Upcoming Immigration and American Identity: Restriction and the Making of “Illegality” in Early 20th‑Century New York

How did Italian and Jewish immigrant communities navigate an era of mass migration—and how did expanding immigration restrictions reshape daily life and ideas of belonging? Join this full-day professional learning workshop for NYCPS K–12 educators to explore these questions through a conversation with leading historians, immersive museum experiences, and classroom-ready resources. The day includes a featured conversation with Dr. Maddalena Marinari, author of Unwanted: Italian and Jewish Mobilization Against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882–1965, and Dr. Annie Polland, President of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and co-author of  Emerging Metropolis: New York Jews in the Age of Immigration, examining how the Johnson‑Reed Immigration Act of 1924—the most sweeping restriction to date and the first to explicitly exclude Europeans—reshaped American immigration and migration, introduced the concept of “undocumented” status, and sparked debates about who should be considered American. We’ll also explore how immigrant communities and pro-immigrant politicians responded to this legislation.

Bringing the history to life, participants will engage in immersive tours exploring the stories of the Rogarshevskys, a Jewish family in the 1910s, and the Baldizzis, an Italian family in the 1930s. We’ll discuss how their stories shine light on the labor movement, immigration status, the Great Depression, and the debates about the responsibility of the American government. The program also includes a primary source workshop drawing on NYCPS materials, including Hidden Voices, Civics for All Comics, and the NYC Social Studies Scope and Sequence.

Presented by the Tenement Museum and the NYCDOE Department of Social Studies and Civics, this workshop is part of a professional learning series examining key moments in NYC’s—and the nation’s—im/migration history through the stories of everyday New Yorkers whose experiences illuminate enduring questions of identity, rights, and belonging