Social Studies

“The passengers of the First and Second Class are requested not to throw money or eatables to the steerage passengers, thereby creating disturbance and annoyance.” — Shipboard Notice, circa 1860

Lesson Plans

Chinese and Japanese Immigration to America: Use this lesson plan to teach about Asian immigration to Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States.
(Grades 9 – 12)

Floating Freedom School: Students will compare the story of John Berry Meachum who setting up a Steamboat classroom in the Mississippi River to circumvent an unjust law to the Civil Rights Movement’s strategy of civil disobedience. 
(Grades 5 – 8, 9 – 12)

Ida Lewis Lighthouse Keeper: Students will learn about the role of lighthouses in maritime navigation and communication and how and why women held this federal position in the nineteenth century by examining Rhode Island’s Ida Lewis.
(Grades 4, 5 – 8, 9 -12)

Desegregating the SS Columbia: Students will learn about racial tensions in 1940s Detroit, the fight to desegregate the SS Columbia, and the role of Thurgood Marshall.
(Grades 9 – 12)

Italian Immigration to Providence: Learn about Italian immigration to Rhode Island on board the Fabre Line.
(Grades 9 – 12)

Mississippi Steamboats- Enslavement and Freedom: Students will learn the ways in which steamboats facilitated the enslavement of people and the ways in which they allowed for freedom of movement and, for some, escape to the Northern states.
(Grades 9 – 12)

Immigration Then & Now: Have your students learn with primary sources and oral history in this lesson on immigration. Compare and contrast differing immigration stories from 1920 and 1956 on steamships with immigration today.
(Grades 3 – 5, 5 – 8)

The Black Star Line: Learn the difference between primary and secondary source through the first black owned and operated steamship company, the Black Star Line.
(Grades 5 – 8, 9 – 12, college-level)

Immigration and Disease: Teach students the history of immigration and disease in the late nineteenth and early twentienth century.
(Grades 5 – 8, 9 – 12)

Black Sailors in the Age of Sail: Students will learn about the history of black sailors in America and can be assessed using short answer questions provided.
(Grades 5 – 8, 9 – 12)

Life on Board- Passengers: Learn about the class difference of passengers and have students complete short answer questions.
(Grades 5 – 8, 9 – 12)

Other Topics to Explore

Learn about Charles Dickens’ experiences traveling to America on a steamship.

View photographs documenting immigration to Ellis Island.

Secondary Sources

Click here to download the pdf of Lorraine Coons and Alexander Varias, Tourist Third Cabin: Steamship Travel in the Interwar Years, “‘The Soul of a Ship’: Experience and Life of ‘Below-Deck’ Personnel” (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003).

Click here to download the pdf of Coons and Varias, Tourist Third Class, “‘Traveling Palace’ or ‘Floating Sweatshop’: The Experiences of Women Seafarers”

Additional Resources on Social Studies

Rhode Tour Teaching – “The Dorr Rebellion” and “Industrial Heritage Along the Woonasquatucket.” The GSEs for Social Studies are approved by the Rhode Island Department of Education and are broken down into four categories: Civics and Government, Historical Perspectives, Geography, and Economics.

View the Rhode Island Historical Society’s lesson plans.

Sunday on the River (1961) by Gordon Hitchens and Ken Resnick. 30 min. Photographed in part on the Alexander Hamilton showing charted outings by Harlem church congregations.  Click here to view Part I and Part II of the film.

Byron S. Miller, Sail, Steam, and Splendour: A Picture History of Life Aboard the Transatlantic Liners (New York: Times Books, 1977).