TASK: You are to compose a well-researched and annotated historical narrative of an immigrant or refugee to the United States. The resulting artifact will constitute a two-fold assignment that addresses aspects of both micro-historical study and our convergent global age. You will hand in a hard copy of your written research and present your findings to the class in an oral presentation.

Part 1: Non-Fiction Narrative of an Immigrant’s Journey to the United States (4-5 pages)

Step 1: Interview Immigrant, record questions & answers
Step 2: Research Immigrant Community in the United States
Step 3: Convert your interview into narrative format (AKA a nonfiction story)

In this part of your assignment, you will write an engaging non-fiction narrative account of your immigrant subject’s journey beyond borders to the United States. In your retelling, you should demonstrate empathy for your subject while exhibiting a sound intercultural knowledge of his or her situation.

Part 2: Historical Profile of an Immigrant Community (2-3 pages annotated historical profile of the immigrant community of your interviewee and immigration services available to him or her in the U.S.)

Step 1: Research the conditions in the home country (bad/good economy, war/peace, social conditions, etc.)
Step 2: Research the Immigrant Community in the US (history, census data, newspaper articles, religion, parades, community leaders, location, etc.)
Step 3: Use this research to write up a profile of the community (this places your interviewee within a larger context) CITE YOUR SOURCES in text using MLA or Chicago format.
Step 4: Include a bibliography with the sources you consulted

Immigrants come to the U.S. with varying degrees of support in place. In the first page of your historical profile, analyze the home country from which the immigrant traveled to the US from. Then analyze the historical roots of your immigrant’s larger community here in the US both historically and in the present day. To support your analysis, cite two or three sources on the immigration patterns of the community.

Part 3: Present Research to Class (3-5 minute oral presentation describing your interviewee’s story and the history of the immigrant community here in the US)

Step 1: After finishing your writing, create a presentation in which you discuss your research and your findings.
Step 2: Create your presentation using PowerPoint or an equivalent slide show program.
Step 2: Include 3 to 5 slides for the migration narrative and 2 to 4 slides for the immigrant community profile.

Completing the Project: To submit the final project, you will hand in a hard copy of both parts of the assignment to the instructor AND present your project in front of the class.