Question | Answer |
"new" immigrant | Southern and Eastern European immigrants who arrived in the United States in a great wave between 1880 and 1920 |
steerage | third-class accommodations on a steamship which were usually overcrowded and dirty |
Ellis island | island in New York Harbor that served as an immigration station for millions of immigrants arriving to the United States |
Angel island | immigrant processing station that opened in San Francisco Bay in 1910 |
Americanization | belief that assimilating immigrants into American society would make them more loyal citizens |
"melting pot" | society in which people of different nationalities assimilate to form on culture |
Chinese Exclusion Act | 1882 law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers |
urbanization | expansion of cities and/or an increase inte number of people living in them |
rural-to-urban migrant | a person who moves from a agricultural area to a city |
skyscraper | very tall building |
mass transit | public transportation systems that carry large numbers of people |
suburb | residential areas surrounding a city |
tenement | multistory building divided into apartments to house as many families as possible |
Gilded Age | term coined by Mark Twain to describe the post-Reconstruction era which was characterized by a facade of prosperity |
conspicuous consumerism | purchasing of goods and services for the purpose of impressing others |
mass culture | similar cultural patterns in a society as a result of the spread of transportation, communication, and advertising. |
vaudeville | type of show, including dancing, singing, and comedy sketches, that became popular in the late nineteenth century. |
nativism | belief that native-born white Americans are superior to newcomers |