In this activity, students will use primary sources to explore the life of an everyday American that entered the United States as an immigrant, settled in the United States, and became a U.S. citizen. Students will examine a ship passenger arrival list, a census record, and a naturalization document to uncover details about the individual's life, and discover the diverse nature of immigration to the United States. Students will also explore the government forms themselves to learn about the immigration process and identify trends.
This activity focuses on Mercedes Valle, an immigrant from Ecuador.
It is one of several
Exploring America's Diversity activities tracing the immigration process, each about a particular individual.
Suggested Teaching Instructions
Students will examine three documents that help tell the life of Mercedes Valle, an immigrant to the United States. This activity can be used during a unit on immigration. For grades 6-10. Approximate time needed is 45-60 minutes.
To begin, quickly display the three documents in the activity to the class: a ship passenger arrival list, a census record, and a naturalization document. Explain to students that they will be using these primary sources to learn about the life of a woman named Mercedes Valle.
Explain each of the document types and ask students to predict the kinds of questions they think would appear on each document based on its definition:
Passenger Arrival (Manifest): List of persons onboard a ship or plane who are entering this country. The list includes the ship and date of entry, along with other details about each of the passengers.
Federal Census: A count of the population taken by the Federal Government every 10 years, according to the U.S. Constitution. The first census was taken in 1790. Census records are available for 1790-1940. (There is a 72-year access restriction for privacy purposes, which is why 1940 is the latest year currently available.)
Naturalization: Naturalization is the process by which an immigrant becomes an American citizen.
After discussing the document types, model document analysis with the initial document in the activity: a ship's passenger arrival list. Explain to students how information is organized in the document: it is presented in a table with rows and columns. Tell students that they will find most of the information about the ship itself (it's name, where it came from, etc) at the top. To find information about Mercedes Valle, they will need to locate her name (line 4), then follow the row across (for age, occupation, etc). Finally, they should explore the document as a whole and what other kind of information can be found on it (question columns, other people on the ship, etc.).
Direct students to begin the activity by looking at the first document, then answering the questions that follow.
Before students continue on to the Census record, discuss the details they learned through the first document. After completing the discussion, ask them to continue to the 1930 Census record (Mercedes Valle is on line 2), and finally to the naturalization document.
After answering the questions for all three documents, students should click on "When You're Done" to answer:
- What did you find most interesting about this activity?
- What did you find most difficult about this activity?
- If you could ask Mercedes Valle any question not asked through these three documents, what would you ask her? Why?
As a class, discuss the details uncovered through all three documents and students' answers to the final questions.
