Provides a detailed account of U.S. immigration from 1870 to 1920. Explores the forces that drove emigrants to the U.S.; shows what they experienced when they arrived; and reviews the history of U.S. immigration through the present.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• How to Use This Book
• Narrative Overview
• Prologue
• Chapter One: Immigration to America Before the Civil War
• Chapter Two: The Great Wave
• Chapter Three: The Voyage to America
• Chapter Four: Ellis Island
• Chapter Five: The Melting Pot
• Chapter Six: Shutting the Golden Door
• Chapter Seven: Immigration from the 1920s to the Present
• Biographies
• Jane Addams (1860-1935) Advocate for Immigrants and Founder of Hull House
• Prescott F. Hall (1868-1921) Co-founder of the Immigration Restriction League
• George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904) U.S. Senator Who Championed Immigrant Rights
• Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924) Leading Advocate of Immigration Restrictions in Congress
• Terence V Powderly (1849-1924) Commissioner General of Immigration, 1897-1902
• Robert Watchorn (1859? -1944) Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island, 1905-1909
• William Williams (1862-1947) Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island, 1902-1905 and 1909-1913
• Primary Sources
• A Labor Leader Warns Against the “Chinese Invasion”
• A Defense of Chinese Immigrants in America
• A Native-Born American Lashes Out at East European Immigrants
• The “Horrors” of Steerage
• A Long and Difficult Journey
• Forging a New Identity in America
• Coolidge Signs the Immigration Act of 1924
• A Criticism of “Guest Worker” Proposals
• A Proposal to Increase Legal Immigration
• “A Yearning That Is Timeless”
• Important People, Places, and Terms
• Chronology
• Sources for Further Study
• Photo and Illustration Credits