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Lesson
Plans
Colloquium
V "The Gilded Age"
Jennifer Spain
N.R. Burger Middle School
Hattiesburg,, Mississippi
DOCUMENT USED IN THIS LESSON:
"An Application of Alleged American Born Chinese for Preinvestigation
of Status."
Where this document can be found: Teaching With Documents, 1989. I
believe it can also be found on the website www.archives.gov.
The original copy is found in the Chinese Case Files of Records of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (Record Group 85), National Archives-Philadelphia
Branch.
*Note: My idea for this lesson plan also came from this book.
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GRADE LEVEL/LEVELS FOR WHICH LESSON COULD BE USED: 11th grade
would probably be the best suited grade; however, one could tie it in
to 8th grade curriculum (U.S. History to 1877) and Mississippi Studies.
SUBJECT/SUBJECTS FOR WHICH LESSON COULD BE USED: United States
history (8) and Mississippi history (Chinese immigration to Mississippi).
MISSISSIPPI CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK COMPETENCY/
COMPETENCIES (You can find the complete list at:
http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/acad/id/curriculum/ss/sstable.htm )
Eleventh grade standards: U.S. History to 1877
2b Examine the continuing impact of the Industrial Revolution on the
development of our nation.
5c Examine the role of government in the preservation of citizens'
rights.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS LESSON:
How does historical evidence explain:
why a growing number of immigrants from areas such as southern and eastern
Europe, as well as China, sought entry into the U.S. during the late
nineteenth century?
how the "New Immigrants" affected American social, economic,
and political life?
how the promise of immigration differed from its actual reality, especially
for the Chinese?
HISTORICAL CONTENT OF YOUR LESSON
People: Grover Cleveland, Denis Kearney, Chester A. Arthur, Emma Lazarus
Events: Signing of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Building of the Union
Pacific Railroad, Signing of the Geary Act
Places: California, China
Key terms, dates, etc.: 1882, discrimination, Burlingame Treaty, Workingmen's
Party, Colossus of Rhodes, Statue of Liberty
HISTORICAL CONCEPTS/ THEMES FOR THIS LESSON:
civilization, cultural diffusion, and interaction;
conflict and cooperation
HISTORICAL SKILLS/PROCESSES TO BE TAUGHT OR REINFORCED IN THIS LESSON:
finding and analyzing primary sources;
detecting bias;
developing empathy for people in the past;
relating past to present;
framing useful questions about the past;
analyzing visual sources such as photographs and artwork;
INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Warm Up: Have students look up the definition of exclusion and discriminate.
Ask them if they have ever been excluded or discriminated against.
Background: Give students notes on the mass immigration of Chinese
workers between 1865-1875. Afterwards, explain why this immigration
led to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Discuss the repercussions of the Chinese
Exclusion Act and the extension that followed with the Geary Act. Finally,
bring students up to the present by discussing a few of the limits that
were put on immigration when Congress passed the Immigration Act of
1965.
Use of Primary Source Document: Give students a copy of "An Application
of Alleged American Born Chinese for PreInvestigation of Status".
Divide them into groups of three or four and have them read the document.
Then ask students to answer the following questions?
"What does it require of the Chinese?"
"What do these requirements illustrate?"
"What is the place of residence?"
Assessment: Teacher observation of group work and oral questioning.
Then, have students study sketches of the Colossus of Rhodes and the
Statue of Liberty. Afterwards, give them a copy of Emma Lazarus's poem,
"The New Colossus." Ask students to explain how the Colossus
and the Statue of Liberty are different. Then, have students write an
essay contrasting the promise of immigration with its reality for the
Chinese during the early part of the 20th century. Afterwards, have
them compare it with a recent immigrant group such as Mexicans or the
Arabs. Assessment: Graded essay
*Extra credit: Have students begin a genealogical study of a certain
ethnic group. Assign an oral history project of interviewing a person
about their ethnic background and how they have adapted to the United
States. Find out what laws prevailed for their ethnic group when they
immigrated and what laws exist now.
TEACHER RESOURCES USED IN THE LESSON
WEB SITES
From Revolution to Reconstruction...And What Happened Afterwards
This site's title is a little misleading; it contains many, many documents
from the Gilded Age to the present. Click on 1876-1900 for a rich trove
of primary sources, such as Munn v. Illinois, Andrew Carnegie's "Wealth,"
the Populist Party Platform (1892,) Grover Cleveland's message on the
repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, and Samuel Gomper's "Letter
on Labor in Industrial Society."
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/
Digital History
This is a very, very useful site! Go to the "Resource Guide"
for the Gilded Age and then progress to "Readings," "Primary
Sources," "Teaching Resources," "Audio and Visual
Resources," and "Additional Resources." Examples of what
you can find here include Andrew Carnegie's obituary, the assassination
of McKinley, the Cross of Gold Speech, political cartoons of the Gilded
Age, immigration sources, southern agriculture, lynchings, and more.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
Our Documents
Go to Teacher's Toolbox and go to "Integrating Our Documents into
the Classroom." This site also provides a teacher source book as
well as information about National History Day in the classroom.
Some key documents include Edison's patent application for the light
bulb, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Pendleton Act, Interstate Commerce
Act, Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and Plessy v.Ferguson.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/
The Library of Congress Learning Page
Check out "Using Primary Sources in the Classroom." Also,
there are several excellent lesson plans under "Rise of Industrial
American, 1876-1900" and "Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929,"
such as "1900 America: Historical Voices," "Child Labor
in America," "Thank You, Mr. Edison," and "Women,
Their Rights and Nothing Less."
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/index.html
National History Day
Click on "Educators" and then "Links" for museums,
archives, universities, and countless other sources for primary sources.
You can also download the Contest Guide (the rule book with the judges'
scoring rubric,) a Web cast of the June 2003 awards ceremony, tips for
using History Day in the classroom, and more! You will find "A
Research Roadmap" especially useful in helping your kids get started
with History Day.
Tell your students that they can view examples of winning entries on
some of the state History Day sites! There is also a Web cast of the
awards ceremony and photographs of participants.
http://nationalhistoryday.org
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Digital Classroom
Go to "Teaching with Documents" and "Teaching with Documents
Lesson Plans," which include "Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation
of Child Labor," "Alexander Graham Bell's Patent for the Telephone,"
and "Openings at the World's Columbian Exposition."
You will also find "Building a School Archives," "History
in the Raw," and the "Document Analysis Worksheet" to
be useful, especially in preparing students for using primary sources
and for History Day research.
http://www.archives.gov
SUGGESTED BOOKS, PERIODICALS, ARTICLES, ETC. FOR TEACHER'S BACKGROUND
READING:
Our Documents: A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and
Service (Teacher Sourcebook)
Teaching With Documents, Using Primary Sources from the National Archives,
1989
Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age
Ray Ginger, Age of Excess
The American Journey, A History of the United States, 2002
STUDENT RESOURCES: WEB SITES
Chinese Exclusion Act
http://www.cetel.org/1882_exclusion.html
The History Channel: Ellis Island
This site includes audio of interviews with immigrants, video, and much
more!
http://www.historychannel.com/ellisisland/index2html
The Library of Congress Learning Page
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/index.html
National History Day
http://www.nationalhistoryday.org
BOOKS/PERIODICALS FOR CLASSROOM READING/ENRICHMENT
Joy Hakim, An Age of Extremes, 1870-1917
Carol Bierman, Journey to Ellis Island
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