Immigration Part I How does it feel to melt in the pot? UEH topic seminar: Immigration Grades: United States History Part II 10 th Grade Brief description of the Unit: The following series of instructions is meant to fulfill Part I of an Immigration unit lasting a total of a week. The second Part of the unit will be a comprehensive debate on the current issues of immigration policy. The debate is already a set curriculum under the Brown University: Choices Program of Debates. It can be downloaded at http://www.choices.edu/. The debate and preparation can take up to two weeks. The entire unit, including both parts, may last three weeks or more. A major focus of the first part of this unit on Immigration will be on the experience of moving from one s homeland, why it was done and the consequences of that move both personally and on the country to which the person moved. Students will study: a timeline of immigration patterns a history of immigration policy and laws Immigration poetry and first hand accounts from varying areas and time periods a history of immigration restrictions from 1882-post September 11, 2001 a film on the struggles and hardships of the immigration process Frameworks: USII.3 Seminal primary Document Emma Lazarus New Colossus (1883) USII.33 part d USII.3 part c Essential Understandings: 1. Immigration occurs for many reasons: oppression, persecution, and poverty. 2. Immigration can lead to misunderstandings and conflict between nativists and new immigrants. 3. Immigration policy has evolved in response to world events. 4. Immigration can both positively and negatively impact a society. Essential Questions: 1. What are some of the specific reasons why a person would immigrate to the United States? 2. What are the causes and effects of immigration specific to each time period? 3. What conflicts arise from misunderstandings about immigrants? 4. What is/should be the United States policy of immigration? 5. How does immigration impact both society and the global community?
Procedure: A.) Opening discussion and poetry analysis 1. The opening day of the immigration unit the teacher should begin with a question on the board for journalizing by students for a few minutes at the start of the class. Journalize about a situation where you were an outsider or were judged without having someone know you. Be prepared to discuss. 2. After discussing the emotions, fears, and problems that students journalized, read the following poem by Noy Chou ( a 9 th grade student in Boston who immigrated from Cambodia) written in 1984 and read at the World of Difference Conference in 1986 sponsored by the Anti-defamation League. You Have to Live in Somebody Else's Country to Understand by Noy Chou What is it like to be an outsider? What is it like to sit in the class where everyone has blond hair and you have black hair? What is it like when the teacher says, "Whoever wasn't born here raise your hand." And you are the only one. Then, when you raise your hand, everybody looks at you and makes fun of you. You have to live in somebody else's country to understand. What is it like when the teacher treats you like you've been here all your life? What is it like when the teacher speaks too fast and you are the only one who can't understand what he or she is saving, and you try to tell him or her to slow down. Then when you do, everybody says, "If you don't understand, go to a lower class or get lost." You have to live in somebody else's country to understand. What is it like when you are an opposite? When you wear the clothes of your country and they think you are crazy to wear these clothes and you think they are pretty. You have to live in somebody else's country to understand. What is it like when you are always a loser. What is it like when somebody bothers you when you do nothing to them? You tell them to stop but they tell you that they didn't do anything to you. Then, when they keep doing it until you can't stand it any longer, you go up to the teacher and tell him or her to tell them to stop bothering you. They say that they didn't do anything to bother you. Then the teacher asks the person sitting next to you. He says, "Yes, she didn't do anything to her" and you have no witness to turn to. So the teacher thinks you are a liar. You have to live in somebody else's country to understand. What is it like when you try to talk and you don't pronounce the words right? They don't understand you. They laugh at you but you don't know that they are laughing at you, and you start to laugh with them. They say, "Are you crazy, laughing at yourself? Go get lost, girl." You have to live in somebody else's country without a language to understand. What is it like when you walk in the street and everybody turns around to look at you and you don't know that they are looking at you. Then, when you find out, you want to hide your face but you don't know where to hide because they are everywhere. You have to live in somebody else's country to feel it. Published in 1986 by the Anti-Defamation League for the "A World of Difference" project.
