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Coming to America: Immigration Builds This
Nation
The first major wave of immigration after 1824 consisted primarily
of northern Europeans from Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, and
Scandinavia. The second wave of immigrants -- mainly from southern
and eastern Europe -- arrived between 1890 and 1924. Today, Mexico
and China leads the nation from which most new immigrants to
the United States now come. Immigration, while having its roots in our history, is an important issue for the future of our country. Make a point on December 17th, as a Day of Inclusion of introducing the story of Embracing Our Shared Differences and Common Goals to your school, community, and family today with these resources: School Resources
The latest 2009 edition provides a variety of resources that
continue to keep the needs of classroom teachers, community educators
and concerned citizens in mind by providing new and innovative
lesson plans, book and film reviews as well as a brief history
of U.S. immigration. Download “Appreciating
America’s Heritage.” (PDF, 4.70 MB)
Download An Educator's Guide to Becoming American: The Chinese
Experience (PDF, 956 KB) that describes the ways the first arrivals
from China in the 1840s, their descendants, and recent immigrants
have “become American.” It is a story about identity
Within this unit of study, special attention will be given to the role of labor in industry and agriculture, including how César E. Chávez, through nonviolent tactics, educated the general public about the working conditions in agriculture and led the movement to improve the lives of farm workers through the César E. Chávez Model Curriculum.
AIISF has produced an Angel Island Immigration Station Pre-visit Guide (PDF, 274KB) to assist educators in preparing for their trip to Angel Island Immigration Station. This 6-page guide includes background materials, short suggested activities, glossary, and list of resources.
In making such critical decisions, they should be free of prejudice, possess an understanding of due process, and become aware of the constitutional and human rights of all people. The Japanese American Internment Curriculum was developed to help students become aware of, and sensitive to, the Japanese American camp experience.
Today, Korean American populations exist throughout the United States, with the largest communities residing in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Northern Virginia. The 2000 U.S. Census reports that the population of Korean Americans is well over one million and that number is growing briskly. Community Resources
The California Immigrant Policy Center has issued an excellent booklet titiled, Benefits for Immigrant Victims of Human Trafficking (PDF, 1.36 MB) explaining those benefits and how undocumented immigrants who suffer from abuse may apply for them.
In the first-ever nationally representative study of a randomly selected sample of Muslim Americans that was derived from more than 300,000 interviews of U.S. households, Gallup’s Center for Muslim Studies offers a snapshot of this community. Muslim Americans: A National Portrait (PDF, 5.36 MB) is meant as a foundational document to highlight Muslim American ethnic, economic, and political diversity and set the stage for future research.
The first Armenian to arrive in California in 1874 and had
a key role in the development of the fig industry in Fresno and
exported them worldwide. Similarly, Armenian
Americans in California played instrumental roles in the
development of the bulgur (cracked wheat), grape, and raisin
industries.
Family Resources
The first Sikhs came to the United States over a hundred years ago. They were involved in the construction of railroads in the Pacific North-West, and the Panama Canal in 1904. Today, Sikhs continue to make significant contributions to American society and are amongst the most educated and prosperous groups of Americans. Learn more from the Sikh Communications Council's " Why I Wear a Turban," Powerpoint slideshow for your 6th grade to middle school age child.
