IMMIGRATION: A SOCIAL PROBLEM IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Ellis Island: A Station on the Journey from Poverty and Persecution, to Progress.

Presented by: MRS. S. EPSTEIN

1. PHILIP RANDOLPH HIGH SCHOOL

NEW YORK, NY

In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, immigrants from European countries such as Germany, Italy, Russia, Poland, and Greece, poured into the United States through the New York gateway at Ellis Island. It was a building at the gates of New York City that represented a promise hope for the hopeless, jobs for the jobless and freedom for the enslaved. Immigrants flocked from an overcrowded Eastern Europe to pogroms of anti-Semitism and oppression from unfeeling monarchies. Horatio Alger novels and the new industrial revolution pulled millions to this island in the port of New York. The Statue of Liberty called for “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” but what was the true reality? It was far from the streets paved with gold that many believed they would find. More likely, it was the beginning of a life of sacrifice, suffering and fear that would take a generation from which to rise. These new immigrants could not speak English, came from agrarian societies and never experienced democratic institutions. They huddled together in various parts of major American cities which we now refer to as “ghettoes”. Many faced the same anti-Semitism they had from which they had just escaped. Others were denied employment because of their religion and customs and were exposed to a “Nativist” backlash spearheaded by a vicious Association Ku Klux Klan and American Protectionist. Ten in a dumbbell tenement room was not uncommon. Tuberculosis claimed the lives of thousands. Dysentery, Typhoid and Cholera epidemics were a fact of life. With no sanitation or fire protection, immigrants faced death at each day. No labor unions welcomed them since they lowered the wages of existing workers. Immigrant labor exploitation found few reformers and most worked 12-14 hour days 6 days a week in sweatshops or meat packing plants.

Immigrants posed a major social problem. Their exploitation and squalid living conditions affected 20 million who entered the United States between 1880 and 1920.

You will become a public policy analyst in this web quest. You will investigate the social problem of immigration in the early American industrial age. You will then try to glean policies that could alleviate the social problem for future immigrants. Remember, except for Native Americans, all others are immigrants who came to America form distant places for a similar purpose: a better life! GOOD LUCK in your research. You can make a difference.

You are an immigrant from one of these countries, living in this era, who arrived at Ellis Island five years before. From that time you have kept a diary of your experiences. From

Each group will be assigned to write a diary as if you were an immigrant arriving from Eastern Europe in 1900. You arrived on Ellis Island five years hence. For all those years you have kept a diary of your experiences. The entries in your diary reflect your time in Ellis Island, as well as your life and struggles as an immigrant in New York. Your entries can be weekly, monthly and yearly. You will use the American History Public Policy Analyst as an outline for your diary entries. At the end you will recommend ways of facilitating the entry of immigrants into the country, for the benefit of both the immigrant and society.

Your diary will be 4 page minimum and include all the steps of the AHPPA

Using your diary as a resource, will compose a two-page letter , in the form of a persuasive essay, to the “JEWISH DAILY FORWARD”, explaining your experiences and making recommendations the newspaper can publish, to benefit future immigrants

Click on American History Public Policy Analyst , then Standard Version, to take a tour of this program which will structure your work. After completion of the tour, you will use the FOUR-STEP AMERICAN HISTORY PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST. You will add a fifth step by proposing a new public policy for future immigrants

You are to read each step and complete each of the FOUR worksheets linked at the bottom of each web page. Use the MS Word version worksheet (AHPPA): The steps will form the basis for your diary and letter

Step # 1: Identify the Problem

Step # 2: Gather the Evidence

Step # 3: Determine the Causes

Step # 4: Evaluate the Public Policies

STEP # 5: Your own opinion-Create an improved immigration policy for future immigrants to America

Each group will complete and hand in the four worksheets with your other products. In doing the research necessary for completing the worksheets, you will use the online databases and websites listed in the Resources section of this web quest. In addition, you will use information from your textbook and library books.

GROUP DESIGNATION-Each member of the group will be given a role by the instructor:

1: RESERACHER—One member of the group will take notes using the internet resources. He/she will be responsible for completing the four

Worksheets

2: DIARY WRITER- This group member will use the worksheets to create a diary. All members will have input completing this task

3: LETTER WRITER-This group member will compose the letter to the Daily Forward

4: GROUP COORDINATOR-This group member will assign tasks, keep group on schedule, coordinate research and

Carefully edit all products according to the rubric.

GENERAL SEARCH ENGINES

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

WWW.YAHOO.COM

WWW.ASK.COM

SPECIFIC WEB SITES

IMMGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES—A HISTORY

ELLIS ISLAND

Child Labor-immigrants

AN INTERACTIVE ELLIS ISLAND-THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

IMMIGRATION POLICY

ELLIS ISLAND POLICIES

A COMPLETE HISTORY

RUBRIC FOR DIARY & LETTER

CATEGORY	4 EXCELLENT	3 VERY GOOD	2 SATISFACTORY	1 NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
Organization	Information is very organized with well-constructed paragraphs and subheadings. All steps in the PPA are used correctly.	Information is organized with well-constructed paragraphs. Most steps in the PPA are used correctly.	Information is organized, but paragraphs are not well-constructed. All steps are in the PPA are used but some are incorrectly.	The information appears to be disorganized. Few steps in the PPA are used and they are used incorrectly.
Amount of Information	All topics are addressed and all questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed and most questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed, and most questions answered with 1 sentence about each.	One or more topics were not addressed.
Quality of Information	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given.	Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Mechanics	No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.	Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors	A few grammatical spelling or punctuation errors.	Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.
Paragraph Construction	All paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Most paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Paragraphs included related information but were typically not constructed well.	Paragraphing structure was not clear and sentences were not typically related within the paragraphs.
Internet Use	Successfully uses suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Usually able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Occasionally able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Needs assistance or supervision to use suggested internet links and/or to navigate within these sites.

GRADING: “A’= 21-24 “B”= 17-20 “C”= 13-16 “F” = BELOW 13

You should have learned from this web quest that Ellis Island immigrants faced many hardships and had to overcome insurmountable obstacles to find their dreams. These destitute individuals helped create the American we glorify today. Their struggles were real and their accomplishments daunting. They received little help from the political, social or economic institutions that deprived many of the very equality expressed on the Statue of Liberty. Their experience made America a better place. Children of these immigrants found cures for diseases, founded major universities and became presidents of the United States. You have become a public policy analyst and historian. You now understand the value of studying the past. You have experienced the inequalities faced by the early 20^th century immigrants and made policy suggestions that will help future generations who come to America for similar reasons. The immigration question is extremely complex as you have learned. Immigrants create a clash of cultures and strain the resources of municipalities. However, suffering and exploitation is not a viable policy or option. Let’s hope you have made a difference.

Social Studies

Standard 1:   History of the United States and New York

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 4:   Economics

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the United States and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and nonmarket mechanisms.

Standard 5:   Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

English Language Arts

Standard 1:   Language for Information and Understanding

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Standard 2:   Language for Literary Response and Expression

Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances from American and world literature; relate texts and performances to their own lives; and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for self-expression and artistic creation.

Standard 3:   Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Standard 4:   Language for Social Interaction

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.