Migration & Immigration

Fort Ontario is a historic military installation located in Oswego, New York. From 1944 to 1946, it served as the only shelter in the United States for Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust.

Weedpatch Camp, officially the Arvin Farm Labor Supply Center, was a federal relief camp for migrants who had fled the Dust Bowl of the 1930s to seek work in California.

Westminster Presbyterian Church is home to one of the oldest and largest Presbyterian congregations in Minnesota and the United States. From the 1880s into the 1950s, Westminster served as an important gathering place and resource for Minneapolis’ Chinese American community. The Church’s social and religious programs helped recent immigrants to learn English and connect with both white and Chinese neighbors.

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2015, the Forsythe Memorial School for Girls was originally founded in 1884 and run by the Women’s Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. Forsythe Memorial School is a rare, surviving representation of Americanization attempts made by Protestant denominations to homogenize Mexican American culture in Los Angeles, California.

Understand the "servant" experience in early 20th-century America, as well as the pros and cons for women working in factories versus domestic service.

In the center of this lush valley stands the Hornbek homestead complex, the home of a strong, determined woman who came to the area with her four children in the 1870s. Claiming land under the Homestead Act, Adeline Hornbek defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a prosperous ranch.

The lesson could be used in U.S. history, social studies, and geography courses in units on nineteenth century and early twentieth century commerce or transportation, and to help students understand the role that maritime industries played in American history. The lesson could also be used to enhance studies related to the industrial revolution and women’s history.