This curriculum unit seeks to achieve three primary goals: to address the lack of information regarding Latino culture and history in the regular social studies curriculum; to give students the opportunity to explore the history that unfolds all around them; and to encourage at-risk students with little interest in the social sciences to become more interested in the world around them. The unit seeks to do this first by providing students with a basic outline of the history of Latino immigration, with an eye towards understanding the reasons for the migration in the first place. The unit also spends time comparing early twentieth-century European immigration with the more contemporary issues surrounding Latino immigration. Second, students will take what they have learned and apply it by conducting oral history interviews throughout the Latino community of Fair Haven. The goal is for students to interest all manner of people in the community: professionals, politicians, business owners, as well as their own parents, grandparents, and classmates. At the conclusion of the unit, students will document their oral histories in a book that will provide a portrait of the twenty-first century Latino community in New Haven, Connecticut. The unit addresses several New Haven Public School district standards in social studies.
(Developed for Social Studies and World Cultures, grade 7; recommended for Social Studies, grades 7-12)
