My name is DeVaughn P. from Mr. Sal’s 20th Century History class, 9th period, and this post explains the problems with the high number of immigrants that moved into the United States cities from Europe and from the south in the U.S.  Problems faced by immigrants, after the US became an established nation, were similar to all eras of immigration.  First there was the language barrier. Many immigrants did not speak English. Second was finding housing and then getting a job. If the immigrant had no friends or family already in the US, he or she was doubly handicapped. Many Americans disliked immigrants so there developed racial discrimination.  It was felt immigrants took jobs away from Americans, did not respect our customs and traditions, were usually of a nationality that had strange religious or nationality practices, and usually congregated in small areas of the cities.  All of these caused problems for the immigrants and the U.S.

Many people tried to fix the overcrowded conditions of the tenement buildings because it was dangerous to live there and the conditions were unsanitary.  The Muckrakers wrote about these conditions in the newspapers and magazines to try to get the public to be more aware of these problems.  Some people also tried to help the immigrants by standing up for them and talking about prejudice towards them and the blacks that moved north from southern states in the U.S. to try to find jobs.

They had been pretty successful because more people starting getting hired for jobs.