Teaching American History 2

Immigration and Migration in US HistoryDecember 15, 2009

Emma Lazarus, 1849 - 1887

Statue of Liberty, 1886

"Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Ellis Island, 1892 - 1954

Ellis Island

Ellis Island

The New Colossus, 1883Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightening, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Angel Island

Angel Island

Medical Exams at Angel Island

Angel Island

Barracks at Angel Island

Angel Island

Poetry Carved on Walls, Angel Island

Angel Island

Instead of remaining a citizen of China, I willingly became an ox.

I intended to come to America to earn a living.

The western styled building are lofty; but I have not the luck to live in them.

How was anyone to know that my dwelling place would be a prison.

Poem Translations Courtesy of University of Washington Press.  "Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940", ISBN 0-295-97109-6.

Teaching Immigration History:Thematic Approach 1st vs. 2nd Generation Differences Americanization

“American” vs. “Home Country”

Primary Sources: Martha Ballard, 1735-1812 Life in Post-Revolutionary America

Online resource: http://dohistory.org/home.html

Diary Decoding: http://dohistory.org/diary/exercises/lens/index.html

Martha Ballard’s Diary

 

Clear. my Girls had Some Neighbours to help ym quilt a Bed quilt. 15tn Ladies, they began to quillt at 3h pm, finisht & took it out at y Evn. there were 12 Gentlemen took Tea. they Danced a little while after Supper, behavd Exceeding Cleverly; were all returnd home before ye 11th h.

NOVEMBER 4, 1790

Primary Sources: Biddy Mason, 1818-1891 Migration and Slavery

Online resource: http://www.californiamuseum.org/trails/#trails/women/

biddy_mason

Biddy Mason

"If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in. The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance, even as it receives." Biddy Mason 1818-1891

Biddy Mason’s Home

Judge O’Melveny’s Home, 1876

Broadway and 3nd Street, Los Angeles

Biddy Mason’s Home: Community

Biddy Mason’s Impact: Home is Community