Curated OER
Chinese Immigration in the Mid-19th Century
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this Chinese immigration lesson, students research the Chinese immigration between 1850 and 1882.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Angel Island Poetry
Excellent site from the University of Illinois that provides the themes and the poetry of Asian detainees held on Angel Island. Site also includes an Asian American History Timeline, text of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, Angel Island...
PBS
Pbs: Destination America
Why did they come? When did they come? Find out the answers and learn much about immigration to America that has been going on for generations.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Biography of America: A Vital Progressivism
View a chapter from "A Biography of America" about the Progressive Era that focuses on minority and immigrant perspectives. An excellent resources for understanding the struggles of Native American, Mexican immigrant, Asian immigrant,...
Other
State of California: Immigration Station Angel Island
Memories of Angel Island immigration station are sometimes bittersweet as the Station was designed to "Exclude new arrivals." Site provides the interesting history of this immigration station of the West.
PBS
Kqed: Timelines
Here are four timelines which are useful for anyone studying immigration to the United States. They are Global, Asia, U.S. Immigration Policy, and California timelines.
Other
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
The Angel Island Foundation provides a history of the Immigration Station that was in operation from 1910 to 1940. Find information on the journey across the Pacific and conditions upon arriving at the Station.
Stanford University
Stanford Magazine: Angel Island: Breaking the Silence
This article is about Katherine Toy, who is in charge of restoring the barracks at Angel Island. This story also discusses the plight of Chinese immigrants once they reach American shores and their poetry written on the walls of the...
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: Land of Golden Dreams: Li's Journey: China to California
Li is a 14-year-old boy from Guangdong, China, who travels to California during the Gold Rush. Read about his journey on a sailing ship from Southern China to San Francisco. Along the way experience, the sights and sounds of sea travel...
Other
Cyark: Angel Island Immigration Station
From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Center in California functioned as a detention center for people immigrating to the United States through the West Coast. You can learn about this National Historic Landmark here through an...
Library of Congress
Loc: Interviews With Today's Immigrants
This site, part of a larger lesson plan about immigration from the Library of Congress, provides interviews that students had with immigrants from around the world.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: The Immigrant Experience: Down the Rabbit Hole
Through a series of six activities, young scholars read about, connect to, and draw conclusions about the immigrant experience, via personal experience and a collection of resources, including Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," oral...
Digital History
Digital History: The Huddled Masses
Links to information about immigration from 1890-1920 include the Statue of Liberty, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Immigration, kinds of migrants, etc.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Asian Pacific American Heritage
Nice Scholastic site that looks at what it means to be an Asian Pacific American. Includes stories from Angel Island, Japanese Americans during WWII, and background on and interviews with notable Asian Americans.
Alberta Online Encyclopedia
Alberta Online Encyclopedia: The Land of Opportunity: Heritage Trails
This is a collection of audio and text files that describes Alberta's early history as the west is opened for settlement. Included are the stories about the great migration of immigrants from all over Europe, Asia and North America who...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Becoming American: The Chinese Experience (Educator's Guide)
A 48-page guide designed for teachers who are using "Becoming American," a PBS series on Chinese immigration to the United States in their classrooms. The guide examines the historical events and significance of Chinese migration to...
Other
Angel Island: Immigrant Journeys of Chinese Americans
This informational home page of photographer Lydia Lum provides a good source of information on Chinese American immigrants who came through Angel Island. This site includes interviews and quotes from former Angel Island detainees....
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Biography of Amer: A Different Perspective on Progressivism
Read this thought-provoking overview by historian Waldo E. Martin of progressivism as seen from the perspective of African Americans, Native Americans, and new Asian immigrants.
Other
Asia/canada: Meeting of Cultures
Asians immigrants have had to battle hardship and prejudice to make new lives for themselves in Canada. That path is described here as well as the defining moments that politicized Chinese Canadians and acted as catalysts towards...
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Immigration Through Angel Island
The sources in this primary set use documents and images to reveal the story of Asian immigration through Angel Island. Includes teaching guide.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Early Chinese Immigration to the Us
This set of resources provides photos, documents, and oral histories that help tell the story of this early period of Chinese immigration to the United States. Teaching guide included.
Other
Ancestors in the Americas
The companion site to a television documentary on Asian immigrants. Watch movie clips and read quotes from actual immigrants.
PBS
Pbs: Ancestors in the Americas
Site examines the social, political, and economic issues that influenced the first Asian migration to the Americas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Includes guidelines for helping students distinguish truthful, historically...
Curated OER
Immigrants Waiting to Be Processed.
Memories of Angel Island immigration station are sometimes bittersweet as the Station was designed to "Exclude new arrivals." Site provides the interesting history of this immigration station of the West.