Original subtitles

Narrator: This is the story of america

Seen in color for the very first time.

Many immigrants' first sight of america is lady liberty.

In 1936, president roosevelt celebrates her 50th birthday.

Franklin roosevelt: Out of the melting pot,

The rich promise which the new world held out

To those who came to it from many lands

Is finding fulfillment.

Narrator: She's a symbol of america--

Land of opportunity.

The idea attracts millions.

Some seek freedom.

Others look for opportunity.

At first many enter easily...

But america's arms are not always open...

And immigrants' loyalty will be tested.

Fritz kuhn: You all have heard of me as a creature with horns.

Narrator: But making it in america

Remains a powerful dream.

Frank sinatra: And here's where I do all my cooking

And make the spaghetti and the sauce.

Narrator: This is the story of coming to america

As you've never seen it before.

♪

[indistinct shouting]

John kennedy: I want us to recapture that...

♪

♪

[bell clanging]

Narrator: At the turn of the century,

Thomas edison's film crew

Shoots the earliest footage of immigrants arriving

After up to eight days crossing the atlantic.

America's "open door" policy

Means almost all europeans are welcome.

This is ellis island immigration station in new york harbor.

In 1907 the facility processes over a million migrants--

Its busiest year ever.

The greatest numbers come

From Italy, austria-hungary and russia.

New arrivals await examination by immigration officials...

Who check they have enough money to support themselves.

In less than five hours, almost all are through.

The salvation army offers one lucky group

Celebratory doughnuts.

[cheering]

They're making a fresh start,

And they'll go on to settle in every corner of the country.

Sarah unobskey, a russian jew, comes to america in 1905.

Her family's home movies-- aired here for the first time--

Show them picnicking in summer 1929.

The unobskeys are among

Two million russian and eastern european jews

Who arrive between 1880 and 1914,

Fleeing persecution and poverty.

That cowpoke is sarah's grandson joe.

The family throw themselves into american life.

[bicycle bell rings]

In 1911 the unobskeys move to calais,

A small town in maine.

On main street they open unobskey's store,

Selling clothes.

They're orthodox jews, but they have to adapt to the new land.

They break the jewish sabbath and open the store on saturdays.

The move pays off.

Over 30 years unobskey's grows,

Becoming one of the town's biggest businesses.

Their films are proof

That home movies of american grandkids

Are almost as old as movie cameras themselves.

Sarah's sons, arthur-- the cameraman--

Charles and bill

Carry on the family trade,

Living their version of the american dream.

[film projector running]

In the 1910s the message to many newcomers

Is that the key to their success

Is to be like the unobskeys and become more american.

Meet pete, fictional hero of a federal government film

Aimed at new immigrants.

Pete only speaks his native italian.

With no english, the best he can do is unskilled labor.

He can't read a warning sign and hurts himself badly.

[thud]

But when he gets with the program

And studies english at night school,

He turns his life around.

He gets a better job, falls in love,

And now he's a perfect citizen.

The ford motor company employs 13,000,

Almost three quarters of whom are immigrants.

The company uses its americanization program

To control them.

From 1914, ford workers born overseas

Have to attend english lessons.

Teachers drill them on basic grammar.

At a special graduation ceremony,

Workers are made to March

Through an enormous model melting pot.

Symbolically it boils away their old immigrant identity,

Indoctrinates them with company values

And transforms them into model americans.

[cheering]

Still so far from home,

Many immigrants decide it's better to stick together.

San francisco, 1921.

Little Italy in north beach

Is bustling with familiar shops and businesses.

On montgomery street,

Amadeo giannini runs his new bank of Italy.

In time it becomes the bank of america.

[horn blows]

That November the italian community turns out

To welcome a visiting italian warship, the libya.

[cannon fires]

[horn blasts]

Recording the occasion is young filmmaker frank capra--

Seen here wearing boots and chomping a cigar.

Capra, who came to america at the age of 5,

Becomes a renowned hollywood director

Thanks to classics like "it's a wonderful life."

At the fior d'italia, one of the oldest italian restaurants

In the united states,

He films the libya's crew enjoying a grand dinner.

