Teacher | Student
Originally produced in: Polska
Also available in: en

Contents

  1. Extract from the report presents the position and existence of settlers. [Text]
  2. Map showing the different immigrants living in United States. [PNG Image]
  3. Pictures showing the functioning of the Polish community in the U.S. [JPG Images]

Curricular level

Class 2 junior high school history: Modern times, the nineteenth century (15 years). Polska

Abstract

Migration - permanent or temporary change of residence. Movement of population is a natural phenomenon and occurred in all historical periods. Increasing migration occurred in the nineteenth and early twentieth century and was primarily due to poor material situation at home (economic migration), or the political situation at home (political migration). The forms of migration can be divided into emigration - departure, immigration - arrival, refugee/exile - escape, evacuation - organized by the state in order to avoid the expected risk, repatriation - the return of citizens from a foreign territory, organized by their country, resettlement-resettlement of nationals within its borders , deportation - the forced resettlement of a person or a group of people on the periphery of the country or outside its borders.

Mass immigration to the U.S. began in the early nineteenth century and continues today. Despite this, one can distinguish periods of increased influx of population. The period of increased influx of immigrants to the United States occurred in the 1880s and 1890s . In the years 1865 - 1914 25 million immigrants came to America. In the years 1915-1925 the authorities gradually introduced immigration restrictions, reducing the number of entrants in 1926 to around 150 thousand people annually. Restrictive immigration policy was eased in 1948 by the introduction of certain facilities for the refugees of war. In 1965 the quota system was superseded by the multi-faceted system of preferences. Another immigration increase occurred in the 1980s and 1990s and remains at this level to this day.

Materials for students have been selected to enable them to identify the causes of emigration, origins of population immigrating to the United States, stages of influx of immigrants from Europe to the U.S. in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the everyday life of immigrants.

Conceptual Objectives

  • The student will be able to define the term „migration”.
  • The student will develop knowledge of the causes of immigration of Europeans to the United States.
  • The student will know the structure of nationalities of immigrants to the United States.
  • The student will learn the stages of influx of immigrants from Europe to the U.S. in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  • The student will learn the realities of everyday life of immigrants in the United States.

Methodological Objectives and Skills

  • The student will be able to characterize the cause - effect relationship between living conditions in Europe and a wave of immigration to the United States from 1865 to 1914.
  • The student will be able to describe the living conditions of the settlers in the United States.
  • The student will be able to discuss the structure of the nationalities of immigrants in the United States.

Suggestion of Activities

Pupils are divided into 3 groups, can be offered to view parts of the Titanic (1997) directed by James Cameron. On 14/15 April 1912, Titanic during its maiden voyage on the route Southampton-Cherbourg-Queenstown-New York, collided with an iceberg and sank. The film shows three different social classes and the conditions in which their representatives travelled to America. Pupils in the first group to propose to describe the conditions of travel in first class (the richest passengers), the second group - the second grade ( wealthy), and a third group – the third class (the poorest passengers). Within this task, students should read the history of the Titanic - its construction, the course of the voyage, the disaster and the number of victims and the history of the twin ships (Olympic and Gigantic).

Suggestion of Evaluation

Taking into account the individual criteria and methods for assessing students’ work by each teacher, in the case of the proposed exercises, the following should be verified first:

  • Ability to link the obtained information with the knowledge gained on immigration of European citizens to the United States in the nineteenth century.
  • Ability to make a statement.

Further Information and Interdisciplinarity

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonia_w_Stanach_Zjednoczonych - Polish community in the U.S.

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerykanie_niemieckiego_pochodzenia - Germany in the U.S.

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerykanie_francuskiego_pochodzenia - the French in the U.S.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Polonia_USA.png - map showing the location of the Polish community in the U.S.

http://www.comenius.mechanik.edu.pl/migration/emigr1.jpg - map ”Polish emigration in the United States before World War I”.

http://www.polonia-biznes.com/pph_news_details.asp?nid=185&pph=usa – history of Polish immigrants in the U.S.

http://wapedia.mobi/pl/Polonia_w_Stanach_Zjednoczonych - Polish community in the U.S.

http://www.zegocina.pl/historia/opracowania/emigracja/emigracjazegocinian.htm - Polish emigration for money.