immigration civic literacy essay

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• Immigration

Teaching Civics through History

In this unit, students will learn about changing immigration policies as well as the experiences and contributions of immigrants to the United States.

Image Source:  “Welcome to the Land of Freedom,” in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper , July 2, 1887 (Library of Congress)

Grades: 9-12

Class Time: 1-2 Weeks

Table of Contents:

• Federal, State, and Tribal Governance
• Freedom of Speech
• Voting Rights

How has immigration shaped the United States?

Immigration is not a marginal theme in American history; it has been a crucial axis of America’s distinctive development and has shaped the relationship between race and citizenship in ways that continue to affect us today. As a result of immigration, the demography of the United States is composed of a wide diversity of cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds, beliefs, and traditions.

Core Lesson Plans

• High School

Waves, Walls, and Windows: US Immigration Policy, 1790–1986

Students will learn about the history of immigration to the United States including what motivated migrants and the wide range of reactions to their arrival.

Connecting Historical Lessons to Current Events

The Gilder Lehrman Institute has worked with AllSides.com to pull up current articles* in the news media related to this topic written from different perspectives. Students can use these articles to develop their understanding of how history has shaped current events. Click on “Latest News” to see a range of articles from left, center, and right perspectives.

*The articles shown here update regularly, so if you find articles you are particularly interested in sharing with your students, keep track of the links to the original publications.

Additional Gilder Lehrman Resources

• “Immigration Policy, Mexican Americans, and Undocumented Immigrants, 1954 to the Present”  by Eladio Bobadilla (Duke University),  History Now  52 (Fall 2018)
• “Coming to America: Ellis Island and New York City”  by Vincent J. Cannato (University of Massachusetts, Boston),  History Now  11 (Spring 2007)
• “The 1965 Immigration Act: Opening the Nation to Immigrants of Color”  by Tom Gjelten,  History Now  52 (Fall 2018)
• “ Immigrants and the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798”  by Terri Diane Halperin (University of Richmond),  History Now  52 (Fall 2018)
• “ Immigrant Fiction: Exploring an American Identity”  by Phillip Lopate (Columbia University),  History Now  3 (Spring 2005)
• “ ‘In the Name of America’s Future’: The Fraught Passage of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act”  by Maddalena Marinari (Gustavus Adolphus College),  History Now  52 (Fall 2018)
• “ The Dillingham Commission and the ‘Immigration Question,’ 1907−1921”  by Robert Zeidel (University of Wisconsin–Stout),  History Now  52 (Fall 2018)
• “Indians in the United States: Movements and Empire”  by Sherally K. Munshi (Georgetown University),  History Now  65 (Winter 2022)
• Indenture agreement, 1742
• San Francisco’s Chinatown, 1880
• Map of the Foreign-Born Population of the United States, 1900
• Literacy and the immigration of “undesirables,” 1903
• Immigration cartoon, 1916
• Late 19th- and Early 20th-Century Immigration and Migration: History through Art  by Tim Bailey
• Americans All: Foreign-Born Soldiers and World War I by John McNamara and Ron Nash
• “Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America”  by Erika Lee (University of Minnesota)

Interactive Content

Timeline: American Immigration, 1565-2017

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Learn how the Institute impacts history education through our work guiding teachers, energizing students, and supporting research.

Civic Literacy Curriculum: Full Curriculum

Welcome to the Civic Literacy Curriculum:

Below is the full curriculum designed to make teaching or learning civics education easier for you. The content was developed by several members of Arizona State University's faculty, as well as current and former educators. The curriculum is organized around and incorporates the United States Customs and Immigration's Naturalization Test, provided to those interested in becoming naturalized citizens of the United States.

Faculty at the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership have developed a curriculum for the 100+ questions from the official test, which is comprehensive of all content appearing in the 2008/2021 and 2020 versions of the citizenship tests. Our curriculum exceeds the USCIS test in helping students learn not just the facts tested but the underlying concepts, ideas, and events. The materials include:

• Background information, which can be used to help start a classroom lecture
• Edited primary sources of canonical texts
• Classroom exercises (sign-ups required to access answer keys and rubrics)
• Discussion prompts to kickstart a discussion amongst your students

Use the curriculum guides how you see fit. They are designed to be a core civics curriculum or to augment a particular area of your social studies program. In addition, we've also created abridged study guides for students to use. You can access those study guides by clicking here .   

Teacher Materials

Curriculum Sections

Section 1: principles of the american republic.

