Immigration and Collaborative Biographies: Recent Episodes
Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D.
I recommend the following books for use when teaching the era of the turn-of-century (1900s) American immigration to students in intermediate-level grades:* Peppe the Lamplighter by Elisa Bartone * Immigration (Discovery Kids Magazine) * Ellis Island (Discovery Kids Magazine) * Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro * Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924 by D. Hopkinson * Chinese Immigrants in America: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books series) by Kelley Hunsicker * Landedby Milly Lee * ... If Your Name Was Changed At Ellis Island by Ellen Levine * Irish Immigramants in America An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books)by Elizabeth Raum * Your Papers, Please: Crossing Borders (Shockwave: Social Studies)by Sue Adasiewicz * At Ellis Island: A History in Many Voicesby Louise Peacock * German Immigrants in America: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books series)by Elizabeth Raum * Coming to America: My Country (Building Fluency Through Reader's Theater) * Life at Ellis Island (Picture the Past)by Sally Senzell Isaacs * Ellis Island: Doorway to Freedomby S. Kroll * The Memory Coatby Elvira Woodruff * We Came Through Ellis Island: The Immigrant Adventures of Emma Markowitz by Gare Thompson
This video teaches the use of Flickr Toys at Big Huge Labs to create movie posters and book covers.
In addition to your own photos, you may choose to use Creative Commons pictures available at Flickr. Regardless of where you procure your pictures, be certain to cite the author and web address of the original picture.
This timeline was developed by educators at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It is with thanks to Adrienne Gayoso, Clarice Smith Education Specialist for the Smithsonian American Art Museum, that it appears here. Click here to access the PDF version.
Credit Line for Artwork:
The Farm (1934), Kenjiro Nomura
Born: Gifuken, Japan 1896 Died: Seattle, Washington 1956
oil on canvas; 38 1/4 x 46 1/8 in. (97.2 x 117.1 cm.)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor (1964.1.36)
Credit Line for Document:
Letter from the Asiatic Exclusion League to President Taft, 2/14/1911, File 52961/10; Subject Correspondence, 1906-32, Entry A1-9; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85; National Archives, Washington, DC
The following resources may be useful when studying the Great Migration and related topics.
* The best source is probably Ellis Island. In addition to genealogy work, this site provides history and a timeline of the island. It also includes information about the various cultures that traveled through Ellis Island through family histories and photo albums. One tool that proves very helpful in understanding the Ellis Island experience is the "Ellis Island Immigrant Experience." In this section, students can follow the stories of individual immigrants, both their stories before, during, and after arriving in America.
* A feature presentation from the Library of Congress titled "Immigration." In addition to a timeline of U.S. immigration spanning from 1786 to 2001, the site includes information separated by people group. Some groups include Russians, Italians, Irish, Cubans, Chinese, Mexicans, Africans, and Native Americans.
* A collection of primary sources from the Library of Congress including primary sources relating to immigration from 1876-1900 and 1900-1929.
* A rich collection of immigration resources organized for teachers from the Library of Congress.
* Pictures and documents from Calisphere (primary sources from the University of California) specifically on immigration or by time period topical area.
* A wonderful interactive activity and video that walks students through the process of immigration in 1916 including procuring a passport, moving through Ellis Island, and making a new life in America.
* An interactive timeline of legal and illegal immigration from 1607 to the present developed by ProCon.org.
* An innovative video game created by ICED ("I Can End Deportation") in partnership with various community-based organizations, high school students, and high school teachers and designed to spark dialog and create awareness about U.S. immigration policies on detention and deportation. Note: This game includes mature content and is extremely biased toward anti-deportation and increased opportunities for illegal aliens.
This is a recording of the in-class lecture titled: "Cooperative Learning, Writing History" presented by Dr. Christy Keeler on March 11, 2009.
Dr. Beachley recommends the following photo-artists for finding images relating to the Great Immigration era:
* Jacob Riis (Wikipedia Link—includes links to Riss collections/Google Image Link)
* Lewis Hine (Wikipedia Link—includes links to Hine collections/Google Image Link)
This video introduces the basics of using Google Docs including creating a new document, sharing a document, editing documents across users, and deleting a document. I recommend viewing the video Google Docs in Plain English before watching this brief tutorial.