Jacqueline E. Porter - Clinton
Involuntary Immigration: Slavery
The transatlantic slave trade was created to accommodate the Europeans. Europe started to expand their homeland borders in search of new markets, materials, manpower, and land. (Healey, 75)
Slavery was an involuntary or forced type of immigration. Most Africans began their journey into slavery upon being captured in wars and sold by other Africans. Europeans owned and operated the ships, but they supplied the cargo. Groups of African slave catchers would kidnap unsuspecting countrymen who let their guard down to supply the Europeans who then supplied the Americans.
Africans' journey to America was filled with horror, a living nightmare. When boarding a ship, they were stripped of their belongings, branded, chained, and sent below deck, where they would remain for most of the trip, which took weeks, even months. The decks were only a few feet high, so they were shackled lying down, side by side, head to toe. Many captives never made it to America due to death from suffocation, malnutrition, disease and suicide from fear. Many who did not die were permanently disabled from beatings and / or disease. Females were also assaulted to increase the number of slaves to counteract the number that died (in addition to simple pleasure for the crew). Upon their arrival they were sent to holding pens to wait for auction, where they would be bought and sold.
It has been estimated that during the 300 years of the transatlantic slave trade, between 15 million and 20 million Africans were transported to the Americas as slaves. Of these, more than 400,000 were sent to the 13 British colonies and, later, the United States. We may never know a precise number, but current estimates hold that more than 1 million Africans died on the journey. (Diller –Chains, website)
During most of the 17th and 18th centuries slavery was legal in all 13 colonies and the South. Slavery helped build this nation; physically and with the skills and trades that they brought with them from their homeland. The slave system was one of the most important keys to this new nation's financial independence, and it grew, up to the moment it was abolished by war. In 1790 there were fewer that 700,000 slaves in the United States; in 1830 there were more than 2 million; on the eve of the Civil War, nearly 4 million. (Diller – America, website)
During the Civil War, land that had been abandoned and confiscated became the jurisdiction of the Freedman's Bureau. Approximately 400,000 acres of land along the southern coast of Charleston was set aside for the settlement of Blacks to establish their own communities. The land was divided into 40 acres tracts. In June 1865 approximately 40,000 freedmen were allocated a tract. The Army was also ordered to lend the freedmen animals that were no longer useful to the military. Unfortunately by September, 1865 former land owners demanded the same rights afforded returning rebels in other states. President Johnson ordered the return of land to the white plantation owners, giving little thought to the fate of former slaves. Some African American individuals and organizations are still debating the issue of the government's unfulfilled promise of "Forty Acres and a Mule".
Activity
Ask to students to brainstorm what they know about the slave trade. Write the results of their brainstorming efforts on the board and lead a discussion about the slave trade. I will specifically mention The Amistad and Cinque because of their relevance to New Haven, CT. After the discussion, I will show the students transparencies made of images and other information I found at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, "Pictorial Images of the Transatlantic Slave Trade," http://gropius.lib.virginia.edu/SlaveTrade/. Have the students fill in a two column chart to sketch the images in the first and write their reaction to each in the second column.
Voluntary Immigration
Ellis Island
Over twelve million immigrants from all over the world voluntarily and legally entered the United States through the port of Ellis Island, a small island in the New York Harbor between 1892 - 1954. The largest immigrant populations were from Italy, Ireland, Hungary, England and Germany. Others included: Sweden, Greece, Norway, Ottoman Empire, Scotland, the West Indies, Poland, Portugal, France, Romania, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Wales, Yugoslavia, Finland and Switzerland. Many had to leave famished counties and endure months of weary travel, often separated from families for years. Over 40% of the American population can trace their ancestors to Ellis Island. In 1890 President Benjamin Harrison designated the site as one of the first Federal immigration stations.
Passengers who could afford 1st and 2nd class tickets were not subjected to the inspection process. Instead they went through a light inspection aboard ship. The government felt that these people would not become a financial liability for to legal or medical reasons. However 1st and 2nd class passengers were sent to Ellis Island for further inspection if they were sick or had legal problems.
3rd class passengers were transported to Ellis Island where they were given medical and legal inspections. If they were reasonably healthy and their papers were in order the inspection would last 3 - 5 hours. The inspections were conducted by U. S. Public Health Service and Bureau of Immigration, later known as INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). Currently, the bureau has been divided into 3 separate bureaus as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
1 Bureau of Citizenship & Immigration Services,
2 Bureau of Immigrations & Customs Enforcement
3 Bureau of Custom & Border Protection (National Park Service) (Garret, website)
Activity
The students will take an interactive tour of Ellis Island on the internet at http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/I and answer comprehension questions and write in their response journal.
