American Memory Fellows Program

[ Lesson Toolkit ]

Our Changing Voices
by Susan Cassata and Mary Reiman




Understanding historical perspective as well as the current immigration trends are relevant and timely topics for students because of the changing populations in our communities.  Through dialogue, documentation, research, and interviews, the students will understand their role in our society ,bringing together all people to create a new sense of community.  This unit will  provide a background to students'  family histories, and give them an opportunity to listen to the voices of immigrants of the past.

The students will identify the issues involved with migration of a community or family into the state of Nebraska.  By examining the traditional picture of immigration,  students will then turn the microscope onto their own families to have a better idea of their own history and their own voice.
 


Objectives

Students will be able to:

Time Required

Ideally all lessons are connected, but they may be used independently. Each lesson will take approximately 5  days.

Recommended Grade Level

Designed for 12th grade Citizenship Issues/Government class, but with teacher adaptations may be used in grades 9-11.

Curriculum Fit

Government, Sociology, Human Behavior, Language Arts

Final Project

Students will put together a family album which reflects how they see themselves in our community.

Procedure:

These lessons can be amended to focus on your region of the United States.

This project is divided into three lessons.  They may be done individually or as a unit.

Lesson One: Text and Internet Research

Lesson Two: Searching the American Memory Collection

Lesson Three: Our Voices

Final Project

Teacher Preparation

Lesson One:  Text and Internet Research

Choose a specific ethnic group who immigrated to the Midwest.  Using print and Internet resources, answer the following questions.

a.  When did the majority of the migration occur?  Were there other “waves” of immigration that occurred after the initial dates?
b.  What had been happening in their “homeland” that encouraged or forced many people to leave?
c.  Where in the U.S. did they settle?
d.  What types of jobs/labor did they do?
e.  What additional reasons for leaving did people cite?
f.  What cultural impact did they have on the United States?
g.  What language did they first speak when coming to the U.S.?  Did you find anything about the infusion of English into their homes?  Anything about education?  Religion?
h.  How were the immigrants treated when they first got here?  Any laws that may have been passed that encouraged or deterred them from becoming “active community members”?
i.  What is the current immigration from your country/region like today?  Are the reasons people come over the same as in the past?
j.  Has treatment of new groups of immigrants changed from years past?
k.  Any other tidbit you think we should know?

Internet sites to help you on your path:

Swedish Immigrants
German Immigrants
Cuban Immigrants
Irish Immigrants
Italian Immigrants

Book Series to Help You:

The Peoples of North America Seriesfrom Chelsea House Publishers
Example:
Muggamin, Howard.  The Jewish Americans.New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

The Immigrant Experience Series from Chelsea House Publishers
Example:
McGill, Allyson.  The Swedish Americans. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997.

Coming to America Series from Millbrook Press
Example:
Wu, Dana Ying-Hui.  The Chinese-American Experience.Brookfield, Connecticut: Millbrook Press, 1993.

America's Ethnic Heritage Series from Facts on File.
Example:
Brownstone, David M.  The Irish-American Heritage. New York: Facts on File, 1989.

The American Family Albums from Oxford University Press
Example:
Hoobler, Dorothy.  The Japanese American Family Album.New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
 

 Return to Objectives
 

Lesson Two:  Searching the American Memory Collections

What you have gathered from Lesson One is information about a group that immigrated to the U.S.  You will now be more specific in your search by locating pictures and stories from your chosen immigrant group from the American Memory Collections.

There are several ways to access the collections:

Go to the Collections:   http://memory.loc.gov/

Once you are on the American Memory page...Click on Collections.

You will be looking at a number of written and photographic essays.  Now pick one of the collections below to begin your search:

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945
Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 - 1940
The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920

Search terms such as:

immigrants
migrants
migrant workers

or specific ethnic groups such as:

Swedish Americans
German Americans
Russian Americans

You need to locate the following:

A.  Five pictures.  It will be nice if you can find pictures from your specific immigrant group. However, if you cannot, you may look for stories and pictures that occurred during the time period when the majority of your group immigrated.  The purpose of doing this is to see the visual images which help make us more aware of the experiences, celebrations and difficulties of the early settlers in this country.

For each of the pictures you need to do an Objective/Subjective Observation.  Make sure you document the title of the picture, the photographer, and the date and publisher.

Objective Observation:  Describe what you see in the photograph;  Avoid feelings and emotions;  you should be describing the picture as if you are explaining it to a person who has not seen it. Examples of items recorded:   What is the picture like?  Who is in it?  What are they wearing?  Are they smiling?  What is their house/farm like?

Subjective Observation:  Describe you personal feelings, associations, and judgments about the image. What other things can you tell from the photograph?  Do a word association...this picture makes me think of?

