Immigration Mapping Project

NHPRC QIH Assignment Title:

Immigration Mapping Project

NOTE: This assignment was created by the participant educator named below 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 Jeremy Mellema (C2, July 2018 – June 2019). Mr. Mellema is a social studies teacher at the High School for Environmental Studies. He has taught in New York City for 6 years. During his time in New York City, he has taught 9th and 10th grade Global History, US History, Government, and Computer Programming. He has designed curricula on decolonization movements, big history, and the python coding language. Before moving to New York, Jeremy taught in Colorado and Rhode Island. He has his BA in History from Colorado State University and a MAT in Social Studies Education from Brown University. 

Summary/ Description Overview

Created by NHPRC Teacher Participant/Creator Jeremy Mellema, for his Grade 10 US Government class, adaptable to other courses and grades. This immigration mapping project asks the student to create 3 maps -- the skills acquired in making each map, will help in making each successive map.  Maps 2 and 3 will also require gathering data through research and conducting an interview.  Finally, students write an essay connecting what they have learned from this project to American Democracy, and to current immigration law or events. 

Purpose/Learning Goal

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

•  To understand how to use a GIS tool, and understand how mapping helps to visualize data, to think spatially, to organize information
•  To make connections between how immigration laws change over time, and to make  connections between people and place in a Changing Global Environment.
• To create a project that connects world and US immigration history to personal family history.

Task/Assignment/Activity

Task 1:  Map immigration data

Make a map that shows immigration data from the past 30 years. 

● Use the immigration data set provided below

● Make the map easy to understand by using a key

● Color the countries based off of the amount of people immigrating from them

*Source: US Census Data and The Department of Homeland Security

Task 2: Map Immigration laws

Map 2: Make a map of countries that the United States has written laws banning immigration from those countries

•  Use the timeline of all major U.S. immigration laws from 1790 - 2013 provided in the MPI Factsheet

• Select 5 immigration laws and for each:

• Research which countries the law impacted

• Why this law was put into place

• Explain the implications on US democracy

• Make an ArcGIS story map using your research that tells the story of immigration to United States through immigration laws 

Interview:

You will interview a family member* to gather some information that will serve as data for the third map.  Below           are some sample interview question: The goal is to get more than a one word answer. As the person answers these questions, take notes on their answers. You could also record them using your phone, but BE SURE TO GET THEIR PERMISSION TO RECORD THEM!

• What nationality are you?

• Where do you live? Have you lived in another neighborhood?

• Why do you live in your current neighborhood?

• How did you family end up in New York City?

• Why did you or your relatives leave their home country? Why did you or your relatives choose to move to New York City?
•  Can you describe your/their journey to New York City?
• Were there any difficulties with immigrating because of immigration laws 

Map 3: Collaborative Immigration Story map

As a class, make a collaborative map of our ancestry, immigration stories, and movement around the world

• We will create our own data set and map it to tell the story of our class. Each person will need to add the following to create the map:

•  At least one country where your relatives/ancestors lived in

•  The dates of immigration

•  Either a personal story from you and/or your relative that explains the immigration process.* And explain the history and the immigration laws at the time of immigrating.

• We will populate our collaborative map with these stories to create an immigration story map for our class

* NOTE: If you or your relatives feel uncomfortable sharing this information, you can interview a family friend, a neighbor, a teacher, etc…, to do this part of the assignment. Or you could chose to focus your research on the historical circumstances and the push pull factors that led to you or your family's arrival into the United States to complete this part of the assignment.  

Written Essay:

There is lots of talk about immigration in the news and on social media. Thinking about this project and the maps we have made, what legal changes do you think should happen in regards to immigration and the United States?

In a well-written essay you will explore this question by incorporating the following into your essay

• An engaging introduction and conclusion

• Reflection on this project and making connections to American democracy

• Research and recommendations on addressing current immigration law or events

 Extra Credit:  You may send parts of your project, including your research and recommendations on immigration, to your current members of congress.

Resources from the NHPRCQIH LibGuide

• Mink/GeoLiteracy – for connecting maps to history, spatial and historical thinking

• 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, newspapers and primary resources from country of origin  
• Google Maps Tab – to assist you with creating an online map -- Alternative mapping option (to ArcGIS)

Assessment/Rubric

·         Immigration Map & Essay Response Rubric

Attribution:

This NHPRC Teacher Participant assignment was created by Jeremy Mellema  

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States