4th Grade; Unit 4

A History of California’s Cultural Diversity

People from many different cultures have contributed to the growth of the State of

California and each group left their mark on the diverse culture of California. In the early history

of the State, Native Americans had lived on the land for thousands of years. In 1769, the

Spanish built the first mission in an attempt to colonize California and transplant the Spanish

culture in California. The Mexican period began in 1821 and lasted until 1848. In 1849, the

Gold Rush began and 100,000 “forty-niners” came to California from all over the world. Many

Chinese immigrants arrived during the gold rush and faced discrimination. In the 1800s,

Japanese immigrants arrived and became successful farmers. California had become a state and

by 1852, the population of California had grown to 250,000 people. Many immigrants from

Europe found their way to California between the 1870s and the 1910s. Immigrants came to find

a better life and worked to grow food, build towns, and create businesses that would help

California become an economic leader.

In 1900, California’s population was 1,500,000 and included people from many different

backgrounds and immigrants from other countries. There were 11,000 African Americans in

California at this time that found they faced discrimination and poverty, although they had come

to California to find a better life. Between 1942 and 1965, millions of Mexican workers came to

work in the fields during the Bracero Program. The Braceros were promised fair wages and

decent working and living conditions; however, they found low paying jobs and poor living

conditions. In the 1960s, many people immigrated from Mexico, Central America, South

America, Asia, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Immigrants brought rich cultures that included

their religion, language, food, music, celebrations, and ideas. New immigrants often suffered

discrimination and banded together in the same neighborhoods in order to take care of each other

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4th Grade; Unit 4

and to feel at home. Their neighborhoods reflected their cultures with celebrations, food,

traditions, and even architecture.

Today, the population of California is over 32 million. Although citizens celebrate the

national culture of the United States, they also celebrate the cultural diversity that exists in the

State. California is rich with a variety of ethnic foods, celebrations, architecture, music, and art.

The ethnic communities like China Town and Olivera Street add to California’s cultural

diversity, and each year California holds events that celebrate cultural diversity.

http://chavez.cde.ca.gov/ModelCurriculum/Teachers/Lessons_4-6.aspx

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Chinese Immigrants

Like people of other ethnicities, the Chinese immigrated to the United States for better

lives. Before 1900, their work included farming, mining and building railroads. Men sent money

home to their families in China. But American laborers resented the Chinese because the latter

were willing to work for cheap wages. Americans accused the Chinese of monopolizing jobs.

Stiff immigration laws were passed. Many Chinese immigrants were forced to prove they had a

husband or father who was a U. S. citizen or be deported.

From 1910-1940, Chinese immigrants were detained and interrogated at Angel Island

immigration station in San Francisco Bay. U.S. officials hoped to deport as many as possible by

asking obscure questions about Chinese villages and family histories that immigrants would have

trouble answering correctly. Men and women were housed separately. Detainees spent much of

their time in the barracks, languishing between interrogations.

The immigrants expressed their fears and frustrations through messages and poems

written or carved into barrack walls. Some poems are still visible at the museum today.

Immigrants were detained weeks, months, sometimes even years. Word got back to China about

the prolonged questioning, so people would try to mentally prepare before even crossing the

Pacific Ocean.

A 1940 fire destroyed the Angel Island administration building, so the U.S. government

abandoned the immigration station. The so-called "Chinese Exclusion Acts" eventually were

repealed. Over the years, Chinese have settled in every U.S. city. Many years have passed. But

many Chinese still recall the hardships of detention. At Angel Island, a museum has been

established in the old barracks, re- creating one of the living areas for Chinese detainees.

Adapted from:

http://www.angel-island.com/history.html

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Japanese Immigrants

California’s Japanese American population also faced prejudice, which culminated in an

unofficial US-Japanese agreement in 1907-08 to slow or stop the flow of immigrants from Japan.

The exception was wives and children of the men who had already migrated.

In the mainland of the United States, Japanese immigration began much more slowly and

took hold much more tentatively than it had in Hawaii. These early arrivals scattered up and

down the Pacific coast, forming small communities within small towns and larger cities, such as

San Francisco's Japan Town. Farm labor was a common choice among the first immigrants, but

they also could be found in lumber mills and mining camps. Despite laws preventing land

ownership, the Japanese American population also established homes, churches, and businesses.

Finally, the Immigration Act of 1924 imposed severe restrictions on all immigration from

non-European countries, and effectively ended Japanese immigration, supposedly forever. For as

long as this Act was in effect, it seemed that the first great generation of Japanese immigrants

was also to be the last.

