Immigrant Life in New Jersey during the
Progressive Era
Central issue, problem, or question: What motivated the Europeans who
immigrated to New Jersey during the early decades of the twentieth century?
What hurdles did these immigrants encounter upon their arrival?
Significance: This lesson focuses on motives and experiences of European
immigrants who came to the United States during the early decades of the
twentieth century and on Progressive Era reactions to increased immigration
from eastern and southern Europe.
New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Social Studies:
Standard 6.4 (United States and New Jersey History). High School: H-3
(Analyze social and political trends in post-Reconstruction America); I-2
(Discuss the rise of the Progressive Movement).
Objectives: After analyzing primary source materials, students will be able to:
• Explain immigrants’ motives for coming to the United States.
• Describe immigrants’ experiences in New Jersey and the impact of
immigration on major cities.
• Explain the Dillingham Commission’s goals.
• Analyze the similarities and differences between Progressive Era and
contemporary debates about immigration policy.
Abstract: Middle school students will listen to a radio documentary about New
Jersey immigrants and write a letter home from the perspective of an immigrant
describing his or her experiences in New Jersey. High school students will learn
about the Dillingham Commission and respond to the commission’s reports. For
homework, students will write an essay comparing present-day and Progressive
Era debates over immigration policy.
Duration: Two 45-minute class periods.
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Sources
Secondary Sources
David Steven Cohen online lecture: “New Jersey Immigrants and the
Dillingham Commission,” July 2005; available in the “Immigration” section
of the New Jersey History Partnership Project website, http://nj-history.org.
David Steven Cohen, ed. America, the Dream of My Life: Selections from
the Federal Writers’ Project’s New Jersey Ethnic Survey (New Brunswick,
1990).
Robert F. Ziedel, Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics: The
Dillingham Commission, 1900-1927 (Dekalb, IL, 2004).
America, the Dream of My Life, narrated by Eli Wallach, co-produced by
WBGO and the New Jersey Historical Commission, 1992; available online
at http://www.talkinghistory.org/cohen.html.
Primary Sources
Audio segments from the America, the Dream of My Life radio
documentary; available in the “Immigration” section of the New Jersey
History Partnership Project website, http://nj-history.org.
Excerpts from the Dillingham Commission Reports, 1910-1911.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationDoc1.pdf
Statistics on Immigrants in New Jersey from the Thirteenth Decennial
Census, 1913.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationDoc2.pdf
Materials: Teachers will need copies of the primary source documents listed
above, along with worksheets for the middle school lesson.
Background: In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, large numbers
of immigrants began coming to the United States from eastern and southern
Europe. They came for a number of reasons, including political persecution,
pogroms, or the desire to avoid military service in their home country. They also
came to America in search of economic opportunity and social mobility.
Immigrants tended to settle in ethnic communities with large numbers of people
from the same region. These communities allowed immigrants to hold on to their
culture and traditions and often provided support services to the new arrivals,
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such as arranging marriages or home loans. Most of the immigrants lived in
boarding houses and tenements, in which the conditions were deplorable.
In response to this upsurge in immigration, Congress established the Dillingham
Commission, chaired by William Paul Dillingham, a proponent of immigration
restrictions. The commission distinguished between the so-called “old
immigrants” from northern and western Europe who arrived between 1840 and
1880 and the “new immigrants” from eastern and southern Europe who arrived
between 1880 and 1902. Their conclusion was that the “new immigrants” were
less likely to assimilate into American society.
The commission’s reports included the following recommendations:
• deporting aliens convicted of serious crimes and those who became wards
of the state within three years of arriving;
• excluding immigrants who could not read or write in their own language or
who had no intention of becoming American citizens;
• adopting a head tax on every immigrant arriving; and
• increasing the amount of money every immigrant must have on arrival.
The commission reports led to the adoption of a literacy test for immigrants, but
by that time World War I had started, and immigration slowed down. The
commission also paved the way for the adoption of quotas designed to reduce
the number of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New
Deal established the WPA Federal Writers’ Project to create jobs for unemployed
writers. One of its projects was the New Jersey Ethnic Survey, which interviewed
immigrants who came to New Jersey between 1880 and 1920. Unlike the
Dillingham Commission reports a generation earlier, WPA writers portrayed the
immigrants from their own point of view—that is, as members of a pluralistic
United States rather than as foreigners who threatened to overrun the nation.
Key Words:
Nativism
Padrone System
Landsmanshafn
Literacy Test
Quota System
Immigration Restrictions
“Old” and “New” Immigrants
Assimilation
Cultural Pluralism
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Middle School Procedures
For homework the night before this lesson, students should read the section of
their textbook on immigrants in industrial America. The teacher should begin the
lesson with a short lecture (based on David Cohen’s online lecture, available in
the “Immigration” section of the New Jersey History Partnership Project website,
http://nj-history.org) on immigrants in New Jersey during the Progressive Era.
