Indiana Social Studies IS.4.11
The Standard
Explain the impact of “New” Immigration and the Great Migration on industrialization and urbanization in promoting economic growth in Indiana from 1897 to 1920.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how factory jobs drew immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and Black Americans from the South to Indiana cities. They explain how these workers helped factories expand and how growing cities needed more housing, stores, and services.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can tell which group came from abroad and which moved within the United States. They can explain how workers helped Gary’s steel mills increase output. They can connect mill jobs to the growth of nearby neighborhoods and businesses.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may mistake the Great Migration for immigration from another country. They may describe city growth without explaining the link between factory jobs and new residents. They may assume all workers had equal access to jobs and housing.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Name where each group came from. Then explain one way their arrival helped an Indiana factory and one way it changed a nearby city.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a U.S. map with Europe labeled in the margin; have them draw routes to Gary and Indianapolis and label factory jobs.
Ask: How could a Gary steel job help a new shop open, and why might a Black worker struggle to rent nearby?
Hand out cards labeled job opening, arrival, factory output, new homes, and new shops; have groups arrange and explain a cause-and-effect chain.
On a current map of Gary, locate Gary Works and nearby neighborhoods; ask students why mill jobs support local stores.
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Related Standards
- IS.4.1
Describe the economic developments in Indiana that helped transform the U.S. into a major industrial power.
- 4.H.10
Describe the impact of immigration on the developments of agriculture, industry, mining, and transportation in Indiana.
- IS.3.6
Identify immigration and migration patterns and describe their impact on the developments of agriculture, industry, mining, and transportation in Indiana.
- IS.4.10
Summarize the impact of industrialization and immigration on social movements in Indiana from 1870-1900, including contributions of specific individuals and gro...
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