K. What does it mean to be an American?
K. How are our lives different from those who lived in the past? How are they the same?
1. How do many different people make one nation?
2. What makes someone heroic?
2. Why do people move?
3. Why did people settle in California?
3. Why did people move to my community?
“For example, students may compare how Asian Lunar New Year is celebrated in their local communities and how it connects people today to traditions from the past. These types of classroom discussions and fun activities will help build a greater sense of community and understanding.” CA HSS Framework 3rd Grade (p. 59)
3. How has my community changed over time?
4. Why did different groups of immigrants decide to move to California?
“These immigrants include (1) the Spanish explorers, Indians from northern Mexico, Russians, and the Spanish–Mexican settlers of the mission and rancho period, known as Californios, who introduced European plants, agriculture, and a herding economy to the region; (2) the Americans who settled in California, established it as a state, and developed mining, trade in animal hides, industries, and an agricultural economy; (3) the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, South Asians (predominantly Sikhs), and other immigrants of the second half of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth who provided a new supply of labor for California’s railroads, agriculture, and industry and contributed as entrepreneurs and innovators, especially in agriculture; (4) the immigrants of the twentieth century, including new arrivals from Latin America and Europe; and (5) the many immigrants arriving today from Latin America, the nations of the Pacific Basin and Europe, and the continued migration of people from other parts of the United States.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 68)
“Students learn about the presence of African and Filipino explorers and soldiers in the earliest Spanish expeditions by sea and land.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 73)
“...students can follow the Chinese workers who forged eastward from Sacramento through the towering Sierra Nevada, digging tunnels and building bridges with daring skill… Completion of the railroad and newly built seaports increased trade between Asia and eastern cities of the United States. They also brought thousands of new settlers to California, including the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony from Japan.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 84)
“Students explore the relationship between California’s economic and population growth in the twentieth century and its geographic location and environmental factors. They determine the push-and-pull factors for California’s dramatic population increase in recent times such as the state’s location in the Pacific Basin, the 1965 Immigration Act, which brought a new wave of Asian immigrants from Korea, India, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, in addition to traditional Asian groups of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos, the 1980 Refugee Act, the reputation of social and cultural freedom in the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the state’s historical ability to absorb new laborers in its diversified economy.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 90)
4. What were their experiences like when they settled in California?
“Students analyze the contributions of Chinese and Japanese laborers in the building of early California’s mining, agricultural, and industrial economies and consider the impact of various anti-Asian exclusion movements. Hostilities toward the large Chinese labor force in California grew during the 1870s, leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and future laws to segregate Asian Americans and regulate and further restrict Asian immigration. The Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1907, singling out Japanese immigrants, further limited Asian admissions to the United States. Students examine the various ways that Asian Americans resisted segregation and exclusion while struggling to build a home and identity for themselves in California.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 84)
“Students learn about the role of immigrants, including Latino and Filipino Americans, in the farm labor movement.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 87)
“Students learn about other important developments in the push-and-pull of California’s civil rights history during this period. During the economic collapse of the Great Depression, government officials and some private groups launched massive efforts to get rid of Mexicans and Filipinos in California, citing federal immigration law, the need to save jobs for “real Americans,” and a desire to reduce welfare costs. The resulting repatriation drives violated individual civil rights.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 87)
“[I]n 1935, Congress passed the Filipino Repatriation Act, which paid for transportation for Filipinos who agreed to return permanently to their home country.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 88)
“...the stresses of [WWII] led to acts of prejudice and racism, including... the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.” CA HSS Framework 4th Grade (p. 88)
5. Why did different groups of people decide to settle in the territory that would become the United States?
8. Who is considered an American?
“California also came to play an increasingly significant role in the national economy. The Gold Rush in California, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and agricultural labor in Hawaii and the mainland spurred Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Hindu, and Sikh immigration to the United States. Agricultural production and the growth of the oil industry accounted for much of California’s early economic growth. Asian farmers and laborers contributed to the development of irrigation systems and farming throughout the state.” CA HSS Framework 8th Grade (p. 275-276)
“Students study the social, economic, and political barriers encountered by both immigrants and American citizens of Mexican ancestry. Eventually the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) and the Immigration Act of 1917 greatly limited Asian entry into the United States. California built the immigration station at Angel Island to implement restrictions on Asian admissions. Despite the government’s eventual tightening of restrictions on immigration in the second decade of the twentieth century, immigrants played an essential role in developing the country as both an agricultural and industrial giant.” CA HSS Framework 8th Grade (p. 276)
