When this nation was very young, all of the people, other than the Native Americans, were immigrants, of course!  They came from other countries to live here in the U.S.  In fact eight of the fifty-five men who signed the Declaration of Independence were born in other countries.  

But from 1880 to 1920, when the largest number of immigrants came to this new country, they brought many talents with them.  In fact, one of the first questions they were asked at Ellis Island was "What job can you do here?"  Some of the most famous immigrants of that time include Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Jacob Riis.

Albert Einstein
(1875 to 1955)

Albert Einstein was one of the greatest physicists of all time.  He was born in Germany in 1879 and was the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.  His scientific theories were brilliant,  but Einstein was also a pacifist. He felt he had to leave Germany when Jews were being harrassed.  He knew he could speak freely in the United States, so he came here to live.  He lived and taught in Princeton, New Jersey.

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland in 1847.   He was educated there, but in 1871 he immigrated to the United States.  He became a teacher of the deaf in Boston, Massachusetts.  His most famous invention was the telephone.  He lived here for 51 years before his death.

Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Great Britain and immigrated to the U.S. in 1832, at the age of eleven with her family.  She wanted to be a doctor, but at that time women were not doctors!!!!   She applied to many colleges, but got turned down at every one but Geneva College in upstate New York.  There she became the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States in 1849.   She had great difficulty getting a job but finally, after a long stay in Great Britain, she started an infirmary in New York City. She returned to Great Britain often, but became a citizen of the United States.  She also started a college for women here later in her life.

Jacob Riis
(1849-1914)

Jacob Riis was born in Denmark and immigrated to the U.S. in 1870.  In 1877, he became a police reporter for a NY City newspaper and became very interested in the way most immigrants lived in tenements in New York City.  His articles and photos on the subject helped improve some of the bad conditions in the city.  His photographs are found in many museums and websites even today.

DEFINITIONS:

physicist: a scientist who studies physics which is a science dealing with the properties and changes in matter  

pacifist:  a person who does not believe that war is  right 

infirmary:  a small hospital

tenements :  a crowded, poorly maintained apartment building