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Students in History 191D (Winter 2016), The Immigration Debate in Historical Perspective, spent part of their quarter editing immigration-related articles on Wikipedia. The site is among the most-visited, and a frequent stop for students writing term papers even if professors disapprove. The Wikimedia Foundation has a long-running campaign to diversify the editor base of Wikipedia, and over the past few years I have incorporated Wikipedia editing into my labor history classes .
With the presidential election prominently featuring immigration issues, I shifted the focus. Some students wrote new articles on topics ranging from Central American refugees to the David Siqueros fresco America Tropical to Filipino labor leader Chris Mensalves . Others took on the task of correcting articles like those on the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, or supplementing articles with immigration-related content.