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reasons for mass migration to the USA (push and pull factors)
push factors :
poverty
crop failure
unemployment
high levels of crime
war
pull factors:
better housing
better services
protection of civil rights
political stability
escaping religious persecution
immigrants experience on arrival
arrived with very little money
arrived under the open door policy in pursuit of the american dream
faced discrimination because of their culture/race or religion
immigrant’s experience living conditions
Had to live in unsanitary
slum housing/ overcrowded/ no
running water or toilets
Faced outbreaks of disease
High crime rates in overcrowded cities
immigrants experience working conditions
paid low wages
difficult to obtain well paying jobs
worked in unsafe working conditions
immigrants experience political participation
normally voted for any politician who helped them
irish came to dominate political systems in large city’s
changing attitudes towards immigrants
• Americans wanted to cut back on immigration - no more ‘open door’
• Because they were afraid that immigrants would take their jobs as they worked for low wages/used a strike breakers
• Suspicious of the Catholics and Jewish immigrants
• WASPs believed there were too many of them and they were ruining USA
• WASPs blamed them for rising crime rate
• Wasps disliked their religions and looked down on them as inferior
• Concerned they would create pressure on housing
• Concern that communism would spread to the USA with the Eastern European immigrants (Red
Scare)
• Fear about the threat of anarchism in US cities
jim crow laws
• Jim Crow laws were laws that imposed racial segregation
• Created a segregated society in the South and maintained ‘white supremacy’
• All publicfacilities segregated -schools, churches, hospital wards, cinemas, train carriages, buses
• Facilities provided for black Americans were of poorer quality -this was a way of whites showing their superiority - they treated black population as 2nd class citizens
• Poorer schools limited educational opportunities for black children
• Breaking these laws had serious consequences- arrest and jailed /Klan beatings or being lynched
• Voting restrictions meant blacks had no way of influencing state governments to change these laws
Ku Klux Klan
• Wearing white robes and pointed hats to hide their identities and create fear
• During elections, the Klan would wait outside the voting place to beat up blacks if they came near
• The Klan held elaborate ceremonies and used a coded language
• The Klan were intimidating (eg burned large crosses on hillsides and near the homes of people they wished to frighten)
• The Klan brutally assaulted many black people/held night raids on black households
• Black people were kidnapped and whipped/beaten/lashed
• The Klan lynched many black people
• The Klan bombed and burned churches, schools and other meeting places used by black people
reasons why black oeiole migrated north
fear of white violenxe
segregation
sharecropping
employment opportunities
their experience once there
role of martin luther king
Afterthe success of the Montgomery busboycott Martin Luther King becametheleaderofthe Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and led the civil rights campaign in the South.
• His aims were to end segregation, discrimination, and racial violence and to ensure that all black Americans were able to vote freely.
• King believed in civil disobedience and that people had a duty to break unfair laws, even if that meant taking beatings or being jailed.
• He insisted that civil rights activists should not fight back, even in self-defence.
• He believed in integration - that black and white people could live together in peace as equals.
• King’s beliefs were shaped by the example of Gandhi in India, his family background and his
Christian faith.
• He argued that passive resistance would reduce the threat of violence and encourage ordinary people to join the movement.
• Very successful public speaker and writer - gained lots of publicity and support
• Example protests led by King = Montgomery Bus Boycott, March on Washington and March on
Selma
• King inspired many others to protest also in protests such as the sit-ins and freedom rides
problems faced by black americans in the ghettos
unemployment
poverty
racial prejudice
bad housing
poor schools
the black panthers
• Black Panthers gained support for their demand for the release of black prisoners and due to their efforts to give practical help to poor black Americans e.g. breakfast clubs in schools
Black Panthers had charismatic leaders who gained attention and popularity
The Black Panthers encouraged blacks to be proud of the colour of their skin and their African American culture. This appealed to many
Black Panthers condoned violence and this appealed to many blacks who were frustrated by the nonviolent methods of the Civil Rights Movement
Black Panthers attracted further support after gaining the much publicised support of athletes at the Olympic Games in 1968
