The USA at the Start of the 20th Century

Powerpoint Lesson Plan:

• • Aimed at Students studying at UK GCSE or equivalent
  • Free to download
  • Use as you wish in the classroom or home environment
  • Final Task & Questions

• Between 1850-1914, 40 million people emigrated to the USA
• For most the journey was hard and consisted of two weeks in the cheapest class of travel with little or no privacy
• There was also no guarantee that they would be allowed in!

Why America?

Overcrowding in Europe
Lack of Opportunity
Unemployment
Persecution
America offered escape from these

Who were the Americans?

• Native American Indians. These people originally lived across the whole of the continent. Between 1850-90 they were forced off their land
• By 1917 many Indians lived in reservations across America
• Black Americans. In the C18th and C19th millions of Africans were brought to America to work as slaves.
• By 1920 there were 11 million Black people living in America
• Immigration had made the USA a very mixed society
• America was like ‘a melting pot’
• The idea was that the immigrants lost their old identity and became AMERICANS
• Southern and Eastern Europeans. In the late C19th most new immigrants came from Russia, Poland and Italy. Many were Jews and Catholics.
• Hispanics
• Asians