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Contributor: Danielle Childers. Lesson ID: 10128
Have you ever had to move to a different home? Different town? Different country? Try it with no money, no car or plane, and living in one room! Experience the life of an immigrant over 100 years ago!
Imagine the year is 1905, and you are a 10-year-old in Italy. You have a good life. You don’t have much money, but you are happy.
Your parents keep talking about wanting a better life for you and your siblings in this new country called America. One day, they say you are going to go, so you pack one small suitcase, board a ship, and sail across the Atlantic Ocean for four weeks.
You finally arrive in a filthy and crowded city called New York. No one around you speaks your language, your dad has a hard time finding a job, and you live in a small apartment with three other families.
Yes, life would be hard for most people, but this was reality for millions of people in America's early history as a nation.
Looking at present-day living conditions, it is hard to even imagine what life would be like in 1905, with no phones, no gaming systems, no indoor bathrooms, and not even electricity!
America had a lot of opportunities: there was plenty of land, freedom of religion, and the promise of a better life. Over 20 million people came to the U.S. between 1880 and 1920, fleeing from their country.
A person coming to live permanently in a country different from where they were born is called an immigrant.
As you watch the video below about New York City’s immigrants at the turn of the century, look for the timeline in which the immigrants came to America.
Answer these questions based on what you just learned.
People came to America for various reasons, including seeking religious freedom, economic opportunities, and escaping political persecution. The trip was often long, dangerous, and uncomfortable.
Immigrants faced language barriers, cultural differences, finding employment, and sometimes discrimination. Many immigrant children had to work to help support their families.
Now that you have a better picture of what immigrants (perhaps including your parents or grandparents) had to endure, move to the Got It? section and tour the place they might have lived 100 years ago!
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