Immigrants on Atlantic liner,
around 1906 Photographer: Edwin Levick Courtesy Library of
Congress
Registry Room in the main
building of Ellis Island, 1905 Courtesy Ellis Island
Museum
From 1880 to
1924, more than 26 million people came to the United States seeking
greater freedom and economic opportunity. Most arrived with little
money and took whatever jobs they could find. By 1910, the majority
of residents in America's largest cities were foreign-born or
children of immigrants. These massive waves of immigrants supplied
much of the labor for the nation's industrial growth.