Naturalization Act Of 1870
On July 14, 1870 President Ulyses S. Grant signed the Naturalization Act of 1870. This act stated that only white and black people were recognized as citizens. Every other racial and ethnic groups were excluded and not recognized by the US government as citizens.
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted on May 6, 1882. The act forbid new Chinese immigrants from entering the country whether they were skilled or unskilled workers. Many Chinese immigrants in America were helplessly beaten just for being Chinese. Chinese were used to build the Transcontinental Railroad years before and complete many other jobs due to the fact that most Chinese workers had a great work ethic and would work for low wages. Once the large amount of manual jobs available to Chinese workers, were disappearing and the Chinese were started to be looked down upon in society. They were used to help build the country than kicked aside when the big jobs were done. As this picture depicts white American citizens want the Chinese to leave immediately and there is no room for the Chinese in American society.
Parish Lynchings
In 1890 New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy was murdered by an accused group of nine Italian Americans. All nine of the suspects were found not guilty on March 13, 1891. While the now acquitted men were waiting in the holding cell they were dragged out of it by a mob of about 150 New Orleans villagers. A 12 man execution squad captured the men and hung them. This shows how violent white "native" citizens could be to immigrants. Even though the men were found not guilty they were still took from their cells and killed. This event just showed the hatred of White citizens to their immigrant peers especially the Italians. As this portrait shows the mob attacking the Italian men.
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in the early 20th century.
Ellis Island was an immigrant station that opened on January 1, 1892. Before Ellis Island Immigration laws varied state to state and there were many places for immigrants to go. After Ellis Island was constructed a vast majority of immigrants traveled through the "Golden Door." 12 million immigrants traveled through Ellis Island from 1892-1954. Ellis Island provided an easy and convenient way to let immigrants in. Ellis Island shaped America during the 20th century, many immigrants traveled through here. For example three quarters of New York City's population in 1910 was either first generation Americans or immigrants. Ellis Island played a big role in expanding the countries population and heritage. Its what make today's America diverse and full with many different cultures. Videos Of Immigrants filmed by Edison Studios.
No Irish Need Apply
Many skeptics believed that the signs "No Irish Need Apply" never existed. They are somewhat accurate, it was rare to see these signs on work places, but you would see them often on ads in the newspaper for jobs. The fact of the matter is the Irish were discriminated against and faced many hardships, it was hard for them to find jobs. In Boston especially the Irish faced many problems and were criticized for being catholic and not protestant. The Irish were portrayed as greedy alcoholics who were lazy, they were constantly under attack by other ethnic groups. As this picture depicts a sloppy Irish drunk who appears greedy and violent by sitting on a barrel of gun powder and he has a bottle of whisky in his hand.
Immigration Act of 1917
The US Congress elected to pass the Immigration Act of 1917 on February 5, 1917 overriding President Wilson's veto. This law was extremely controversial; it disallowed idiots, epileptics, the insane, mentally disabled, physically disabled, and illiterate people over the age of 16. The most controversial part of the act was the Asiatic Barred Zone. Anyone who lived or was born in this zone was not allowed in the United States of America. The zone covered practically all of Asia except the Chinese coast and east. Once again the United States takes out their anger on Chinese immigrants. This was an extremely controversial event in United States immigration history. It pretty much stated if you were from a certain part of the world you were not liked by all of America and therefore not allowed. Also if immigrant inspectors thought you were an idiot or anyone else who would hurt Americas image you were not allowed. As this picture shows how hard it could be to get into America after the Immigration Act of 1917 was passed and how unfair some of the acts were.
Emergency Quota Act
The Emergency Quota Act was signed on May 19, 1921, it was one of the last major restrictions on immigrants from this time period. The act limited the total percentage of immigrants allowed into America to 3% annually. This drastically lowered immigration in America; for example 805,228 immigrants were allowed in 1920 and the next 2 years saw only 309,556 immigrants. This marked the end of the great number of immigrants America saw the past half century. This law really limited immigration in the United States.