Facilitation Sample

Immigration Workshop: Becoming American Session

10:45-11 WHAT IF MY PEOPLE HAD NEVER COME TO THIS COUNTRY?

Who are my people? Which group do I identify with the most? How would my life be different if my ancestors had stayed in our homeland? How would America be different?

Take a moment to reflect on these questions in writing. Then, turn to a partner and share your reflections before the large group reconvenes.

11-11:30 LAUNDRYMEN & MOVIES
(DVD 2, Part 6 of Becoming American series, (53:40-1:06:10)
After reading the passage below, we are going to examine the life of Chinese American actress,
Anna May Wong.

The Chinese Exclusion Act that Congress passed in 1882 was renewed in 1892 with a
New restriction—every Chinese in the nation had to carry a certificate of identity issued by
the US government. In 1902, the law was renewed again and in 1904, made permanent.
The stories told in Program 2 explore the impact of those laws on families kept apart,
on lives distorted by countless restrictions. Segment 6 looks at Chinese American life during the 1920s. Historian Henry Yu describes what those years were like for Chinese Americans. He focuses on a single year, 1923:

If you live on the West Coast of the United States and you happen to have come from somewhere in Asia, you live a restricted existence. As an “Asiatic,” a “Mongolian,” an “Oriental,” you are “ineligible for citizenship,” unable to become a naturalized American, and if you are in
California, you are forbidden by law from owning land. If you happen to have been born in the
United States, you are legally a citizen, but you face widespread discrimination in work, housing,
and the law. If you are Chinese, chances are you are male, since exclusionary laws have kept
Chinese women out of the country since 1882, and thus fewer than one out of eight people with
Chinese ancestry are female. You would find it difficult to live outside of a Chinatown—almost
no one except other Chinese would rent or sell to you. . . .
Being considered an Oriental, you find your prospects for prosperity and your choice of
employment and housing curtailed by a long history of anti-Asian agitation by labor groups and
nativist organizations. . . . The US Congress is just about to pass a series of new immigration
laws that will virtually cut off all immigration from Asia. . . . If you are of Asian ancestry in the
United States in 1923, you are seen as “alien”— very few people see you as “American.” Even
among those who tolerate you and your existence, there is an overwhelming sense that you are an
unknown, a mystery, perhaps even inscrutable.19


By the 1920s, change was coming. Bill Moyers explains, “Some men were able to bring their wives to America. And their children—raised in America—would want very different lives.” A few of those children were willing to defy tradition. Among them was a laundryman’s daughter who decided to become a movie star. Her name was Anna May Wong and she refused to be “shoved to the sidelines of American life.” Although she faced discrimination, Karen Leong says that “it’s a mistake to see Anna May Wong’s career as a tragedy or her life as a tragedy.”


Now that we’ve viewed Anna May Wong’s story, consider these discussion questions:
1. How might her childhood experiences have influenced her decisions to be an actress in an industry that consistently assigned stereotypic roles to people of color?
2. How would you assess her career? Was she a tragic or heroic figure?
3. Why do you think Wong would describe herself as Chinese rather than as an American?

11:30 – 12 A PICTURE’S WORTH A 1000 WORDS

What can images tell us about membership & acceptance?

In your small groups, you are going to review the images of student work samples provided. Then, you will discuss the following questions:
- What values or points of views are embedded in this image?
- What creative techniques are used to attract your attention?
- What does it reveal to you about the Chinese American experience?
- How might different people view this image differently (e.g., a Chinese immigrant vs. a native born citizen OR a Chinese immigrant vs. a Chinese American)?







One Book, One Chicago Worshop Session

Chicago is a city with almost 3 million residents – a little over 26% are Hispanic/Latino
and just under 37% African American/Black. Life for youth of color in Chicago’s barrios and hoods are distinct. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros provides a poetic account from the perspective of a Mexican American girl. Our America: Life & Death on the South Side of Chicago provides insight into the daily lives of two African American males. Examining both texts can give an idea of as to the power of storytelling as a vehicle for survival and freedom of expression.

Step 1 Read passages from The House on Mango Street & from Our America
Step 2 In small groups, document your answers to discussion questions

Chapter from Mango Street Chapter from Our America
The house on Mango Street chapter 1 “the beginning”
There was an old woman she had so many children she didn't know what to do
14-Falling through the cracks (add pg 89 to front of it, Scene of the Crime, 10)

Born Bad 6- Lloyd
Gil's Furniture Bought & Sold
7-Ghetto Getaway

Louie His Cousin & His Other Cousin
2- The Hood

A Smart Cookie
23-Lloyd (interview with Sophia)
House on Mango St Says Goodbye Sometimes 25-Our America


Discussion Questions
1. Create/fill-in an identity chart for Esperanza and your particular narrator from Our America (Lealan or Lloyd) – 2 blank identity charts will be provided.
2. What is being said about the way prejudices shape our perceptions of "us" and "them"?
3. How is language used to divide and include? What does the language you speak (or the way you speak) suggest about your connection or disconnection to your community?
4. What does this reading reveal about the narrator's connection to her family, her home and her neighborhood?
5. How does the book impact and/or influence the cultures they represent (in Chicago and in America)?
6. What can we learn about life in Chicago from these experiences/accounts? Do you see your story in the House on Mango Street or in Our America?
7. Sandra Cisneros writes "I'm going to tell you a story about a girl who didn't want to belong." LeAlan Jones writes, "We live in two different Americas. In the ghetto the laws are totally different& our lives are totally different. I've never felt American..." What can we learn about identity and belonging from these two different perspectives (books)?