11. What does it mean to be an American in modern times?
“Asian immigration continued to affect the development of the West despite a series of laws aimed to restrict migration from the Western Hemisphere, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Alien Land Act of 1913.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 383)
“As a reflection of the anxiety about the changing demographic composition of the country, the United States Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) that the country could restrict the right to naturalization based on race.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 395)
“Students learn about the roles and sacrifices of American soldiers during [WWII], including...the important role of Filipino soldiers in the war effort.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 402)
Students should understand the central role of immigrants, including Latino Americans and Filipino Americans, in the farm labor movement.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 419)
“In 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the relocation and internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans and ‘resident aliens’ living within 60 miles of the West Coast, and stretching inland into Arizona, on grounds of national security. The order violated their constitutional and human rights, but the Supreme Court, in a decision heavily criticized today, upheld its implementation in Korematsu v. United States, arguing, ‘when under conditions of modern warfare our shores are threatened by hostile forces, the power to protect must be commensurate with the threatened danger.’” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 405)
“Japanese Americans lost personal property, businesses, farms, and homes as a result of their forced removal. After Japanese Americans spent many years campaigning for redress, Congress apologized in 1988 for Japanese internment and allocated compensation funds for survivors.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 405-406)
11. How did the United States’ population become more diverse over the twentieth century?
“In 1935, Congress also passed the Filipino Repatriation Act, which paid for the transportation of Filipinos who agreed to return permanently to their home country.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 399)
“Students examine the nuclear arms race and buildup, Berlin blockade and airlift, United Nations’ intervention in Korea, Eisenhower’s conclusion of the Korean War, and his administration’s defense policies based on nuclear deterrence and the threat of massive retaliation, including the CIA-assisted coup in Iran as part of early Cold War history.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 408)
“Foreign policy during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations continued Cold War strategies—in particular, the “domino theory” that warned of the danger of communism rapidly spreading through Southeast Asia. Students study how America became involved in Southeast Asia, particularly after the French conceded to the Vietnamese in 1956.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 408)
“Students will have more background for understanding the domestic side of the war at this point. Nevertheless, the escalation of the Vietnam War and secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia proved to be the culmination of Cold War strategies and ultimately caused Americans to question the underlying assumptions of the Cold War era and protest against American policies abroad.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 409)
“...students analyze the impact and experience of refugees who fled Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War.” CA HSS Framework 11th Grade (p. 430)
12. What makes a law or an action unconstitutional, and does that determination ever change?
“In examining the evolution of civil rights under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, students can draw upon their knowledge of the Civil War and the passage of the Reconstruction-era amendments. Students may examine the changing interpretation of civil rights law from the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 to the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. Although it is not possible to analyze every decision that marked the shift of the Supreme Court from 1896 to 1954, critical reading of the Yick Wo v. Hopkins, Korematsu v. United States, Mendez v. Westminster School District (U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 1947), and Sweatt v. Painter decisions remind students that racial discrimination affected not only African Americans but other groups as well, including Asian Americans and Hispanics.” CA HSS Framework 12th Grade (p. 444-445)
K.1.2 Learn examples of honesty, courage, determination, individual responsibility, and patriotism in American and world history from stories and folklore.
K.6 Students understand that history relates to events, people, and places of other times.
1.5 Students describe the human characteristics of familiar places and the varied backgrounds of American citizens and residents in those places.
2.1.1 Trace the history of a family through the use of primary and secondary sources, including artifacts, photographs, interviews, and documents.
2.5 Students understand the importance of individual action and character and explain how heroes from long ago and the recent past have made a difference in others’ lives
3.4.6 Describe the lives of American heroes who took risks to secure our freedoms
3.3.1 Research the explorers who visited here, the newcomers who settled here, and the people who continue to come to the region, including their cultural and religious traditions and contributions.
4.3.2 Compare how and why people traveled to California and the routes they traveled
4.3.3 Analyze the effects of the Gold Rush on settlements, daily life, politics, and the physical environment
4.4.1 Understand the story and lasting influence of the Pony Express, Overland Mail Service, Western Union, and the building of the transcontinental railroad, including the contributions of Chinese workers to its construction.
4.4.3 Discuss immigration and migration to California between 1850 and 1900, including the diverse composition of those who came; the countries of origin and their relative locations; and conflicts and accords among the diverse groups (e.g., the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act).
8.12.7 . Identify the new sources of large-scale immigration and the contributions of immigrants to the building of cities and the economy; explain the ways in which new social and economic patterns encouraged assimilation of newcomers into the mainstream amidst growing cultural diversity; and discuss the new wave of nativism.
11.2.2 Describe the changing landscape, including the growth of cities linked by industry and trade, and the development of cities divided according to race, ethnicity, and class.
11.7.3 Identify the roles and sacrifices of individual American soldiers, as well as the unique contributions of the special fighting forces (e.g., the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442nd Regimental Combat team, the Navajo Code Talkers).
11.7.5 Discuss the constitutional issues and impact of events on the U.S. home front, including the internment of Japanese Americans (e.g., Fred Korematsu v. United States of America) and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens; the response of the administration to Hitler’s atrocities against Jews and other groups; the roles of women in military production; and the roles and growing political demands of African Americans.
11.9.3 Trace the origins and geopolitical consequences (foreign and domestic) of the Cold War and containment policy… (The Korean War) (The Vietnam War)
11.11.1 Discuss the reasons for the nation’s changing immigration policy, with emphasis on how the Immigration Act of 1965 and successor acts have transformed American society
12.2 Students evaluate and take and defend positions on the scope and limits of rights and obligations as democratic citizens, the relationships among them, and how they are secured.
12.5 Students summarize landmark U.S. Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution and its amendments (United States v. Wong Kim Ark) (Korematsu v. United States)