Immigration Archives

The Cruel Years: American Voices at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by William Loren Katz and Laurie R. Lehman. 2003. 304 pages.
First-person narratives in the context of their times and within the larger picture of U.S. growth and development.

Teaching Activity by William Loren Katz

Somos como las nubes/We Are Like the Clouds

Picture book. By Jorge Argueta. Illustrated by Alfonso Ruano. 2016. 36 pages.
Poems written in Spanish and English address the struggles of child refugees fleeing Central America for the United States. Grade 2+.

No Option Except Escape: A Role Play on the Struggles of Climate Refugees

Teaching Activity. By World Oregon's Young Leaders in Action.
In this role-play, students explore the challenges and perspectives of people — climate refugees — who have "no option except escape" from homes devastated by climate change.

Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream

Book — Non-fiction. By Blair Imani. 2020. 192 pages.
An illustrated chronicle of the Great Migration and African American history in the 20th century.

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Book — Non-fiction. By Ibram X. Kendi. 2016. 608 pages.
This book chronicles the origins and growth of anti-Black racist ideas, and their power, over the course of U.S. history.

One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps

Book — Non-fiction. By Andrea Pitzer. 2017. 480 pages.
Starting with 1890s Cuba, this book is a chronological and geopolitical history of concentration camps that is filled with prisoner perspectives.

March 17: St. Patrick’s Day

Challenging myths about the Irish Potato Famine.

Rock Springs Massacre | Zinn Education Project

Sept. 2, 1885: Rock Springs Massacre

White coal miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, brutally attacked Chinese workers.

June 24, 1980: General Strike in El Salvador Against Death Squads

A general strike was held in El Salvador against U.S.-funded death squads.

Street scene woodcut | Zinn Education Project

Teaching Sacrifice Zones

Teaching Activity. By Rosemarie Frascella. Rethinking Schools.
Our extractive fossil fuel-based economy has always demanded that some people’s homes and health be sacrificed for the benefit of more privileged and powerful others. This article explores how one teacher engages her students in thinking about how “sacrifice zones” play out in their lives.

The citizens breaking down the door of the parish prison with the beam.

March 14, 1891: 11 Italians Lynched in New Orleans

A mob lynched 11 Italians in New Orleans for the killing of the New Orleans police chief.

Bread and Roses, Too

Book — Fiction. By Katherine Paterson. 2006. 275 pages.
Moving young adult historical-fiction novel based on a major strike in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912.

Testing, Tracking, and Toeing the Line: A Role Play on the Origins of the Modern High School

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages.
A role play on the origins of the modern high school allows students to question aspects of schooling they often take for granted, such as tracking (“ability grouping”) and standardized testing — and to reflect on the racial biases of these so-called reforms.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Lawrence, 1912: The Singing Strike

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond.
Role play on the 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Mass.

Teaching Activity by Norm Diamond

The Line Between Us (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. 2006. 160 pages. Rethinking Schools.
Lessons for teaching about the history of U.S.–Mexico relations and current border and immigration issues.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Aug. 6, 1855: Bloody Monday

On election day, in Louisville, Kentucky, Protestant mobs attacked German and Irish Catholic neighborhoods.

500 Years of Chicana Women’s History

Book — Non-fiction. By Elizabeth Martinez. 2007. 899 illustrations.
Stories and photos of Chicana/Mexican-American women in politics, labor, art, health, and more.

A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America

Book — Non-fiction. By Ronald Takaki, with a foreword by Clint Smith. 2023. 576 pages.
A multicultural history of the United States, in the voices of Indigenous people, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others.

Servitude and Rebellion

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olsen-Raymer. 15 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 3 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the role and dissent of indentured servants in American colonial history.

Papers: Stories by Undocumented Youth

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by José Manuel, Cesar Pineda, Anne Galisky, and Rebecca Shine. Illustrated by Julio Salgado. 2012. 84 pages.
Undocumented youth from around the world tell their stories with simplicity and intimacy in this student-friendly collection.

One Country! One Language! One Flag!

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 3 pages.
Discussion questions and teaching ideas for examining the history of the Pledge of Allegiance and the political milieu in which it was written.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Lawrence, 1912: The Singing Strike (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Socialists and Wobblies

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 17 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 13 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the labor movement at the turn of the century.

A Boy from Ireland

Book — Fiction. By Marie Raphael. 2007. 217 pages.
Historical fiction about the life of the Irish in New York City at the beginning of the 20th century for ages 12+.

Caribbean Connections: The Dominican Republic

Book — Non-fiction and Fiction. Edited by Gallin, Glasser, Santana. 2005. 250 pages.
Reader-friendly overview of the history, politics, and culture of the fourth largest Latino community in the United States.

‘Repeat After Me: The United States Is Not an Imperialist Country — Oh, and Don’t Get Emotional About War’

By Bill Bigelow

You may have seen that an administrative law judge in Arizona, Lewis Kowal, just upheld the decree by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction that Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program violates state law. Judge Kowal found that the Tucson program was teaching Latino history and culture “in a biased, political, and emotionally charged manner.” According to CNN, one lesson that the judge objected to taught that the historic treatment of Mexican Americans was “marked by the use of force, fraud and exploitation.”

Try this “history detective” experiment. Ask the next person you encounter to tell you what they know about the U.S. war with Mexico. More than likely, this will be a short conversation, because that war (1846-48) merits barely a footnote in U.S. history textbooks.

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