Immigration Stories: Using family history to learn about global history

NHPRC QIH Assignment Title:

Immigration Stories: Using family history to learn about global history

NOTE: This assignment was created by the participant educator named above as part of the Queens Immigration History curriculum development project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission division of the National Archives (grant #DH-50022-16).  For more information on this grant project, please visit the Queens Immigration History website  at https://queensimmigrationhistory.wordpress.com     

NHPRC QIH Assignment Creator

Created by NHPRC Teacher Participant/Creator Michelle Barretta Fallon (C2, July 2018 – June 2019). Ms. Barretta has been teaching for over 17 years, 16 of which she has spent at Bayside High School in Queens, NY. She has taught Global History and Geography, US History and Government, as well as Participation in Government and Economics. She has also developed and implemented the curriculum for leadership, project management and humanities courses. She holds a masters degree in literacy and secondary education from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. She has led many student trips, both domestically and abroad, to help further her students knowledge of the world through interactive study and hands on learning.

Summary/ Description Overview:

Created by NHPRC Teacher Participant/Creator Michelle Barretta Fallon for her Global History class.  Adaptable to US History as well.  She offers a scaffolded 3-part  assignment to allow students to connect research from family history to research about Global History. Part 1 (Family Interview) and Part 2 (Country Research) could be used separately.

Purpose/Learning Goal

• To apply historical thinking (complexity, causality, change over time, contingency, context). 

• To create a project that connects personal family history to Global History. 

Project Assignment

The project assignment is in 3 parts, to be turned in over the course of the next 3 terms.  Each part will contribute to the final stage which will be due later in the year.  

Part 1 - Family Interview

Over the holiday break conduct an interview with a family member that is familiar with your family’s immigration story.  Before you interview them explain that this interview is for a class project where you will be gathering information about your family’s origin and a brief history of the country they immigrated from.  You do not have to disclose the names of the people you interview if they are not comfortable doing so.  You will be provided with a few sample questions but you should be prepared to ask create your own questions and follow up questions if you find their answer to be incomplete or if you want to find out more.  If you plan to record the interview please ask permission first. 

A set of pre-interview questions can we distributed before you meet so the interviewee can prepare their answers.  You should turn in an edited, typed interview.  It does not have to be word or word, you can summarize their answers.  

Start your interview by gathering biographical information.

• Name

• Age Now

• Age when you immigrated (if they are an immigrant)

• Country you immigrated from

• Area you immigrated to

 Here are a few sample questions, you can/should create your own questions so that you have at least 8 questions to ask during your interview.  

• Motivation for Migrating  What do you know about your family’s story? 

• The Journey  What members of your family came with you and who was left behind?  Did anyone come ahead of your family?  How do you think your family was changed by migration?

• Hope and Realities  How do you think your family’s experience compare to their expectations?

• Advice   If someone you knew were planning on coming to this country, what would you tell them to expect? 

Part 2 - Country Research

Research the country your family immigrated from focus on the time period that they immigrated. 

 ●     What was going on it that country at the time of immigration?    If you know the exact town or city your family lived in try to find information about              that region as well, not just the overall country. Consider these issues as you conduct your research - the economy, the government, war/conflict, scarcity, inequity or environmental factors, natural disasters.  

 ●     What was going on in the world at the time of immigration?   

●     How did these events contribute to the PUSH/PULL factors that caused your family to immigrate. (see What are the Pull and Push factors of migration? for more details) 

●     Besides immigration, was your family directly affected by the events happening in the country?  What role did they play?  How was their life changed by the time period?

 Requirements

You must include a map of the country your family immigrated from.  If possible, locate the exact area your family lived.  

You must include a brief country profile that includes:  the languages spoken, religions practiced, Capital city, and population. 

Research must be typed and turned in by the due date.  You can turn your work in digitally on google classroom or print a hard copy to turn it in class. 

You must keep a record of all sources you used to find information about this topic.  If you do not have a source list you will not get credit for this portion of the project. 

Part 3 Immigration Stories  - Connecting the Past to the Present

NOTE: Part 3 is adapted from the Tenement Museum; Your Story/Our Story Exhibit

 During the second and third marking period you conducted an interview of a family member or friend that immigrated to the United States and a research project on the country they immigrated from.

This marking period you are going to combine that information for the final project. 

•  complete a webquest
• brainstorm activity (adapted from https://www.tenement.org/ )
•  selection of object and story creation 

*** Be sure the object you select and the story you create relates to the person you interviewed and the place you discussed in parts 1 and 2. 

Focus Questions:   How do you connect to your family history?  How do family artifacts help connect us to the past and bring us into the future? 

 Directions:  Using the stories on the tenement museum website as a guide, create your own family story based on a family artifact you consider important.  This artifact must be a physical object such as jewelry, sporting equipment, documents or even food.  The object you choose should connect the family member you interviewed for part 1 and their country of origin, that you wrote about in part 2,  to you.

Select and read 2-3 stories from the Your Story, Our Story website and  answer the following questions:

• Compare and contrast two object stories. In what ways are they similar and/or different from each other.
• What do the stories reveal about American identity? How does it help to explain America, as a nation, today?
• What do the stories reveal about cultural identity?
• In what ways do the objects connect to your own life?
• How does personal history relate to American history? 

Once you’ve had a chance to explore the exhibit, complete the statements below to begin brainstorming your own object story:

 1. Use a blank sheet to list any physical objects you can think of that: 

• Are important to your identity/culture:

• Were passed down or given to you by relatives:

• Are important on holidays or special occasions:

2. Use a blank sheet to brainstorm words or draw pictures that describe the object(s); what they look/feel like, why they’re important to you, etc.

Once you have selected an object, begin the story writing process by answering these questions:

• What is your object called?

• Which category does the object fit into? (pick one)

• Attire, Foodways, Fun, Miscellaneous, Religion, Work/Education

• Describe the object. What is it made from? How is it used?

• Where in the world did this object come from?

• Who in your life gave you or told you about this object?

• What special occasions, celebrations or holidays do you connect to this object?

• Why is this object important to you?

• How does this object connect you to your identity/culture?

TASK : Write a story about your object, it should be no longer than 240 words,  and being sure to insert/include  a photo or drawing of the object.

Project Checklist

❑ Your story is based on a physical object.

❑ Your story has a title that relates to the object.

❑ Your story fits into one of these categories: Attire, Foodways, Fun, Miscellaneous, Religion, Work/Education.

❑ You know the year your story takes place—guessing is okay.

❑ You have a photo of your object, or you have drawn a picture of your object.

❑ OPTIONAL: you have a photo of the family member(s) the object reminds you of, and/or a photo of yourself.

❑ Your story is based on immigration to the United States, migration

within the United States and/or American identity.

❑ Your story is no more than 240 words.

Required Resources

Your Story, Our Story website

More Resources from the NHPRCQIH LibGuide:

·         Oral History Tab –  links to local NYC Oral History Projects for contributing.

·         Queens Memory Project Tab – assistance with conducting open ended Interviews, and local NYC interviews

·         National and Global Resources Tab -- to assist you in looking at historical push-pull factors, maps, newspapers and primary resources from country of origin

·         NYC Resources Tab – for demographic data, neighborhood information, NYC historical newspapers 

Assessment/Rubrics

Barretta: Immigration Story Rubrics, Parts 1 ,2 & 3

Attribution

This NHPRC Teacher Participant assignment was created by Michelle Barretta Fallon 

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States