Using ESSEX History is a three-year project to improve the quality of American History instruction in Essex County's middle schools and high schools through teacher seminars and summer institutes on the people, places and events of
Essex County, Massachusetts.

Rebecca Nurse Homestead

Field
Resources

Explore early settlement, maritime and industrial sites in Essex County.



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Jan Maetzliger

Lesson
Plans

Developed by teachers using primary and field resources available here and throughout Essex County.

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List of Import Tariffs from 19th Century

Primary
Resources

Documents, online here and available through our partners, for teaching any American History class.

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Seminars and Institutes

Primary Resources

20th Century Immigration


Census Documents

Track the changing population of Lawrence with these census documents from 1900, 1910, 1920, and 2000

1900 1910 1920 2000


Naturalization Records
Naturalization records offer many clues about the lives of immigrants

Michael Finegan, Ireland Giovanni Luciano, Italy Saleem Haffar, Syria



Links

Base Policy on Human Rights, Not Racism
Click here to view Avi Chomsky's May 5th letter to the editor in the Salem Gazette

Camella Teoli's Testimony
This site includes excerpts from Camella Teoli's testimony in front of a U.S. Congressional hearing in1912. Teoli went to work at the age of 13 with falsified papers and soon after lost her scalp when her hair was caught in a textile machine.

Open Collections Program, Women Working 1800-1930
This is the website of the Harvard Open Collections Program. It contains links to many resources for the Lawrence Strike of 1912 including the 500 page Congressional report.

Report on Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass.
This site links to an article written by First Lieutenant Walter Merriam Pratt, an officer in charge of keeping peace in Lawrence during the strike. It also includes numerous newspaper articles and images that document the strike.

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
This is the website of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Teachers can buy the video "Uprooted: Refugees of the Global Economy" and a curriculum guide "Bridges" that goes along with it.

The following are links to local advocacy groups for immigrant and refugee rights. Their websites offer useful perspectives and many resources on the recent debate over immigration.

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

The Mauricio Gaston Institute at UMass Boston

The following articles by Mae Ngai, Associate Professor of History at the University of Chicago, explore twentieth century immigration law.

"The Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law: A Reexamination of the Immigration Act of 1924"


"The Strange Career of the Illegal Alien: Immigration Restriction and Deportation Policy in the United States, 1921-1965"


Using ESSEX History Themes

Using ESSEX History will address four core themes in American history. These four themes are listed below. Teachers will find materials that relate to specific topics linked to the appropriate heading. Any subjects that relate to more than one theme will be linked to all of the appropriate headings.