Afterwards, the teacher should organize students into seven cooperative groups;
each group will be given a listening assignment and a worksheet to complete.
The listening assignments are available in the “Immigration” section of the New
Jersey History Partnership Project website, http://nj-history.org. They are
excerpts from the radio documentary America, The Dream of My Life:
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An Italian Padrone.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationMSWS1.pdf
A Polish Boarding House.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationMSWS2.pdf
Polish Women in Newark.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationMSWS3.pdf
A Russian Jewish Woman.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationMSWS4.pdf
Landsmanshafn (Hometown Organizations).
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationMSWS5.pdf
Dutch Immigrants in Paterson.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationMSWS6.pdf
Jewish Agricultural Colonies.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationMSWS7.pdf
On the following day, the teacher should begin the class by collecting the
worksheets and asking a representative from each listening group to describe the
experiences of the person(s) whose story they heard. The teacher might extend
the discussion by posing the following questions about immigrant life in New
Jersey’s ethnic communities:
• Was there any typical immigrant experience? What were the
similarities and differences of experience among the seven individuals
or immigrant groups about whom you learned?
• How did immigrants help each other?
• What qualities allowed some immigrants to succeed?
• Was it, and should it be, the responsibility of government or of ethnic
communities to care for new arrivals—providing necessary resources
like housing, jobs, etc.?
• Do you see any similarities in the experiences of immigrants who came
to the United States at the turn of the century and immigrants today?
• In your opinion, what were the positive and negative effects of living in
ethnic neighborhoods?
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Afterwards, the teacher should assign each student to write a letter from the
perspective of a new immigrant to family members in his or her home country.
The letter should be 2 to 3 paragraphs in length and should describe the
immigrant’s experiences in New Jersey, including where he settled, what brought
him to that city, what job he took, and what living conditions were like. It should
answer the following questions: Were the difficulties of coming to America
worthwhile? Would he or she encourage others to follow?
High School Procedures
For homework the night before this lesson, students should read the section of
their textbook on immigration and nativism during the Progressive Era. The
teacher should being the lesson by handing out copies of statistics from the
Thirteenth Decennial Census.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationDoc2.pdf
After students have had a chance to examine these tables, the teacher should
pose the following questions:
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What were the three largest manufacturing cities in New Jersey in
1910?
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Using Tables 12 and 13, figure out the percentage of foreign-born
residents in these three cities.
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What changes do you see in the foreign-born population of Jersey City,
Newark, and Paterson between 1900 and 1910? (Note: Students should
notice a dramatic expansion of the city’s foreign-born population and a
huge increase in emigration from countries like Russia and Italy. The
teacher should explain that quotas adopted in the 1920’s were intended to
restrict immigration from eastern and southern Europe.)
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How do you think that these cities were affected by the sudden
increase in their immigrant population? How might it have affected
housing, jobs, and schools?
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Do you think this rapid growth put a strain on New Jersey’s cities?
Why or why not?
Afterwards, the teacher should deliver a short lecture (based on David Cohen’s
online lecture, available in the “Immigration” section of the New Jersey History
Partnership Project website, http://nj-history.org) on the Dillingham Commission’s
reports on immigration. The teacher should then hand out copies of excerpts
from the commission’s reports and divide students into four cooperative groups.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/immigration/pdf/immigrationDoc1.pdf
The groups will represent organizations that responded to the commission’s
reports:
Immigration Restriction League–which sought to restrict immigration from
eastern and southern Europe. The league advocated:
• a literacy test in the immigrant’s native language;
• a head tax on immigrants;
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a test to determine whether an immigrant had visible means of
support;
fines on steamship companies that sold tickets to people who were
ineligible to immigrate to the United States; and
deportation of immigrants with criminal records.
American Jewish Committee–which sought to preserve existing laws so as
to prevent restrictions on Jewish immigration.
American Federation of Labor (Samuel Gompers, president)–which
sought to prevent the influx of cheap labor. The AFL favored:
• a literacy test in the immigrant’s native language;
• a head tax on immigrants;
• a test to determine whether an immigrant had visible means of
support; and
• fines for steamship companies that sold tickets to people who were
ineligible to immigrate to the United States.
Immigrants’ Protective League (founded at Hull House in Chicago)–which
asserted that “new immigrants” were no less assimilable than “old
immigrants.” The league favored establishing a federal bureau to
welcome immigrants and to protect them from exploitation; it opposed
literacy tests designed to restrict immigration.
A student representative from each group will present the group’s findings to the
class. For homework, each student will write an essay on the following question:
How does the debate over immigration today compare to the debate during the
Progressive Era? What are the similarities? What are the differences?
Comments and Suggestions: Teachers might take interested students on a
fieldtrip to Ellis Island to learn more about immigration during the Progressive
Era.
Instructional Technology: Students and teachers might visit the Ellis Island
website, http://www.nps.gov/elis/.
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