IMMIGRATION & CITIZENSHIP

The Best Streaming Videos on Immigration and Citizenship

This topic—the wave of immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s—has special meaning for me, as my Italian ancestors were part of the “huddled masses” that came in droves from Europe at that time. And, of course, it’s an important reminder, as we are again gripped by a political debate over immigration, that we are a nation of newcomers. Enjoy!

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  Dear America: So Far From Home (Season 1, Episode 4)

  Based on the best-selling books, this series tells the stories of fictional teenage women at turning points in American history. Mary, a teenage immigrant from Ireland, finds that working in a mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, is not what she’d envisioned as her new life in America.

  Length: 27 minutes

  Rating: TV-Y7

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  Dear America: Dreams in a Golden Country (Season 1, Episode 5)

  Based on the best-selling books, this series tells the stories of fictional teenage women at turning points in American history. A Russian Jewish immigrant girl lives with her family in a tenement on the Lower East Side of New York City. She dreams of being an actress.

  Length: 27 minutes

  Rating: TV-Y7

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  Remembering Ellis Island

  A comprehensive documentary of the Ellis Island story in all its complexity. We take you behind the scenes into the memory-haunted ruins of unrestored Ellis Island. Our cameras trace the saga of Immigrants coming from the old world through what is now Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

  Length: 1 hour

  Rating: NR

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  Schoolhouse Rock: The Great American Melting Pot

  Schoolhouse Rock was an American animated musical educational show that was originally produced in the 1970s and 1980s. “Great American Melting Pot” was aired in 1977. It tells the story of immigration from the Old World of Europe to the New World of the United States. It suggests that immigrants of different backgrounds have come together in America, bringing with them their own traditions and values, but ultimately becoming part of one “Great American Melting Pot.”

  Length: 3 minutes

  Rating: NR