Download unit guide AP - Mercer Island School District

American History / Puchalla
Name:_________________________
Immigration
Key Question: What policies should the United States adopt on immigration?
Before answering this question we will consider how immigrants and American attitudes toward
immigrants have shaped U.S. History. At the end of your studies you should
A. Be able to describe patterns of immigration to the United States. For two waves—your
family member’s and one that we studied in class--describe
 approximate dates and numbers;
 demographics and origins (who? from where?);
 ”push” and “pull” forces;
 conditions of travel and circumstances on arrival in the U.S.;
 attitudes in the U.S. toward these newcomers;
 strategies used by the group to assimilate, adapt, or remain separate.
B. Be able to describe how foreign and domestic policy issues have influenced immigration
policy.
C. Be able to suggest immigration policies for the United States.
Schedule
Mon 2/1
Tues 2/2
Wed 2/3
Thurs 2/4
Fri 2/5
Our Attitudes toward Immigration (survey and discussion). Family History
introduction. Immigration Overview. HW: Begin gathering information for your
family notecard. Text selections:
420-425 Step back to the days of the Market Revolution and read about Irish and
German immigration. As you read, take notes for the bullet points in A. above.
663-665 Revisit the rise of cities and learn about the immigrants who came over
in the 1880s and 1890s to labor in America’s growing industries. Take notes on
bullet points in A.
736-739 New Immigrants Read more about the new immigrants of the late 1800s
and early 1900s. Take notes on bullet points in A.
Case study: Ethnic strategies. The Irish in America (video). HW: Irish ethnic
strategy reading and questions.
Chinese exclusion—doc analysis, source, context (textbook page 595 on
Depression of 1873; p 657)
HW: family immigration notecard. Read text pp.819-820 about the Immigration
Restrictions of the 1920s. Notes: What did these acts do and why?
Waves—In class research. HW: finish Immigrant Waves assignment.
Becoming American (notecards, Waves, discussion). Expert groups: Research and
prepare for structured controversy. (Use background Immigration Reading part 2
and Option description to prepare) HW: written prep for SAC. Your written
preparation must include the following:
1. Summary of what your option recommends for US immigration policy;
2. A clear statement of the values on which your option is based (What matters
most? Security? Individual rights? Economic well-being? Or what?);
Mon 2/8
3. Several “points” that will help you argue for your option including evidence
showing
a. how your option will improve the lives of people in the U.S.;
b. how your option will help the U.S. deal with foreign policy issues;
c. how your option is supported by the history of how the US has treated
immigrants.
Your preparation must be handwritten or typed and will be collected Monday.
SAC: immigration reform. How should the United States limit immigration?
Meet briefly in expert groups. Present options and reach consensus in mixed
groups.
Immigrant Waves
Instructions:
1. Read pp. 4-6 from Part I: Immigration and the American Experience. Take notes on U.S.
immigration policy changes.
2. Choose one immigrant from your family’s story. Research and take notes on the immigrant
experience of that person’s “wave” or ethnic group. For example, if you already researched
and created a card for your Great-great-great grandfather Patrick O’Reilly, now research Irish
immigrants of the mid-1800s. Be sure to include the following information for that “wave”:
 approximate dates and numbers;
 demographics and origins (who? from where?);
 ”push” and “pull” forces;
 conditions of travel and circumstances on arrival in the U.S.;
 attitudes in the U.S. toward these newcomers;
 strategies used by the group to assimilate, adapt, or remain separate.
3. Explain how your family immigration story fits with the information you have gathered on
that particular wave or ethnic group in American history.
4. Explain how US immigration policy at the time affected your ancestor or chosen immigrant.
Also explain which if any changes in US immigration would have affected your chosen
immigrant if she came to the U.S. after those policy changes.
Suggested Sources:
Textbook—section assigned, plus pp.1148-1152 and other pages you might use the index to find.
Library of Congress presentation on Immigration
<http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/im
migration/> and gather information for your timeline (to be created later).
Your family history research
New York Times Immigration Explorer interactive map
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html