Presenter: Susan Weinberg
Format: Download MP3 Audio

This talk presents a perspective on immigration through the lens of laws, documents and family story. With a focus on the 1900s, I examine immigration laws that affected entry, immigration documents created as laws changed and stories from the Jews who came to America in the 1900s. This talk incorporates experiences drawn from interviews with Jewish elders who grew up in early immigrant communities, Holocaust survivors who came in the 1940s-50s and immigrants from the former Soviet Union who came in the 1970s-90s. Using video clips from interviews in the Jewish Identity & Legacy Project, I tell a lively story of Jewish immigration to America and the life of an immigrant juxtaposed with the documents and laws that framed that experience. This timely topic offers a perspective on immigration through the lens of family story while providing attendees with tools to explore their own family story.