Immigration Research Project
Research Project
Conduct research on an immigration topic of your choice.
Introduction
For your final project, conduct research and write a report on an immigration- or integration-related topic of your choice. Your instructor will specify the report’s required length.
Select one of the options below.
Some possible topics for Option B are listed below.
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1790 Naturalization Act (allowed naturalization for “free white persons”)
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1864 Immigration Act (encouraged immigration during Civil War)
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1870 Naturalization Act (extended naturalization to those of African nativity or descent)
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1875 Page Law (also known as the Asian Exclusion Act)
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1882 Chinese Exclusion Act (barred Chinese immigration)
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Jim Crow laws (enforced racial segregation)
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Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907–08 (slowed Japanese immigration)
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Alien Land Laws (barred Asians from owning land and property in several states)
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1917 Immigration Act (also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act)
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1921 Emergency Quota Act (specified immigration quotas based on nationality)
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1924 Immigration Act (tightened 1921 restrictions)
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1942 Bracero Agreement (encouraged Mexican agricultural labor)
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1943 Magnuson Act (repealed Chinese Exclusion Act)
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1952 McCarran-Walter Act (removed race as a factor for naturalization and immigration)
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1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (removed quota system based on national origin)
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Refugee Act of 1980 (created a general policy for accepting refugees)
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Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (offered unauthorized immigrants a pathway to permanent residency)
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2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (offered temporary deportation relief to those brought to U.S. illegally as children)
Next Up:
A
Option A: Research an immigrant group of your choosing. Your report should contain answers to the following questions.
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Describe this immigrant group. Where do they come from? When did they immigrate? What lines of work did they take up, and why?
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Why did this group immigrate? Was their immigration forced or voluntary? What were some important push and pull factors that drove this immigration?
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What major challenges/hardships and opportunities/successes did they encounter in the United States?
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What major factors affected their ability to immigrate and/or integrate? Specifically, how did immigration/integration laws and policies affect this immigrant group?
Immigrants and luggage on the SS Imperator, from the Hamburg America Line, NY, June 19, 1913.
Identifier: LC-DIG-ggbain-13361, Bain News Service photograph collection. Source: Library of Congress
B
Option B: Research a historical immigration- or integration-related policy. Your report should contain answers to the following questions.
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Describe the policy. What was it called, and what did it do? When and where was it in effect?
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Describe the context around the policy. Why was this policy adopted? What factors drove its adoption? Who was involved in creating this policy, and what were their motivations and aims?
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How did this policy affect subsequent immigration/integration in the United States?
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What might this policy illustrate about the beliefs, concerns, logic, and/or mindset of policymakers at the time?
Pledge of Allegiance at Raphael Weill Public School, San Francisco, CA, 1942.
Identifier: 210-G-A78. Source: National Archives and Records Administration