Lesson plan for
A GROWING NATION
Introduction
This lesson is about how people come to America. The lesson will help students see that their
personal stories are part of American history by comparing their experiences with those of
immigrants in the past. You will lead the class through the eight questions from the
naturalization test related to A Growing Nation.
The class will learn more about immigration throughout American history by seeing objects
and images from some of the places immigrants have entered the United States. Then,
students can share their own stories of immigration.
Objectives
The student will be better able to
• Recall the answers to the eight questions from the naturalization test in the A Growing
Nation theme.
• Identify different immigrant gateways throughout American history.
USCIS Questions
In the A Growing Nation theme:
59.
Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
87.
Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.
58.
What is one reason colonists came to America?
64.
There were 13 original states. Name three.
60.
What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?
71.
What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
72.
Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
95.
Where is the Statue of Liberty?
Time
Theme: 25 minutes
PowerPoint and Discussion: 30 minutes
Materials
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Internet connectivity
EITHER classroom projector OR enough computers for students to use as individuals or
small groups
Preparing for the Oath website, A Growing Nation theme
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=6)
Immigrant Gateways PowerPoint
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Immigrationgateways.ppt)
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Challenge Words
You can find all of the bold words in the vignettes in the word list
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Wordlist.pdf). Listed below are some of those
words that will come up often during the lesson.
Citizen/Citizens: someone who has the legal right to live, work, and vote in the United States
Colonists: people who lived in one of the 13 original British colonies before the United States
became independent in 1776.
Colonial: relating to a country or geographic area controlled by another country.
Colony/Colonies: a country or geographic area controlled by another country
Doubled: to increase in size by two. 5 miles doubled is 10 miles; 2 miles doubled is 4 miles.
Economic opportunity: the chance to make more money, usually in business
Enslaved: made a slave; enslaved is the past tense form of enslave
Expand: to grow, become larger
Forced: to make someone do something, even if they do not want to
Independent/Independence: not controlled by another person or country
Political Liberty: the right to participate in the government
Settler/Settlers: a person who moves to a new country or region where few people have
been before
Slaves/Slavery: people that are owned by other people and are forced to work without pay
Statue: an object that looks like a person or animal, and is made of stone, metal, or other
material
Symbol: something that is used to represent an idea or organization
Tribe/Tribes: a group of people who have the same beliefs, customs, or language
Teacher Tech Tips
To learn how to use Preparing for the Oath, visit the help page at
http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/help.html
Depending on your students’ proficiency level, you might want to offer a transcript of the
narration for students to read along while watching and listening, or to have as a reference.
You can find printable transcripts at
http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Transcript.pdf.
You may notice that the web address never changes as you navigate through Preparing for
the Oath. In order to go directly to a specific theme or question on the site, you can find a list
of links at http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Links.pdf. These links may be useful
for using your browser’s “bookmark” tool or assigning student work. The link to go directly to
the A Growing Nation theme is
http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=6.
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Some learning environments will be conducive to the sound features, while others will not. It
is always possible to turn on and off the website’s audio feature by clicking on this symbol:
However, please keep in mind that the test itself is spoken aloud. Students will need to be
comfortable responding to spoken questions, and be able to respond orally.
Don’t feel tied down by the structure of the themes. Once you are inside a theme, the image
tiles along the bottom represent the individual questions within that theme. You may click on
the tiles out of order to view the questions as you choose. Similarly, you may jump around
the three modes within each question: Learn, Practice, and Try.
Procedure
1. Lead the class through the A Growing Nation theme, as presented on the Preparing for
the Oath website (http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=6).
2. Show the class the Immigration Gateways PowerPoint
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Immigrationgateways.ppt), using the
attached notes as guidelines for narration.
3. Discussion Questions:
a. What did the immigration gateways have in common?
b. What was different about the immigration gateways?
c. Where and how did you enter the United States? (Please remember that
personal questions are always optional.)
d. What did you bring with you when you entered the United States?
e. What was the first thing you saw when you arrived in the United States?
Learn More Links
Smithsonian’s History Explorer
(http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu)
Your gateway to innovative online resources for teaching and learning American history,
designed and developed by the National Museum of American History.
Pilgrim Hall Musuem
(http://pilgrimhall.org)
Pilgrim Hall Museum has an unmatched collection of Pilgrim possessions. It preserves and
fosters the story of the settlement of Plymouth Colony.
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The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc
(http://ellisisland.org)
The foundation preserves both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York Harbor. It
works to promote knowledge of the Island, the Statue, and immigration history in general.
Angel Island Association
(http://angelisland.org)
Angel Island Association is a non-profit organization working to facilitate the preservation,
restoration and interpretation of historical and natural resources on the island.
Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/bracero)
This online exhibition accompanies Bittersweet Harvest exhibition at the National Museum of
American History.
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Background Information
Plymouth Colony
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Pilgrims were an English separatist religious group that wanted to “purify” the Church
of England. These Puritans were persecuted for their religious beliefs. They moved first
to Holland and then to a colony in Massachusetts in the United States.
