Immigrants Come to America: 1870-1930

Industrialization, the California Gold Rush, the Russian Revolution, Famine, and World War I; these and other events contributed to the growing number of immigrants flocking to America. At times, the United States welcomed newcomers. At other times, the country passed laws severely limiting immigration numbers. This portfolio traces America's fluctuating attitudes toward immigration throughout sixty years of economic highs and lows. The hands-on documents bring the immigrants’ experiences into your students' hands with a citizenship certificate, actual minutes of a deportation hearing, and a classroom poster of Ellis Island photos. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities and a U.S. immigration timeline that succinctly presents crucial events between 1855 and 1935. A recommended reading list is also included. 4 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * America, Land of Immigrants * Asian Immigrants * Immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean * Immigrants from Northern Europe 14 Primary Source Documents: * Tariff of Immigrant Fares from Philadelphia, 1887 * American citizenship certificate, 1896 * Poster: Ellis Island, 1900-1912 * Transcript from a special board of inquiry, Ellis Island, 1903 * Cunard Line questionnaire for immigrants before booking, 1905 * Pamphlet: Chances for Homemakers in the United States of America, 1906 * Letter to President Theodore Roosevelt about “shameful” treatment of emigrants, 1906 * Passport for the Interior of a young Italian woman, 1907 * Certificate of Identification for Chinese merchant and his son, 1907 * Telegram from A.E. Yoell, secretary of Asiatic Exclusion League, 1911 * Portion of a passenger manifest for the ship Oceanic, 1912 * U.S. Census questionnaire, 1920 * Poster: Cartoons and photos of immigrant life and attitudes, 1885-1919 * Excerpt from the pamphlet What Every Emigrant Should Know, 1922