History 3208: History of Immigration, Ethnicity, and Nativism
Professor Peter Catapano

The “New Immigrants”: From Europe

I. The "The New Immigrants" Groups from 1880s through the 1930s  (1820) (1880) Largest group of urban immigrants New Groups of Europeans from Eastern and Southern Europe: Russia, Poland and Italy Importance of Steam-Powered Passenger Ships (map) (poster) Steerage About the Photo (essay)

Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage (1907) The J. Paul Getty Trust

II.) Immigrants from the Mediterranean

Mulberry Street, NYC (1900)	A. The Italians (regions) Before 1850, relatively small population, but widely disbursed Largest concentration in New Orleans By 1870- New York, San Francisco and New Orleans Mostly from Central and Northern Italy Post 1880, Large Waves of Italians Mostly from the Mezzogiorno and Sicily Nearly all entered US through New York Largely concentrated in Mid-Atlantic states, New England, and Chicago
B. The Greeks (Europe) Greek Americans generally strong ties with Greece Brought their own Greek Orthodox Churches to America Did not really begin until 1890s More than half returned to Greece Created ethnic niches in restaurant business	Full-length portrait of Celia Demitero, a Greek American girl, sitting in a room in Chicago, Illinois. (1907) Library of Congress
Lewis Hine, Syrian-Arab at Ellis Island (1926) "Ellis Island Series" George Eastman House	C. Arabs and Armenians (middle-east)  (central asia) During the period most Arab immigrants were Christian Many Syrians and Lebanese Initially men, serial immigration of families 90% of Arabs before 1914 peddlers New York early center of Arab immigration, later surpassed by Detroit Small Muslim population, only two mosques known to have been built before 1930 Armenians largest numbers generally around the Turkish Genocide in 1915 (UMN Website) (genocide map)

III.) Immigrants from Eastern Europe

A. The Poles (eastern Europe) At least 26 ethnic groups from East Europe Settled in cities of northeast and Great Lakes But, where usually European peasants Poles large group, but no Poland between 1795-1919 Ethnic Poles largely Roman Catholic Large presence in Great Lake cities: Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland Mostly Laborers

Polish immigrants arriving in NY, ca 1890s Indiana Historical Society

Updated March 13, 2008