SUBJECT English Language Arts, U.S. History, World History
With dreams of having a better life, thousands of Chinese risked their lives across the Pacific Ocean to join in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad from 1863 to 1869. These Chinese laborers worked under extreme and hazardous environments. Due to their ethnic appearance and language barriers, the Chinese were greatly taken advantage of by their employers. These Chinese laborers became pioneers in the collective labor actions of American labor history, while also contributing to the economies of the U.S. and China.
Students will learn:
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The contributions of Chinese railroad workers and immigrants to the economies of the United States and home countries abroad.
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The pay disparities and working conditions of Chinese railroad workers and immigrant workers.
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The fact the Chinese railroad workers’ contributions were not recognized.
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The reasons immigrants wanted to come to the U.S.
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To research the railroad’s impact on the Native Americans’ lives, communities and homelands.
The construction of the 1,776-mile Transcontinental Railroad was established by the federal government’s Pacific Railway Act of 1862. The Central Pacific Railroad (West, breaking ground in Sacramento, California) and the Union Pacific Railroad (East, breaking ground in Omaha, Nebraska) took on the challenge to link travel between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. From 1863 to 1869, Central Pacific hired roughly 15,000 Chinese laborers — enduring long journeys across the ocean from China to California — to complete the Summit Tunnel at Donner Pass. This was exhausting work, with Chinese workers shoveling twenty pounds of rock over 400 times a day to make their way through 1,659 feet of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to complete the project.
The Transcontinental Railroad shaped America in countless ways by facilitating domestic commerce and international trade. During the 1880s, the freight the railroad transported was worth around $50 million per year. The railroad also connected the scattered cities and towns across the West, making it easier for immigrants to settle across the land.
Chinese workers served as the major labor force on the Central Pacific Railroad construction (roughly 90% of crews), but were treated differently. White workers were paid $35 per month including food and accommodation; however, Chinese workers received only $26 without any food, accommodation, or basic insurance. The Chinese workers held an eight-day silent protest against the wage disparity and working conditions, leading to a decrease in both extreme working hours and whippings. Over time, company leadership slowly improved the pay of the Chinese laborers.
VOCABULARY
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Golden Spike: During the “Golden Spike Ceremony” on May 10, 1869, the rail lines of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific were joined at Promontory Summit, Utah. Of the 15,000 Chinese workers that comprised almost ninety percent of the Central Pacific labor force, none were visible in the iconic photograph taken on that day.
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Remittance: The transfer of money sent by migrants to family members and relatives in their home countries.
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What purpose did the Transcontinental Railroad serve for the U.S. economy at that time?
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Why were Chinese workers needed to build the Transcontinental Railroad?
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Why did the Chinese workers want to come to the U.S. to build the railroad?
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Why do you think the Chinese were not included in the completion ceremony photograph at Promontory Point? Why were they not acknowledged for their work?
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What types of jobs do immigrant and migrant workers take on today?
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Why do immigrant and migrant workers continue to come to the United States today?
ACTIVITY 1:
The impact of the Transcontinental Railroad
In 1867, Chinese railroad workers who were working their way through the rocky terrain of the Sierras, laid down their tools and went on strike for better working conditions.
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What were the differences in pay and treatment between white workers and the Chinese workers?
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What were some of the demands that the Chinese laborers were making?
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What did the railroad director do in retaliation of the strike?
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Were the strikers concessions met? Was this work stoppage/strike successful for the Chinese? Why? Why not?
Have students share their findings in a class discussion, addressing the questions above.
ACTIVITY 2: Mapping the Transcontinental Railroad
Assign each student one of the sites - such as Sacramento, Bloomer Cut, Summit Tunnel - and have students explore the challenges and obstacles that workers had to overcome in the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad. Have students share presentations on the sites in class.
ACTIVITY 3: Present day immigrant and migrant workers
Ask students to research contemporary immigrant and migrant workers.
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What type of jobs do immigrant and migrant workers take on today?
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Does the U.S. need immigrant and migrant workers today? Why or why not?
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Why do immigrant and migrant workers continue to come to the United States?
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How might immigrant and migrant workers contribute to their home country while working abroad?
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How do immigrant and migrant workers contribute to the U.S. economy?
STANDARDS
U.S. History:
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2
How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions.
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2A
The student understands how the factory system and the transportation and market revolutions shaped regional patterns of economic development.
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2A.1
Explain how the major technological developments that revolutionized land and water transportation arose and analyze how they transformed the economy, created international markets, and affected the environment. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2C.1
Analyze the push-pull factors which led to increased immigration, for the first time from China but especially from Ireland and Germany. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2C.2
Assess the connection between industrialization and immigration. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2C.3
Explain how immigration intensified ethnic and cultural conflict and complicated the forging of a national identity. [Interrogate historical data]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2B.2
Analyze how rapid urbanization, immigration, and industrialization affected the social fabric of early 19th-century cities. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2E
The student understands the settlement of the West.
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2A.3
Explain how economic policies related to expansion, including northern dominance of locomotive transportation, served different regional interests and contributed to growing political and sectional differences. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.2A.3
Explain how economic policies related to expansion, including northern dominance of locomotive transportation, served different regional interests and contributed to growing political and sectional differences. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.1C
The student understands the ideology of Manifest Destiny, the nation's expansion to the Northwest, and the Mexican-American War.
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.1C.1
Explain the economic, political, racial, and religious roots of Manifest Destiny and analyze how the concept influenced the westward expansion of the nation. [Examine the influence of ideas]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 4.1C.3
Analyze United States trading interests in the Far East and explain how they influenced continental expansion to the Pacific. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 10.2B
The student understands the new immigration and demographic shifts.
U.S. History Grades 5-12 10.2B.1
Analyze the new immigration policies after 1965 and the push-pull factors that prompted a new wave of immigrants. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 10.2B.2
Identify the major issues that affected immigrants and explain the conflicts these issues engendered. [Identify issues and problems in the past]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 10.2A.2
Analyze the economic and social effects of the sharp increase in the labor force participation of women and new immigrants. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
U.S. History Grades 5-12 10.2A.3
Explain the increase in income disparities and evaluate its social and political consequences. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
World History:
World History 5-12 7.3D.1
Analyze the economic and social consequences of rapid population growth in China. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
World History Grades 5-12 7.6
Major global trends from 1750-1914.
World History Grades 5-12 7.6A.1
Describe major shifts in world population and urbanization in this era and analyze how such factors as industrialization, migration, changing diets, and scientific and medical advances affected worldwide demographic trends. [Interrogate historical data].
World History Grades 5-12 7.6A.3
Describe major patterns of long-distance migration of Europeans, Africans, and Asians and analyze causes and consequences of these movements. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
College-and Career-Readiness Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2
Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6
Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7-8.3
Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.3:
Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3
Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7-10.8
Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7-12.1.a
Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7-12.2.b
Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7-12.1.a
Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7-8.1.d
Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-12.1.d
Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7-8.3
Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-12.3
Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7-12.4
Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7-12.3
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
Literacy in History/Social Studies:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text.