Overall question:  Why are these pictures so important for us in understanding things about our past?

B.  Five Oral Narratives:  Fom the Federal Writer’s Project.   Try to find a story from your time period and/or ethnic group. If that is not possible, select stories you think look the most interesting.

For each story, identify the person being interviewed, the place of the interview, the date of the interview and the name of the person doing the interviewing.

Questions to consider and answer after you have read the narrative:


 Return to Objectives
 

Lesson Three:  Our Voices

Reflecting on Others:

We are now going to read a personal narrative from a young adult who has immigrated to the United States within the last five years.  Please locate a personal narrative from the list of texts we have found in the media center.

Resources:
 

  • Atkin, Beth.  Voices fromthe field: childrenof migrant farmworkers tell their stories.

    • New York: Little, Brown, 1993.
  • Bode, Janet. New Kids on the Block: oral histories of immigrant teens.New York: Franklin Watts, 1989.
  • Davis, Marilyn.  Mexican Voices/American Dreams: an oral history of Mexican immigration to the United States.New York: Henry Holt, 1990.
  • Greenberg, Judith.  Newcomers to America: stories of today’s young immigrants.New York: Franklin Watts, 1996.
  • I was dreaming to come to America; memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project.New York: Viking, 1995.
  • Monk, Linda R., ed.  Ordinary Americans:  U.S. History Through the Eyes of Everyday People.Alexandria, VA: Close Up Pub., 1994.
  • Namias, Jane.  First Generation: In the Words of 20th Century American Immigrants.Boston: Beacon Press, 1978.
  • Poynter, Margaret.  The Uncertain Journey: stories of illegal aliens in El Norte.New York: Atheneum, 1992.
  • Santoli, Al.  New Americans:  An Oral History. New York: Viking, 1988.
  • Steltzer, Ulli.  The New Americans.Pasadena, CA: NewSage Press, 1988.

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    From this narrative, you are to answer the following questions:

    a. Where did this person immigrate from?
    b. When did he/she come here?
    c. Why did he/she come to the United States?
    d. How did he/she arrive here (transportation)?
    e. How has his/her life been since arriving here?
    f. What are his/her hopes and dreams for the future?

    Reflecting on Ourselves:

    Begin the final portion of this project, by going home and asking your parents/guardians the following questions:

    1.  Heritage of your parents (mother and father or guardians).
    2.  When did your relatives come to the United States?  Dates?  From specific cities?
    3.  Grandparent/Great Grandparent names?
    4.  Tell us about any holiday traditions in your family.
    5.  If possible, find a picture of grandparents/great grandparents..  Do a Subjective/Objective Observation.  Describe the things that stand out to you. Also note:

    6.  Ask for one story that is told time and time again at your family gatherings.
     

    As you finish the interview with your family, think and journal about the following questions:

    Return to Objectives
     

    FINAL PROJECT:

    Putting it all together:  What you have found are pieces to different immigrantion stories.  The best way to show the connection is to place the information, stories, pictures and narratives together in a photo album or scrapbook.  This way will best document your journey.  Things to be included in your final project:

    TEACHER PREPARATION:

    Introductory Activity:  Begin by asking a variety of questions to assist students in thinking about their own cultural heritage.

    Lesson One:  Text and Internet Research Background Information:                            a.  U.S. Committee for Refugees
                               b.  Immigration and Naturalization Services
                               c.  American Migration Center
                               d.  Amnesty International

    Research Piece:

    Lesson Two: Searching the American Memory Collection Resources Used:

    America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945
    Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941
    American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 - 1940
    The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920

    Background Information:

    1. What is the brief history of the WPA  project? Why was the project funded? Look at the questions of the interviewers.  Why were those questions important?   How descriptive were the answers?  What ideas were supposed to be gathered or taken from these interviews?
    Research Piece: Lesson Three:  Our Voices Reflecting on Others:

    Student will chose a story from their reading list (or from those found in your school library media center) to read and use when making a connection between immigration past and immigration present.

    From these narratives, students will respond to the following questions:

    a. Where did this person immigrate from?
    b. When did he/she come here?
    c. Why did he/she come to the United States?
    d. How did he/she arrive here (transportation)?
    e. How has his/her life been since arriving here?
    f. What are his/her hopes and dreams for the future?

    Reflecting on Themselves:

    Evaluation and Extension

    Three pieces of evaluation, a portfolio/notebook collection of journals and written assignments based on the readings from the AM collection and books;  a written piece from their interview from a family member;  visual piece that is a culmination of the entire unit of study.


    Top of Page

    Mary Reiman                                                         Susan Cassata
    Media Specialist                                                    Social Studies Teacher
    Lincoln Southeast High School                             Lincoln Southeast High School
    mreiman@lps.org                                                  scassat@lps.org

    May 31, 2000