Document A
History of Work and Immigration in Chicago – 1240L
Source: PBS Frontline (http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2006/10/chicago_littlelinks.html)
The third-largest city in the United States, Chicago, Illinois, has a
population of about 2.8 million, 22 percent of whom are foreign born. Situated
on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, the city has served as a major port
and commercial center for the midwestern section of the United States since the
19th century.Chicago is called "The Windy City," not only because of the stiff winds off Lake Michigan but also because of its history as a town of political hustle, machine politics and labor organizing.
Much of the city's political dynamic relates to its history as a magnet for immigrant laborers seeking work in the stockyards and factories of the city in the 1800s. With the arrival of the first railroad in 1848, farmers from surrounding states began sending their cattle to be slaughtered and their agricultural products to be processed in Chicago plants. This increase in production coincided with one of America's largest waves of European immigration. As a result, Chicago's population had tripled by the 1860s as an immigrant workforce flowed in to take advantage of the many available jobs.
German and Irish immigrants arrived first, with Polish immigrants arriving soon after in the 1880s. By the end of the 19th century, Chicago's population had swelled to more than a million, making it one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. The city owed much of its success to the many immigrants, willing to work in exchange for the promise of a better life.
However, these immigrants were often greeted with appalling and hazardous working conditions. Determined to realize the "American Dream," many were moved to action. Upton Sinclair's classic muckraking book, The Jungle, was written about Chicago's meatpacking industry. Famed labor activist Saul Alinsky, son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, organized workers in the city's stockyards.
Perhaps Chicago's most momentous and controversial contribution to the American labor movement occurred in early May, 1886. On May 1, 80,000 workers marched through downtown Chicago, demanding an eight-hour workday. The number of protestors alarmed business leaders who demanded police crackdown on what they perceived to be anarchists.
On May 3, unarmed striking workers at Chicago's McCormick Reaper Works factory clashed with police who ended up killing several workers. In response, workingmen met at the Haymarket Square on the evening of May 4. What began as a peaceful gathering ended in bloodshed when a bomb was thrown into the crowd as police attempted to disperse the meeting. One policeman died instantly; 11 other people were killed when police opened fire in response to the explosion. Eight anarchist and labor activists were eventually arrested for the policeman's death; five were hung publicly the following year.
That march and the events of the following days are believed to be the origins of today's May Day observances.The series of events is known as the "Haymarket Affair," and because of suspicious and disputed elements surrounding the accused men's trial, many have come to refer to the eight as the "Haymarket Martyrs."
Immigration in the United States peaked between 1890 and 1920, when the country took in more than 18 million new citizens. That explosion led the U.S. government to enact the Immigration Act of 1924, which set a quota for the number of immigrants entering the United States. Initially, immigration from within North America was exempt from this act, but measures were quickly taken to deny legal entry to Mexican workers.
New arrivals to Chicago at this time were native-born rural-to-urban migrants, mostly African Americans from the southern states. Although other northern cities also expanded during this period of south-to-north migration (known as the Great Migration), Chicago was the primary destination for many blacks. With churches assisting the new residents with housing and employment, Chicago offered a more hospitable environment for migrants.
Mexicans began settling in Chicago around the turn of the 20th century, many driven north by the Mexican Revolution. They took advantage of both war-time and labor-dispute opportunities to enter the workforce. The first wave of Mexican immigrants came during World War I to work in the steel mills and established a viable community, primarily on Chicago's South Side. Both Mexicans and African Americans were hired to break strikes in the steel and packinghouse industries in 1918 and 1919.
But the Great Depression of the 1930s sent many immigrants home, including Mexicans. With a scarcity of jobs around the country, immigrants faced the same question that is raised, and remains unanswered, today: Should foreigners take jobs away from U.S. citizens? By the end of that decade, Chicago's Mexican community had shrunk by nearly 30 percent.
World War II brought a reversal in the repatriation trend. The country experienced a major labor shortage as the American workforce was drafted to serve in the war. The United States entered into an agreement with Mexico to allow temporary workers into the country. The government's bracero, or guest worker, program saw thousands of Mexicans arrive in Chicago to work on the railroad and in the garment industries. But while the United States expected those workers to return to Mexico at the end of the war, many did not.
