To understand our nation's attitude toward immigration, we need to start from the very beginning. Today we will be examining the way people view others who appear different from themselves as well as how the first immigrants to our nation (the European explorers) viewed the locals (indigenous Americans).
Understanding Strangers
Before we dive into the past, please read the following document and have a conversation about the connection questions at the bottom with your classmates.
Now that you understand how people view each other when they first meet and consider each other "different", please read the following primary sources left over from the first explorers in America and the Aztecs who were here when the explorers arrived. When you are done please write a reflection about how they viewed each other from the very beginning and how this attitude could lead to future problems once the Europeans were more established in the New World.