Reading and Writing Workshop

Workshop: Introduction to U.S. Immigration History
​Session 1: Understanding Immigration - Key Terms and ConceptsTopics:

• Definitions: immigrant, migrant, refugee, asylum seeker, exile, diaspora
• Introduction to migration patterns in world history

Readings:

• Excerpts from Dictionary of American History (1911)
  • Public Domain Source: https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer05jameuoft/page/n5/mode/2up (focus on entries related to "Immigration," "Emigration," and "Refugees")

Writing Prompt:

• Reflect on how the definitions of these terms shape how we view immigrant and refugee experiences today. How might the meanings shift depending on historical and social context?

Session 2: Push and Pull Factors of ImmigrationTopics:

• Economic, political, social, and environmental factors behind migration
• The Atlantic migration and early waves of European immigration

Readings:

• The Great Republic: A History of the American People by H. H. Bancroft (1876), Chapter on early immigration motives
  • Public Domain Source: https://archive.org/details/greatrepublichi00bancrich/page/n9/mode/2up

Writing Prompt:

• Using examples from the reading, identify one push and one pull factor that contributed to early immigration waves. Connect this to a modern migration story you are familiar with.

Session 3: Indigenous Displacement and Settler ColonialismTopics:

• Indigenous nations prior to European colonization
• The impact of settler colonialism on indigenous peoples

Readings:

• Excerpts from A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson (1881)
  • Public Domain Source: https://archive.org/details/centuryofdishono00jackuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
• Primary Document: Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)
  • Public Domain Source: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/nt001.asp

Writing Prompt:

• Discuss the role of U.S. expansionist policies in displacing Indigenous peoples. How does this fit into the broader narrative of immigration and settlement?

Session 4: Early European Settlements and Indentured ServitudeTopics:

• English, Dutch, Spanish, and French settlements
• The role of indentured servants in the labor system
• The transition from servitude to chattel slavery

Readings:

• Excerpts from Narrative of the Life of Richard Frethorne (1623) - letters from an indentured servant in Virginia
  • Public Domain Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51155
• Primary Document: Mayflower Compact (1620)
  • Public Domain Source: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/mayflower.asp

Writing Prompt:

• Compare the experience of indentured servants to that of later immigrant laborers in American history. How do these early labor systems influence the nation's immigration history?

Supplementary Reading for All Sessions:

• Excerpts from A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (modern resource)
• Primary colonial immigration documents via:
  • Colonial Records of Virginia (1900) - https://archive.org/details/colonialrecordso00virg/page/n5/mode/2up