Turned Away

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question: What should be the immigration policy of a democratic nation?

2. List Vocabulary
Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article (see below). Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• processed (p. 18)
• escalating (p. 18)
• exclude (p. 18)
• barred (p. 19)
• unfounded (p. 20)
• xenophobia (p. 21)

3. Engage
Ask students to share what they know about Angel Island. Then have students preview the photos on pages 18 and 19 and discuss whether the photos confirm, add to, or change their understanding of what happened at Angel Island.

4. Read and Discuss
Ask students to read the Upfront article about Angel Island. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by people who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions:

• Based on Calvin Ong’s quotes in the article, what can you infer about what he thought life would be like for him in China? Why did he want to come to the U.S.? What did Ong contribute to the U.S. after immigrating here? (Based on his quotes, you can infer that Ong thought he would not get an education, easily find a job, or make much money in China. In contrast, he thought he could achieve those goals in the U.S. After moving to the U.S., Ong served in the military and opened his own business.) 

• Why did Ong fail the immigration test the first time he tried to enter the U.S.? (Ong failed the immigration test because he was asked very specific questions—such as what direction his house faced, how many steps led to his front door, and what were the ages of his neighbors—that would be incredibly difficult for a 10-year-old to answer. Furthermore, he had met his father only three times, so Ong didn’t know much about him, and his answers about his father likely didn’t perfectly match his father’s answers.)

• What do the attacks on Chinese immigrants in the 1870s, the detainment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the attacks on Asian communities today have in common? (The attacks were and are all based on unfounded fears and scapegoating, such as anger over economic hardship in the 1870s, fear during the war, and false claims about the Covid-19 pandemic.)

• At a time when Chinese people were officially barred from immigrating to the U.S. because of their ethnicity, Calvin Ong’s father came here, like many other Chinese immigrants, using fraudulent papers. Do you think his actions were justifiable? Explain. (Responses will vary, but students should support their ideas with evidence from the article and their own experiences and knowledge.)

5. Use the Primary Sources

Project or distribute the PDF Denied Twice (or assign it in Google Classroom), which features excerpts from Harmon Wong-Woo’s oral history about his experiences at Angel Island. Discuss what makes the text a primary source. (It provides firsthand evidence concerning the topic.) Have students read the excerpts and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• How would you describe the tone and purpose of these excerpts from Wong-Woo’s oral history? (The tone can be described as matter-of-fact, conversational, and, at times, a bit incredulous. Wong-Woo’s purpose is to recount his experiences at Angel Island.)

• What does Wong-Woo mean when he says “it was a true village”? Why do you think he points this out? (He means that he answered the immigration officials’ questions about his home in China truthfully and based on his real home. He was not making up answers to match the answers of a made-up father just to get into the U.S. He likely points this out to give credence to the idea that his answers would closely match those of his brother and father. And therefore, the question about steps was “silly,” and his being denied entry was surprising.)

• What is Wong-Woo’s point of view about why officials at Angel Island denied him entry? (Based on the excerpts, Wong-Woo’s point of view is that immigration officials denied him entry because they either did not or chose not to believe that his brother and father were actually his relatives based on no evidence but a dubious assessment that they didn’t look alike. In addition, his oral history suggests that he also believes he was denied entry for a slight discrepancy in what otherwise should have been closely matching testimonies from him and his brother and father.)

• Why was Wong-Woo eventually allowed to enter? What does that suggest about the validity of his application? (Wong-Woo was eventually allowed to enter because the Secretary of Labor overruled the denial. This suggests that Wong-Woo had a valid application for coming to the U.S.)

• Based on the Upfront article and the excerpts from Wong-Woo’s oral history, do you think the interview process at Angel Island was handled in a fair and reasonable manner? Explain. (Students’ responses will vary, but students should support their opinions with evidence from both texts.)

6. Writing Prompt
Research a famous immigrant to the U.S., and write a brief essay about the person. In your essay, summarize the reasons the person came to the U.S. and the contributions the person made to the country.

7. Quiz
Use the quiz to assess comprehension.

8. Classroom Debate
Should the U.S. be more welcoming of immigrants?

9. Poetry Analysis
Have students search online for poems inscribed on the walls of Angel Island and then write an analysis of three of the poems they find, noting common themes. Their analyses should end with a statement about what the poems convey to them about the immigration station.