Poem from Angel Island - Teaching with Primary Sources



Was the United States a land of opportunity for immigrants from 1870-1917?

YES: The United States was a land of opportunity for immigrants from 1870-1917.

NO: The United States was not a land of opportunity for immigrants from 1870-1917.

Read the following documents using the primary source reading strategies we have discussed in class. Use the documents to find evidence to support your assigned position.

|Document 1 |

|[pic] |

|Unauthorized immigration lodgings in a Bayard St. N.Y.C. tenement (ca 1890) |

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|Source: Riis, Jacob A. (1849-1914) photographer. Library of Congress collection |

|Document 2 |

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|February 13 [1905] |

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|DEAR SISTER: |

|. . . . And now I inform you that I have very good work. I have been working for 3 months. I have very good and easy work. I earn $8.00 a week. Brother has |

|work also, And as to Brylska, I don’t know how she is getting on, and I don’t think about her at all. Inform me what is going on in our country, who has come |

|to America, and who got married, and what is the talk in our country about revolution and war, because I have paid for a newspaper for a whole year and the |

|paper comes to me twice a week, so they write that in our country there is misery. They say that in Warsaw and Petersburg there is a terrible revolution and |

|many people have perished already. As to the money, I cannot help you now, sister. You will excuse me yourself, I did not work for five months . . . |

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|ADAM RACZKOWSKI |

|Source: William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1918–1920). |

|Document 3 |

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|The New Colossus. |

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|Not 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 flame |

|Is the imprisoned lightening, and her name |

|Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand |

|Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command |

|The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. |

|"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she |

|With 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." |

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|Source: Poem by Emma Lazarus (1883). The poem appears on the base of the Statue of Liberty. |

|Document 4 |

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|[pic] |

|Mrs. Guadina, living in a rear house at 231 Mulberry St. N.Y., a dirty poverty-stricken home, and making a pittance by finishing pants. On the trunk is the |

|work of four days. She was struggling along, (actually weak for want of food) trying to finish this batch of work so she could get the pay. There seemed to be |

|no food in the house and she said the children had had no milk all day. The father is out of work (sells fish) on account of rheumatism. Three small children |

|and another expected soon. Location: New York City (1914) |

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|Source: Hine, Lewis Wickes, 1874-1940, photographer. Library of Congress collection |

|Document 5 |

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|“Gentleman’s Agreement” (1907) |

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|U.S.-Japanese understanding, in which Japan agreed not to issue passports to emigrants to the United States, except to certain categories of business and |

|professional men. In return, President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to urge the city of San Francisco to rescind an order by which children of Japanese parents |

|were segregated from white students in the schools. |

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|Source: The Americans Classroom Textbook |

Document 6

| “Chinese Exclusion Act” |

|May 6, 1882 |

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|WHEREAS, in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities |

|within the territory thereof: Therefore, |

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|Be it enacted, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the |

|passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the Untied States be, . . . suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese|

|laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain within the United States. |

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|SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without producing to the proper office of customs the certificate in this|

|act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. Any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed there|

|from to the country from whence he came, by direction of the President of the United States, and at the cost of the United States, after being brought before |

|some justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States. |

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|SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby |

|repealed. |

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|SEC. 15. That the words "Chinese laborers," whenever used in this act, shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in |

|mining. |

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|Source: U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XXII, p. 58 ff. |

Document 7

|Question: The skilled laborers are paid less [in Europe]—how about the labor that is not so much skilled? |

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|Steinway: Unskilled labor is also paid less. In other words, it is very rare to see a workingman in Europe whose family can lay by anything, whereas here |

|thrifty, skilled mechanics, blessed with health, and not meeting with sickness or other misfortune, have a chance to save money and do save money. |

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|Question: Then you say that in this country the labor is much better off in his social and pecuniary conditions, and in the means of enjoying the comforts of |

|life? |

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|Steinway: Undoubtedly |

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|Source: Testimony of Piano Manufacturer William Steinway before Senate Committee on the Relations between Labor and Capital (1883). |

Document 8

|Question: Let me see if I understand you fully. You get less wages than you did fifteen years ago [in Europe]? |

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|Answer: Yes |

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|Question: Now do you mean to say that the wages which you receive at present will buy as much as the comforts of life as the wages which you received then |

|would? |

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|Answer: By no means. I say that the rents are the same as they were fourteen years ago, but the man who had the apartments of four or five rooms at that time |

|is confining himself to perhaps three rooms now. |

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|Source: Testimony by bronze worker Joseph Finnerty, Irish immigrant, before Senate Committee on the Relations between Labor and Capital (1883). |