Adapted from: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/japanese3.html

http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/ethnic_groups/subtopic2b.html

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Filipino Immigrants

At first, Filipinos freely migrated to the United States because the American conquest of

the Philippines in 1902 granted them “US national” status. The 1920s saw a huge influx of

Filipinos into California, mainly in response to the need for agricultural workers following the

exclusion of Chinese and Japanese.

In 1929, tensions erupted into violence in Exeter, California, when a mob attacked a

Filipino camp. More riots and violence followed in San Jose, San Francisco, and Watsonville,

where conflict arose from labor competition.

By 1930, more than half of the Filipinos in the United States lived in California. The vast

majority of Filipinos were male seasonal or migratory laborers. Many of them were brought in as

strike-breakers, which led to racial tensions, especially with Mexican and whites, who perceived

them as taking away work.

Adapted from: http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/ethnic_groups/

subtopic2b.html

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Migration to California

In the 1930s, a drought hit the Midwest and Southwest in the states of Kansas, Oklahoma,

Texas, and New Mexico. A drought is a long period of time when rain does not fall. These

areas became known as the Dust Bowl. The soil in these areas dried up and turned to dust.

Great windstorms carried the dust and the dust storms destroyed many farms and killed cattle.

Many people who lived in the Dust Bowl areas lost their farms and homes.

When the drought and dust storms showed no signs of letting up, many people abandoned

their land. In all, one-quarter of the population left, packing everything they owned into their cars

and trucks, and headed west toward California. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration

in American history. When they reached the border, they did not receive a warm welcome.

Arriving in California, the migrants were faced with a life almost as difficult as the one

they had left. Many California farms were corporate-owned. They were larger and more

modernized that those of the southern plains, and the crops were unfamiliar. The rolling fields of

wheat were replaced by crops of fruit, nuts and vegetables. Many of the migrant farmers wound

up in the San Joaquin Valley, picking grapes and cotton. Life for migrant workers was hard.

They were paid by the quantity of fruit and cotton picked with earnings ranging from seventy-

five cents to $1.25 a day. Out of that, they had to pay twenty-five cents a day to rent a tar-paper

shack with no floor or plumbing. In larger ranches, they often had to buy their groceries from a

high-priced company store.

Over the years, they replaced their shacks with real houses, sending their children to local

schools and becoming part of the communities; but they continued to face discrimination when

looking for work, and they were called “Okies” and “Arkies” by the locals regardless of where

they came from.

Adapted from:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/dustbowl-mass-exodus-plains/http://chavez.cde.ca.gov/ModelCurriculum/Teachers/Lessons_4-6.aspx

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Mexican Immigrants

The Mexican immigrants who increasingly dominated agricultural labor in California

after 1900 took on the brutal work because farm jobs were often the only ones available to them.

Dislocations caused by the Mexican Revolution propelled many Mexicans northward, but once

in California these immigrants encountered rampant discrimination. Middle- and upper-class

Mexican men and women could often only find work as day laborers, farm workers, and maids.

Mexican Californians tended to live in segregated enclaves where constant immigration

invigorated Mexican culture, traditions, and language.

Mexican and Mexican American migrant farm workers expected conditions like those

pictured above as they sought farm work in California and other states in the early 1900s. At that

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4th Grade; Unit 4

time, the Mexican Revolution and the series of Mexican civil wars that followed pushed many

Mexicans to flee to the United States. Many U.S. farm owners recruited Mexicans and Mexican

Americans because they believed that these desperate workers would tolerate living conditions

that workers of other races would not.

Mexican and Mexican American workers often earned more in the United States than

they could in Mexico's civil war economy, although California farmers paid Mexican and

Mexican American workers significantly less than white American workers. By the 1920s, at

least three quarters of California's 200,000 farm workers were Mexican or Mexican American.

California state and local governments responded to white farm owner pressure and

implemented "repatriation" plans to send Mexican immigrants back to Mexico in busloads and

boxcars. Many Mexican Americans were also sent out of the United States under these programs,

there being no differentiation between Mexicans and Mexican American U.S. citizens. Mexican

American U.S. citizens who were children at the time were also deported to Mexico along with

their Mexican parents.

Despite a hundred years of effort, economic exploitation of farm workers of all races

continues to this day in California and across the United States. As long as farm owners can

continue forcing people to live in such conditions, the farm workers' struggle seems doomed to

continue.

Adapted From:

http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/eras/era5.html

http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/timeline/depression-era-1930s/migrant-farm-workers/info

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Mexican Revolution and Immigration

In 1910, the Mexican Revolution began. It was the 20th Century’s first modern social

revolution, destined to change Mexico’s society and economy. It would result in a flood of

Mexican immigrants into the United States. The choices were simple for Mexicans who opposed

the fighting: hideaway or leave the country. Many of the Mexican citizens chose to head north,

immigrating to the United States. The turmoil of the war, the danger, the economic catastrophe

and social chaos surrounding the revolution pushed Mexican natives north. Some revolutionaries

and federals [federales] fled to the United States in order to plot further incursions into Mexico.