The community continued to grow at a rapid pace. By the 1960s, Chicago was the third-largest Mexican city in the United States, behind Los Angeles, California, and San Antonio, Texas. Today, Mexican immigrants have established themselves as an integral part of the social, political and economic fabric of the city. The 2000 census showed that half a million Mexicans live in Chicago, with another 1.1 million in the greater metropolitan area. They remain the city's largest ethnic community.
Sources: U.S. Almanac; USA Today; Chicago Public Library; WTTW Chicago; Encyclopedia of Chicago; The Washington Post; Center for Immigration Studies; The Metro Chicago Immigration Fact Book; The Globalist; the Library of Congress.
Document B: Migrant Workers
Eduardo
Ruelas, Mexican day-worker. “I
came to the United States from Mexico more than four years ago. I crossed the
border into Arizona and then spent a month and a half making my way to New
York, where I had friends and family who were already living in Farmingville.
Although I had a job in Mexico, it wasn’t enough to support my wife and my
2-year-old son . . . When I get work, I make about $60 to $120 a day . . .
Before [my wife and son] arrived, I lived in a house with about 10 or 12 other
men. In the beginning, I didn’t like my living arrangements because I had to
share everything – at times, even my bed. But it had its benefits; if I wasn’t
able to work, the others would help me out with food and rent. I did the same
for them. It’s not a lot of fun for me to have to get up at every morning at 5,
stand on the street corner hoping to be offered a job, and worry that if I do
get work it might be dangerous. Although I’ve been lucky, I’ve had friends who
have broken their arms and legs and even lost fingers while on the job. None of
us has medical coverage. But the hardest part about waiting for work is hearing
the insults that are yelled at us by Farmingville residents. The fact that I
stand on a corner for work doesn’t make me less human or less worthy of
respect. Everyone from the business owners and contractors to the residents with
beautifully landscaped yards benefits from Mexican laborers. We do the jobs
nobody else will do.”Source: Hofstra University Immigration project
Document C
Chicago – With a
booming business preparing and selling food products, Mexican immigrant David
MartÃnez practices just the kind of entrepreneurship the Chicago municipality
seeks to promote among immigrants.
Document D: Emigration from El Salvador
The
destruction caused by the Civil War [in El Salvador] was a tremendous push
factor causing Salvadorans to emigrate. Half of the refugees ended up in camps
in nearby countries, while the other half, usually illegally, made their way to
the United States. Because nearly all Salvadorans who entered the U.S. arrived
without documentation, there is no way to know the exact number of people who
settled here People have continued to leave Salvador en masse despite the peace
accords. One of the primary push factors is the economy of El Salvador, which
is still largely agrarian. Although some land was turned over to the peasants
after the peace accords and is farmed collectively, these collectives, while
sustainable, are largely unprofitable. There is little industry and few
alternative ways for people to make a living. Without industry, El Salvador has
failed to develop a working urban section or middle class and most of the
population remains outside of its cities. Estimates range from 500,000 to one
million people. Some immigrants did receive exile status in the early 1990s
after Congress finally acknowledged the danger they faced if they were to
return in El Salvador.
Source: Chrichton, Matthew. Migration from El Salvador to the United
States.
Document
E: Education and Violence
Nearly
all of the Salvadoran immigrants I have spoken with have cited another reason
for leaving their home, they want “a good education for my children.” Their
children are also at risk in El Salvador because of the rise of gangs and gang
violence. The gangs now terrorizing El Salvador originated in Los Angeles
during the 1980s when young immigrants banded together in an effort to survive
in their new homes. Many of the gang members were arrested for violent crimes
and the United States deported them back to El Salvador shortly after the UN
negotiated peace accords ended the fighting. The deported gang members brought
the L.A. gang culture to El Salvador and have grown at an alarming rate.
Source: Chrichton, Matthew. Migration from El Salvador to the United
States.
Document F
(Source: Chicago Tribune - http://chicagonow.beta.tribapps.com/chicago-garden/2009/07/little-village-pocket-park/)
…These Pocket Parks are built on empty lots in Chicago with
permission of the property owners and are a temporary solution to the problem
of urban blight. The Pocket Park I visited today is next to a foreclosed home
and in the "yard" of a shuttered cookie factory that in a few years
will become home to a green build immigrant resource center that will serve the
community.
