Margaret Yee’s Family Story of the Transcontinental Railroad
Margaret Yee is the great-granddaughter of Chinese railroad workers who helped build the transcontinental railroad. In this video from PBS’s This is Utah, she shares her family history and reflects her connections to her family history, and how that family history is connected to the history of the United States.
Teaching Ideas:
- To begin a discussion on the film, consider using the see-feel-think-wonder thinking routine.
- Consider the significance of Yee’s story. What does it reveal about American identity?
- The contribution of Chinese laborers to the transcontinental railroad had been minimized for generations. What was lost by minimizing up those contributions?
- You might conclude with by using the three why’s thinking routine to reflect on why these stories matter to us as individuals, as members of communities, and to the world.