The Civic Literacy Curriculum begins with the founding of the United States of America. Students will start by gaining a deeper understanding of how and why the American founders made the decisions they did, and about the impact those decisions have on our lives today. 

Section 2: Systems of Government

Section 2 focuses on three main concepts: federalism, separation of powers and checks and balances, and constitutional rights. Students will spend time in this section gaining an essential understanding of how their government works and how it works for them, the U.S. Constitution and more. 

Click here.

Section 3: Rights and Responsibilities

In Section 3, students will learn about the rights afforded to them in the U.S. Constitution and 27 amendments to the historic document, as well as their responsibilities as citizens. From voting, paying taxes, serving on a jury and defending the country in the armed forces, students will finish Section 3 with a deeper understanding of how the U.S. Constitution impacts their lives. 

Section 4: Colonial Period and Independence

Section 4 covers early American history, primarily the 17th and 18th centuries. This includes the settlement of the British colonies that eventually became the United States of America, the American Revolution in which those colonies separated from the British empire and lived under the Articles of Confederation, and, finally, the formation of the U.S. Constitution. Students will learn not only about these events but also the different groups of people who eventually lived on the continent (settlers, slaves, and Native Americans), as well as the ideas and actions of the Founding Fathers.

Section 5: The 1800s

Section 5 covers American history in the 19th century, as the American republic grew both geographically and in the ability of Americans to participate in its freedom. Students will learn about events such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Mexican-American War, and the movement for women’s suffrage, but the main focus is on the Civil War and the end of slavery, including Abraham Lincoln’s political leadership during the war and the Reconstruction Amendments that followed.

Section 6: Recent American History

Section 6 covers American history in the 20th century and beyond. Students will learn about the World Wars and the Cold War against communism, the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt’s constitutional revolution, the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr., wars in the Middle East, and the native American tribes.

Section 7: Geography, Symbols, and Holidays

Section 7 covers two broad topics: the country’s geography (such as the oceans and rivers that have shaped it, its neighbors, and its territories), as well as the holidays and symbols celebrated by Americans, such as the flag, anthem, and motto. 

Additional resources

In addition to the Curriculum Guides, the Civic Literacy Curriculum also includes more than 200 mini videos to supplement your teaching, flashcards, study guides for the students and the test itself. We encourage you to use any of the resources below to better your classroom experience. 

Video Library

The Civic Literacy Curriculum includes more than 200 short videos that focus on specific topics. Browse by curriculum sections or search for a specific keyword. We also encourage you to visit the Center for Political Thought and Leadership and the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership's YouTube pages for more of our video content and public programming. 

The Civic Literacy Curriculum test is a 100+ question test that covers all aspects of the curriculum. It's based off of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Naturalization Test and is broken up by curriculum sections, as well. Currently, the test is available in digital format but we plan to make a print version available soon. 

The Civic Literacy Curriculum flashcards act as a practice quiz to the actual test. Compatible with tablets, computers and smartphones, students can test their curriculum knowledge from just about anywhere. The flash cards are broken down by section to make it easier for students to follow along. 

"Immigration" Civic Literacy Essay Week 30,

Social Studies, ELA, History, History: USA, Writing

Grade 10, 11, 12

Teacher Tools, Assessments

About This Product

We're proud to present our comprehensive educational source: Immigration Civic Literacy Essay Week 30 .

This resource is optimized for grade 11 students tackling the New York State Regents US History and Government course. It provides an engaging examination of the United States' immigration history.

Core Features of this Resource:

• A version of an essay prompt for students, together with a teacher's edition complete with framework references and source citations.
• The official New York State grading rubric that will streamline evaluation and guidance efforts by educators.
• Bonus Feature: Three online auto-corrected stimulus-based multiple choice activities on Frameworks units relevant to this essay on InnovationAssessments.com . Access codes provided upon purchase.

Suggested Usage:

This teaching aid can be utilized effectively every ten weeks throughout the academic year towards nurturing strong civic literacy skills using authentic historical texts. It can be integrated into whole group instruction or implemented in small groups — even as homework assignment material outside class hours!

Included Subjects & Formats

The subjects covered by our Immigration Civic Literacy Essay Week 30 span across Social Studies (focus areas include USA History) along with improvement exercises through Writing tasks. This tool's flexibility caters effectively to diverse learning environments; it is delivered entirely in conveniently accessible PDF format, adapitable for both digital use and print-outs.

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