U.S. immigration before 1965

By luciepl
  • 1500

    First Europeans arrived in the U.S

    Spanish and French

  • English first permanent settlement

    at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony

  • 20 African slaves arrived

    they were forced into indentured servitude in Jamestown, Virginia

  • Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts

    because they were persecuted in Europe
  • Period: to

    Migration of 20.000 Puritans

    in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

  • A total of 7.000 Africans slaves

    in the American colonies
  • Period: to

    500,000 to 650,000 African slaves

    who were brought to America and sold

  • A total of 700.000 African slaves

    in the American colonies

  • Importation of slaves is outlawed

    in the U.S, by the Congress
  • Period: to

    Important wave of immigration

    from Nothern and Western Europe
  • Period: to

    4.5M Irish

    migrated to U.S

  • Majority of Irish immigration

    Settled along the East Coast

  • 25,000 Chinese immigrants

    attracted by the California gold rush
  • Period: to

    Emancipation of 4M slaves

    as a result of the U.S Civil War

  • Slowdown of immigration

    because of the Civil War
  • Period: to

    Immigration of 2M Jews

    because they fleeing religious persecution in Eastern Europe
  • Period: to

    20M immigrants

    European immigration
    => because of the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation

  • The Chinese Exclusion Act

    which banned Chinese labourers from coming to America

  • Ellis Island as federal immigration station

    declared by President Benjamin Harrison

  • Central, Eastern and Southern European immigration

    with 600,00 Italians
  • Period: to

    12M immigrants

    who entered the U.S through Ellis Island

  • 5M German immigrants

    journeyed in Milwaulkee, St. Louis and Cincinnati to buy farms

  • 1.3M people entered the U.S legally

    it was the peak of immigrant admission

  • Legislation of a literacy test

    immigrants over 16 have to pass it

  • 4M Italian immigrants

  • Act for immigration quotas

    that restricted entry to 2% of the total number of people of each nationality in America
    => favoured Western European immigrants and prohibited immigrants from Asia
  • Period: to

    Decrease of foreign-born population

    from 14.2M to 10.3M
    => because of WW2 and the global depression

  • Refugees from Cuba

    fleeing the communist revolution

  • Immigration and Nationality Act

    which did away with quotas based on nationality

  • Majority of immigrants from Asia and Latin America

    rather than Europe