3. Possible poetry discussion questions: From this poem what group of people are considered outsiders in the U.S.? What are some of the issues you think an immigrant may face when they arrive somewhere new? What assumptions do people make about immigrants according to this poem and your own experiences? How does this student s experiences differ from the experiences that you journalized about earlier in class? 4. Comparison of Student Poem to Emma Lazarus New Colossus on the Statue of Liberty. Read the poem on the Statue of Liberty and have students compare to the Chou poem. Is the U.S. a welcoming country? Why or why not? Do the two poems contradict each other? How so? The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame, "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" by Emma Lazarus, New York City, 1883 B Readings and Lecture: History and Patterns of Immigration 1. Students should read for homework the night before a section in the text entitled: The New Immigrants. In the Americans book by McDougall Litell the pages are 460-465. They should also answer the section questions for that reading. 2. Lecture and completion of chart looking at the patterns of U.S. immigration. A chart could look like the following:
Immigrant wave Time period Countries from Reasons for coming to US Old New Present day 3. Discussion of chart Students and teacher should discuss the missing pieces of this chart including Native Americans and African Americans. Also discuss the types of jobs that each wave of immigrants may have been able to gain in the U.S.. Have these opportunities gotten better or worse for each immigrant wave? C. Lecture and Discussion of the Laws and Restrictions put on Immigration since 1882 1. Have students read for homework the web cite on Immigration Restrictions and come to class prepared to discuss and complete the following chart. Reading can be found at: www.umass.edu/complit/aclanet/usmigrat.html Year Act Description pre 1882 No restrictions 1882 1917 1924 1930 s 1948 1965 1986 1990 1994 Chinese Exclusion Act Literacy Requirements National Origins Act Only time people leave US Displaced Person Act Immigration and Nationality Act Immigration and Return Control Act Immigration Act of 1990 Proposition 187 post Patriot Act 9/11/2001 2006 Proposed legislation
2. Discussion of readings and Immigration Restrictions chart: Students and teacher should discuss the reasons why the immigration laws have changed. What were the turning points or causes of these restrictions? How could they negatively/positively impact US society, economy and global relations? D. History of Immigration film produced by PBS E. Personal Stories of Immigration readings and discussion 1. The teacher will choose several personal stories of immigrants for students to read. Some suggestions include the following list of books and web cites. I might suggest also that when choosing personal stories that teens and people from countries similar to the immigrant population of your school be taken into consideration. The Human Rights First web cite has some fantastic stories of teens from Tibet, Cameroon, Africa, Afghanistan and Vietnam to choose from. http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/stories/storie-02.htm The New Americans web cite has a great group of stories about families from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico and other Latin American countries. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/newamericans.html The book Today s Immigrants Their Stories has some older stories about families and individuals and their struggles in coming to America from Peru, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and many other countries. After choosing several stories, a guided discussion should take place around the some of the following questions: Why did this person/family leave their country? Group the responses to look for similarities on the board. What were their initial thoughts about how they were treated in the U.S.? Did they already have family members here or were they on their own What hardships did they endure? Could these have been made easier in any way? What difficulties did they encounter getting a job, securing housing and other daily living activities? Why? What assumptions did Americans make about these individuals or families? How were they misunderstood? Were they? To what extent? What can Americans learn from these stories? What have you learned from these stories? Has it changed how you perceive immigrants at all?
F. Part II Immigration Unit Immigration Debate- please go on the Choices web cite noted at the top of this lesson plan. They have a wonderful debate with great resources regarding the current immigration debate in our country today. Up-to-date charts and debate material are downloadable from the Brown Curriculum for teachers and are high school appropriate. Assessment: There are many ways that Part I of this Immigration unit could be assessed, here are some suggestions for test essays: Resources: Web sources 1. Using what you have learned from the poetry, personal stories, and charts on immigration, explain what the hardships are for most new Americans. Cite specific examples. 2. Explain how immigration laws have become more restrictive in the past century. Cite reasons why these laws have changed. 3. Explain using examples from the readings and stories how immigration impacts the United States, economically and socially. Chou, Noy. You Have to Live in Somebody Else's Country to Understand. 1986. Kessner, Thomas, and Betty Boyd Caroli. Today s Immigrants: Their Stories. Oxford Press. New York. 1981. Lazarus, Emma. New Colossus. New York. 1883. Mazrtinez, Ruben. The New Americans. The New Press. New York. 2004. Mills, Nicolaus. Arguing Immigration. Touchstone Books, New York. 1994. Ramos, Jorge. The Other Face of America. Harper Collins. New York. 2002 Roleff, Tamara. Immigration Opposing Viewpoints In World History. Greenhaven Press. New York. 2004 The New Americans Stories; http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/foreducators Human Rights First http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/stories/storie-02.htm