Newcomers to the U.S.: Developing Historical Thinking Among Latino Immigrant Students in a Central Texas High School

Abstract

Newcomers are a special subgroup of the student population designated as English Language Learners (ELLs). The research project described in this article investigates how a teacher integrated language and content in a single subject area, social studies, in a high school newcomer classroom. Three extended lessons were presented to newcomer students in Central Texas who are native speakers of Spanish. The case study in the newcomer classroom documented immigrant students' use of digitized primary resources and document-based questions pertaining to the social crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957; the civil rights concerns of the Chicano Movimiento of the 1960s and 1970s; and the U.S. public's conflicting responses to immigration, particularly from Mexico, in the 21st century. Each extended lesson required that the students systematically understand sources; contexts; historical significance; and notions of agency, empathy, and moral judgment. Despite the challenge of specific concepts in the social studies curriculum, findings show that the interactive use of digitized primary source documents available in English made the subject relevant and meaningful to the newcomer students. The choice to use (or not) the home language for oral and written responses played a significant role in the students' understanding and use of historical thinking.

Notes

¹Jim Crow laws were enacted after the United States Civil War (1865) and held in place until the Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) as way to ensure de jure racial segregation in public schools, transportation (trains and buses), and all facets of public life (restrooms, restaurants, drinking fountains).

²The Civil Rights Movement is often synonymously equated with the African American Civil Rights movement of the late Fifties and Sixties that involved the Montgomery bus boycott, sit-ins, freedom rides, and more. The emergence and actions of several groups (e.g., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] and leaders (e.g., Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks) ensured greater gains for political, social, and economic equality between races.

³The Chicano Movement, also known as the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, and El Movimiento, was the part of the Civil Rights Movement that sought political empowerment and social inclusion for Mexican Americans around a generally nationalist argument.

⁴Immigration Law Senate Bill 1070 is a legislative act in the U.S. state of Arizona that is considered the strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in the country. Governor Jan Brewer signed the act into law on April 23, 2010. Legal challenges over its constitutionality and compliance with civil rights law were filed and a preliminary injunction blocked the most controversial aspects of the law from taking place. The Act makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents. The law obligates police to make an attempt, when practicable during a “lawful stop, detention or arrest,” to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal alien.

⁵The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (The “DREAM Act”) was first proposed in 2009 and has not yet been passed by the U.S. Congress. The bill provides undocumented immigrant students who graduate from U.S. high schools, have been in the United States for at least 5 years, and who are in good moral character standing to apply for a 6-year conditional residency status. During the 6 years the immigrant would be required to graduate from a 2-year community college or complete at least 2 years towards a 4-year degree, or serve 2 years in the U.S. military. After the 6-year period, an immigrant who met at least one of these three conditions would be eligible to apply for legal permanent resident status. During this 6-year conditional period, immigrants would be able to apply for student loans and work study.

⁶One of the first integration test cases after the Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 [1954]) occurred in 1957 when a group of nine African American students enrolled in Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas were denied admission by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus and angry mobs. In a standoff between state and national power and segregation and desegregation policies, President Dwight D. Eisenhower used the National Guard to guarantee the entry and safety of the nine students.