Coming to America--19th Century
​Reading and Writing Workshop

Workshop Title: Journeys Across the Atlantic and Immigrant Experiences within the United States

​Historical Thinking Guide

Map Robert and Friedrich's Domain

​Era: 1800's Immigration
The Kindle Version is linked above and the PDF version is linked here:​  Robert and Friedrich
​​Historical Events List
Workshop Objective:
By the end of these reading and writing workshop sessions, students will 1) Analyze the historical context within a historical fiction text, identifying key events, figures, and social issues of the time period, 2) Understand how authors incorporate real historical events and settings into fictional narratives, and distinguish between historical fact and creative interpretation, 3) Evaluate the impact of historical setting on character development, plot, and themes within the story, 4) Compare and contrast historical fiction with other genres, focusing on the blending of history and fiction, 5) Develop critical thinking skills by making connections between the historical events portrayed and their relevance and 6) Demonstrate improved comprehension, interpretation, and analytical writing skills through discussions, essays, and creative projects related to historical fiction texts.

General Instructions:
Begin by reading the novella as a class.  As students read, they should complete the Historical Thinking Guide.  However, it can be shortened by modifying to focus on specific events.  For example, the workshop might begin with a whole class reading of the entire novella, and then the workshop might consist of a single session or more. The goal is to engage participants in an exploration of history through historical fiction titled Robert and Friedrich , primary sources, and writing exercises that foster a deeper understanding of migration, cultural exchange, conflict, and resilience.
Workshop Overview
​Begin by reading the novella as a class.  As students read, they should complete the Historical Thinking Guide.  However, it can be shortened by modifying to focus on specific events.  For example, the workshop might begin with a whole class reading of the entire novella, and then the workshop might consist of a single session or more.
This workshop will immerse participants in the historical context of Robert and Friedrich, a novella that follows two immigrants navigating 19th-century America. Using public domain primary sources, participants will explore historical events featured in the novella and engage in creative and analytical writing exercises.

​SESSION 1: Steamships and 19th-Century Transatlantic Travel
Focus: Mid-1800s improvements in transatlantic travel, replacement of sails with steam, and legislation requiring shipping companies to provide adequate food and water.
  1. Objectives
    • Understand how steamship technology shortened the Atlantic crossing.
    • Discuss the passage of early immigration laws mandating adequate provisions for passengers.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapter 1: “By the time Friedrich and Robert booked their passage … ships traveling the Atlantic exchanged their sails for steam and crossed … in a little over two weeks.”
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Steamship vs. Sail Timeline: Have small groups create a simple timeline that compares sailing-ship crossing times (6+ weeks) to steamship crossing times (~2 weeks).
    • Discussion: Which legislative protections were enacted, and why might shipping companies have resisted them?
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Imagine you are an immigrant in the 1840s crossing on a steamship. Write a diary entry describing your daily conditions, your thoughts on the legal protections, and your hopes for arrival.”
    • Students draft a one-page diary entry using details from the novel and the linked primary sources.

SESSION 2: Typhus, Cholera, and the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849)
Focus: The devastating potato blight in Ireland, immigration waves to the U.S., and disease outbreaks aboard immigrant ships.
  1. Objectives
    • Learn about the causes and impact of the Great Famine on Irish emigration.
    • Examine how typhus/cholera outbreaks influenced immigrants’ landing decisions.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapter 1: Mentions quarantines for Irish immigrants.
    • Chapter 3: Details Robert’s background during the famine: “He was used to hard labor … more than seven hundred and fifty thousand people starved.”
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Famine Board Game: In small groups, create a simple board or card game illustrating the challenges: potato blight, rationing food, deciding whether to emigrate, disease risk, etc.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Write a letter as an Irish immigrant arriving in New Orleans, explaining how the famine forced you to leave and describing your experience with quarantine upon landing.”
    • Encourage using factual information about typhus/cholera from the primary sources.

