Family History: Push and Pull Factors of Immigration

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Kathryn Shaughnessy

NHPRC QIH Assignment Title:

Family History: Push and Pull Factors of Immigration

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 Dr. Stephen F. Haller (C2, July 2018 – June 2019). Dr, Haller has taught High School Global History and Geography for 9 years, and is going into his fifth year at Xavier High School, Manhattan. He has taught St. John’s University and Queens College students World, European and United States history for 7 years. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in world history from St. John’s University, and a Certificate in Secondary Education from Queens College.

 

Summary/ Description Overview:

 Created by NHPRC Teacher Participant/Creator Steve Haller for AP World History; Adaptable to other grades. In this project, students interview a family member about why they immigrated to the United States (or a person who might know the story). The student then places this story into world history and explains the push and pull factors that the family experienced. The student will be writing a biography for the family member in a historical context.

 

Purpose/Learning Goal

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

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

 

Task/Assignment/Activity

Project Task 1: preliminary interview

I.          Interview a family member who immigrated to the United States (or a member who knows the story if the person is deceased) and analyze your families’ push and pull factors.

What events made your relative leave their home?

Of all the places in the world, why did they choose the US (or New York)?

This should be conducted in the form of an interview. Please include when they left their home, what was the political/social/economic motivations that encouraged them to leave. You should be sure to discuss the political/social/economic motivations that encouraged them to come to the US.

 

Project Task 2: The Family’s Push and Pull in World History

For this portion of the assignment, you must discuss the political/social/economic conditions in the nation from which your family immigrated. You must research the nation to discuss what push factors existed in the years preceding our family member’s departure. What were the political problems of the nation? How did the economic situation of the nation in the years leading up to their departure create a dire situation? Was there a war that had occurred or was occurring? What types of violence or social unrest existed?

 Students are expected to write a 3-page essay discussing the above issues. Database and archival resources will be used in this writing.

 Process:     Look into the country and time that the person left.

Ask:

  • Was there governmental fighting or political issues in the country?

  • Were there political restrictions or prohibition on rights?
  • Were some groups repressed? Was there gender inequality?
  • What types of job were available in the country? Was there a lack of jobs?

  •  What was the economic opportunities available?  

Project Task 3: Follow-up formal Interview

This interview is meant to ask your family member and find out why they left their country. Be sure to use the ideas you researched in your micro history. 

  • What reasons did you leave your country?

  • Were there economic opportunities in the country before you left? What types of jobs would you have had if you stayed? Did you come to the United States for a certain type of job?

  •  Were there social repressions or poor treatment in your country? What types of social opportunities were open to you which were closed?
  • What political problems occurred in your country? Was there are revolution? Was there a political inequality that you believed would be remedied in the US?

Resources from the NHPRCQIH LibGuide:

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

Rubric:

Haller: Family Push/Pull Rubric

Attribution:

This NHPRC Teacher Participant assignment was created by Steve Haller 

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

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