Immigrant worker on New York State Barge Canal. 1912.New York Public Library
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An 11-year-old cotton picker in Oklahoma. 1916.Library of Congress
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Italian steel workers. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library
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Adrienne Pagnette, a French immigrant teen at work in the cotton mill in Winchendon, Mass. Circa 1911.Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images
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A young Polish steel worker. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library
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A Polish boy, Willie, one of the young spinners in the Quidwick Co. Mill, takes his noon rest in a doffer box. Anthony, R.I. 1909.The U.S. National Archives/Flickr
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Japanese-American mother and daughter, agricultural workers near Guadalupe, Calif. 1937.Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images
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Lumbermen in Georgia. Date unspecified.New York Public Library
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A seven-year-old oyster shucker who speaks no English works at the Lowden Canning Company in Bluffton, S.C. 1913.Library of Congress
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A tenement worker in New York City. Date unspecified.New York Public Library
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A German steel worker. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library
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Syrian children work at Maple Park Bog, Mass. 1911.Library of Congress
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A 14-year-old Italian girl works in a paper-box factory. Location unspecified. 1913.Wikimedia Commons
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A Polish coal miner in Capels, W.Va. 1938.Wikimedia Commons
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A steel worker from England. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library
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A Jewish family and neighbors work into the night making garters. New York. 1912.The U.S. National Archives/Flickr
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Italian immigrants work as banana importers and distributors. Location unspecified. Circa 1900.Library of Congress
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Young workers in the Seaconnet Mill in Fall River, Mass. None of these boys could write their own names or speak English. 1912.Library of Congress
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A group of Russian laborers. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library
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Laborers from Finland. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library
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Japanese loggers. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library
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Two Portuguese girls work at the Royal Mill in River Point, R.I. They'd been in the mill three years and did not speak English. 1909.Library of Congress
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The Kastvan family, Hungarian beet workers near Corunna, Mich. 1917.Library of Congress
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Immigrant laborers dig a culvert during construction on the New Troy, Rensselaer & Pittsfield Electric Railway, through the Lebanon Valley, N.Y. Circa 1900. Michael Maslan/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
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Mexican immigrants work with sickles to cut weeds along the side of a road outside of Chicago. 1917.Chicago History Museum/Getty Images
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Immigrant men and a boy work in a New York sweatshop. 1910. Universal History Archive/Getty Images
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Non-English-speaking boys from the spinning room in the Lawrence Mill in Lowell, Mass. 1911.Library of Congress
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Sweepers at Hill and Bates Mills in Lewiston, Maine. Only one or two could speak English. 1909. Library of Congress
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An immigrant boy named Stanislaus Beauvais at work in Salem, Mass. 1911.Wikimedia Commons
29 Historical Photos Of The Immigrant Laborers Who Helped Build America
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In the late 1800s and early 1900s, some 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island looking for freedom, prosperity, and a better life in America.
While some of these new citizens brought trade skills with them, others did not. But what they lacked in professional skill, they more than made up for in sweat and hard work. And together, these new American people, along with the old, pulled the country through an agricultural and industrial revolution that helped make the United States what it is today.
Between 1860 and 1910, the number of farms in the U.S., for example, went from 2 million to 6 million.
Without the labor provided by immigrants, this likely wouldn't have been sustainable growth. Industry, as well — mining, steelwork, and factories — benefitted tremendously from the labor of immigrants, who worked these jobs to provide for their families in a way that was likely impossible in their homelands.
Still, the pay, hours, and general working conditions were often abysmal by today's standards. And, often, every member of the family — even the children — needed to help bear the financial burden.
But if it weren't for these workers, America wouldn't be the productive and prosperous nation it is today. In the words of HuffPost, "Immigrants make America great, because immigrants made America."
An All That’s Interesting writer since 2013, Erin Kelly focuses on historic places, natural wonders, environmental issues, and the world of science. Her work has also been featured in Smithsonian and she’s designed several published book covers in her career as a graphic artist.
