UNIT ONE
The Chinese Exclusion Act

Unit 1 is about the Chinese Exclusion Act, which severely limited Asian immigration to the United States for a hundred years and led to the formation of unique Chinese-American communities.

ACTIVITY 1	Population
ACTIVITY 2	Chinese Exclusion Act
ACTIVITY 3	Researching Immigration Policy
ACTIVITY 4	A Timeline
ACTIVITY 5	Changes in Immigration Policy

TIME FRAME:

One week.

PRODUCTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. Student-made infographs: Chinese in America.

2. Research project: immigration and discrimination in American history.

3. Multimedia timelines (group or individual project).

4. Photography/writing project: Brooklyn and Queens Chinese communities.

DOCUMENT 1

TABLES ON THE CHINESE POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES
WPA Federal Writers' Project, NYC Unit Records

DOCUMENT 2

TABLES ON IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES
NYC Department of Planning

READING

THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
adapted from the Columbia Encyclopedia entry on "Chinese Exclusion"

READING

NEW IMMIGRATION POLICIES
from Ethnic New York by Mark Leeds (1991)

DRAWING

AN ANTI-CHINESE RIOT IN DENVER, 1880
from the Library of Congress

CARTOON

AN ANTI-CHINESE CARTOON, 1886