Culture and Identity Students learn about how families and groups express culture and that individuals have identities, or understandings of themselves, that are influenced by language, religion, geography, and other personal factors.
Theme: Culture and Identity | Grades 3 – 5
1910’s Rogarshevsky Family
The Rogarshevsky Family story features a Jewish American family and their 1911 tenement home. Students learn about the push and pull factors of Eastern European immigration, their journey through Ellis Island, and their work in the garment industry on the Lower East Side. Through exploration of the objects in the family’s recreated apartment, historical photographs, and the 1900 census, students will evaluate the family’s ability to make financial gain while preserving their culture and traditions. Students will analyze workers’ efforts to improve working conditions through labor unions including the actual experiences of Bessie Rogarshevsky, one of the teenage daughters in the family.
Themes: Culture and Identity, Industrialization and Labor, Push and Pull Factors
Topics: European Immigration
Duration: 60 minutes
Connections to our Curriculum:
- Rogarshevsky Family Story
- Lesson Plan: Examine a 1910 Census
- 1898 Photograph of Orchard Street
- Photograph of Picketing Women on strike 1911
1916 Meet Victoria
Meet Victoria is a costumed interpretation program. Students will be transported back in time to 1916 to interact with an actor playing Victoria Confino, an actual 14-year-old girl who immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island in 1913. Victoria will show students her home and daily life, tell stories about her life experiences, and share how her family keeps their culture alive through food, language, holiday celebrations, and more. Students will explore the differences and similarities between life in and today while exploring how people cope when they move to a new place and are uncertain about the future—an experience as relevant today as it was in 1916. Throughout the program, students will engage with Victoria through questions and connection making.
Themes: Complicating Stereotypes, Culture and Identity
Topics: European Immigration
Duration: 60 minutes
Connections to our Curriculum:
- Confino Family Story
- Lesson Plan: Explore the Confino Family Ship Manifest from 1910
- Lesson Plan: Explore Victoria Confino’s 1914 Report Card
- Kastoria Postcard c. 1900
- Confino Family Photograph, 1913
1960s Saez Velez
The Saez Velez Family story features a Puerto Rican family and their 1968 tenement home. Students learn their migration story and explore the objects in their recreated apartment to learn about the family’s culture and consider what’s needed to create a home. Through video interviews and family and neighborhood photographs, students will examine how the family builds community within their home, in the neighborhood, and even between Puerto Rico and New York City. Students will reflect on how they themselves belong to many different communities.
Themes: Community, Culture and Identity, Jobs and Industry
Topics: Puerto Rican Migration
Duration: 60 minutes
Connections to our Curriculum:
- Oral History of a memory from Jose Velez about helping his mom
- Jose Velez’s 3rd Grade Class Portrait
- Jose Velez Discusses Watching Spanish Channels
- Photograph of Wong, Epstein, and Saez Velez Families
1970’s Wong Family
The Wong family story features a Chinese American family and their 1970’s tenement home. Students learn about the push and pull factors of Chinese immigration and the long history of laws that restricted Asian immigration. Through exploration of a recreated apartment and garment shop, students will examine how the Wongs made a home in a growing Chinatown. Video interviews and family and neighborhood photographs will allow students to consider how different generations of the family navigate language, schooling, media, and work leading students to consider how they themselves form their own senses of identity and belonging.
Themes: Complicating Stereotypes, Culture and Identity, Industrialization and Labor, Push and Pull Factors
Topics: Asian Immigration
Duration: 60 minutes
Connections to our Curriculum:
- Wong Family Story
- Lesson Plan: Community Action – Footage of 1980’s Chinatown Garment Factory
- Lesson Plan: Respond to Kevin Wong’s Oral History about his name
- Lesson Plan: Define Immigration and Migration (ft. Epstein, Saez Velez, and Wong Family Photograph)
Teaching Resources
We offer teacher-designed, teacher-tested lesson plans where students learn to interpret objects, oral histories, and primary sources while making modern connections. Find unit plans, lesson plans, primary sources, and non-fiction family stories, made for flexible use in your classroom.
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