The first ship that made the journey to Plymouth Colony was the Mayflower. The
Mayflower was a sizable cargo ship, around 100 feet in length.
With 102 passengers plus crew, each family was allotted very little space. Most items
brought on the Mayflower were practical. The Pilgrims probably relied on the advice
in "Provisions lists" written by earlier settlers to Virginia. These lists gave the amount
of clothing, tools, household implements and food that each colonist needed to
survive for a year in America.
The Mayflower reached Cape Cod in November of 1620. It anchored in today’s
Provincetown Harbor.
Ellis Island
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From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through
the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor.
Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast, within the shadow
of the Statue of Liberty.
By the 1880's, steam power had shortened the journey to America dramatically.
Immigrants poured in from around the world: from the Middle East, the
Mediterranean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and down from Canada.
In the 1880s alone, 9% of the total population of Norway emigrated to America. After
1892 nearly all immigrants came in through the newly opened Ellis Island.
One immigrant recalled arriving at Ellis Island: "The boat anchored at mid-bay and
then they tendered us on the ship to Ellis Island… We got off the boat…you got your
bag in your hand and went right into the building. Ah, that day must have been about
five to six thousand people. Jammed, I remember it was August. Hot as a pistol, and
I'm wearing my long johns, and my heavy Irish tweed suit."
Families often immigrated together during this era, although young men frequently
came first to find work. Some of these then sent for their wives, children, and siblings;
others returned to their families in Europe with their saved wages.
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Angel Island
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Angel Island was an immigration station near San Francisco, California.
Starting in the late 1800s, politicians enacted legislation that made it difficult for
foreigners, especially Asians, to enter the country, attain citizenship, own property or
compete in business.
The only exception to this law was if an immigrant had a husband or a father who was
a U.S. citizen.
Because of the exclusionary laws directed at them, some Chinese immigrants adopted
false identities, and became known as “paper sons” and “paper daughters.”
All Chinese immigrants were considered suspect and had to prove their identity by
matching answers about their lives in detail with those of their relatives in the United
States.
Interrogations could take a long time to complete, especially if witnesses for the
immigrants lived in the eastern part of the United States. The average detention was
two to three weeks, but many stayed for several months.
Bracero Program
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In 1942, facing labor shortages caused by World War II, the United States initiated a
series of agreements with Mexico to recruit Mexican men to work on U.S. farms and
railroads.
These agreements became known as the bracero program.
Bracero is a term used in Mexico for a manual laborer.
Between 1942 and 1964, an estimated two million Mexican men came to the United
States on short-term labor contracts.
On farms, braceros worked cotton, citrus, dates, and such backbreaking stoop-labor
crops as sugar beets, lettuce, and strawberries. Early in the program, they also
maintained railroad tracks.
Over time, braceros were sent to California, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, and
29 other states.
Contracts ranged from a few weeks to 18 months.
Camps ranged in size from just a few braceros to a thousand.
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Slide 1
Immigrants in United States History
Slide 2
Pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1620
Slide 3
Pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1620
The Pilgrims came to the United States for political and religious
freedom.
The first ship that brought Pilgrims to Massachusetts was called the
Mayflower.
102 passengers came on the Mayflower. Many more followed on
other ships.
Slide 4
Pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1620
There was very little room for personal items on the journey.
Susanna and William White brought this cradle from Holland for
their unborn child.
He was the first child born to the Pilgrims in America.
Slide 5
Immigrants to Ellis Island, New York Harbor, 1892-1924
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Slide 6
Immigrants to Ellis Island, New York Harbor, 1892-1924
Between 1880 and 1930, over 27 million people entered the United
States.
About 20 million people entered through Ellis Island.
People came to Ellis Island from all over the world.
Many came from Italy, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia, Germany,
Britain, Canada, Ireland, and Sweden.
Slide 7
Immigrants to Ellis Island, New York harbor, 1892-1924
The Statue of Liberty is a statue in New York harbor.
Immigrants going to Ellis Island saw the statue.
Slide 8
Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco Bay, 1910-1940
Slide 9
Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco Bay, 1910-1940
Angel Island is sometimes called the “Ellis Island of the West”
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants came to Angel Island from
84 countries.
Most came from China and Japan.
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Slide 10
Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco Bay, 1910-1940
It was easier to move to the United States from China if an
immigrant already had family in the United States.
Some people had fake documents that said they were part of an
American family. They tried to get into the United States illegally.
They were called “paper sons.”
This is a coaching book that someone used to learn about an
American family.
Slide 11
Bracero Program, Mexican-American border,1942-1964
Slide 12
Bracero Program, Mexican-American border,1942-1964
The Bracero Program brought men to the United States to work on
U.S. farms and railroads.
Two million Mexican men came to the United States on short-term
labor contracts.
Slide 13
Bracero Program, Mexican-American border,1942-1964
This is a short-handled hoe, or el cortito. Braceros used tools like
this to work in U.S. farms.
Since the hoe was so short, Braceros worked bent over in the field.
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