SESSION 3: Nativist Sentiments and Anti-Immigrant Legislation
Focus: “Irish Need Not Apply,” the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), and broader nativist attitudes toward immigrants.
  1. Objectives
    • Understand 19th-century nativism and how it affected Irish, German, and Chinese immigrants.
    • Explore how prejudice was codified in law (e.g., the Chinese Exclusion Act).
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapter 2: “Nativist feelings … predominantly the Irish, adding the phrase ‘Irish Need Not Apply.’”
    • Chapter 2: Mentions the Chinese Exclusion Act by name.
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Role Play a Town Hall: Half the class as newly arrived immigrants (Irish, German, Chinese), and half as local politicians/business owners. Debate job availability and prejudice.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Using evidence from the Chinese Exclusion Act and real ‘Irish Need Not Apply’ ads, write an editorial (19th-century style) defending or opposing these nativist practices.”
    • Students integrate direct references to the linked documents.

SESSION 4: Westward Expansion, Texas Land Grants, and the Annexation of Texas
Focus: U.S. territorial expansion, policies encouraging settlers (Irish and German) to Texas, and Texas’s annexation in 1845.
  1. Objectives
    • Understand how land grants motivated immigrants.
    • Learn the political context of Texas annexation in 1845.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapters 3–4: Robert acquiring land in Texas, the “German Belt,” and Irish land grants.
    • Mentions Stephen Austin and colonization efforts.
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Map Quest: Groups mark on a blank historical map of Texas (c. 1840s) the “German Belt” and Irish grant areas. Discuss pros/cons of heading west vs. staying in eastern cities.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Compose a short personal narrative from the standpoint of an immigrant who has just received a Texas land grant. Describe your hopes, fears, and first impressions of the land.”
    • Cite specific details from the novel excerpt (e.g., water sources, building a cabin).

SESSION 5: Sam Houston, Secession, and the Civil War (1861–1865)
Focus: Political upheaval surrounding Texas’s secession from the Union, Sam Houston’s stance, and the war’s effects on settlers.
  1. Objectives
    • Grasp Sam Houston’s refusal to support the Confederacy.
    • Examine how the Civil War divided communities in Texas and Missouri.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapter 8: “Sam Houston refused to declare allegiance … large plantation owners led Texas into the Confederacy.”
    • Robert’s experience as a Union sympathizer in a pro-Confederate region.
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Debate: Split into “Union-supporting Texans” vs. “Confederate-supporting Texans.” Use Sam Houston’s speech as a basis for arguments on moral, economic, and political stakes.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Write a diary entry as Robert or a Confederate neighbor, describing feelings about secession and your personal stake in the conflict.”
    • Incorporate historical details (e.g., ongoing raids, supply issues).

SESSION 6: Slavery in the U.S., The Fugitive Slave Act (1850), and The Underground Railroad
Focus: The institution of slavery in mid-19th-century America, the Fugitive Slave Law’s legal requirements, and how the Underground Railroad functioned.
  1. Objectives
    • Examine the Fugitive Slave Act’s impact on everyday citizens.
    • Investigate how the Underground Railroad formed a secret network of “stations.”
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapters 11–12: Friedrich and Emma Gertner’s station on the Underground Railroad, the hidden partitions in their walls, and continuing despite risks.
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Station Simulation: Create a mock “station” in the classroom. Students role-play how they might safely hide runaways, move them at night, and avoid detection by authorities.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Write a short speech as Friedrich, explaining why you believe it’s your God-given duty to break the Fugitive Slave Act and assist runaways.”
    • Students quote from the actual law to illustrate the risk.

SESSION 7: John Brown’s Raids and the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Focus: Militant abolitionism, “Bleeding Kansas,” and the political struggle to keep Kansas free.
  1. Objectives
    • Explore how John Brown’s actions shaped national attitudes on slavery.
    • Understand how the Kansas-Nebraska Act fueled tensions leading to the Civil War.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapters 11–12: Mentions John Brown’s raids and how Friedrich’s station in Missouri helped slaves cross into Kansas.
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Newspaper Headlines: Groups create two 1850s-era newspaper headlines covering the same John Brown raid—one from a proslavery side, one from an antislavery side.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Write a short editorial analyzing John Brown’s tactics. Were they justified or destructive to the broader abolitionist cause?”
    • Cite text from the Kansas-Nebraska Act for context.

