Who gets accepted as a citizen or as an immigrant?  Who is considered a desirable immigrant? This lesson plan examines the arrival of newcomers and the history of the entry process. Students use primary source images and texts to investigate the answer to this question for Ellis Island in the 1900s and then present evidence with supported claims.

This elementary school lesson engages students with primary source materials that make vivid the journeys and lives of immigrant children in the early 20th century and today. It features video interviews with kids who have recently immigrated and archival photos of child immigrants from the turn of the 20th century.

Incurring a disability at work was a common occurrence of the Industrial Revolution. In this lesson, students will explore how such injuries impacted the lives of workers in an era before many public and private supports that we take for granted today. This lesson integrates disability history into a much larger 14-day unit on the Industrial Revolution.

Carolyn Ritter, author of this newly available lesson on Immigration versus Nativism, writes: “The topic of immigration is just as controversial today as it was at the turn of the twentieth century.

Accessing Inquiry, Emerging America’s initiative dedicated to supporting good teaching for ALL learners, has newly expanded online resources, and a new web page, Classroom Materials for Accessibility.    

The new page has links to resources for