Social developments: mass immigration and urbanisation; position of African-Americans
Between 1890 and 1920, millions of immigrants flooded into American cities, transforming society. At the same time, African-Americans faced violent, legal racism that denied them the rights the Civil War had promised.
Real World
Between 1910 and 1930, around 1.6 million African-Americans left the South during the Great Migration, moving to northern cities like Chicago and Detroit to escape Jim Crow laws and find factory work — yet they encountered segregated housing, race riots (as in Chicago in 1919), and discrimination in the North too.
Exam Focus
Avoid describing immigration and racism as separate topics; show how both interacted — nativist hostility to immigrants and anti-Black racism both stemmed from fears about social change in industrialising cities.
Essay Framework
Use PEEL to structure every paragraph. Tap each step for guidance and an example.
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