Ideas for Teaching the History of Immigration in the 20th Century
A fascinating history or social studies unit for classroom study involves 20th Century immigration patterns and experiences. Immigration to the United States grew throughout the end of the 19th Century and the first two decades of the 20th Century. By 1924, laws began to limit and refine America's immigration policies, yet immigration continued. Teachers have access to a variety of materials and resources when teaching the subject.
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Interviews
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Invite immigrants who immigrated to America to come and speak to your class. Ask individuals who have immigrated at different points during the 20th Century and come from different countries to speak about their experiences. The students should prepare interview questions for them. Suggested questions include asking the immigrant about his thoughts regarding the immigration process, his reception in America, his initial expectations, his reasons for immigrating, how he overcame language barriers and the experiences of his family members. Open up a discussion with the class to compare and contrast the experiences of different immigrant interview subjects. Did certain groups, or people who immigrated at different periods, have a more difficult time? Were there any common threads among their experiences? What strategies did immigrants employ that allowed them to adapt more easily to their new country?
Literature
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Read books that provide different perspectives of the immigrant experience. You can assign groups of students to read the same book or you can allow students to select their own books. Public libraries, Internet sites and bookstores have suggestions for students of different ages and reading levels that will give them different perspectives on the lives of immigrants. Require the students to write book reports or give oral book reports so students can share their reading material and hear about the books their classmates read.
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Resources
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Review resources and references that describe the immigrant experience of the 20th Century. Initiate a discussion with the class to review the options for assistance that 20th Century immigrants had at their disposal. How did they manage financially until they found employment? How did they learn English? What types of immigrant aid societies existed to help new immigrants? Where did immigrants live? What difficulties did the immigrants experience?
Census Data
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View and analyze data about the history of immigration to America. The University of Virginia library offers a user-friendly website that allows viewers to find information about immigration to America from the late 1700s onward, using census data. Look at the demographic information about the immigrants provided. How did 20th Century immigrants compare and contrast to immigrants of previous decades? What patterns do the students notice among the immigrant population throughout the 20th Century? Ask students to review the census data provided and create a general overview of the history of American immigration of the 20th Century.
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References
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