1. Links to LOC Resources: The Chinese in California, 1850-1925 Transportation & Communication Maps The 19 th Century History of the American West World’s Transportation Commission Hilary Hinson; Winthrop University; Spring 2011 Author: Yin & Chris Soentpiet Coolies New York, Philomel, 2001 Book Summary: A Chinese woman tells her grandson the story of his great-great- great grandfather and his brother who traveled to America to make a better life for their family by working on the transcontinental railroad. Setting: America in the mid-1800s Objective: Students will examine and compare Depression Era images with the text.

2. Would you want this job?

3. This is a photograph of Chinese passengers on a ferry in California. Write a letter from the point of view of a Coolie traveling to America to work on the transcontinental railroad to a family member back home in China. Describe your journey to America, conditions faced, and feelings towards your new job.

4. Coolies were required to perform many dangerous tasks like carry materials across the Missouri River. Use this picture to create a newspaper article that goes along with the picture. Can you imagine crossing the Missouri River?

5.  NCSS ◦ Culture; People, Places, and Environments; and Production, Distribution, and Consumption  South Carolina ◦ Standard 5-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of major domestic and foreign developments that contributed to the United States’ becoming a world power.  Indicator 5-3.1: Explain how the Industrial Revolution was furthered by new inventions and technologies, including new methods of mass production and transportation and the invention of the light bulb, the telegraph, and the telephone. (E, H)

6.  Coolies unloading lend-lease steel tubing http://memory.loc.gov/cgi- bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8d43 543) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi- bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8d43 543)  Coolies on ship http://memory.loc.gov/cgi- bin/query/r?ammem/cic:@field(DOCID+@lit(brk3042)  Coolies crossing Missouri River http://memory.loc.gov/cgi- bin/query/r?ammem/cic:@field(DOCID+@lit(brk5365)