Tracing Narratives Using Maps

Relevant Standards: This lesson meets Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks for Literacy: V:4: Cultures and Common Heritage

And Social Studies: I:3: Analyzing and Interpreting the Past

II:1: Geography: Diversity of People, Places, and Cultures

II:3: Geography: Location, Movement, and Connections

IV:1: Economics: Individual and Household Choices

This lesson is designed to engage students in thinking critically about migration and farm life, and use maps to effectively illustrate events in the past. Students should have knowledge of the geography of the United States and be able to locate various cities/states on a map.

Objective: Students will learn to read and construct useful maps with history. They will connect to peoples of the past and other cultures using personal narratives from oral histories and documents, apply meaning to past events and relate the experiences of others to their own lives.
 

Activity:

1. In groups or individually, have students read the stories for Luis Sandoval and the Arellanos. (pdf file)

2. As a class, discuss the differences or similarities between the experiences of these individuals. Questions like these may help fuel discussion:

   • What motivated each person to move to Michigan? How did their lives change when they moved from place to place?

   • What do you think it would be like to step in their shoes?

   • How did family and culture influence these narrators?

    

3. On the map worksheet, have students draw the migratory route each person traveled, highlighting states or cities. Using their knowledge of US geography, ask students to think about possible places and people each person might have met along the way.

4. Ask students to imagine that they are traveling from somewhere in the United States to Southwest Michigan. Give the students a starting point, and 3-4 stops between. Below are some examples:

   • Begin in San Diego, CA. Stop in Dallas, TX, Topeka, KS, and Madison, WI. End in Sodus, MI.

   • Begin in Miami, FL. Stop in Raleigh, NC, Harrisburg, PA, and Cleveland, OH. End in Allegan, MI.

   • Begin in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. Stop in Cheyenne, WY, Lincoln, NB, and St. Louis, MO. End in South Haven, MI.
      

   It may help students to visualize this path by tracing it again on an additional map handout. Students should then compose a short story about their migration, discussing the cultures and places they encounter along the way. What national landmarks do you see? What city skylines? What types of food are eaten along the way? What types of farm crops do you see? These stories can be presented in book form with drawings, as oral presentations, or map collages on poster board—pinpointing each stop on a map of the US and including drawings or pictures that illustrate the culture /place.

5. Advanced Students--Extension: Have students prepare a short report about migratory farm labor, using maps and drawings to illustrate their report. Students can find more oral histories that discuss this topic online in the oral history archive, or they can visit the Fort Miami Heritage Society to listen to/read oral histories in person. More advanced students should complete some supporting research for their reports. The following research questions may be helpful in guiding topics:

• How did migrant farm labor change in the twentieth century (i.e. what groups migrated, when, and from where)?

• How did legislation like immigration laws and the New Deal affect who could work in the US, and where?

• How do you think technology changed farm labor, especially with the invention of the tractor and combine?

• How were farm tasks different for men and women, and how did culture help define these tasks? How did other factors, like wealth, affect farm tasks?

6. Advanced Students– Extension: Have students browse the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University website (online at www.jsri.msu.edu). This website offers multiple electronic resources, articles, and other information pertaining to Latino Americans and migratory labor in Michigan. Students should read about the institute (“What is JSRI?”) and browse its Research Reports and Statistical Briefs (under “Research and Publications”). Ask students to choose a report or brief to download and read, and write a one-page summary of the information given in the report. Based on the topics students have chosen, put them into groups of 3-5 people, and have them create a lesson that teaches the information they’ve learned about migrant labor. Each group should prepare a 10-15 minute presentation, visual materials, and handout for the rest of the class. Encourage students to be creative in formulating their presentations, incorporating activities for the class and interesting visual materials such as posters, films, and power point slide-shows.
    

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