The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Courtesy of Seaver Center for Western History Research, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
What Do You Do When the Border Crosses You?
This deliberation guide focuses on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, encouraging students to examine the choices the Californio indigenous people faced in June 1849 as they determined how they would approach, or avoid, a future as American citizens. As students investigate the cultural, historical, economic, and political context of the time, they will wrestle with and weigh possible answers to the question: What do you do when the border crosses you?
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Supplemental information referenced on page 13, collaborate #2.
Explore the Becoming US connection to this deliberation guide: Borderlands.
The Hart-Celler Act
Courtesy of the LBJ Presidential Library
What Would a Fair Immigration System Look Like?
This resource connects to the student deliberation guide on the lead up to the passage of the Hart-Celler Act in 1965. The Hart-Celler Act significantly changed the immigration system of the United States by altering who and how many people could immigrate to the nation. This deliberation guide asks students to assume the role of policy advisors before 1965 and grapple with different options for how the new immigration system could be designed. As students investigate the cultural, historical, economic, and political context of the time, they will wrestle with and weigh possible answers to the question: What would a fair immigration system look like?
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Explore the Becoming US connection to this deliberation guide: Policy.
The Pueblo Revolt
Courtesy of Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), 016096
What Should be Done in the Face of Oppression?
This resource connects to the student deliberation guide on the lead up to the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, which took place in the southwestern lands of what is now the United States. The Pueblo Revolt was the culminating result of decades of oppression by Spanish colonizers of Native peoples who had been present in the region for thousands of years. The hardships endured ranged from prohibition of Pueblo practices and religious beliefs, to forced labor and tribute, and annexation of Pueblo lands. Throughout this, the Pueblo peoples faced tyranny as well as disease. Smallpox and other illnesses brought over on Spanish ships reduced their population by two-thirds. As students investigate the cultural, historical, economic, and political context of the time, they will wrestle with and weigh possible answers to the question: What should be done in the face of oppression?
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Explore the Becoming US connection to this deliberation guide: Resistance.
Separate and Unequal in 1963
Courtesy of Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, AC0618-004-0001166
How Can We Provide a Better Education for Boston's African American Students?
This resource connects to the student deliberation guide on the years leading up to the busing controversy in Boston during the 1970s. The tensions surrounding the integration of Boston's public schools by busing white students to predominately Black schools and Black students to predominately white schools echoed similar tensions in school districts across the United States. The years leading up to this decision witnessed determined efforts by Black parents, teachers, administrators, and other community members to advocate for educational equity for Black children in Boston; it is this struggle upon which our deliberation focuses. As students investigate the cultural, historical, and political context of this time, they will wrestle with and weigh possible answers to the question: How can we provide a better education for Boston's African American students?
Download the Educator Facilitation Guide.
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Explore the Becoming US connection to this deliberation guide: Education.
The Japanese American Incarceration
How Should a Wrong Be Righted?
This resource connects to the student deliberation guide on Japanese American efforts to seek justice for the nearly 75,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry and 45,000 Japanese nationals whom the US government imprisoned during World War II. Fueled by wartime paranoia that exacerbated anti-Asian sentiments, the US government forced people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the West Coast of the United States into incarceration camps after the United States entered the war. The suffering that camp prisoners endured during the war years marked generations of Japanese Americans, but decades would pass before activists began to revisit those dark years, raise consciousness within the Japanese American community, and eventually press the US government to both publicly acknowledge the wrongs it had committed and atone for its actions. As students investigate the cultural, historical, and political context of this time, they will wrestle with and weigh possible answers to the question: How Should a Wrong Be Righted?
Download the Educator Facilitation Guide.
Download the Student Deliberation Guide.
Explore the Becoming US connection to this deliberation guide: Belonging.
