Cultural and Ethnic Heritage: Immigration
Interview Project
Brief Description
You will be conducting oral histories of family members to learn about their cultural and ethnic
heritage.
Objectives


Students will develop an understanding of their cultural and ethnic heritage and the cultural
and ethnic heritages of others.
Students will develop skills in conducting interviews.
Resources Needed
http://memory.loc.gov/learn//features/immig/immigration_set1.html
http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/History_Culture.shtml
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/usa_maps.html
http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/immigration.html
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/
Activity Description
As a whole group, brainstorm a list of questions to use as a guide in your interviews.
Develop a list of items-- photographs, drawings, artifacts, etc.-- that you might want to gather as
part of your research to enhance your final reports.
Decide who you might choose which relative or relatives to interview. You may end up
interviewing a family member who immigrated to this country. If no living family member
immigrated, you should talk with parents, grandparents, etc. to find out what their ancestors'
experiences were.
If available family members are not aware of your ancestry, come up with your best guess and study
that particular ethnic group’s history of immigrating to America.
Example Questions for Interview:


What was the primary reason you or your ancestors immigrated to this country?
When did you or your ancestors come to the United States?










Where was your home before you or your ancestors moved to the United States?
What did you or your ancestors do in your homeland before you moved here?
Where did you or your ancestors first settle when you came to this country?
Did you or your ancestors know English when you came here? What other languages did
you or your ancestors speak?
What was the trip to the US like? Did you or your ancestors come over land, by boat, by
plane, etc? Was the trip hard or easy? Were you or your ancestors ever worried or
frightened?
What were you or your ancestors first impressions about the United States? Did your first
experiences live up to what you had hoped for?
Did you or your ancestors experience any racism or prejudice when you moved to this
country?
What jobs did you or your ancestors do when they got here?
How did the government support you or your ancestors?
How successful has your ethnic group been in this country in terms of wealth, community,
and political influence?
(You may be interviewing family members who immigrated, or you may interview family members
to find out what they know of their ancestors' and why and when they immigrated. They can be
easily reworded to work.)
Research Questions:
--What historical events or legislation has affected the livelihood of this group in America?
--How many people from this country or culture live in the United States today? How has this
percentage fluctuated since this group first came to America?
--Where do the majority of these people live?
--What general characteristics, beliefs, holidays, etc. do these people have that illustrate their
heritage and ethnicity here in the United States? If applicable, which of these aspects have been
assimilated into American mainstream culture? If applicable, which of these aspects are celebrated
on a large scale? If applicable, which aspects hinder assimilation into the American mainstream?
--What issues exist between the immigrant population and the American-born population?
--If applicable, how are advertisers and the media addressing those issues?
Final Project Options
Once research is completed, you have the choice to present your information in one of the following
formats:
Movie Show segments your interview AND present your research findings
Powerpoint Show interview q/a and your research findings
Essay Describe your interview q/a and present your research findings
Poster with Short Essay Visuals combined with description of interview and research.
Ideas for “Jazzing Up” Your Project/Things to Possibly Include
--map of the home country
--illustrations or pictures that represent events or laws that have affected this group
--examples of this group’s language
--examples and images of this group’s customs, including holidays, beliefs or values (newspaper
clippings, images, artifacts, etc.)
--information pertaining to locations where large communities of these people live
Reflection Paragraph
What is culture? How does your cultural heritage define who you are? Consider your language,
religion, value systems, neighborhood, etc. How do these factors in your life differ from those of
your parents, grandparents or great grandparents? How do you think the cultural factors they
identified might change for their future children, grandchildren and great grandchildren?