More than 890,000 legal Mexican immigrants came to the United States for refuge

between 1910 and 1920. The Revolution had created a state of turmoil to the south, and

Mexicans sought the peace of the north. The railroads hired a bulk of the Mexicans for

construction and maintenance.

U.S. immigration officials noted that the poor and the sick constituted most of the

Mexicans fleeing north. In 1914, during the strongest flurry of fighting in the revolution, the

upper class of Mexico began to immigrate in big numbers as well.

http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/14.html

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4th Grade; Unit 4

The Mexican Revolution of 1910

For most of Mexico’s history, a small minority of the population controlled the

country’s power and wealth, while the majority of the country lived in poverty. The gulf

between the rich and poor grew wider under the leadership of General Porfirio Diaz. He

was challenged by Francisco Madero who led a series of strikes throughout Mexico.

Although Diaz was pressured into holding an election in 1910, in which Madero

was able to gather a significant number of votes, he imprisoned Madero and maintained

control of the government. The insurgency continued, however, and Diaz resigned in 1911.

Madero was elected president and hoped to implement land reforms in which

some land owned by the wealthy would be redistributed to the poor. Impatient for land

reform to begin, Emiliano Zapata usurped Madero and immediately chased out estate

owners and divided their lands among the peasants.

During this time, Mexico remained in great disorder. The country broke into

many factions and guerrilla units roamed across the country, destroying and burning

large haciendas and ranchos. Madero was taken prisoner and executed while different

factions fought for presidential control.

In 1917, Venustiano Carranza rose to the presidency and organized an

important convention whose attendees drafted a constitution that is still in effect. It

established a farm cooperative program that redistributed much of the country’s land

from the wealthy land holders to the peasants.

November 20th is celebrated as a national holiday in Mexico, commemorating

the day when Madero denounced President Diaz, declared himself president of Mexico,

and called for a national insurrection.

http://www.floridaconference.com/curriculum/sites/default/files/curriculum_files/esperanza%20rising%20enotes-study%20guide.doc.pdf

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Booming Agriculture, Migrant Labor

California's booming agricultural economy created an endless need for farm labor.

Although family farming was typical in the Midwest, California agriculture was dominated by

large-scale industrial farming, and huge numbers of migratory workers were hired and fired each

year. A succession of ethnic groups provided this labor, beginning with Native Americans in the

1850s and 1860s, followed by Chinese, Japanese, Hindustanis, Filipinos, and Mexicans.

Excluded from the American Federation of Labor (AFL) due to their race and "unskilled"

status, agricultural workers suffered the worst conditions of any labor sector in California. They

commonly worked 16-hour days in the merciless sun for extremely low wages while living in

unsanitary temporary camps. In 1903, 1,500 Japanese and Mexican sugar beet harvesters in

Oxnard staged California's first recorded agricultural strike. It lasted two months and won the

workers a pay hike, but the new union dissolved after the AFL refused to recognize it. Though

dubbed California's "peculiar institution" for its similarities to southern slavery, exploitative

migratory farm labor remained widespread throughout the 20th century.

http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/eras/era5.html

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4th Grade; Unit 4

History of California Agriculture

Since the late 1800s agriculture in California has grown to become a very important part

of California’s economy. In the 1850s there were enough farms in California to grow food for

the people in California. Then as today, large companies and some very rich people owned much

of the farmland.

During the 1860s throughout the 1890s the number of farms grew rapidly from 900 to

18,700. At this time, farmers grew mainly wheat in the Central Valley of California, and they

grew enough wheat to feed California, the United States of America, and other countries in

Europe. Wheat production was very large and profitable, but in the 1890s farmers stopped

producing wheat, because the planting of only wheat was depleting the soil. Nuts, fruits, and

vegetables replaced wheat production.

Southern California became an important producer of navel oranges. The Franciscan

Fathers, who founded the missions of California, had grown oranges, but these oranges were

sour, dry, and full of seeds. In 1873, Mr. and Mrs. Tibbet, who lived in Riverside, California,

received two navel orange trees from Brazil. The Tibbets cared for the orange trees and

cultivated them, and the trees produced navel oranges that were large, sweet, juicy and seedless.

In 1888 the railroads invented the refrigerated boxcar, to transport California navel oranges

across the country, and by 1900 agriculture in southern California was flourishing. There were

over 5,000,000 navel orange trees growing in southern California, and many people came to

southern California at this time to grow oranges and find a better life.

