East and west coast ports of entry to the United States during the new immigration era – 1900 – 1925: a South Asian perspective

Due to curricular limitations, students typically learn about immigration from one limited source, the standardized text book. The curriculum in this project blends the traditional lecture model of instruction with a new history lab model, which includes extensive primary source analysis and thesis development. Because many students have little experience with analyzing and evaluating historical documents, this curriculum is teacher-directed to provide the modeling and practice students need to develop a working thesis and the skills needed to support that thesis through document analysis. As students develop their analysis skills, they learn about immigration law in the United States at the turn of the 20th century and how it was implemented at two ports of entry – Ellis Island in New York City, New York and Angel Island in San Francisco, California. They learn about the impact of these laws on a little-known group of immigrants from the Indian sub-continent as well as the impact this group of immigrants had on immigration and naturalization law in the United States. Students also learn about three common immigration myths and use these myths as the basis for their thesis development. They analyze historical documents relating to the South Asian immigrant experience to determine what parts of the myths held true for these people. The curriculum concludes with the students presenting a written and an oral presentation using primary source analysis to defend their thesis statements.