In the wake of the mass immigration of the early 20th century, ethnic organizations flourished in the United States between 1900 and 1930. The first 14 years of the century brought a peak in total arrivals for the long and massive wave of immigration that had lasted from 1830 to 1914. During this 80-year period, more than 22 million immigrants arrived in the United States, with some 6 million alone arriving at the shores of the United States between 1900 and 1910. On the whole, the American economy expanded sharply during these decades. Despite this widespread expansion, large numbers of the immigrants arriving in the United States were not in a position to be primary beneficiaries of economic growth. Instead, most found work as industrial laborers in the rapidly expanding industrial economy.
Arriving in urban industrial centers, immigrants after 1900 often had little choice but to find employment as unskilled workers in the factories that characterized the American economy. The size of the industrial workforce grew dramatically from 957,000 in 1849 to 4,252,000 in 1889 and 7,036,000 by the eve of World War I. Finding work in the nation’s industrial economy did not necessarily bring with it the prosperity and economic gain that many immigrants sought. The economy faced several episodes of crisis. Having no recourse to government programs for relief, many immigrants faced desperate economic straits with each turn of the business cycle.
To help soften the economic conditions that many immigrants faced in the United States, many ethnic groups organized fraternal societies that provided assistance during difficult times. Not only did immigrant workers face periodic bouts of unemployment, but also family illnesses, unexpected deaths, or housing problems created trying times for newly arrived individuals and their families. Given the sometimes hostile response that many immigrants faced, they became suspicious of some forms of public assistance. Most philanthropic organizations attached conditions to their assistance and often had difficulty understanding and communicating with immigrants. These factors contributed to the emphasis placed on self-help organizations in immigrant communities. Ethnics tried to care for their own. Such organizations as the Bohemian Charitable Association, the Polish Welfare Association, and the Jewish Home for the Aged were formed in the early part of the century with the express purpose of assisting their members. Within their ethnic communities, most immigrants could expect to be assisted not only by formal ethnic organizations, but also by their neighbors and fellow immigrants. Everything from bread to haircuts and donations of money was extended to neighbors in trouble.
The onset of war in Europe in 1914 evoked renewed efforts by ethnic communities and organizations as they sought to help refugees displaced by the conflict. After the war, many small ethnic organizations moved toward consolidating their efforts into large umbrella groups. In Chicago, for example, the Associated Jewish Charities and the Associated Catholic Charities emerged from several smaller community-level groups. The attempt to provide economic relief to immigrant workers in the United States through ethnic organizations survived through the 1920s. The onset of the Great Depression and the enactment of various pieces of social legislation resulted in many ethnic organizations being displaced by the federal agencies and services created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
See also IMMIGRATION; SOCIAL WORK.
Further reading: John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985); Roger Daniels, Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life (New York: Harper & Row, 1991).
—David R. Smith
World History
