Migrant Connections and Disconnections:
Rethinking Thanksgiving
This week, Americans celebrate that a group of migrants made a dangerous journey to a place far away to start a new life. Yes, I’m talking about the Pilgrims who Americans remember each Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims migrated from England to North America because they were harassed, jailed, or fined because of their religious beliefs. We celebrate the Pilgrims migration to a new place for a new life that grew to become the country we all now reside: the United States of America. We don’t usually call the Pilgrims migrants, but we certainly could.
Today's world has many migrants. The United States experiences significant immigration from Central and South American countries and Europe is experiencing a migration of thousands of refugees from Syria and other war-torn Middle Eastern countries.
What about the migrants of today: Hispanic migrants or Syrian migrants? Are their stories similar to the Pilgrims?
Learn more about these issues and events!
Click on a link to learn more about English migrants (the Pilgrims), Latino migrants, and Middle Eastern migrants.
The First English Migration
1. Read the first three paragraphs on this site to learn about why the Pilgrims migrated. If you have time or interest, continue reading this site to learn about their first migration to Holland and then on to North America.
2. Journey on the Mayflower.Learn about what life was like for the English migrants.
3. Tour the Ship. Learn about the mode of transit they used.
Latino Migration
Syrian/Middle Eastern Migration
3. Watch this video. Fast forward to 0:55. Stop watching at 3:45, or the “ID” section.
You Respond: WRITE!
Pick a persona of one of the migrants, historical or current. (Example, choose to be a Pilgrim, a Latino migrant, or a Syrian refugee).
Choose a different migrant to address in a letter.
Write a letter to that fictional migrant.
Synthesize or include at least three details you learned in your research today.
Consider discussing the third migrant group in your letter. (For example, if you are a Syrian refugee writing to a Latino migrant, inform the Latino migrant about the Pilgrims.)
Write at least 2 paragraphs for the body of your letter in your notebook.
See letter format below: Include fictional address (Where are you writing from?), date (from history or today), greeting, body, and closing signature.
Still need ideas about what to write about?
You just learned about three groups that all share a common life event: migration. What would they say to each other in a letter, knowing they had this similarity? What would a Pilgrim, a Latino migrant, and a Syrian refugee talk about? What would they have in common? What would be their differences?
