From its very beginnings, the United States has been a nation of immigrants. Large groups of people decided to make America their home for many different reasons. Political, religious, military and economic factors have played significant roles in America’s immigration history.

In this activity, we will look at the numbers of people immigrating to the United States over the past 200 years. Relating these numbers to historical events at the time can help us uncover the stories of the peoples who have come together to build our nation and define our culture. Somewhere in the midst of these numbers are tales of war, famine, persecution, greed, exploration, hope, courage, innovation and the desire to make a nation with basic freedoms for everyone.

This lesson can be used in any history class and could be adapted for use in a sociology, government, or mathematics class.

Students should know how to access a given web site on the Internet and also be able to conduct a search to find specific information on the Internet. This lesson will allow students to move from the knowledge and comprehension levels of Bloom’s taxonomy to the analysis level.

Access the Internet to obtain immigration data.

Identify times of greatest immigration movements.

Present, graph and summarize numerical data emphasizing its historical context.

Explain why numerical data is significant in explaining history.

Relate immigration movements to the social, political or economic issues that caused them.

Explain cultural developments and settlement patterns in relation to immigration.

Analyze the effects immigration movements had on American culture, government, politics and economy.

Students will use a search engine to find sites that give information about immigration to the United States. Students should think about the source of this information and whether the site is likely to give biased information. Specifically, students will try to find data about the number of immigrants since the time of the American Revolution in 1776.

Students should make a chart or table of the immigration data they found, showing numbers of immigrants and country of origin. They should then share their information to make an accurate chronology graph of immigration numbers.

Each student will then choose or be assigned a particular time period to research and complete an individual analysis paper for his or her assigned time period. Or, instead of having students write a paper, the instructor may distribute the Immigration Worksheet for completion.

The class should share information they found for their papers and discuss overall immigration patterns, reasons for the movements and cultural, economic, political or any other changes that resulted in the United States.

Student evaluation will be based on their contribution to the class chart/graph, the quality of their individual papers or worksheets, and their participation in discussions about immigration information obtained by the class. Student papers should include answers to the following questions.

1. How many immigrants came during this time period?

2. Where did the immigrants come from?

3. Why did they come to America?

4. What contributions did this group make to American culture?

5. What effects did this immigration movement have on the American economy?

6. What role did these immigrants play in American government or politics?

7. What are your Internet information sources and how do you know they are reliable?

Students may study immigration patterns from the discovery of America to the time of the American Revolution. Students may access genealogy sites and trace their family tree.

If this lesson is used in a mathematics class, the paper or worksheet may be omitted. An accurate time-graph should be completed showing country of origin and perhaps a short description of reasons for the immigration at that time.

1. What time period will you study?

2. Name at least three Internet sources you found which give information about immigration to the United States at the time period you are studying.

3. Comment on the reliability of the sources you listed in #2. Think about the goals of the organization that created the web site. Look for conflicting information or missing information among the various sites you found.

4. How many immigrants came during the time period you are researching? 

5. What were the nationalities of these immigrants?

6. Why did these immigrants come to America at this time?

7. What contributions did these immigrants make to American culture?

8. What effects did this immigration movement have on the American economy?

9. What role did these immigrants play in American government or politics?

 10. Make a graph showing immigration numbers using data from the whole class.

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1. What time period will you study? 1900-1920

2. Name at least three Internet sources you found which give information about immigration to the United States at the time period you are studying.

http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/students/meszaros/Immhist.htm

http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Immigration/waves_of_immigration.html

http://www.lkwdpl.org/schools.emerson/migrate.htm

http://library.advanced.org/20619/Intro.html

http://www.multnomah.lib.or.us/lib/homework/amhsthc.html

http://ww.ins.usdoj.gov/stats/200.html

http://oneworld.org/guides/migration/index.html

3. Comment on the reliability of the sources you listed in #2. Think about the goals of the organization that created the web site. Look for conflicting information or missing information among the various sites you found.

Some of these sites were governmental, some educational. Some said their mission was to promote immigration to the U.S. So these may be biased.

4. How many immigrants came during the time period you are researching?

About 14 million. (14,531,000 according to the U.S. Immigration Service)

5. What were the nationalities of these immigrants?

Austrians, Czechs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Slavs, Armenians, Poles, Russians, Eastern European Jews, Italians, Mexicans

6. Why did these immigrants come to America at this time?

To escape poverty, the shortage of farmland, unemployment and overpopulation.

To escape political repression.

To escape epidemics.

To escape religious persecution.

To escape wars and forced military service.

 7. What contributions did these immigrants make to American culture?

Ethnic neighborhoods.

Religious diversity.

Organized crime.

Variety of entertainment, art, music, cuisine.

Diverse educational views.

8. What effects did this immigration movement have on the American economy?

Cheap labor.

Skilled workers.

Small businesses started.

9. What role did these immigrants play in American government or politics?

At that time they had little political representation. However, they were "herded" to the polls by political bosses to vote for a particular party. The Italians had the most political representation, e.g., Ferillo La Guardia was mayor of New York.

10. Make a graph showing immigration numbers using data from the whole class.