Topic > American Passage The History of Ellis Island Analysis

In 1893, two deadly epidemics were found linked to immigrants in America. However, Americans did not want to suspend immigration at that time. “Public opinion, despite concerns about immigration, was unwilling to abandon the traditional American view of immigration” (Cannato 87). Despite the desire to protect America's “traditional view of immigration,” fear of immigrants still existed. Newspaper propaganda also created a hateful view of immigration for Americans who knew nothing about immigration. “For Americans who did not have close contact with immigrants, the vision of these newcomers often came from cartoons drawn by unsympathetic hands” (Cannato 179). Witnessing immigration only through hateful cartoons, Americans began to hate the idea of ​​immigration. The fear of the unknown brought by immigrants has only grown as the years have passed. During the 1920s, the idea that the country was no longer one race bothered many Americans. “The Great War seemed to change public attitudes toward immigrants, as 'Americans were forced to realize that their country, instead of being a homogeneous whole, was a confusing mass of undigested racial material'” (Cannato 335) . The idea of ​​not being a fixed race has made many Americans wary of immigration. Even after the 1920s, alarm about immigration continued to grow. In addition to the attitudes of the American people between the late 1800s and 1900s, the lived experiences of immigrants were highlighted in Cannato's book as