American Like Me

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“American Like You”

In this activity, students will examine their own family trees or community roots to reflect on connections with the past.

In Essay 32, Joaquin Castro discusses his admittedly precarious family tree. The only relative he knows, outside of his brother Julian, is his grandmother, Victoria, who comes to the US as an orphan with her sister after her mother dies of tuberculosis in Mexico. In learning about Victoria’s history, Castro strengthens his beliefs on immigration reform: He does not think immigrants should need to prequalify before entering the country, since hardworking immigrants of all kinds, prequalified or not, have helped improve the US for hundreds of years.

In this activity, research a relative or ancestor or construct a fictitious character from previous generations of your family; tell a small portion of their story based on historical fact or family record. You can pursue either of the following options:

• Trace your family tree if possible to learn about potential immigrant relatives or ancestors, Indigenous relatives or ancestors, or another connected historical figure about whom you are interested.