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Jessica Schwerdt
Ms. Krupicka
AP U.S. History
February 17, 2015
The Hardships and Opportunities of Immigrants in America
America has always been well known for being the land of opportunity, from the Native
American walking across a land bridge, the colonist coming over to explore and celebrate their
religion, to today people come to find jobs and have better lives. This has always been one of the
world images of America. In the late 1800s and early 1900s about 30 million people from
across the world immigrated to the United States. Some to escape the bad circumstances of their
home countries and others for jobs in Americas rapidly growing economy. Nearly all people
were welcome for much of that time.
All over the world major events were happening that made potential immigrants to leave
their home countries. In Russia pogroms were beginning against the Jewish population in the
country, being forced into certain areas unable to leave and hate crimes went unpunished by the
government, about one third of Russias Jewish population moved to the United States. In Italy, a
newly unified country, violent crimes and poverty were common in the south and then in the year
1906 Mt. Vesuvius erupted causing lots of destruction. Roughly 4 million Italian people
immigrated to America in a span of about 35 years, many with hopes of one day returning home,
around 75 percent did not. China was a land filled with poverty and famine, so many wanted to

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immigrate to a far richer country. Japan had just opened laws to allow immigration around this
time, and with higher taxes many farmers lost their field, many chose to immigrate to Hawaii and
America to make money in hopes of going back to Japan and buying back their farm.
There were many reasons why millions of people rushed to America. During this period
companies advertised in European countries to come to the United States for work. Large
corporations wanted to hire immigrant workers while paying less than American workers. While
the work places were many times in horrible conditions, but were still many times better than the
conditions in the immigrants home country. Other job opportunities came with jobs that no one
else wanted to do, such as building the Trans Continental Railroad and doing dangerous work in
the mines. For Russian Jews they still lived in poor areas, but were no longer under the constant
threat of the pogroms.
Many immigrants who were not protestant northern Europeans were often harassed.
Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan not only persecuted African Americans, but also people from
southern Europe such as Italians and also people who practiced Catholicism such as the Irish.
Not only were these people persecuted but they also could not get decent well-paying jobs unless
they had a rare skill. Many times immigrants such as the Russian Jews and Italians lived in
extremely poor communities. Many times in buildings in poor conditions packed full of people.
About 75 percent of the people living in these building reported having up to 5 people in a room.
While America was not the perfect place for many immigrants who came here. The home
countries of these immigrants were many times far worse than the worst conditions in the United
States. In Americas booming economy and mass industrialization came almost unlimited jobs

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for the whole family. Plus with big names like Rockefeller and Carnegie spreading the word of
the American dream and the prosperity of America, the United States seemed like the perfect
place to immigrate in times of hard ship.