But the reality is that we do live in a world in which racism and other forms of bias continue to affect us. Discrimination hurts and leaves scars that can last a lifetime, affecting goals, ambitions, life choices, and feelings of self-worth. Ultimately racism and discrimination erodes the peace of our communities. How can we best prepare our families to meet the challenges and reap the benefits of the increasingly diverse world we live in? We can raise children to celebrate and value diversity and to be proud of themselves and their family traditions. We can teach children to respect and value people regardless of the color of their skin, their physical abilities, or the language they speak. You can begin by Teaching Your Family About Diversity. Everyday Democracy Everyday Democracy is a national leader in the field of civic participation and community change helps people of different backgrounds and views talk and work together to solve problems. As a family we can create communities that work for everyone. The following family resources are provided by Everyday Democracy: Toward a More Perfect Union - The pressures of an increasingly diverse nation are visible in many of our most complex public issues, such as education, taxes, welfare, and immigration. Dialogue-to-change programs help people from diverse backgrounds and experiences develop trust, understand each other's experiences, and work together on solutions. Facing Racism in a Diverse Nation - Families need to face racism head-on in order to have healthy communities and a strong country. Families working together to address racism and inequities can help people from a variety of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds examine the gaps among racial and ethnic groups where they live, explore approaches to creating greater equity, and create lasting change in their community. The infomation is also available in a Spanish version. Changing Faces, Changing Communities - For many of us, immigration is not a distant national issue; it is part of our everyday lives. Study circles bring people from diverse backgrounds to decide together what to do about issues such as the effect of immigration on racial tensions, jobs, and schools, language differences, and prejudice against immigrants. Individual Resources
Download and Distribute Our Day of Inclusion Postcard This Day of Inclusion Postcard is a quick reference guide that provides ideas as to how individuals, organizations, and communittes can celebrate a Day of Inclusion. Tolerance 101 Founded in 1991 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance is dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation's children. Tolerance 101 (PDF, 1.33 MB) provides vital information to promote these goals. Explore Hidden Bias It is well known that people don't always speak their minds, and it is suspected that people don't always know their minds. Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology. Project Implicit blends basic research and educational outreach in a virtual laboratory at which visitors can examine their own hidden biases. This new method is called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT for short. Hidden Bias Tests measure unconscious, or automatic, biases. Your willingness to examine your own possible biases is an important step in understanding the roots of stereotypes and prejudice in our society. Explore Hidden History Historical and modern day images often contain hidden messages about us, about others and about our world. These subtle lessons lie just beneath the surface. In order to see them, we must replace passive consumption of images with critical analysis. Make a point to Explore Hidden History Volunteer in a Diverse Community in Your City CaliforniaVolunteers is the state office that manages programs and initiatives aimed at increasing the number of Californians engaged in service and volunteering.
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The
story of immigration is inseparable from this country's history.
Discover the United States through the waves of immigration that
brought our people to America's shores and spurred a nation of
change and growth.
All
Americans, with the exception of Native American, are descended
from immigrants. The greatest number of immigrants -- more than
34 million -- arrived in the United States during the 100 years
preceding 1924, when new legislation closed the country's relatively
wide-open door.
Appreciating America’s
Heritage The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) produces
a very valueable Teachers’ resource guide titled “Appreciating
America’s Heritage”. Each year, AILF publishes a new
edition of this guide because it is important to promote respect,
dignity and an appreciation for everyone in this country, regardless
of where you were born. By ensuring our children learn that every
person deserves respect and that celebrating multiculturalism
is at the heart of our American values, the sooner the next generation
can end the divisive rhetoric that has divided America for too
long.
Facing History and Ourselves
delivers classroom strategies, resources and lessons that inspire
young people to take responsibility for their world by offering
teachers and students ways to confront prejudice, apathy, fear,
and violence. Their goal is to teach students to think critically,
to empathize, to recognize moral choices, to make their voices
heard, we put in their hands the possibility and the responsibility
to do the serious work demanded of us all as citizens.
César
E. Chávez Model Curriculum The California Department
of Education's Model Curriculum - Grade Four: California: A Changing
State requires students in this grade to study the history and
development of California from earliest times to the present.
The curriculum emphasizes the role of immigration, the development
of California’s economy, agriculture and infrastructure,
its geography and the contributions of men and women of diverse
backgrounds. Students will study, in an in-depth manner, “Modern
California: Immigration, Technology and Cities”.
Angel
Island Immigration Station School Tours School groups can
schedule visits to Angel Island year round. Programs about of
the Immigration Station are approximately 30-45 minutes long
and are led by park staff or volunteers. Immigration Station
programs can accommodate 120 people per weekday during the school
year.
