Activity Idea: A German Immigrant Inquiring His Way (Quick Tip)

Immigrant Interview

Interview someone who has recently immigrated to America. Consider what brought them to America and what they left behind. Write a short biography of this person, including their expectations for their new life in this country. See examples of immigrant interviews on the Library of Congress website.

Finding a Place in Society

What does Blauvelt’s German Immigrant Inquiring His Way say about the way immigrants and black people were viewed in the mid-nineteenth century? How have conditions for these groups changed since then? Compare the jobs that were available for these people in the nineteenth century with those that immigrants and blacks hold today.