1. Case Study: Esperanza Rising
Module 1 Unit 2 Lesson 5
Connecting Informational Text with Literature:
Building Background Knowledge about Mexican Immigration, California, and the Great Depression.

2. Learning Targets
I can summarize the main ideas of an informational text about California in the 1930s.

3. California in the 1930s
Chapter 5 marks a transition in the setting of the novel. Esperanza has left Mexico and is traveling to the United States, specifcally California.
Today, we will build our knowledge of California in the 1930s to help us better understand the text.

4. In your groups, you will focus on one of these topics:
California in the 1930s
In your groups, you will focus on one of these topics:
California
Immigrating from Mexico
The Great Depression of the 1930s
Read your section.
Choose 10 important words from the text.
Write a summary statement of the text.

5. California
Mexican or Mexican America farmworkers made up three-quarters of California’s farmworkers. Many workers arrived in California in the mid-1930s, but “repatriation” plans were made to send Mexican immigrants back to Mexico because Mexicans in California were seen as competition for much-needed jobs.

6. Immigrating to the United States from Mexico
The Mexican Revolution and Mexican civil wars caused many Mexicans to move to the United States. Mexican immigrants and their descendants made up a significant portion of the U.S. population and they were willing to work for low wages. During the Depression, many Mexicans were deported back to Mexico.

7. The Great Depression of the 1930s
October 29, 1929, is known as “Black Tuesday,” the day that the stock market crashed, officially setting off the Great Depression. One out of four people were unemployed, people could not pay for housing or food, and about 250,000 young people were homeless. The end of the Great Depression came in 1941, when the Unites States entered World War II.