A nation of immigrants
You, whoever you are!...
All you continentals of Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, indifferent of place!
All you on the numberless islands of the archipelagoes of the sea!
All you of centuries hence when you listen to me!
All you each and everywhere whom I specify not, but include just the same!
Health to you! good will to you all, from me and America sent!
Each of us is inevitable,
Each of us is limitless—each of us with his or her right upon the earth,
Each of us allow'd the eternal purports of the earth,
Each of us here as divinely as any is here.
Walt Whitman
Your Assignment
All of us our immigrants. From the first Americans who came to America across the Bering Strait between what is now Russia and Alaska some 15,000 years ago to the immigrants who arrive from every continent on the planet today. In the pages that follow I would like you to consider what we have learned over the the course of our unit on immigration. On each of the next three main pages (First Americans, Europeans, Slaves) you will find a link to a Lino site to contribute your thoughts on these essential questions:
- Why did these immigrants choose to come to America?
- What did they find once they were here?
- How have they contributed to the United States of today?