Immigration: An American Story

The United States has often been called “a nation of immigrants”—an oversimplification, to be sure. American Indians were present before the nation’s founding and hundreds of thousands of Africans were brought to these shores in chains. Many Americans, however, descend from immigrants who fled religious or ethnic persecution, war, or economic hardship. These same forces continue to drive immigration today. Currently, more than 40 million people in the United States are foreign-born. Over time, each wave of immigrants has left its own imprint on the United States. It’s important to remember where we all came from and how public attitudes and policies on immigration have changed throughout the country’s history.

Immigration: An American Story presents documents, maps, and images to tell select stories of those who came to America, some by coercion and others by choice in search of a better future for themselves and later generations.