In this activity, students will analyze Cyril Richard "Rick" Rescorla's Petition for Naturalization from 1966. They will determine the types of information one can gather about a person from a mid-20th century naturalization record. Rescorla served in Vietnam during the 1960s and helped thousands of people to safety on 9/11/2001.
Suggested Teaching Instructions
This activity is appropriate in a study of the life of Rick Rescorla, the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11th, or military service and citizenship. For grades 3-8. Approximate time needed is 20 minutes.
Before beginning the activity, organize students into small groups. Ask students to explain what citizenship is and how people become American citizens. Ask students to take 60 seconds to read the words silently and write down any thoughts or words that come to mind. Student groups should then take a few minutes to discuss their words and thoughts and write a shared definition.
Discuss students' definitions and their understanding of how people become U.S. citizens. Explain to students that, in general, a person becomes an American citizen in one of three ways: they are born in the United States, they are born abroad to U.S. citizen parents, or they gain citizenship through naturalization – either they themselves naturalize or their parents do so for them if they are a minor.
Students can complete this activity individually, in pairs, or as a full class. Direct students to begin by taking a minute to examine the document, then responding to the questions. They can click on "View Entire Document" to access both pages of the document.
Students should proceed to answer the questions that follow, which will guide them through the process of written document analysis:
- Meet the document.
- Observe its parts.
- Try to make sense of it.
- Use it as historical evidence.
If necessary, check in with your students at each step in the process and model analysis if required.
After students have analyzed the document, share the following contextual information:
Decades after serving in Vietnam and becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, Rick Rescorla worked for the financial firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. in Lower Manhattan, in New York City.
As vice president for corporate security, Rick Rescorla was in charge of of safety for approximately 2,700 employees in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Following the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Rescorla began to develop an emergency evacuation plan and had staff regularly practice evacuating the building.
On 9/11/2001, his planning and actions that day helped save nearly all 2,700 employees. Rick Rescorla was last seen heading up the stairs of the South Tower to make sure that everyone had made it out. He was one of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives that day.
Direct students to the "When You're Done" section to examine the Oath of Allegiance on the reverse side of the Petition for Naturalization. Conduct a class discussion based on the following questions:
- How did Rick Rescorla's military service in the U.S. Army fulfill the ideals of the oath?
- What does Rick Rescorla's military service reveal about his belief in citizenship?
