Final answer:
In the early twentieth century, migration was driven by push factors like famines, persecution, and economic woes, and pull factors like job opportunities and better living conditions in industrialized countries such as the United States.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the early twentieth century, large-scale migration was driven by a mixture of push and pull factors. The push factors included issues such as famine, religious, racial, or political persecution, and the avoidance of compulsory military service. Economic conditions such as high unemployment rates, disease outbreaks, and anti-Semitic sentiment further compelled people to leave their homelands. The pull factors were largely economic opportunities in the destination countries, with the United States offering a myriad of jobs in industries such as textiles, shipyards, coal mines, gold mines, railroads, agriculture, and factories. This period saw immigrants from diverse backgrounds including southern, eastern Europe, and Asia, all seeking better lives and escaping adverse conditions in their countries of origin.
Examples of Push and Pull Factors
- Push Factors: Famines, religious persecution, political unrest, compulsory military service, economic hardship.
- Pull Factors: Economic opportunities, higher wages, better living conditions, absence of legally enforced segregation.
In addition to individual migrants, families were also influenced by these factors, as evidenced by migrations post-World War II, where racial segregation, scarce funding for public schools, and the impact of the mechanical cotton picker in the southern US pushed many to migrate north for higher wages and inclusive public schooling.