Photographs from the Chicago Daily News, 1902-1933
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Historical Comprehension: Immigration and Diversity
Bohemian Turners at an outdoor athletic meet
Mexican immigrants working with sickles to
cut weeds along the side of a road
Two boy scouts talking to two Italian immigrant boys
In 1803, the U.S. government built a fort at the confluence of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. Native Americans called the area "Checaugou" after the wild garlic or onions growing there. A tiny frontier settlement developed around the fort and in 1837, the city of Chicago was incorporated with about 4,000 residents.
The population grew by leaps and bounds over the next decades, becoming the second largest American city by 1890 with a population of over one million. Many of the people who came to Chicago during this period had been living in other parts of the United States, but a large and unprecedented number of them came from abroad. In 1870, 48 percent of Chicagoans had been born in another country, most often Germany and Ireland.
Search on ethnic for 26 photographs that provide a sampling of the different ethnicities represented in Chicago's population in the early-twentieth century. Identify as many of these ethnicities as possible and search the collection on words such as Norwegian, Chinese, and Russian, for more images. Search on ethnicities that are not represented in these 26 photographs as well.
- What kinds of organizations and institutions were developed around ethnic identities?
- What can you tell from these photographs about how members of ethnic communities maintained a sense of identity?
- Do the photographs provide any clues about the degree to which foreign immigrants identified themselves as Americans?
- What sorts of challenges would immigrants to a big city like Chicago have faced?
- In what ways did Chicago's ethnic diversity impact its history and character?
To learn more, read Upton Sinclair's portrayal of the Chicago immigration experience in The Jungle, or refer to the Learning Page Feature, Immigration.