♪

But these aren't the only recent arrivals

Building something like home in this new world.

♪

Alongside little Italy is america's oldest chinatown.

The chinese-style architecture and exotic shops

Make it a magnet for tourists.

Captain h.J. Lewis is a popular chinatown guide.

In 1912 he produces this filmed version of his tour,

Promising to reveal the real chinatown.

A lady with bound feet, strange chinese vegetables

And a butcher with a contraption for flattening live geese.

Lewis's film presents chinatown as an exotic spectacle

For american moviegoers to marvel at.

The people are real,

But lewis's camera mostly sees stereotypes.

Films like this only deepen concerns

About immigrants' influence on established white values.

And when dramatic events shake the country,

America's immigrants will come under attack.

June 2, 1919.

Italian anarchists bomb

Attorney general a. Mitchell palmer's washington home.

It's one of eight anarchist bombs

To explode in cities across the country.

Palmer and his family are badly shaken, but escape harm.

The bombs add fuel to anti-immigrant feeling

And give the government an excuse to take action.

Palmer's justice department launches raids in 30 cities--

Including this one in chicago.

Police arrest around 5,000

Suspected italian and eastern european radicals...

And seize communist literature.

Many of those targeted are innocent.

Those found who are not yet u.S. Citizens can be deported.

♪

In December 1919, 249 alleged communist sympathizers

Are sent back to russia on a ship dubbed "the soviet ark."

[horn blast]

The government is delighted to see them go.

[horn blasts]

January 1, 1920.

The census records that 14 million new immigrants

Since the turn of the century

Have taken the u.S. Population past the 100 million mark.

Critics of uncontrolled immigration

Allege this flood of new arrivals is overwhelming

What they claim is the country's "original stock"

Of northern european immigrants.

Nativists demand that america pulls in the welcome mat.

Washington, may 1924.

President calvin coolidge and his government

Back a new immigration reform bill.

The 1924 immigration act

Ends an era of uncontrolled entry to america.

It introduces the first permanent quotas

On most migrants in america's history

And reinforces earlier bans on almost all asian migrants.

[crying]

Representative albert johnson, sponsor of the act,

Declares it will put a stop to "a stream of alien blood."

One-year-old japanese american akira kawasaki and his family

Now find themselves in an increasingly hostile country.

His father, yasujiro, moved to little tokyo

In downtown los angeles, long before the clampdown.

In yasujiro's rarely seen home movies,

Japanese-american life in the '30s comes alive.

At the dock seeing off friends and family visiting from japan,

Passengers throw streamers.

Loved ones hold on tight until the ship pulls away.

In 1934 he films the country's first ever nisei week,

A festival of japanese culture in los angeles.

Movie star charlie chaplin, a great admirer of japan,

Stops by.

The kawasakis are doing well.

Yasujiro puts up this commercial building in little tokyo--

In the shadow of l.A.'s city hall.

♪

But california law bars japanese-born yasujiro

From owning property.

He has to title the building in his daughter's name.

The kawasakis know that many americans don't want them here.

They accept discrimination as the price they pay

For life in the u.S.

Others aren't so willing.

[explosions]

Panama, 1911.

On a strip of american territory,

The united states is building a modern marvel--

A canal linking the atlantic and the pacific.

Doing the back-breaking work

Are 30,000 black migrant laborers from the caribbean.

Marcus garvey, a visiting jamaican journalist,

Is appalled by the conditions they endure.

White workers make more.

Black caribbean workers live in segregated housing,

And their children go to segregated schools.

When they finish the panama canal,

Thousands migrate to america, seeking a better life.

Harlem, hub of black new york,

Becomes home to many caribbean immigrants,

Including marcus garvey.

This is the only known footage of garvey.

It's from a 1920 March for his new "back to africa" movement.

Many garveyites helped build the panama canal.

[horse neighs]

Garvey denounces racism

Against these recently arrived black migrants

And african americans

And tells them their future lies in africa.

He sports the military uniform of a national leader.

Marcus garvey: We are raising the cry of africa

For the africans, those at home and those abroad.

Narrator: To carry followers there,

He launches the black star shipping line.

But the business goes bust.