Angel Island
Angel Island served as the west coast entry point to America. In the beginning of the 20th century (1910 -1940} the new arrivals came from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Central & South America, and Russia. These immigrants' reception was not like that of the arrivals at Ellis Island, due to the past history between the United States and their home countries.
Around the middle of 19th century, Chinese immigrants begin arriving, fleeing from land stricken by both natural and man made disasters. Initially they were welcomed until the economy began to fall in 1870's. Laws were passed to restrict immigration targeting Chinese people. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first time that immigration laws limited entry into the United States on the basis of nationality and race. As a part of this system immigration officials planned a new facility on Angel Island, the largest island in the San Francisco Bay, far from the mainland.
This new station prevented Chinese immigrants from communicating with those in San Francisco and isolated those with communicable disease. Like a prison, it was escape proof due to the isolation of the location and the dangerous waters they would have go through to reach other land.
On arrival to San Francisco passengers were separated by nationality. Like the east coast, Europeans with 1st class tickets had their documents processed on the ship and were allowed to enter San Francisco. Other immigrants, including Asians, Russians and Mexicans as well as those who needed to be quarantined for health reasons, were ferried to Angel Island for processing.
At the station the first stop was the administration building. Men were separated from women and children and proceeded to examination. This exam was especially humiliating for Asians, because their medical practice did not require them to disrobe. As well, the color white is commonly associated with death in Chinese culture. Therefore, doctors in white lab coats were often frightening for people from China who were not familiar with American practices. (Hancock feedback) Examinations included testing for parasitic infections. The consequences for failing the test would be hospitalization at their own expense or deportation. After the medical exam they were assigned a detention dormitory while they waited for interrogations by the Board of Special Inquiry.
The Chinese Exclusion Act allowed any merchants, clergy, diplomats, teachers and students exemptions to come to the United States. This caused many people to buy expensive false identities, which allowed them to enter as children of exempt class or children of natives.
After the earthquake and fire of 1906 when municipal records were destroyed, Chinese residents had the opportunity to claim that they were born here and therefore citizens. As citizens, Chinese people could bring their children to this country after their return visits to their native land by claiming new children had been born to them. Some of them were "paper sons" or, not as often, "paper daughters". These paper children were slots, people sold to allow new immigrants to come to this country. This circumvented the discriminatory Chinese Exclusion Act.
Interrogations were developed to prevent the sale of paper children. The immigrant applicant would have to face a Board of Special Inquiry containing two immigrant inspectors and a stenographer, and a translator when needed. This interrogation could last several hours and up to several days. They were asked questions that only a true family member would know. Therefore they prepared themselves with the family history of their sponsor. They also had to remember this information for life, because they were subject to checks on the street.
The length of the entire stay on Angel Island before one could enter into the United States varied for other countries. Japanese immigrants held documents from their government that sped up the process of entry into the country. Most detainees were Chinese. Because of the long delay with the investigation of the legality of papers with paper children, living conditions were of great concern. Immigrants were held like prisoners, under lock and key for 24 hours a day. The people detained created an association on the island to share information and resources. The barracks were deemed non livable because of fire hazard. Under these conditions some demanded to be returned home on the next boat out to sail.
In 1943, Congress repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act, ending 61 years of official exclusion. This repeal allowed Chinese people to become naturalized citizens but it continued to limit Chinese immigrants to 105 a year until 1965.
After closing due to fire, Angel Island served as WWII prisoner of war processing center by the U.S. military. They also painted and carved poetry on the wall. After the war it was abandoned and deteriorated. Angel Island was made into a state park in 1963. In July 1976, the legislature approved $250,000 to restore and preserve the barracks as a state monument. In 1977 it was declared a national Historic Landmark by National Park Service; it is now a place for sight seeing visits. (Immigration Station History, website)
Activity
The students will view a video that surveys America's long immigration history and raising key issues, it explains why people leave their home countries, "The Golden Door: Our Nation of Immigrants"
Who are you?
Identity
Everyone has identification cards; social security cards, driver's licenses, state identification cards or credit cards are necessary for differentiating them from others. In short, these are called the "individual identity cards."
