Lowell Mills

  On Tuesday, our class visited the Lowell Mills to learn more about immigration.  We began with a tour of the Bootte Cotton Mill which used to produce cloth.  The mill was manned by immigrant girls, mostly from Ireland, who lived in nearby boarding houses.

The room was very loud with only two machines running.

We then learned about different immigrant groups that have come to the United States.  We learned that even though each culture was unique, they all shared common themes (food, religion, art, etc.).

Every immigrant group brought some form of music with them.

The final part of our field trip was a simulation in which we played townspeople of Lowell.  We were presented with the issue of whether or not to build a school for the newly arrived Irish children.  Though our initial vote was not in favor of building the school, we realized that the votes of certain people would not count (women, poor, etc.), reversing our decision.

Important "citizens" of Lowell voiced their opinions.

We had a great time on our field trip and learned a lot about immigration!