![](\"https:\/\/maxwellhalsted.uic.edu\/files\/2017\/02\/2818.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0 ![](\"https:\/\/maxwellhalsted.uic.edu\/files\/2017\/02\/1616.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn 1907, the Chicago Daily Tribune bannered the headline, \u201c64,000 aliens that come to Chicago annually, where they came from and what they do.\u201d In significant numbers the majority of the immigrants came from Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe. Thirty different languages were spoken along Halsted Street, and Chicago claimed \u201cmore foreign theaters than any other city in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In metropolitan newspapers, mainstream print, and academic journals, commentators employed the phrases \u201cforeign colonies,\u201d \u201cforeign element,\u201d and \u201calien colonies.\u201d \u00a0They were pointing to the expanding number of ethnic settlements and neighborhoods inside American cities. Excluded from this \u201calien\u201d category were \u201crace colonies\u201d or people of color, Mexicans from south of the border, African-Americans from the American South, Chinese from the West Coast.<\/p>\n
Anglo “White Americans” intended\u00a0the reference to \u201calien colonies” to resound in patronizing tones, an “other” exotic world beguiling innocent spectators at a distance. \u00a0Frequently\u00a0associated with “alien” and “foreign” was verbal imagery invoking menacing congestion in tenement districts, juvenile offenders on city streets, and criminals intent on evil and harm. \u00a0Bystanders on unfamiliar streets, beware what you wish for!<\/p>\n Specifically “White Americans” aimed the “alien” threat at long-standing American ideals of well-being, citizenship, and personal responsibility. Jane Addams, for instance, more sympathetic and benign in her criticism than most of her Anglo peers , characterized the location of Hull-House as a \u201cserviceable thing for Chicago … situated in the midst of large foreign colonies which so easily isolate themselves in American cities.\u201d<\/p>\n The response by native white Americans and older settled residents was visceral to the impending “peril” of large numbers of immigrants “isolated” in American cities. Social movements lobbying for immigration restriction thrived. \u00a0They encouraged a variety of eugenic practices. the administration of loyalty tests, and\u00a0an “Americanization\u201d curriculum \u00a0within schools and settlement houses. \u00a0 bjb<\/p>\n “ALIEN” COLONIES WEST SIDE \u00a0 In 1907, the Chicago Daily Tribune bannered the headline, \u201c64,000 aliens that come to Chicago annually, where they came from and what they do.\u201d In significant numbers the majority of the immigrants came from Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe. Thirty different languages were spoken along Halsted Street, and Chicago claimed<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Italians: Taylor Street<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/p>\nGreeks: Halsted Street<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCzech-Bohemian: Pilsen<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/p>\nRussian Hebrews: Maxwell Street<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nREADING SUGGESTIONS<\/h3>\n
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