Between 1880 and 1920, close to 20 million immigrants arrived in the United States. Concentrated primarily in urban areas, they generated concerns about their ability to fit into American society. Native-born Americans often viewed immigrant poverty and degradation as the source of urban problems, rather than as the result of the upheaval caused by industrialization and urbanization. Social welfare workers tried to reassure mainstream society that this wave of immigrants would blend in just as previous generations of new arrivals had done.

In the 1890s, Lillian Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement House on New York’s Lower East Side to provide assistance and guidance for Jewish immigrants. Like many immigrant aid organizations, the Settlement House stressed American values and practices. As did many of her contemporaries, Wald promoted the notion of America as a “melting pot,” into which new arrivals would disappear.

Most immigrants were eager to Americanize and become citizens of their new home. Yet they were still able to retain many of their original customs and traditions as resources in the adjustment process. Today, most historians reject the notion of a “melting pot,” but Lillian Wald and her contemporaries embraced this reassuring concept that prized conformity rather than diversity.

For more on Lillian Wald, go to JWA’s Women of Valor exhibit.