AP U.S. HISTORY LESSON PLAN SERIES:
The 1924 Immigration Act:
Most Racist Immigration Law of All Time?
GRADE LEVEL: 10-12
SUGGESTED RUN TIME: 3 one-hour class periods.
SUGGESTED RUN TIME: 3 one-hour class periods.
Learning objectives
1. Students will evaluate changes and continuities in U.S. immigration law from 1790 to 1924.
2. Students will be able to explain the relationship between racism and U.S. immigration policy.
2. Students will be able to explain the relationship between racism and U.S. immigration policy.
AP U.S. History KEY CONCEPTS & SKILLS
KEY CONCEPTS
KC-6.2.I.A As cities became areas of economic growth featuring new factories and businesses, they attracted immigrants from Asia and southern and eastern Europe... Many migrants moved to escape poverty, religious persecution, and limited opportunities for social mobility in their home countries or regions.
KC-6.2.I.C Increasing public debates over assimilation and Americanization accompanied the growth of international migration. Many immigrants negotiated compromises between the cultures they brought and the culture they found in the United States.
KC-7.2.II.A.ii After World War I, nativist campaigns against some ethnic groups led to the passage of quotas that restricted immigration, particularly from southern and eastern Europe, and increased barriers to Asian immigration.
KC-7.2.I.D In the 1920s, cultural and political controversies emerged as Americans debated gender roles, modernism, science, religion, and issues related to race and immigration.
SKILLS
1.B Explain a historical concept, development, or process.
5.B Explain how a historical development or process relates to another historical development or process.
6.A Make a historically defensible claim.
6.B Support an argument using specific and relevant evidence
KC-6.2.I.A As cities became areas of economic growth featuring new factories and businesses, they attracted immigrants from Asia and southern and eastern Europe... Many migrants moved to escape poverty, religious persecution, and limited opportunities for social mobility in their home countries or regions.
KC-6.2.I.C Increasing public debates over assimilation and Americanization accompanied the growth of international migration. Many immigrants negotiated compromises between the cultures they brought and the culture they found in the United States.
KC-7.2.II.A.ii After World War I, nativist campaigns against some ethnic groups led to the passage of quotas that restricted immigration, particularly from southern and eastern Europe, and increased barriers to Asian immigration.
KC-7.2.I.D In the 1920s, cultural and political controversies emerged as Americans debated gender roles, modernism, science, religion, and issues related to race and immigration.
SKILLS
1.B Explain a historical concept, development, or process.
5.B Explain how a historical development or process relates to another historical development or process.
6.A Make a historically defensible claim.
6.B Support an argument using specific and relevant evidence
The history of U.S. immigration policy is steeped in racism and the failure of our education system to properly deal with this fact makes our society susceptible to the harmful and continual influence of racist nativism on our political system. The same racist rhetoric from the eugenicists of the Immigration Restriction League that filled K.K.K. pamphlets and inspired Adolf Hitler are still routinely repeated by modern American politicians. As American history teachers, it is our duty to bring this harmful legacy out into the open so that it can be properly processed by the next generation.
This unit covers provides three days of material on immigration in the middle of the already jam-packed 1920s unit -- but it's worth it! Our students deserve a complex understanding of the roots of American immigration policy. The content is necessary knowledge for 21st century citizenship.
Plus, students always benefit from review!
That being said, teachers can use these materials in a variety of ways. The first day’s materials can be used earlier in the curriculum as a conclusion to 19th-century immigration issues. The second day’s documents could be used as a single DBQ.
Plus, students always benefit from review!
- Day 1 takes them through some key turning points of the 19th century that led to changes in immigration policy. Our students should already be familiar with nativism, Know-Nothings, the Mexican American War, and the Chinese Immigration Ban, but it is very helpful for them to put it all together in a one-day review lesson.
- Days Two and Three focus on changes in early 20th century American society, from “New Wave” immigration, through the pressures of World War 1, the Red Scare, and resurgence of the K.K.K.
- Day Three concludes with the very popular format of the T-Q-A class discussion (Thoughts-Questions-”A-Ha” moments).
That being said, teachers can use these materials in a variety of ways. The first day’s materials can be used earlier in the curriculum as a conclusion to 19th-century immigration issues. The second day’s documents could be used as a single DBQ.
Lesson Plan Components
Day 1:
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Days 2 & 3:
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