SESSION 8: Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (1869)Focus: The railroad’s impact on travel, trade, and the cattle industry boom (e.g., Robert’s cattle drives).
  1. Objectives
    • Examine how the Transcontinental Railroad transformed the economy, making long-distance cattle drives profitable initially, then obsolete.
    • Understand the significance of Abilene, Kansas, as a major rail point.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapter 9: “Several years following the war … the Transcontinental Railroad was finished … and the cattle industry became a huge boom.”
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Interactive Map: Groups trace the cattle drive route from Texas to Abilene, explaining how cattle were then shipped east on the railroad. Compare to pre-railroad routes.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “You are a rancher like Robert, deciding whether to use the new railroad for shipping or continue old-style drives. Write a letter to a fellow rancher explaining your decision.”
    • Encourage citing from the Pacific Railroad Act or railroad maps.

SESSION 9: Stone Hill Winery, Temperance, and Prohibition
Focus: The rise of the Temperance Movement, Prohibition’s impact on vineyards (like Conrad’s), and broader social implications.
  1. Objectives
    • Investigate how vineyard agriculture intersected with religious and temperance movements.
    • Understand Prohibition’s national and local ramifications.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapter 12: “Stone Hill Winery … destroyed by radical Prohibitionists pulling up vines and dumping out wine.”
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Skit: Groups write and perform a short scene at a local church meeting in the 1880s, with pro-temperance activists and vineyard owners debating alcohol production and its social toll.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Imagine you are Conrad on the day your vines are pulled by temperance activists. Write a journal entry describing the impact on your livelihood and your views on the movement.”
    • Encourage reflection on moral vs. economic stakes.

SESSION 10: The Methodist Church Schism Over Slavery
Focus: The internal conflict in the Methodist Church over slavery, paralleling the national divide.
  1. Objectives
    • Explore how religious denominations split over slavery.
    • Connect theological disputes to real families like the Gertners.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapters 10–11: “They formalized their opposition, creating a schism that permanently divided the Methodist Church into those proslavery and those who remained with Wesley’s ideals.”
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Church Council Recreation: Students represent proslavery vs. antislavery Methodists. Each group uses Wesley’s words or biblical arguments. Conclude whether to split or compromise.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Write a reflective sermon from Friedrich’s perspective urging other Methodists to choose the antislavery position, citing Wesley’s actual words.”
    • Students quote from Wesley’s “Thoughts Upon Slavery.”

SESSION 11 (Optional): Ancient and Medieval European Background
​Focus: Summaries of references to Celtic tribes, Indo-European migrations, Martin Luther’s Reformation, John Wesley’s Methodism, Treaty of Verdun (843), etc.
  1. Objectives
    • Provide context for how centuries of European migration and religious transformations influenced 19th-century German/Irish identities.
    • Understand how these lineages shaped Robert and Friedrich’s protagonists.
  2. Relevant Excerpt
    • Chapters 4–5: Germanic tribes, Alamanni, Visigoths, and the Treaty of Verdun.
    • Chapters 5–6: Celtic migrations, Ireland’s monastic heritage, etc.
  3. Primary Sources (Direct Links, Public Domain)
  4. Group Activity
    • Timeline Collage: Collaboratively create a timeline illustrating Reformation → Pietism → Wesleyan Methodism → 19th-century immigration.
  5. Independent Activity & Writing Prompt
    • Prompt: “Reflect on how ancient or medieval European cultural roots might shape a 19th-century immigrant’s worldview. Write a brief essay showing how these influences appear in a main character’s motivations.”

IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
  • Workshop Format: Adapt as needed based on the number of class sessions you have. Each event is its own session; you can merge events for fewer, lengthier sessions.
  • Balance of Activities: Each session includes a group element (discussion, role play, or creative exercise) and an independent writing component, consistent with the Khari and Ngozi workshop model.
  • Primary Source Access: All links are to free public domain documents; students can read, quote, or annotate them in their work.
  • Integration with Novel: Encourage students to bring Robert and Friedrich excerpts into their written reflections and discussions.
By following this workshop structure with direct links to public domain sources, students will:
  1. Engage with Robert and Friedrich’s historical contexts.
  2. Draw direct connections between fictional narrative and real primary source evidence.
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