Utah State University
Teacher Link: Letters From Rifka
This site features an interdisciplinary lesson plan for the book "Letters from Rifka" by Karen Hesse. Discover how this twelve year old girl's struggle to get to America from Russia.
Other
Ndsu: New Immigrants and Old
Americans at the turn of the century were alarmed about what they perceived as a change in the type of immigrants entering the United States. Some of the traits they saw as distinguishing the new immigrants from the old immigrants were...
PBS
Pbs Teachers:world in the Balance: The Growing of America
Explore the links among population growth, immigration, environment and support of the elderly in America. Conduct a role play and explore the options available to tackle problems caused by deomgraphic trends.
Other
Society for German American Studies: German Settlement in Colonial America
Includes key personalities among German immigrants, main trends, and suggestions for further reading.
Ibis Communications
Eye Witness to History: Passage to America, 1750
This article details the passage to America in 1750 through the eyes of a German immigrant.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Rush of Immigrants
Read about the new wave of immigrants who came to America in the late 19th century. See differences between these groups of immigrants and those who came earlier. Find out where immigrants settled, and read about those who did not...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Women in the Gilded Age
The roles available to women increased during the urbanization of America. Find out how the women's sphere of the home expanded into the community. See what new jobs were availabe to single, middle-class women, and read about how...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Settling the Great Salt Lake
This site provides a brief account of Brigham Young and his Mormon followers as they settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley.
PBS
Kqed: Immigration From China
A concise overview of the history of Chinese immigration to the U.S. including reference to important social and legal issues.
Other
For Many, One: Eugenics in the Culture Wars of the 1920s
Read about the bizarre ideas of those who believed in the role of eugenics in society. Find out about "bad" heredity and "good" heredity and see the form from the Eugenics Society of America that determined the "fitness" of individual...
Other
Museum of Chinese in the Americas: Ground One: Voices From Post 911 Chinatown
Choose from a menu of transcribed interviews about the 9/11 experiences of people living in New York's Chinatown. Includes a topic theme search tool.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: New York
Who were the first settlers in New York? Where should you "stop and smell the lilacs?" Who was Solomon Northup? Aren't sure about the answers to these questions. Use this site to learn some interesting facts about the state of New York.
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Multicultural America
Provides overviews of the traditional culture and lifestyle of ethnic Americans from countries all over the world. Groups are organized alphabetically. The content is not the most current, but is helpful for understanding the historical...
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Multicultural America: Syrian Americans
Provides an overview of the traditional culture and lifestyle of Syrian Americans. (Note: Content is not the most current and does not reflect the recent war in Syria.)
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Cprr History Museum: A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus
From a 1969 publication by the Chinese Historical Society of America comes this extensive look at the Chinese role in the building of the Central Pacific Railroad from California east to Utah.
Other
Place in History: The Bowery Hall of Fame
Stroll through the Bowery in New York City and see what the tenements looked like in the late 19th century. This mini museum shows the life of the Bowery. Information about tenement areas in other cities is included.
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: 1900 1940s: Growing Ethnic Diversity
Primary source images highlighting the diverse immigrants who came to California in the early 20th century and some of the challenges they faced.
Other
Center for the Study of the First Americans
This institute attempts to provide answers to the questions: when did the first people enter the Americas, who were the first immigrants, where did they come from, and how did they get here?
Library of Congress
Loc: From Haven to Home: 350 Years of u.s. Jewish Life
This in-depth online exhibit features more than two hundred treasures of American Jewish life from the Library of Congress and other cultural institutions.
PBS
Pbs: The Statue of Liberty
A detailed unit plan on liberty and the role the Statue of Liberty has played in America. Six lessons are completely described including making a classroom model of the statue, creating a timeline, and analyzing a poem.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Student will use primary and secondary sources to gain a richer understanding of women's activism and how the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire led to changes in labor and safety regulations in America.
Wessels Living History Farm
Wessels Living History Farm
The Wessels Living History Farm of York County, Nebraska, offers a look at what it was like to live on a Great Plains farm in the 1920s. The farm's attractive and well organized website includes interviews with people who remember life...
Other
Ancestors in the Americas
The companion site to a television documentary on Asian immigrants. Watch movie clips and read quotes from actual immigrants.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The West, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Four nineteenth-century landscape paintings that suggest the meaning of the West in American life.