political cartoon, a presidential speech and an anti-immigration pamphlet from the early 20th century. After analyzing the documents, students write about why the United States passed immigration quotas in the 1920s.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2008.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2008
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Chart of First Generation Immigrant Women's Occupations, 1900
Immigration and Migration
In 1907, Congress formed the Dillingham Commission to investigate the origins and effects of the massive wave of immigration then underway. The Commission compiled a variety of data about immigrants and their children. This chart shows the percentage of working immigrant women ages 10 and older in different kinds of jobs. Not all immigrant women worked, however. For example, Irish immigrant women were twice as likely to be breadwinners as Italian women. Although the Commission gathered statistics on many ethnic groups, only six are shown here. Sometimes the Commission’s reports included Jews as a separate category, while at other times it grouped Jews with Russians, since most immigrants from Russia during this era were Jewish.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source: Adapted from <em>Abstracts of Reports of the Immigration Commission with Conclusions and Recommendations and Views of the Minority, Vol. 1 </em>(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1911).
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1900
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning <br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1857
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Chart of First Generation Immigrant Men’s Occupations, 1900
Immigration and Migration
In 1907, Congress formed the Dillingham Commission to investigate the origins and effects of the massive wave of immigration then underway. The Commission compiled a variety of data about immigrants and their children. This chart shows the percentage of immigrant men ages 10 and older who worked in different kinds of jobs. Although the Commission gathered statistics on many ethnic groups, only six are shown here. Sometimes the Commission’s reports included Jews as a separate category, while at other times it grouped Jews with Russians, since most immigrants from Russia during this period were Jewish.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Adapted from Abstracts of Reports of the Immigration Commission with Conclusions and Recommendations and Views of the Minority, Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1911).
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1900
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1857
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Immigrants by the Numbers
Immigration and Migration
Gender and Sexuality
In this activity, students work with quantitative data (charts, graphs, and tables) from the 1910 census and the 1911 Dillingham Commission Report to understand the lives of immigrants in the Ellis Island era. The activity includes an option designed for middle school and high school students, as well as a suggested strategy for elementary students. After studying the data, students write a narrative in the voice of an immigrant in 1910, incorporating the information gleaned.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2011
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
A Congressman Denounces Immigration Quotas as "Un-American" (short version, with text supports)
Immigration and Migration
Restrictions on immigration, largely aimed at would-be migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, gained considerable popular support during the 1920s. Anti-immigrant sentiment culminated in the Quota Act of 1921, which effectively reduced immigration from those areas to a quarter of pre-World War I levels, and in the even more restrictive Immigration Act of 1924. Although the later bill passed the Senate with only six dissenting votes, not everyone was persuaded. Congressman Robert H. Clancy defended the Jewish, Italian, and Polish immigrants that comprised much of his constituency and denounced the quota provisions of the bill as "un-American." In a speech before Congress on April 8, 1924, Clancy traces the history of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. and reminds his fellow congressmen that all Americans are of foreign origin.
Robert H. Clancy
Speech by Robert H. Clancy, 8 April 1924, Congressional Record, 68th Congress, 1st Session (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1924), vol. 65, 59295932.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1924
1862, 1256
English
Modern America (1914-1929)
A Doctor Decries the Public Health Danger of Immigrants
Immigration and Migration
Starting in the 1890s, many Americans feared that the arrival of large numbers of immigrants from countries in Eastern and Southern Europe was bad for society. They claimed that immigrants could not easily assimilate, or fit in, and that they were willing to work for very low wages. Some people also believed that these immigrants brought diseases with them and were a threat to public health. Doctors inspected immigrants entering the U.S. through Ellis Island for specific diseases, such as tuberculosis and trachoma (an eye disease). The doctor who wrote this article, however, believed that this was not enough to protect the public from immigrants.
Allan McLaughlin
Dr. Allan McLaughlin, “Immigration and the Public Health,†Popular Science (January 1904), 232, 236-237.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1904
1862, 1867
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Active Viewing: <em>Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl</em>
Gender and Sexuality
Work
In this activity, students watch the documentary <a href="http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/heaven-will-protect-the-working-girl/"><em>Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl</em></a> in sections, with documents and exercises designed to support and reinforce the film's key concepts: workers challenging the effects of industrial capitalism, the impact on immigrant families of young women earning money in the garment industry, and the methods used by women to improve working conditions in factories during the Progressive Era.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2012
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2012
ASHP
English
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Background Essay on Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl
Gender and Sexuality
Labor Activism
Work
This essay explains the significance of young female immigrants in the labor upheavals that helped define the Progressive Era.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2015
ASHP
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)