American Immigration Past and Present

How do you describe the American Dream? What motivates others to immigrate to the United States, and why do some groups have trouble attaining the American Dream? Your learners will consider these questions as they explore figurative...

In an engaging simulation, class members imagine immigrating to the United States in the late nineteenth-century and arriving at Ellis Island. They then write creative journal entries about their experience and chart their journeys.

The Statue of Liberty may embrace the huddled masses of the world, but has American society always joined in? After young historians read a passage about the history of American immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on...

If citizens are living abroad, can their children still be considered citizens? How long does citizenship last for someone who has been permitted to work in the country? Here is a fun online interactive game that will help your learners...

What do Jerry Yang, Patrick Ewing, John Muir, Charlize Theron, Peter Jennings, and Saint Frances X Cabrini all have in common? They are all immigrants to the United States. Famous and not-so-famous immigrants are the focus of a resource...

Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...

Illegal immigration is an ever-changing source of consistent controversy. A reading passage about the rights of undocumented workers and illegal immigrants—and the lack thereof—guides high schoolers into a mock trial activity. Three...

Take a closer look at America's shift toward a primarily urban population and into the world's largest industrial power in the early twentieth century. This video reviews the demographics of the first major waves of immigration into the...

Students discover the tools of the Native Americans.  In this Native American cultural lesson, students investigate the techniques and creations Native Americans used to survive. Students create their own baskets by weaving them in the...