Through the Eyes of Immigrants
Imagine yourself being discriminated against in your own country just because you had different beliefs, or a different culture. You could not escape the terrible people who were making your life unbearable. You could not even speak your mind without being punished for it.
As an archivist or historian, you will creatively depict the story of an immigrant's journey from his/her homeland to a new land. Your final work may take any of the following forms:
diary
scrapbook
timeline/map of journey
picture book
letter to/as an immigrant
video presentation
interview an immigrant
itinerary of a visit with an immigrant
Internet Sites
Ellis Island: Reborn Into America
Electronic Ellis Island: A Virtual Heritage Museum
Ellis Island:They Came From Many Lands
Fictional Picture Books
Bunting, Eve. How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story. Clarion, 1988. Caribbean to America.
Harvey, Brett. Immigrant Girl. Holiday House, 1987. Russian to America.
Levine, Ellen. I Hate English! Scholastic, 1989. China to America
Levinson, Riki. Watch the Stars Come Out. Dutton, 1985. ? to America.
Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. Simon and Schuster, 1988. Russia to America.
Winter, Jeanette. Klara's New World. Knopf, 1992. Swedish to America.
Fiction
Anderson, Margaret J. The Journey of the Shadow Bairns. Knopf, 1980. Scotland to Canada.
Angell, Judie. One-Way to Ansonia. Bradbury, 1985. Russian to America.
Bennett, Jack. The Voyage of the Lucky Dragon. Prentice-Hall, 1981. Vietnamese to Australia.
Chooi, Sook Nyul. Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Houghton-Mifflin, 1991. North Korean to South Korea.
Evernden, Margery. The Dream Keeper. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1985. Polish to America.
Fisher, Leonard Everett. A Russian Farewell. Four Winds Press, 1980. Russian to America. Also Across the Sea from Galway. Irish to America, and Letters from Italy. Italian to America.
Kerr, Judith. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1971. German to England.
Lasky, Katherine. Night Journey. Frederick Warne, 1981. Russian to America.
Levitin, Sonia. Journey to America. Atheneum, 1970.
Levitin, Sonia. Silver Days. Atheneum, 1989. German to America.
Lord, Bette Bao. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. Harper and Row, 1984. Chinese to America.
Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Danish to Sweden.
Sachs, Marilyn. Call me Ruth. Doubleday, 1982. Russian to America.
Talbot, Charlene Joy. An Orphan for Nebraska. Atheneum, 1979. Irish to America.
Watkins, Yoko Kawashima. So Far from the Bamboo Grove. Puffin, 1986. Japanese in Korea to Japan.
Werstein, Irving. The Long Escape. Scribner, 1964. Belgian to England.
Non-fiction
Ashabranner, Brent. An Ancient Heritage: The Arab-American Minority. Harper Collins, 1991. Includes the history of Arab immigration to the United States.
Berry, Joy. Every Kid's Guide to Understanding Human Rights. Living Skills Press, 1986. A simple introduction to issues involving human rights, focusing on children's rights. Cartoons.
Bradley, John. Human Rights. Ron Hayward Associates, 1987. An issue- oriented book for middle level and high school students.
Eiseman, Alberta. From Many Lands. Atheneum, 1970. A comprehensive history of American immigration from 1565 on. Chapters on the Irish,Germans, Scandinavians, Italians, Orientals, and one entitled: The Jews in the United States. Many excerpts from immigrant letters.
Fisher, Leonard Everett. Ellis Island: Gateway to the New World. Holiday House, 1986. A short but comprehensive history of American immigration, immigration laws, and Ellis Island. Includes numerous quotes from immigrants.
Hitchcox, Linda. Refugees. Gloucester Press, 1990. A simple overview of the status of recent refugees. Describes their plight and hardships and efforts to help them. Includes a chart of statistics.
Jacobs, William Jay. Ellis Island: New Hope in a New Land. Scribner's, 1990. A walk-through history of Ellis Island and immigration to America. Describes the immigrant wall of honor.
Levinson, Nancy. I Lift My Lamp: Emma Lazarus ad the Statue of Liberty. Lodestar, 1986. A biography of the author of the famous inscription on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Incorporates a history of the Statue itself and the tragic circumstances of many immigrants.
Shapiro, Mary J. How They Built the Statue of Liberty. Random, 1985. Panoramas, cross-sections and diagrams provide a detailed portrayal of the construction of the Statue of Liberty, one of the nineteenth century's greatest engineering feats.
Shapiro, William E. The Statue of Liberty. Franklin Watts, 1985. A history of the idea's inception, erection, and subsequent modifications.
Shippen, Katherine. Passage to America. Harper, 1950. A history of American immigration from 1781 on. Entire chapters on Dutch, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Irish, Chinese, Italian, Black, Post-World War II, and one called 'The Escape from Russia'.
Siegel, Beatrice. Sam Ellis's Island. Four Winds Press, 1985. An introduction to American immigration and its issues through an extensive history of Ellis Island.
Video
Fame, Fortune, and Sweet Liberty. TeleNews, Bremen, Germany, 1992.
60 minutes. A vivid portrayal of two immigrants' plights, journeys, and new lives in America; one from Germany in 1854, one from Poland in 1907. Very detailed.
Recent American Immigrants. A series published by Franklin Watts in the 1990's that discuss the immigrants, their reasons for coming, their lifestyles, and their contributions. Includes: Eastern Europeans, Asian Indians, Chinese, Cubans and Caribbean Islanders, Filipinos, Koreans, Mexicans, Southeast Asians.
You will be evaluated on the following:
Use the site Quotes About Immigration to reflect on what you learned about immigration. Choose a quote from the site above and relate this to Rifka's experience as an immigrant. Write a composition that includes at least three supporting details from the book.
Notes to Teacher:
Grade Four and up.
Content Areas: English Language Arts, History, Social Studies
This WebQuest was designed by: Dottie Breslow, Joan Brooks, Regina Crump, and Jane Monahon from the North Salem School District, North Salem, New York.