Document 9

|[pic] |

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|Teresa Prioriello Granieri and Salvatore Granieri standing in front of their successful produce store at 328 Penn Street, Reading, PA, c. 1920. |

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|Photograph courtesy of Norma Battisti Staron, Joan Saverino’s personal collection |

Document 10

|“Hello America. |

|This is Roseto. |

|I live in the splendor of your mountains, |

|And lay my head on your green fields. |

|Your fresh springs quench my thirst, |

|And your fertile soil eases my hunger. |

|I am grateful to be your child.” |

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|From “Letter to America” by Roseto resident Jennie Romano. (Italian-American Traditions: Family and Community, exhibition catalog, Balch Institute for Ethnic |

|Studies, October 11, 1985-January 4, 1986.) |

Structured Academic Controversy

Capture Sheet

Was the United States a land of opportunity for

immigrants from 1870-1917?

Preparation:

1. Highlight your assigned position.

YES: The United States was a land of opportunity for immigrants from 1870-1917.

NO: The United States was not a land of opportunity for immigrants from 1870-1917.

2. Read through each document searching for support for your side’s argument.

List your supporting documents here:

|Document # |Main Idea of Document |How does this support your position? |

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3. Summarize your arguments for your position using the supporting documents you found above.

------------------------------------------------------------------STOP----------------------------------------------------------

Position Presentation:

4. Present your pair’s position to your opposing group members. Record their position’s arguments here:

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Consensus Building:

5. Put your assigned role’s aside. Where does your group stand on the question? Where does your group agree? Where does your group disagree?

Central Question:

Was the United States a land of opportunity for immigrants from 1870-1917?

|Actions of Teacher | |Intended Actions of Students |

| |Introducing the Lesson | |

|Warm up/Objective – Why would one immigrate to the United |(5 minutes) |Students will respond to the warm up and copy the |

|States? | |objective for the day on their warm up sheet. |

| | | |

| | |Students will raise their hands to list some reasons of |

|Elicit responses to the warm up from students and focus in|(5 minutes) |why immigrate to the US. Students will brainstorm what |

|on concept of “the American Dream” | |the American Dream entails. |

|Create a brainstorm web on the board. | | |

| |Lesson Activities | |

|1. Introduce question for probing: Was the United States a| |1. --- |

|land of opportunity for immigrants from 1870-1917? | | |

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|2. PowerPoint to introduce structured academic controversy| | |

|and organize groups. |(5 minutes) |2. Students will get into assigned groups |

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|3. Circulate through room to view capture sheet progress | | |

|to check for understanding of the documents. | |3. Students will analyze the documents in pairs and find |

| |(15 minutes) |documents to support their assigned point of view. |

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|4. Instruct students to present their position to their | |4. Students will present their positions to the other |

|counterparts and vice versa | |group citing evidence from the document packet. The pair|

| | |not presenting will take notes on the other group’s |

| |(14 minutes) |arguments. |

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|5. Build consensus. As a group of four, instruct students| |5. Students should be debating with one another and |

|to discuss their findings and debate. (Check for | |citing the documents as support for their positions. |

|understanding: are students debating and citing | |Students are integrating multiple perspectives to deepen |

|documents?) | |their understanding of the topic question. |

| |(20 minutes) | |

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| |Concluding the Lesson | |

|1. Class discussion: Sample the groups’ responses to the |(5 minutes) |1. Students will share their group’s conclusions. |

|question. What conclusions did they arrive at? | | |

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|2. Summarizer Exit Card – Does your answer to the | |2. Students will relate what they have discussed today to|

|controversy question remain the same when talking about |(5 minutes) |current day. Do immigrants have opportunity today? |

|today? Why or why not? Compare today’s opportunities for| |Students will draw comparisons to history. |

|immigrants with those provided for immigrants from | | |

|1870-1920. | | |

|1. Explain homework assignment: A Letter Home. Review |Assessment |Students will evaluate the manifestations of hope and |

|rubric. |(5 minutes) |prejudice for immigrants arriving in America by citing |

| | |examples in their letters and detailing how they might |

| | |have felt “making it” in America. |

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Do not forget the rules of a successful academic controversy!

1. Practice active listening

2. Challenge ideas, not persons

3. Try your best to understand the other position

4. Share the floor: each person in a pair MUST have an opportunity to speak

5. No disagreeing until consensus-building as a group of four

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