Expired Immigration & American Identity: Redefining America after the 1965 Immigration Act

How did mid-twentieth-century changes to U.S. immigration law reshape the city and nation—and how did families build lives, communities, and identities in a newly changing New York City? 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. Mae Ngai, author of Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America, and Dr. Nancy Foner, author of One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America, examining the impact of the Hart–Celler Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended national and race-based immigration quotas and laid the foundation for the diverse New York City of the 21st century.

Bringing the history to life, participants will engage in immersive tours exploring the stories of two families who immigrated to New York City in the decades surrounding these changes: the Wongs, a Chinese immigrant family who became part of a growing Chinatown, and the Saezes, a Puerto Rican family who joined one of the largest migrations to New York in the mid‑20th century. Through visits to a recreated garment factory and family living spaces, educators will examine work, community organizing, cultural pride, language preservation, and the experiences of children growing up between cultures as they came to see themselves as American. 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.