Agriculture has continued to grow in California and today it is the largest producer of

agricultural products in the United States. California produces broccoli, apricots, pears, peaches,

celery, tomatoes, lettuce, dates, grapes, plums, and figs. All of the avocados and almonds sold in

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4th Grade; Unit 4

the United States of America are produced in California. Agribusiness is very important to

California’s economy and it grosses over 15 billion dollars per year.

The History of Agricultural Labor in California

Since agriculture began in California farmers needed a large flow of labor (farm workers)

to care for and harvest crops. In the 1860s to the 1890s farmers hired Chinese farm workers to

work in the wheat fields. In the 1870s canneries had become very profitable to farmers, and they

hired Mexicans, Irish, and Italian immigrants to work in the fields and in the canneries. Some

times entire families would work at the canneries, the men would work in the fields, and the

women and children would work preparing the food and canning it. The farmers provided poor

housing for the farm workers and their families.

Over the years, there have been farm workers from the Philippines and Japan, but

Mexican migrant farm workers have done most of the work in the fields of California. A

migrant farm worker is someone who travels from farm to farm looking for work. A migrant

farm worker works very long hours, bent over in the sun doing very strenuous work for very

little pay. Farmers have always paid farm workers low wages because there were always many

migrant farm workers, and if a worker complained about the payment the farmer just hired

someone else. Since the 1800s a farm worker’s life has changed very little. Migrant farm

workers work very hard, are paid very little and live in poor housing provided by the farmer.

http://chavez.cde.ca.gov/ModelCurriculum/Teachers/Lessons_4-6.aspx

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Question Cubes

Students can create their own questions with Question Cube starters. Students work in groups or with a partner.

One student rolls a die. The number rolled indicates which word begins his question. (list one)

The next student rolls a second die. The number rolled indicates the verb for the question. (list two)

Students write a question beginning with those two words. Repeat the process until students complete a desired number of questions.

List One

1. Who2. What3. Where4. When5. Why6. How

List Two1. did2. can3. will4. might5. should6. is

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Research Goals

Topic - ____________________________________

Number of note cards - _______

Number of resources - _______

Types of resources - __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Questions to guide my research - __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Esperanza Rising Close ReadChapter 13

“In Mexico, I was a second-class citizen. I stood on the other side of the

river, remember? And I would have stayed that way my entire life. At least here, I

have a chance, however small, to become more than what I was. You, obviously,

can never understand this because you have never lived without hope.”

She clenched her fists and closed her eyes tight in frustration. “Miguel, do

you not understand? You are still a second-class citizen because you act like one,

letting them take advantage of you like that. Why don’t you go to your boss and

confront him? Why don’t you speak up for yourself and your talents?”

“You are beginning to sound like the strikers, Esperanza,” said Miguel

coldly. “There is more than one way to get what you want in this country. Maybe

I must be more determined than others to succeed, but I know it will happen.

Aguántate tantito y la fruta caerá en tu mano.

The words stopped her has if someone had slapped her face. Papa’s words:

Wait a little while and the fruit will fall into your hand. But she was tired of

waiting. She was tired of Mama being sick and Abuelita being far away and Papa

being dead. As she thought about Papa, tears sprang from her eyes and she

suddenly felt very weary, as if she had been clinging to a rope but didn’t have the

strength to hold on any longer. She sobbed with her eyes closed and imagined she

was falling, with the wind whooshing past her and nothing but darkness below.

“Anza.”

Could I fall all the way back to Mexico if I never opened my eyes again?

She felt Miguel’s hand on her arm and opened her eyes.

“Anza, everything will work out,” he said.

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4th Grade; Unit 4

Esperanza backed away from him and shook her head, “How do you know

these things, Miguel? Do you have some prophecy that I do not? I have lost

everything. Every single thing and all the things that I was meant to be. See these

perfect rows, Miguel? They are like what my life would have been. These rows

know where they are going. Straight ahead. Now my life is like the zigzag in the

blanket on Mama’s bed. I need to get Abuelita here, but I cannot even send her my

pitiful savings for fear my uncles will find out and keep here there forever. I pay

Mama’s medical bills but next month there will be more, I can’t stand your blind

hope. I don’t want to hear your optimism about this land of possibility when I see

no proof!”

“As bad as things are, we have to keep trying.”

“But it does no good! Look at yourself. Are you standing on the other side

of the river? No! You are still a peasant!”

With eyes as hard as green plums, Miguel stared at her and his face

contorted into a disgusted grimace. “And you still think you are a queen.”

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