Question

The turn of the century saw many cities exploding with growth from people coming from both the rural areas around the cities and from other countries. This caused both a lot of innovation and progress in many key areas but also simultaneously, headaches and horrible issues in other areas.
Immigrants coming into American cities at the turn of the century faced many problems trying to live in these places. What were some of the issues that they encountered?

Answer 1

Answer:

Issues faced by immigrants to the United States at the turn of the century include: discrimination, low wages and hazardous working conditions, poor living and sanitary conditions and

Explanation:

At the end of 1800s, after the depression, the world saw an increase in the movements of peoples from parts of Europe and Latin America into the United States. Most of these immigrants came for several reasons. Some of these reasons ranged from search for better economic conditions to fleeing from famine areas, wars, religious, political and racial conflicts and persecutions.

1. While on one hand it was generally believed that mass immigration brought innovations and progress caused by factors such as the increase in work force,  labor could be found at a lower costs . Subjection to lower wages and to hazardous working conditions meant that these immigrants were easily exploited. Those from Italy fell prey of the "the padrones" - recruitment agents from Greece and Italy. Some of these nationals could be found in farmlands, the Polish Jew and Russians were known for their needle trade and pushcart abilities, the Hungarians, Slovaks, Greeks etc could be found in the coal mines. Many also flocked the cities centres in search of better way of living.
2. Most of the immigrants not affording better traveling conditions and so came in steerage accommodations. On arriving into the United States they were kept in  'barn-like structures" during the periods of mass immigration awaiting screening after which they were probed and questioned on their health worthiness. Ill-looking or deemed to be disease carriers were prevented from entering into the United State.
3. They faced suspicions and discrimination related to their reputation. They were questioned for hours to fish out criminals, anarchists and strikebreakers.
4. Apart from these issues, the increase in population also meant low living conditions as urban accommodation and sanitation were being stretched to its limit as most could only afford overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions.