The American Vision © 2011 Virginia Edition

Unit 4: The Birth of Modern America, 1865-1901

Historical Thinking Activities

Assignment: Prepare a History of Immigration
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, immigration to the United States occurred at levels previously unseen. Between 1865 and 1914, nearly 24 million Europeans arrived from Italy, Poland, Russia, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Norway, Ireland, and other countries. During the same period, some 4.5 million Asians arrived, mainly from China and Japan. For this assignment, you will prepare an illustrated report about one of the immigrant groups who arrived during this period.

Assignment Task List
Step 1: Decide which immigrant group you will research and write about.

Step 2: Research the immigrant group. There are several questions you need to answer in your report including: For what reasons did they decide to leave their home country? Where in the United States did they tend to settle? What types of occupations did they typically enter? What cultural traditions did they bring to the United States?

Tips on Library Searches:

Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/search/new/help/

Internet Sources on Immigration:

Angel Island State Park
Immigration Station
http://www.angelisland.org/immigr02.html

Library of Congress
Immigration to the United States, 1851–1900
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/riseind/immgnts/immgrnts.html

Library of Congress
Immigrants in the Progressive Era
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/progress/immigrnt/immigrnt.html

Library of Congress
Selected Images of Ellis Island and Immigration, ca. 1880-1920
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/070_immi.html

National Park Service
Angel Island, 1846–1876
http://www.nps.gov/goga/historyculture/angel-island.htm

National Park Service
Ellis Island
http://www.nps.gov/elis

New York Public Library
Ellis Island Photographs from the Collection of William Williams, Commissioner of Immigration, 1902-1913
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?topic=all&collection_list=EllisIslandPhotograp&col_id=165

New York Public Library
Lewis Hine Portraits of Immigrants at Ellis Island
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=131034&word

Step 3: Locate and select images to incorporate into your report. You may include photographs (for which you write explanatory captions); maps (on which you label the places where the immigrant group settled in the United States and/or their home country); or other images that illustrate important points about the immigrant group.

Step 4: Create an outline of the information and images you gathered during your research. Have you answered all of the questions listed in Step 2? If not, do additional research to find the answer(s).

Step 5: Write your report and illustrate it with the images you have selected. Have you included all the elements of a well-written report? Revise your report as necessary.