MIDDLE AGESSee footnote.Are you ready to
be totally immerged into German culture? With great pleasure, my friends and I will take you through Germany so that when you
are done with this page, you will know at least a tidbit about Germany.
German immigrants, came to America in search of a better life, as did many other immigrants. Another reason for thee major immigration to Ellis Island was that many countries were going through a famine, and so there was no food. Also, some countries were at war, forcing its people to leave and find shelter elsewhere. America had jobs to spare, places to live, food, no war, and other advantages making it look like the perfect spot on earth to live. However, that was a rumor on the top of the real story. Yes, there were jobs waiting to be filled, but not enough for the flood of immigrants coming in to the U.S. all at once. And these jobs paid poorly for the amount of work you did plus, they were dangerous places to work because the work safety and general health laws had not been made yet. (they were made a few years after the big flood of immigrants came to make it safe for the people working there, and ban child labor.)
Houses were not as available and spacious as they were made out to be. Many immigrants were forced to live in one room apartments, even when they had 5, 6 and 7 people to take care of in one family. These were not clean either, and many people got sick, infecting others in the building. This caused the U.S. to take action and put the sick people on a boat and take them to a “hospital”. In truth, these people were taken to a quarantine island to die.
Because this was the start of the great depression, food was very scarce, and prices for street market food went up. Apples went from $0.02 to $0.05. the start of the soup kitchens was literally a life saver for many families.
However despite these
hardships, people could not go back to their home towns because there was
absolutely no food, water, jobs, or places to live where they came from.
Katie, Amanda, Michael, Kristen, Sean, Stefanie, Lauren, Alex,
and me, Brittany.
This is not an online tour of Germany, but rather, a sum up of a 6 hour class
presentation. What is presented is basic compared to what you would learn if
you did visit Germany. Also, it's not a contemporary presentation. This was
done on the 1820 - 1860 immigration period. Enjoy!
Picture from: Germany