Letter from an Immigrant

Social Studies

An Interactive Tour of Ellis Island
http://teacher.scholastic.com/immigrat/ellis/index.htm
This site has photographs of Ellis Island, and you can 'walk' your way through the various buildings and museums. Also included are immigrants' stories, interviews with immigrants from around the world, United States 1996 immigrant statistics.

Full List of Markings
http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5101/exam.htm
Find the chart that explains the symbols the doctors used to examine the newly arrived immigrants. What did the letter E stand for if it was marked on an immigrant’s back in chalk? What did the letter B stand for?

The Statue of Liberty
http://www.libertystatepark.com/statueof.htm
Scroll down the screen and look at the photos of the Statue of Liberty.

1. Why did immigrants often cry when they first saw the Statue of Liberty?

2. What does it represent?

3. Fill in the missing lines of the poem, "The new Colossus" by Emma Lazarus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty."Give me your tired, . . .”

How The Other Half Lives
http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html
Click on the contents and navigate to the section titled List of Illustrations.

1. Choose two photographs from this list.

2. Analyze each photograph based on these questions:

Make sure to record your answers on a separate piece of paper

1. Which photograph did you choose?

2. What does it depict?

3. What does it say about society from that time period?

4. What values does it represent?

5. Can the conditions the pictures depict apply to society today? If yes, how?

6. Compare and contrast the two photographs you have selected. Are the themes different/similar?how?

Ancillary Site

European Immigrants
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/places/faces_immigration.htm
The impact of America's melting pot.

Methods of Transportation and Ports of Arrival
http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Immigration/methods_of_transportation.html