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Commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising, 1944 (National Archives) |
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Learning Activity 2:
Building America: 1820-1880
1. Distribute the handout Building America (PDF). Have the full class view the multimedia presentations  Building America: Pioneers from Europe and
Building America: New Communities. Students should record their responses to the following questions from the handout:
- What countries did these Jews come from?
- Why did they move to America?
- Where did Jewish immigrants settle?
Have students locate the home countries of these immigrants on the Atlas: US, 1789-1925 and address the following in their journals:
- Record the changes in the Jewish population in America.
- Describe some of the new American Jewish institutions.
2. Distribute the handout Building America - Historical Documents (PDF). In small groups, students should look at various documents to further understand the experiences of Jews during this time. Each group should read and analyze two of the following documents:
Have them answer the following questions for each document:
- Who wrote the document? What was his or her point of view? How is this evident in the document?
- Who is the intended audience? What evidence in leads you to believe this?
- What is the tone of the document? Is it telling a story, or trying to persuade someone to believe a point of view?
- Why was this document written? Use examples to support your answer.
- What does this document tell you about Jewish life in America during this period?
3. After students record the discussions of their group, each group should report to the class as whole about their documents. As a class, discuss these different experiences, paying particular attention to the following questions:
- When did the immigrants experience discrimination?
- When were they accepted as part of their communities?
- How was life in America different from life in their homelands?
- How did they maintain their religion while living in this country?
- How did the political climate in America affect the immigrants?
- How were the experiences of these immigrants similar to and/or different from those of earlier Jewish immigrants to this country?
Research Extension for Building America
While America is a country of immigrants, newcomers are not always welcomed with open arms or treated kindly once they arrive. To further explore this issue, students can research the experiences of other ethnic and religious groups who came to the United States, then work together to create a class project. They can display their work on presentation boards in the classroom, or perhaps on bulletin boards in the main school building.
For more information, see the following:
Agueros, J.(ed.), Wheeler, H., & Wheeler, T.C. (ed.), The Immigrant Experience: The Anguish of Becoming American (New York: Viking Press)
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum
http://www.tenement.org
Ellis Island "Immigrant Experience"
http://www.ellisisland.org/Immexp/index.asp
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