Introduction
 

    Our nation is made up of immigrants that have migrated here for many past centuries.  It is important as citizens of the United States to know the history of the immigration of your own culture and the cultures of others that make up the vast framework of our population today.  Part of learning how and when people have traveled to reach our continent we must also question what happened to them once they arrived.  This lesson will allow you to understand the history of Chinese Immigration.  You will investigate why the Chinese immigrated, the different time periods of immigration, the laws posed against the Chinese, what it was like for them to arrive at a new country and by the end you will have a full understanding of Chinese Immigration from the past to the present.

The Big Question: What is the true and complete story of the Chinese people who have immigrated to the United States?
 

The Task

• This learning activity will require you to process new information and transform it into new knowledge that you yourself can better understand, reflect on, empathize with and remember.

• This project will allow you to use different mediums so that you can shine on one aspect of the project and let your talents come through whether that may be writing, drawing, analyzing, or organizing information.

• You must articulate personal insight into the 2 page long story you will write as a Chinese Immigrant arriving in the United States.

Activity 1

• You will be placed with a partner
• Answer these comprehension and memory builder questions using the listed web sites with your partner.
1. Why did the Chinese immigrate to the United States originally?
2.  What were their expectations of the United States in general?
3.  What were their experiences working on the railroad?
4.  Analyze and reflect on the quote, "Remember, remember always, that all of us...are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."  Franklin D. Roosevelt
5.  What is the Chinese Exclusion Act and when was it passed?
6.  Describe briefly what immigrants typically went through during there stay at Angel Island.
7.  What form of employment were Chinese Immigrants restricted to and what were the working conditions?
8.  How did the population fluctuate throughout our history based on Immigration Laws and restrictions?
9.  Describe some contributions of Chinese immigrants to the United States and specifically San Francisco.
10. What are "paper sons"?
Use these helpful sites!
Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
Angel Island
National Archives of Chinese Immigration
American Immigration Home Page
Chinese Immigration summary
Life on Angel Island
Short history of Chinese Immigration Chinese Immigrant Railroad Workers
 

Activity 2

• Create a timeline using pictures you find on the web sites and a written description.
• In order to create a pictorial timeline it might be easiest to copy and paste pictures from the web sites you view on to one piece of paper and print them out to cut out yourself and place on a piece of paper with your written description....or.... if you are computer savvy you could cut and paste pictures onto a new word document and type out your written component and print the finished product from the computer.  See the grading policy for this part of the project below under the evaluation section.


 Click her to see an example of a timeline-http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Timelinex.html
 
 
 
 
 


 
 

Activity 3

• On your own you must create a story or letter from the perspective of a Chinese immigrant. Your story must be extrememly detailed with descriptive images, emotional feelings, treatment by others, your surroundings, the time period and what is happening historically.  You may pick any time period such as the Gold Rush, Industrialization, or the period on Angel Island from 1910-1940.

You will be graded individually for your written 2 page story.
The rubric is as follows: click here

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Congratulations!!!  You have now learned many new details about Chinese Immigration.  You also have more knowledge about your own city including Angel Island and the events that happened there.  Our class now gets to travel together on a field trip to see Angel Island ourselves and read poetry that detainees have written on the walls to tell their stories.
 
 

 

Pictures of old boats and people entering Angel Island, girl on bunkbed : http://www.sandiego-online.com/forums/chinese/htmls/angel.htm
Pictures of the Chinese flag and United States flag taken from: http://inspiration.com/
Rubric created with the help of: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
Picture of men's barracks at Angel Island taken from: http://www.angelisland.org/immigr02.html
Picture of railroad workers taken from: http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/index.html

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Based on a template from The WebQuest Page.
Last modified by D. Lassiter
August 2001