Garvey is imprisoned for fraud.

He and his followers call the charges bogus.

In 1927 he's deported to jamaica.

A reminder that assimilation in america is more complicated

Than the myth of the melting pot.

Most newcomers arrive through america's ports,

But mexicans have been moving back and forth

Across the almost 2,000-mile-long land border

For decades.

The 1924 immigration act

Imposes no quota on mexicans entering the u.S.,

And in the 1920s nearly half a million move to america.

In the early 20th century,

Texas rangers carry out sporadic border patrols.

Ranger captain charles stevens, a former sheriff,

Is as eager as his men

To demonstrate ranger-grade riding and sharpshooting.

[gunshots]

[horse neighs]

The u.S. Border patrol is established in 1924.

It's the first force devoted to guarding america's borders.

The border patrol academy in el paso, texas,

Opens ten years later.

Here new recruits demonstrate impressive horsemanship.

They're given a badge and a gun,

But they provide their own horse and saddle.

With only 250 officers to monitor the entire border,

It's clear that security here isn't a top priority.

Although mexicans find it easy to cross over,

Americans often treat them as second-class citizens.

Many, like antonio fuentes,

Work hard to establish themselves as real americans.

Antonio emigrates to corpus christi, texas,

As a young man, where he opens a local store.

♪

His rare home movies show family life

With wife josefina and their five children.

These are some of the earliest films

Made by a mexican american in texas.

Here antonio jr. Discovers the thrills and spills

Of three wheels.

The fuentes raise their children to be patriotic americans.

[children chattering]

♪

In 1929 antonio films

Corpus christi's growing mexican population

As it turns out for the city's independence day parade.

♪

He supports the order of the sons of america,

One of texas's first

Mexican-american civil rights organizations.

The order emphasizes that assimilation

Is the best route to acceptance for its members.

♪

Ellis island, 1932.

In the depths of the great depression,

America no longer looks like a land of opportunity.

This isn't a stream of new arrivals--

This year 300,000 immigrants say goodbye to the american dream.

Woman: Well, I just want to say that I would like to go home,

Because I hope my husband will get work back home.

He didn't get it here.

Narrator: In an american first,

More people leave this year than arrive.

And some who stay will struggle to survive.

♪

1930, brooklyn's ocean parkway.

As the great depression bites,

Young italian immigrants spend their weeks looking for work.

But plenty devote their weekends

To races organized by the unione sportiva italiana cycling club,

Founded in 1908.

The city's italian community are passionate cyclists.

♪

The thrill of the open road,

Friendly competition

And a little flirting.

♪

The club is still going strong today.

It's part of the glue that binds this community together.

In 1930, the world's most famous physicist, albert einstein,

Is met by adoring crowds in new york.

He's just visiting,

But before long he and many other german jews

Will be hoping to make a permanent home here.

He's asked his opinion on prohibition.

[speaking german]

[laughter]

He doesn't drink, so he doesn't care!

Group: Einstein! Rah rah rah! Rah rah rah!

Narrator: In california he's greeted

By excited cheerleaders.

[applause]

The next summer, he's back home in germany,

At his cottage outside berlin.

Einstein, seen here in pajamas with wife elsa,

Fears his days in his beloved homeland are numbered.

The nazis' rise to power

Means jews like einstein are openly persecuted.

♪

German students burn his books,

Along with others by authors the nazis consider subversive.

And he, along with all other jews,

Is banned from teaching at universities.

In 1933 einstein renounces his german citizenship.

He seeks sanctuary in america.

His status means that, unlike most jewish refugees,

He's welcomed with open arms.

♪

Long island, 1937.

Einstein's good friend and accountant leo mattersdorf

Catches him off duty in his home movies...

Chatting with leo's wife, jeanne,

And playing with their daughter stephanie.

Safe in america, einstein knows he's one of the lucky few.

"I am almost ashamed to be living in such peace

While all the rest struggle," he writes.

He campaigns on behalf of refugees

And rails against fascism.

But he'll never call germany home again.

As political tensions in europe mount,

Many german immigrants will feel that they have to take sides.

Marlene dietrich

Is one of germany's most celebrated movie stars.