Japanese American Internment Curriculum The National Japanese
American Historical Society Education Program provides students
the tools to prepare themselves as informed citizens in a constitutional
democracy. The study of the Japanese American internment is one
that all students should reflect upon and their shared responsibility
to protect the rights of all individuals at all times. Particularly
in times of crisis, they may be called upon to make difficult
decisions that may affect their lives and those of others.
From
Haven to Home Three hundred and fifty years ago an ancient
people first took haven in a new land. From those beginnings
until today, Jewish life in America has presented both opportunities
and challenges. In the early years, Jews fought to be treated
like everyone else, seeking the "equal footing" that
was theirs by law but not necessarily in practice. More recently,
like other minorities and ethnic groups, they have asserted their
right to be different and to have those differences accommodated
and accepted by society-at-large. 
Korean
Americans: A Century of Experience The Smithsonian Institution
Asian Pacific American Program details the history of Koreans
in America with the 
The California Immigrant
Policy Center is a clearinghouse of reliable information,
advocacy tools, education and research materials regarding California’s
immigrants and their economic, social, and demographic impact
on our state and nation. Under both federal and state law, undocumented
immigrants who are victims of human trafficking, domestic violence
or other serious crimes may be eligible for certain benefits
or social services designed to allow them to escape their abusers.
The Drum Major Institute
for Public Policy showcases progressive policies that have
worked to advance social and economic justice. The debate over
the future of immigration policy in this country is expected
to become one of the most pressing policy conversations in the
year ahead. That debate can be a positive one that helps us to
define our future as a nation or a negative one that draws upon
fears and inaccuracies for the purpose of dividing people who
should be united in the common cause of preserving access to
the American Dream. The institute offers an evaluation of immigration
policy that operates from the basic principle that immigration
policy is sound only if it also helps to strengthen and expand
America's middle class. 
Muslim
Americans: A National Portrait The national conversation
about Muslim Americans went from a whisper to a roar as the United
States attempted to protect itself and heal after the horrific
terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Suddenly, a group that had
long been overlooked became a subject of scrutiny. However, viewing
the diverse Muslim American community primarily through the prism
of national security would be an unfortunate oversimplification
of a great American story.
In
Motion: The African-American Migration Experience The Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture is a national research library
devoted to collecting, preserving and providing access to resources
documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent throughout
the world. 
Armenian
Americans in California More than a century ago, Armenians
began to leave their country as a result of genocide in their
homeland. There are more than one million Armenians in the United
States today. Approximately half of this population resides in
California, largely in the cities of Glendale, Fresno, Los Angeles,
and San Francisco.
Filipino
American History In 1763, Filipino seamen established a settlement
in what is now known as Louisiana. Waiting to be told are the
stories of the descendants of those "Spanish Colonial"
Seamen, early workers in sugar plantations of Hawai'i, men who
served in the U.S. Navy since World War I, workers - who toiled
in Alaska canneries, farms in California, Arizona, Washington
and Montana; the railroads, kitchens and restaurants, as hotel
workers or houseboys, war brides and countless others who constitute
the subsequent groups of immigrants from the Philippines. The
Coalition of Collegiate Pilipino American Organizations has created
snapshot of 
Why I Wear a Turban With 1.5 million in North America, Sikhs can
be found in almost all countries of the world. The tenth guru,
Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), gave the Sikhs their distinctive
appearance of unshorn hair, beards, turbans and kirpan, a short
dagger intended to make them easily recognizable as staunch defenders
of the weak and oppressed.
Teaching
Your Family About Diversity We all want children to grow
up in a world free from bias and discrimination, to reach for
their dreams and feel that whatever they want to accomplish in
life is possible. We want them to feel included and never to
experience the pain of exclusion.
Write a Letter of Support for ACR 76 ACR 76 needs you help. Now is the time for
you to get involved. ACR 76 will soon be heard in the California
State Assembly Judiciary Committee. Please do your part in support
of ACR 76 by