Push & Pull Factors - Immigration

Lesson 3

Big Ideas

Both geographers and historians have studied how and why people have immigrated to the United States.

Push factors such as lack of freedom, a shortage of jobs, war, famine, or high costs of living caused people to leave their home countries.

Pull factors such as economic opportunities, freedom, family, or culture of the region encouraged people to immigrate to the United States.

Not everybody freely chose to immigrate to the United States. Under the system of slavery, Africans were forced to immigrate.

Immigration

Immigration is the movement of people to the United States from other countries.

One by one, we are going to share our Home Letter information from last night

As you list where your family members are from, I will put a dot on our map to show where the location is.

Immigration & Michigan

Think of some examples of the immigration of people to Michigan from you learned in 3rd grade about Michigan history.

Share your examples with your island.

You and your island come up with your 2 best examples to share with the class.

Moving to Michigan

Silently read the article “Moving to Michigan” found on pg. 29 -30 of your packet.

After you have completed the article, work with your island to complete the chart on pg. 31.

You will have 20 minutes to complete this activity.

We will go over answers together as a class.

Shifts in Immigration

Notice that there are shifts in immigration patterns, especially in our Moving to Michigan article.

First, the French & British were the first Europeans to immigrate to Michigan.

Second, the Irish & the Germans.

Most recent immigrants are from Asia or Latin America.

Immigration Data

The following pictures are data on the immigration to the United States.

Work with your island and draw conclusions about immigration based on the data presented.

Be ready to share out to the class.

Immigration Data

In the 1800s, most of the immigrants were from Europe.

Between 1800 and 1900 there was a shift in European immigration. More and more people began to immigrate from countries in Southern & Eastern Europe.

Not many people from Asia immigrated to the U.S. in the 1800s

Between 1920 and 1939 most immigrants came from countries in Europe or from Mexico or Canada

In recent times, the majority of immigrants have come from countries in Asia and the Americas.

Immigration & Literature

Many authors have written stories of immigrants and their journeys.

Today, we will be reading two different books about immigrants.

Listen carefully to each book and be ready to identify push and pull factors affecting the immigration of the main characters.

The Keeping Quilt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh3ENP2hzp4

This book is the story of a Russian immigrant mother and her family

Grandfather’s Journey

This story is about an immigrant from Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfhJstC43Y

Ellis Island

This is a picture of Ellis Island.

Many European immigrants entered the U.S. through Ellis Island between the years 1892 and 1924.

Together, lets take a virtual tour of Ellis Island.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/

Analyzing Photographs

What I’m about to pass out to you are photographs of immigrants.

These photographs can be a useful tool for learning more about immigration.

Each island will receive 2 copies of these photographs.

Carefully look at the photographs and write some possible conclusions about immigration in the early 1900s.

Immigrants

As you saw in the photographs, most immigrants could bring very few things with them.

Using pg. 35 of your packet, complete the activity.

Remember, your trunk is not that big and you will need a lot of things. Choose wisely.

What Did People Bring With Them?

Using the Elmo, we are going to read about what some immigrants brought with them.

An inspector that worked on Ellis Island wrote the descriptions that you are about to read.

Afterwards, we are going to compare and contrast what the two immigrants brough.

Immigrant Artifacts

Another way to explore the kinds of things immigrants brought with them is to analyze the artifacts themselves.

Work together in groups of 3 and identify each object and come up with a reason as to why an immigrant would take the object with them to the United States.

Pages 36 - 37

Artifact #1

An accordion from Italy

Artifact #2

A birth certificate from Poland

Artifact #3

A candlestick from Austria-Hungary

Artifact #4

A cloth apron from Ukarine

Angel Island

Immigrants coming from Asia often entered the U.S. through an immigration center called Angel Island in San Francisco.

Together, we are going to read a few sections from a short story of Li Keng Wong who immigrated to the United States from China.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/asian-american/angel_island/chapter1.htm

Angel Island

Compare Li Keng Wong’s experiences at Angel Island with what you have learned so far about experiences at Ellis Island.

Comparing Images

Amos Fortune: A Free Man by Elizabeth Yates

Homework

Pretend that you are an immigrant coming to the United States from another country. Write a creative story about what your journey would be like, what you would bring, and what life would be like once you got to America.