She arrives in hollywood in 1930

In search of international fame and fortune.

She achieves both.

Her home movies show her enjoying the good life

In beverly hills in the early '30s.

Her icy beauty is legendary.

In private she's just as glamorous

But far more mischievous.

In 1937 dietrich vacations in austria.

She's proud of her german roots

And enjoys posing in traditional dress,

As does her fellow hollywood star and lover,

Douglas fairbanks, jr.

When she stops in london,

Nazi agents ask dietrich to come home to germany

To make propaganda films for the third reich.

But she's a staunch opponent of the nazis and refuses.

Back in america dietrich leaves no doubt

About where her loyalties lie.

In 1939 she renounces germany and becomes a u.S. Citizen.

But a few german americans will follow a very different path.

New york, 1937.

[cheering]

A group of boys set off for summer camp,

Upstate in the catskill mountains.

This looks like a typical american rite of passage.

[bugles playing]

A bugle wakes them.

They cook around a campfire...

And get back to nature

With plenty of outdoor activities.

But these are no boy scouts...

And this is no ordinary summer camp.

It's one of a dozen or so run by the german-american bund,

A new grassroots organization

That's the american arm of hitler's third reich.

It aims to indoctrinate young german americans

In nazi ideology.

The bund's leader, fritz kuhn, is a german immigrant

With u.S. Citizenship dubbed the "american fuhrer."

[cheering]

Bund members meet at rallies like this one

In hindenburg park, los angeles, in 1936.

The organization claims it has a membership of 100,000,

Though the true figure is far lower.

They say they're patriotic citizens,

But they fly the nazi flag and give the "heil hitler" salute.

[singing]

♪

But 6,000 miles away in germany,

Ordinary jews still see america as a safe haven from the nazis.

Benno thorsch owns a successful camera business in dresden.

His remarkable home movies

Record the nazis' unstoppable March to war.

As nazis fill dresden's streets,

Thorsch realizes that as a jew he's no longer safe here.

He knows that he and his children,

Irmgard and bernward, must get out.

[laughing]

♪

In an extraordinary twist of fate,

He swaps his dresden camera factory

For a detroit photo business,

Owned by a german looking to return home.

After emigrating in March 1938,

The family makes a fresh start in a motor city suburb,

Messing around in their new backyard.

In 1944 they move to los angeles,

Where thorsch opens another camera shop.

His second wife, edith, and son bernward work in the store.

Thorsch is a big fan of pranks.

[screams]

When he's not working, he enjoys the fruits of his success.

His porsche is a prized possession.

Thorsch's shop becomes a studio city institution--

One of its future customers will be a young steven spielberg.

[ship horn blows]

But not all jewish refugees are as lucky as the thorsches.

In may 1939,

The st. Louis ocean liner docks in havana, cuba.

Over 900 german jews are on board.

They're fleeing europe

Just a few months before the outbreak of the war.

But the strongly anti-immigrant cuban government

Turns them away,

So the st. Louis sails towards america.

The ship's captain asks president roosevelt

To accept the refugees,

But the 1924 immigration act

Means the annual quota for german migrants

Is already full,

And he refuses to grant them asylum.

The ship is forced to turn back.

When belgium, the netherlands, britain and France

Offer the refugees shelter,

They believe they've at last been saved.

Newsreel announcer: For these few who have escaped,

Penniless but undaunted,

Life still looks sweet.

Narrator: But 254 of these refugees

Will not survive the war;

They will die in nazi concentration camps.

♪

It's not just in nazi germany that jews are under attack.

February 20, 1939.

In the heart of new york,

20,000 members of the pro-nazi german-american bund

Gather at madison square garden.

On stage is a 30-foot poster of president george washington,

Who's celebrated as "the first fascist."

Bund leader fritz kuhn addresses his loyal followers.

[cheering]

Kuhn: American patriots...

You all have heard of me,

Through the jewish-controlled press,

As a creature with horns, a cloven hoof, and a long tail.

[laughter and applause]

Narrator: Kuhn-- a vehement anti-semite--

Labels president roosevelt's new deal the "jew deal."

