Immigration to the United States of America

This web page is designed for students from 4th grade through 12th grade who are studying immigration to the United States from the very earliest days through today.

Electronic Reference Center

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd3/g3201/g3201e/ct000242.sid&style=gmd&itemLink=D?gmd:2:./temp/~ammem_G3ib::&title=Carte+figurative+et+approximative+repr%26eacute;sentant+pour+l'ann%26eacute;e+1858+les+%26eacute;migrants+du+globe.

This is an 1858 map showing where immigrants came from then and where they were going. The immigrants were coming from one main location and going to two main places. Write down where they were coming from and where they were going.

Man reading newspaper--source:http://www.micron.com

Publications

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96nov/immigrat/kennedy.htm

This magazine article compares the immigrants of the past to those of today. How many immigrants lived in the United States in 1994?

Old Ship's Ledger--source:http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/Max/MAX.html

Resources

http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/Max/MAX.html

This is the story of how Mordecai Gudis became Max Gudis and immigrated to the United States. Where did "Mordecai" leave from and where did he take on the name "Max"? Why would someone change his or her name in connection with immigration?

Immigrants and

Data Collections

http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Timelinex.html

This timeline gives an overview of American immigration from 1565 through 1996. Name three countries whose people immigrated to the United States.

http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/statistics/300.htm

This chart shows the number of people moving into (immigrants) and out of (emigrants) the United States in each decade of the 20^th century. Which decade of the 20th century saw the most immigrants entering the United States?

Immigrants at Ellis Island--source:http:/cmp1.ucr.edu/exhibitions/immigration_id.html

Multimedia Center

http://cmp1.ucr.edu/exhibitions/immigration_id.html

This site has 24 photos of Ellis Island and the immigrants who entered the United States through it.

http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/070_immi.html

The Library of Congress has collected these photographs of Ellis Island and its immigrants.

Based on the pictures on these two web sites, what do you think would have been the worst part about coming to America? What would have been the best part?

Curriculum Center

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

This is a search engine used to find records on your own family. Type in the name of one of your ancestors who has died. See if you can find out the birthday of that person.

http://www.wallofhonor.com/search_f.asp

This is a search engine to find out if your ancestors are listed among those who entered the United States through Ellis Island.

Old Inspection Card

Virtual Field Trip

http://www.discovery.com/news/features/ancientimmigrants/ancientimmigrants.html

Who were the very first immigrants to the Americas? This site tells about people who lived on the continents about 10,000 years ago. What is your opinion?

http://nimbus.mysticseaport.org/voyages/immigration-0.html

Many immigrants came by ship and you can explore the reasons, the people and the ships. Name at least three different reasons people have come to the United States. Click on the links at the bottom of the first page to start your tour on the link above.