Curriculum Materials: Art in America
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Image 17 Alfred Stieglitz Questions: |
Immigrants in the United States
From the 1830s onwards, a steady flow of immigrants came
to the United States in search of work and refuge. The entry
of 5.5 million immigrants during the 1880s and nearly 4
million more in the 1890s created a huge labor surplus that
sent wages far below living standards. Disillusioned by the
poverty and other horrible conditions they met in the United
States, many immigrants returned to their homelands. Others
had emigrated to the United States with the intention of
earning money and then returning home. Most immigrants could
only afford to travel in steerage, the lower level of ships,
as shown in Stieglitz's
photograph.
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