The bund represents a tiny proportion of america,

And this rally horrifies the vast majority.

Outside, anti-nazi demonstrators clash with police.

With war in europe just months away,

The government faces the terrifying prospect

That some immigrants will side with the enemy.

In 1940, with europe at war,

Some 3.5 million foreigners without u.S. Citizenship

Are required to register with the government

And have their fingerprints taken.

Government propaganda makes clear

That foreigners must now prove their allegiance to america.

Woman: America has admitted you with open arms.

You owe it to america to register now, today, at once.

Man: And thus show your loyalty to the united states.

♪

Narrator: Crystal city, texas.

At first glance this looks

Like a typical slice of american suburbia.

But it's actually the country's largest internment camp.

After the u.S. Enters the war in December 1941,

Germans, japanese and italians

Are now considered america's enemies.

They're rounded up and interned at camps across the country.

Over 4,000 people of japanese, german or italian ancestry

Are held here, including 1,600 children.

Crystal city is run by the immigration authority,

Who produced this rose-tinted look at life there.

Woman: Each housing unit was furnished with running water,

An ice box, beds and linen,

A chair, some with toilet facilities.

♪

Narrator: The film completely ignores

The harsh reality of camp life.

Most camps were far more primitive.

Its upbeat simulation of normality

Jars against the truth: This is a prison.

Woman: This swimming pool

Helped greatly to relieve the monotony of detention,

And as you see,

It was particularly beneficial to the children.

[bell rings]

Narrator: The trauma of incarceration

Will long outlast the war.

Audrey neugebauer is here because her father is german.

This photo shows her in front of the camp school.

Even at age 8 she knows the score.

"I knew we were incarcerated.

We were behind barbed wire fences

And there were guard stations with guns."

With america at war,

Most immigrants are keen to prove their patriotism.

[applause]

In the '30s, italian-american director frank capra

Is on a winning streak.

He collects three academy awards--

The first for "it happened one night."

But four days after pearl harbor,

He quits hollywood.

He joins the army to make war information films

That, he says, will explain to soldiers

"why the hell they're in uniform."

Film narrator: The chips are down,

Two worlds stand against each other.

Narrator: Capra's film "prelude to war,"

With graphics by walt disney,

Makes such a powerful case for going to war

That it plays in movie theaters nationwide.

Film narrator: Remember these faces.

If you ever meet them, don't hesitate.

♪

Narrator: Capra considers the films his most important works.

At u.S. Army camp hale,

9,000 feet up in colorado's rocky mountains,

Norwegian immigrants are training hard.

♪

This is norwegian american bjarne aanning.

In 1943 he's drafted into the 99th battalion,

A special unit made up of norwegian americans,

Nicknamed "the vikings."

Aanning carries his kodak camera everywhere.

He films the vikings taking to the slopes

And mastering mountain warfare

As they prepare to liberate norway from the nazis.

Conditions are harsh--

Those backpacks weigh around 90 pounds.

But the men have the weasel, an early snowmobile,

To help take the strain.

As it turns out, most vikings don't see action in norway;

Instead they serve in France and belgium.

Just some of the millions of immigrants

On the frontline and the homefront

Doing their duty by their adopted country.

Ingrid bergman: Since I've been here in the united states

I have received many letters from my friends in sweden

Asking one thing--

Tell us about the swedes in america.

Narrator: In 1943 swedish film star ingrid bergman

Presents this government film "swedes in america."

♪

In the midst of war, the film reminds americans

That it's immigrants who built the nation.

Bergman travels to minnesota

To meet some of her fellow two million swedish americans.

She lends a hand on the farm...

And visits lindstrom, known as america's "little sweden."

Bergman: There's something special about lindstrom.

Every Thursday the town turns out, all of them,

To broom and scrub the streets.

Narrator: Immigrants, bergman says,

Infuse america with this community spirit.

Bergman: As a pioneer country,

America has always been a place where neighbor helps neighbor.

It was the swedes who helped to organize that spirit.

Narrator: When the war ends,

A new wave of immigrants will arrive

Hoping that they too will find

A corner of the country to call home.

♪

After the war, around 35,000 gis bring home japanese war brides.