Today, the vacant lot is home to a small ornamental garden
and a vegetable garden in raised beds and acts as an open air-classroom where
these Chicago teens learn about gardening, urban gardening and the environment…
… I was impressed by how genuinely interested the kids were
in what we were talking about and just how much they already knew about
gardening, plants and the possibility of green collar jobs in their future…
Document G: Massacre of Hundreds
Reported in El Salvador Village
“‘It
was a great massacre,’ 38-year-old Rufina Amaya told a visitor who traveled
through the area with those who are fighting against the junta that now rules
El Salvador. “They left nothing.” Somewhere amid the carnage were Mrs. Amaya’s
husband, who was blind, her 9-year-old son and three daughters, ages 5 years, 3
years and 8 months . . . According to Salvadoran newspapers, soldiers from
Atlacatl Battalion took part in a sweep through Mozote and the surrounding
mountain villages as part of one of the largest search and destroy operations
of the war against the leftist guerillas who are fighting to overthrow the
United States-supported junta . . . Many of the peasants were shot while in
their homes, but the soldiers dragged others from their houses and the church
and put them in lines, women in one and men in another, Mrs. Amaya said. It was
during this confusion that she managed to escape.”
Source: New York Times,
January 27, 1982
Document
H Moving from Guatemala to the United States
In
1956, [my father’s] employer sent [him] “temporarily” to the United States
because they needed a Spanish speaking foreman for their factory in Jamaica,
Queens. My father loved the United States because of all the opportunities he
saw for advancement. The company sponsored him for his Green Card and he began
taking lessons in English at the Jamaica High School annex to prepare for his
citizenship examination and to find a better job. He was interested in real
estate and wanted to obtain a license to become a real estate agent. He
achieved both goals, and over the years earned a good living renting apartments
to immigrants arriving in Queens. Once in a while he would sell a house, and
that meant toys or special treats for my brothers and me. He always kept two
cars, a jalopy for everyday use, and a new car that he used only on Sundays to
go to church. He has always been a strict Catholic and attends Sunday mass
without fail.
Source:
Palomo, William. Oscar Palomo: From
Guatemala to the United States
Document
I: Why People Left Their Homelands
In
Ireland a terrible disease in the mid-1800s destroyed potatoes, the main farm
crop, for several years in a row. Because of famine, nearly 2 million people
died of starvation and almost as many people left for America. When there was a
famine in Sweden in the 1860s, whole villages packed up and came to America. In
the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousand of Russian Jews were killed in
terrible pogroms, which were massacres often organized by
the
government and sometimes even by churches. More than 2 million Jews left Russia
and Eastern Europe because of these pogroms and other kinds of religious
persecution.
Source:
Immigration: Stories of
Yesterday and Today
Document
J: Reasons Immigrants Migrated to the
United States
Many
immigrants from the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and
Norway were farmers in their native land. They heard there was plenty of fresh
air and sunshine on the western prairies and the opportunity to own their own
land. The United States government provided 160 acres, or one quarter of a square
mile, to any head of a family who would live on the land and farm it for five
years. Work in America was hard and wages were small. Still, with enough hard
work and a little luck, a person could buy his own home and send his children
to school. A home of one’s own! An education for the children! Alexis de
Tocqueville, an early French traveler in the United States, wrote: “No wonder
that so many Europeans, who have never been able to say that such a portion of
land was theirs, cross the Atlantic to realize that happiness.”
Source:
Immigration: Stories of
Yesterday and Today
Document K: Recent Immigrants
Quynh
(Vietnam): When my parents decided that we would come to America, they had to
give up their businesses, money, and house. For me, I had to say goodbye to my
friends, relatives, and most of all, my grandmother. She’s the one that helped
me grow up. She made food for us when my parents were at work. She walked to
school with us every morning. Now I had to say good-bye to her.
Kauthar
(Kenya): We had to leave our friends and family and start all over again. This
was difficult at first but got much better as time went on.
Source:
Immigration: Stories of
Yesterday and Today
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