Chapter 20

Toward an Urban America

1) Immigrants came to the United States in the late
1800s and early 1900s for jobs and to escape
persecution. (mistreatment)
2) Immigrants who came from Europe crossed the
Atlantic Ocean and landed at Ellis Island.
Ellis Island – Where immigrants had to stop
before entering the U.S.
The registry room at Ellis Island
3) The immigrants who landed at Ellis Island saw the
Statue of Liberty standing in the New York
Harbor. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the
United States from France.
Kids at Ellis Island
4) Immigrants who came from Asia crossed the
Pacific Ocean in a few weeks, and landed at Angel
Island in San Francisco Bay.
5) In the mid 1800s, many immigrants who cam to
the United States could not speak English.
6) Some people in the U.S. blamed immigrants for
crime, unemployment, and other problems.
7) For an immigrant to become a citizen, they had to
go through a process called naturalization. This
process involved living in the U.S. for 5 years,
take and pass a test in English, and say the pledge .
8) The first law passed to limit Chinese immigration
was the Chinese Exclusion Act.
9) Jacob Riis was an author who wrote about Gangs
in New York. As cities grew, crime increased.
10) In cities, many people lived in crowded, poorly
built apartment houses called tenements.
11) Tenements were located in slums, or poor urban
areas.
12) Many public schools were built in the early 1900s. John
Dewey, wanted schools to not just make the kids memorize,
but to relate learning to the students’ interests.
13) Booker T. Washington started Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
to provide practical education for African Americans.
14) George Washington Carver worked at Tuskegee Institute. He
developed hundreds of uses for the peanut such as: plastic,
rubber, facial cream, glue, gas ect.

Booker T. Washington
George Washington Carver invented
several uses for peanuts.
15. The Brooklyn Bridge was opened in New York in
1883, which connected Manhattan with Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Bridge (Current Day)
16) Many people in the early 1900s began to attend
spectator sports such as baseball, football, and
basketball.
17) Different types of music also became popular. An
example of popular music would be ragtime.
18) Nickelodeons were films that cost 5 cents. These
films were the beginning of the film industry.