From the 1940s, america begins to lift restrictions

On asian immigrants.

The u.S. Army believes these women need a crash course

On american life.

They get tutorials on the latest technology,

From vacuum cleaners...

To toasters.

They learn to bake the perfect american pie.

And make-up classes help them achieve that american look.

[applause]

But this patronizing u.S. Army film--

About miwako and her g.I. Husband walter--

Suggests the american dream won't come easy.

Miwako: Walter's mother was friendly,

But I wondered if she was wishing

That walter had married an american girl.

Narrator: Plenty of americans still regard the japanese

As enemies.

Walter: We did get a look of real resentment from one woman;

She had lost a son at iwo jima.

Narrator: But like generations of immigrants before her,

Miwako wins over her new american relations.

[laughter]

While some assimilate, many immigrants

Who've been in america half a century or more

At last see their culture go

From the margins to the mainstream.

The bobby soxers sport their trademark ankle socks

Even in the depths of winter.

They're the devoted teenage fans

Of singer and movie star frank sinatra.

He's one of a new generation of entertainers

Bringing immigrant culture to the masses.

[applause]

[cheering]

Sinatra is the child of italian immigrants

With a classic rags-to-riches story--

From a tenement in hoboken, new jersey,

He makes it all the way to hollywood.

Bob hope: Mr. Smooth himself, the old collapso singer,

Frank sinatra.

[applause]

♪

Sinatra: ♪ mm, Saturday night ♪

♪ is the loneliest night of the week ♪

♪ I sing the song that I sang ♪

♪ for the memories I usually seek ♪

♪

Narrator: With his seductive singing style,

Based on the italian bel canto tradition,

Sinatra rules the airwaves.

♪ Saturday night is the loneliest night of the week ♪

♪

Narrator: In 1956 he gives newsman ed murrow

A tour of his new beverly hills home.

Ed murrow: Tell me, frank, what room are we in now?

Sinatra: Isn't this lovely?

Murrow: That's the kitchen.

Sinatra: And here's where I do all my cooking

And make the spaghetti and the sauce...

Murrow: Uh-huh.

Sinatra: ...And the meatballs and all that great food.

Narrator: Sinatra knows americans now have an appetite

For italian food, as well as italian singing.

Sinatra: And I have a surprise for you.

We have two pizzas here. You see that?

-Murrow: Ah, wonderful. -Sinatra: Isn't that beautiful?

I wish you could join me in a bite.

Murrow: So do I.

Sinatra: Sometime when you come out,

We'll come out, have dinner.

♪

Narrator: Salisbury beach, massachusetts, the late 1950s.

These home movies capture a new summertime tradition--

Lining up for a 10-cent slice of cristy's sicilian pizza.

As the nation's tastes become more adventurous,

Americans embrace foods once considered foreign.

Before the war, pizza is seen as poor man's food--

It's mainly found in italian neighborhoods.

But when italian americans sam and caroline cristaldi

Open cristy's in 1955,

Pizza is well on its way to becoming an american staple.

Before long, every town will boast a pizza parlor.

♪

From pizzas to tacos to chinese food,

Immigrant imports will soon challenge the hamburger

For a place on american tables.

♪

In the early '60s a new wave of immigrants

Will face that same journey

As those who arrived at the beginning of the century.

This is the de la cova family, who come to america in 1961,

Two years after the cuban revolution.

Their home movies show them building a new life in america

With their five kids.

♪

They settle in louisville, kentucky,

Where father rene films all the family's milestones.

Here daughters lourdes and ana maria

Celebrate their first holy communion.

♪

Although they're new arrivals,

Their hopes and dreams are the same as those

Of millions of other immigrants who've gone before.

On a trip to miami beach, the family are in good company.

In the 15 years after the revolution,

More than half a million of their fellow cubans

Also make america their home,

Bringing their distinct culture to this corner of the country

And joining the ranks of proud americans.

♪

By 1960 almost 23 million immigrants have come to america

Since the turn of the century.

They've struggled to find their feet, to fit in

And ultimately to flourish.

♪

[laughing]

♪

In the process, they've changed the face of america.

♪