Unit Overview
The Islands
At this writing, I envision a 3 week unit, with one week spent exploring each island. However, because the islands have much in common, I plan to introduce students to the topic first with a general overview of the Caribbean. Viewing a video from www.unitedstreaming.com entitled, Geography of the Caribbean, students will gain general information about the geographic location of the islands, their climates, cultures and customs. Having thus been presented with a backdrop, my students will then be ready for more in depth exploration of each country. In cooperative groups, they will be asked to research more specific information about each island. Encyclopedia Britannica Online is a wonderful, kid-friendly resource that would be perfect for this student activity; here students will search for answers to teacher directed questions regarding the climate, topography, population, currency, and language of each country. And, since these islands are in the middle of the Caribbean Ocean, a natural extension of this activity is a lesson in latitude and longitude. Because of Houston's geographic location, our city is vulnerable to hurricanes. Storms that reach the Gulf of Mexico are often generated in the warm waters of the Caribbean and the Atlantic. And interestingly enough, our word hurricane comes from the name of the Taíno storm god, Huracán. I would like my students to make this connection between the islands and their city; www.unitedstreaming.com has a wonderful resource video entitled, Understanding Maps and Globes. There are black line masters provided that contain printable maps for students to practice plotting latitude and longitude of specific locations. The three islands are relatively close to one another, and having students plot their geographic locations will give them a better sense of global interdependence and interconnectedness. Just as storms that form in the Caribbean impact our weather patterns, our environment and economics influence the islands. Not only will this activity give my students a better understanding of the Caribbean, but it will also give them a different immigrant journey perspective. As part of North America, Mexico is accessible by land. My Houston students easily travel to Mexico for long weekends or special holidays. These Caribbean islands require a journey by or over water, and migrants from these places face different hazards than those who arrive by land.
The People
According to Alma Flor Ada, in Tales Our Abuelita Told, the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the islands were the Taínos, the indigenous people we will read about in The Golden Flower, by Nina Jaffe. When the Spanish explorers settled, they enslaved the Taínos, and many died from diseases unintentionally brought by the Spaniards. Although reported numbers vary concerning how many Taínos inhabited the islands in the pre-conquest era, it is generally agreed that they numbered in the hundred thousands. By 1507, just 15 years after Columbus first claimed Hispaniola, Taíno numbers had shrunken to 60,000. By 1531, only 10% (600) of those 60,000 remained (www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/precolumbian/tainover.htm).Those natives strong enough to withstand exposure to diseases for which they had no natural immunity, worked in the mines (gold and silver) or in the fields for cash crops (tobacco and sugar). As the Taíno slave population dwindled, Father Bartolomé de Las Casas, in an attempt to protect the indigenous people, suggested that slaves be "imported" from a stronger group of people. This suggestion prompted the beginning of an African slave trade to the islands. Unlike other European colonizers, the Spaniards intermarried with both the indigenous Taínos and those of African descent. Consequently, a mixed race and a new people were born from this "fusion" (Flor Ada, 5). All of these influences contributed and converged to become the island people of the Caribbean, now known by the general term of "Latino."
After the Spanish- American War, Spain ceded rights over Puerto Rico and Cuba to the U.S. The U.S. granted independence to Cuba, but retained Puerto Rico as a U.S. territory. Puerto Rico remains a U.S. territory today. The Dominion Republic, after a series of occupations by Spain, France, Haiti, and the U.S, established a constitutional government under an elected official in 1924. Cuba has been under Communist rule since Fidel Castro became dictator in 1959.
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