“We the people”: Migrant Waves in the Making of America

FAIN: ES-288128-22

Arizona Board of Regents (Tucson, AZ 85721-0073)
Kathleen Short (Project Director: February 2022 to September 2022)
Kathleen Short (Project Director: September 2022 to April 2025)
Carol Brochin (Co Project Director: February 2022 to April 2025)
Leah Duran (Co Project Director: February 2022 to April 2025)

A two-week residential institute for 30 K-12 educators to study the formative influences of migration on the history and culture of the United States, using Arizona as a case study. 

This two-week institute engages thirty K-12 professionals in exploring the influence of continuous waves of migration on the making of America and the stories and perspectives of marginalized communities often left out of traditional narratives of U.S. history. The institute is based in interdisciplinary pedagogy grounded in intersections across young adult literature, historical records, social science research, artifacts, film and hands-on inquiry. Inquiry strategies experienced in a case study of Arizona will be used to research migrant waves and hidden histories in participants’ own states. This institute will be held in Worlds of Words, a Center of Global Literacies and Literatures. As the largest collection of global youth literature in the U.S., the center provides rich literary and digital resources for participants. Additionally, the institute draws on the expertise of world-renowned humanities scholars and the rich resources of cultural centers.

Associated Products

Institute Multimodal Text Sets (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Institute Multimodal Text Sets
Author: Carol Brochin
Author: Leah Durán
Author: Kathy G. Short
Author: Angelica Serrano
Author: Elizabeth Gaxiola
Author: Dan Moreno
Author: LaCher Pacheco
Author: Richelle Maria Vargas
Abstract: A webpage housing the thirteen text sets created by the Institute’s planning team as resources for the Institute’s participants. Each set includes 10-15 pieces of literature, audio, video, and primary documents that are conceptually related but provide multiple perspectives on the theme, time period, region, or community being highlighted. Each text set corresponds to one of the days of the institute, and was used to deepen and expand participants’ understanding of the highlighted theme, time period, region, or community. They are included on the webpage as PDF documents. These are curricular materials developed for use by participants during the institute and subsequently published for the general public to use as curricular materials in their education settings.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu/2023-institute-multi-modal-text-sets
Primary URL Description: Website: wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu (NEH We The People website hosted on the University of Arizona's College of Education website) Page: Institute Text Sets Subpage: 2023 Institute Multi-Modal Text Sets
Audience: General Public

Participant-Created MultiModal Text Sets (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Participant-Created MultiModal Text Sets
Author: Stephanie Alvarez
Author: Elena Brown
Author: Sofia Dominguez
Author: Shara Guarnaccia
Author: Holly Hardin
Author: Rachel Heideman
Author: Mary Hernandez
Author: Roxann Hunsaker
Author: Morandi Hurst
Author: Michelle Ibarra
Author: Allison Knutson
Author: Alisen Laferriere
Author: Emily Martland
Author: Kari Matthies
Author: Jesús Millán
Author: Tabitha Miranda
Author: Jane Moore
Author: Terry Posey
Author: Adriana Rayas Tanaka
Author: Thomas Reihl
Author: Robert Rivera-Amezola
Author: John Robertson
Author: Joseph Sarvo
Author: Jessica Scott
Author: Griselda Solano
Author: Diana Renne Teran Lopez
Author: Cynthia Vele
Author: Alexander “Sasha” Velgos
Author: Kim Warren
Author: Agnes Zapata
Abstract: The 30 participants of the 2023 “We the People”: Migrant Waves in the Making of America NEH Summer Institute were tasked with creating a digital, multimodal text set as a study of a state, region, time period, or people’s history. These multimodal text sets are critical studies of those histories around past and current waves of migration and center perspectives of traditionally underrepresented communities. This webpage houses the 26 digital collections, as some participants created their text sets in collaboration with other participants. Each text set includes a synopsis and an annotated bibliography. These were created as part of each participant's research and are published as curricular materials accessible to the general public for use/inspiration in their respective educational settings.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu/2023-participant-text-sets
Primary URL Description: Website: wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu (NEH We The People website hosted on the University of Arizona's College of Education website) Page: Institute Text Sets Subpage: 2023 Participant Text Sets
Audience: General Public

Arizona History Resources (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Arizona History Resources
Author: Carol Brochin
Author: Leah Durán
Author: Kathy G. Short
Author: Angelica Serrano
Author: Elizabeth Gaxiola
Author: Dan Moreno
Author: LaCher Pacheco
Author: Richelle Maria Vargas
Abstract: A webpage of a curated collection of resources pertaining to Arizona history. These resources were collected as the team prepared and planned for the institute. They were then categorized and shared with participants. Now they are available to the general public. The categorizations represent different strategies for research in the humanities.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu/curated-resources
Primary URL Description: Website: wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu (NEH We The People website hosted on the University of Arizona's College of Education website) Page: Arizona History Resources
Audience: General Public

Migrant Waves in the Making of America (Journal Special Issue)
Special Issue Title: Migrant Waves in the Making of America
Journal: WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom
Editor: Yoo Kyung Sung and Julia Lopez-Robertson
Year: 2024
Volume: Volume 9
Number: 2
ISSN: 2577-0551
Access Model: Open Access
URL: https://wowlit.org/on-line-publications/stories/xii-1/

Online Conference for NEH Summer Institute Participants (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Online Conference for NEH Summer Institute Participants
Author: Kathy Short
Abstract: We held a half-day online conference where participants from the summer institute could share their work in their classrooms in breakout sessions as well as plan for future work they wanted to do. We also had a town hall.
Date Range: November 11, 2023
Location: Online zoom conference, sponsored by the University of Arizona

Teaching Arizona (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Teaching Arizona
Author: Kathy Short
Abstract: We held a half-day in-person workshop for teachers from Arizona on teaching Arizona history through a focus on migration. This interactive workshop included interactions around maps and literature and introduced teachers to many resources they could use in their teaching. We also introduced them to the multimodal text sets and resources on our NEH We the People website - https://wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu/
Date Range: January 27, 2024
Location: Worlds of Words, University of Arizona
Primary URL: https://wethepeople.coe.arizona.edu/
Primary URL Description: A public-facing website with a curated set of resources used within the NEH institute and the multimodal text sets created by the institute teaching team and the teachers in the institute.

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