Identity is a concept created by individuals' characteristics, family dynamics, historical factors, and social and political contexts. Identity is a combination of who we say we are, along with whom the world, our families and friends say we are. Due to all the different input on identity we are considered to have multiple identities that include the intersecting of gender, class, religion, sexuality, race and history. Therefore self identification will change over time due to life experiences. (Ore, 20 – 21)
Ethnic / Racial Identity
Ethnicity differs from race, class and gender because it is categorized by cultural distinctions - language, dress, food, holidays, customs, values and beliefs. Language is the central component of culture and connecting members of an ethnic group. But in another instance it is the first element of immigrant culture to disappear over generations. This is the result of the need to communicate with the host society to gain access to all that it has to offer. Ethnic foods and ethnic holidays are much easier to maintain over generations than language. Religion helps sustain ethnicity in part by helping ethnic members and/or minority groups maintain native culture traditions.
Members of ethnic groups have emotional ties besides the commonality in cultural characteristics. They have lived through the same historical experiences. Most groups have some ancestors who suffered loss of homeland, or were subjected to violence and hostility in an alien land, colonization and/or even genocide. Major historical events also provide members with a source of ethnic identity. (Min & Kim 17 & 18)
Americans are assigned the ethnic/racial group identity of their biological parents and it is placed on their birth certificates. This identity usually stays with you throughout adulthood. It can cause restrictions or advantages. They can influence your options in friends, partners, education, employment and residency.
The national government has tried to force everyone into one of several ethnic/racial identity categories for purposes of the national census, hiring goals, college admissions, etc. This was originally based on the idea that there is a pure race. In 1990 the U.S. Census assumed that everyone who was not defined as being Native American, Asian, or Pacific Islander was Black or White. During the 2000 Census, people were allowed to identify themselves with as being members of more than one race, but there was not a multiracial category. For those who chose to identify with more than one race with one being Black, traditional were not given a choice, they were counted as Black. (Palomer, website) See lesson 1 and 2.
The concept of "identity" rather than "personality" is being used more often. Although the personality and the identity concepts interact, they are different from each other. The personality is the whole attitudes of a person. On the other hand, identity is the way a person perceives himself and to whom he identifies himself with, which developed through his/her interactions with other people.
The parts of our identity that we notice first are a reflection of how others see usually what makes us stand out from others. There are at least seven categories of "otherness" experienced in society in the United States. People's otherness has been defined on the basis of race or ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, and physical mental ability. (Tatum, 21 & 22)
Activity
I will have my students complete the descriptive phrase "I am__________", written on a sheet of paper about ten to fifteen times. I will ask them to complete the phrase as many times as they can within one minute. For those students who want to share we will discuss the first three on their list and discuss why they chose those descriptive terms, to see if they can identify if that is how they view themselves or if it is how they think others view them. (Hancock, seminar 05)
Stereotypes
Merriam – Webster defines a stereotype as "a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment". Stereotypes are labels or categories that people use to define or describe others in a group.
Generalizations of a group of people are not accurate, but they tend to spread over distance and time, not only by word of mouth but mainstream media as well, including scientific research and even our school textbooks. All stereotypes are negative; for example: all Asians are smart and all African Americans can play basketball.
Unfortunately all stereotypes are damaging because they are accepted as truth that lead to great assumptions about an entire group of people, including people we don't know. Although, it is human nature to categorize people based on our own experiences, stereotyping has a greater negative consequence than making judgments about individuals. (Hancock seminar discussion)
Magellan Health states stereotypes can:
1 Affect your judgments of individuals
2 Lead to discrimination
3 Hurt academic performance
4 Cause group members to try to fulfill the stereotype
5 Damage self – image
6 Affect memory
7 Lead to violence
The key to overcoming stereotyping is recognize the stereotypes that you hold as truths and then making personal connections with people of other groups to learn that the stereotypes you hold are unfounded.
Magellan Health offers these tips:
1 Start meaningful dialogue with an individual whose group is being stereotyped.
2 Try to keep communication line open, especially throughout conflict, to avoid misunderstanding.
3 Question stereotypes and recognize them as "overly simplistic representations."
Activity
The students will complete lessons in the "Mix It Up" activity booklet, available online for school / classroom use, at www.mixitup.org/teachers. The lessons include:
1 "What Are the Social Boundaries in our School?" The goal is to get to know each other, create ground rules for this discussion, and to start talking about what divides us.
2 "The Mix it up Survey". The goal is to have students explore their perceptions of social boundaries at school, to compare their perceptions with the perceptions of others and to calculate the results of a survey.
3 "Identity Interview". The goal is to have students share thoughts and feelings about personal identity group membership and to learn what they and others consider being important identity characteristics.
4 "Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?" I will update the title and content to one that is more appropriate for current United States' representation, the "Jello Mold", the latest metaphor. The goal is to have students develops the concept of cultural pluralism, assimilation and acculturation.
5 "What's My Role?" The goal is to have students examine media images for messages about societal norms of gender roles.
Lesson III to be completed after mix it up activities.
