Immigration Policy Students learn about social, political, and economic conditions that led to various immigration policies, how those policies affected the demographics of the Lower East Side and the lived experiences of individual families.
Theme: Immigration Policy | Grades 9 – 12
1960s Saez Velez
The Saez Velez Family story features Puerto Rican family and their 1968 Tenement home. With the help of Puerto Rican migration scholars, students learn about the history of Puerto Rico, its relationship to the United States, and how it affected the Saez Velez’ journey to New York City as American citizens. Through exploration of the recreated apartment, video interviews, family and neighborhood photos, and other primary source documents, students will examine the ways the Saez Velez family established themselves in the culturally and racially diverse Lower East Side of the 1960s. Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam war, students will examine how different generations of the family exercised citizenship at home, school, work, and beyond. Students will discuss how the family’s efforts made a difference on a larger scale and reflect on their understandings of citizenship.
Themes: Culture and Identity, Immigration Policy, Movements for Change, Industrialization and Labor
Topics: Puerto Rican Migration
Duration: 60 minutes
Connections to our Curriculum:
- Video of José discussing Spanish Channels on TV
- Oral History: A memory from José Velez about helping his mom
- Photograph of Wong, Epstein and Saez Velez Families
- 103 Orchard Online Exhibit ft. the Epsteins, Saez Velez, and Wong families
- Online Exhibit – Tenement Women: Agents of Change
1970’s Wong Family
The Wong family story features a Chinese American family and their 1970’s tenement home. With the help of immigration scholars, students learn about the push and pull factors of Chinese immigration and its relation to the Chinese Exclusion Act and subsequent immigration laws. Through exploration of a recreated apartment and garment shop, students will examine how the Wongs made a home in the neighborhood and how their experiences reflect the growth of Chinese communities and the garment industry in New York. Video interviews and family and neighborhood photographs will allow students to consider how different generations of the family navigate language, schooling, media, and work. Students will discuss how they themselves form their own senses of identity and belonging and evaluate roles of government, schools, and other institutions to ensure openness and acceptance of many.
Themes: Complicating Stereotypes, Industrialization and Labor, Culture and Identity, Immigration Policy
Topics: Asian Immigration
Duration: 60 minutes
Connections to our Curriculum:
- Wong Family Story
- Footage of 1980’s Chinatown Garment Factory
- Oral History of Kevin Wong discussing his name
- Photograph of Wong, Epstein, and Saez Velez Families
- Tenement Museum Podcast How to be an American | Season 1, Episode 6
- Online Exhibit, Tenement Women: Agents of Change
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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