American Immigration: Our History, Our Stories

by Kathleen Krull, Kyla Garcia (Read by), TBD (Read by)

Overview

Award-winning author Kathleen Krull takes an in-depth historical look at immigration in America—with remarkable stories of some of the immigrants who helped build this country.

With its rich historical text, fascinating sidebars about many immigrants throughout time, an extensive source list and timeline, as well as captivating photos, American Immigration will become a go-to resource for every child, teacher, and librarian discussing the complex history of immigration.

America is a nation of immigrants. People have come to the United States from around the world seeking a better life and more opportunities, and our country would not be what it is today without their contributions.

From writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, to scientists like Albert Einstein, to innovators like Elon Musk, this book honors the immigrants who have changed the way we think, eat, and live. Their stories serve as powerful reminders of the progress we’ve made, and the work that is still left to be done.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094161662
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/16/2020
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Krull has garnered starred reviews and awards for her many books. The Children's Book Guild of Washington, DC, honored her with its Nonfiction Award for her body of work that "has contributed significantly to the quality of nonfiction for children." She lives in San Diego, California. Visit her online at www.kathleenkrull.com.

Kyla Garcia is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. Born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, she discovered acting at the age of eight when she played Lady Macbeth in a children’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. She made her off-Broadway debut at fifteen when she played Dorothy in Oz: A Twisted Musical. Eleven years after she discovered her passion for acting, she would go on to play Lady Macbeth once again in London at the Globe Theatre, where she studied Shakespeare during her third year at Mason Gross School of the Arts. She received her BFA in acting from Rutgers University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: No Place Like America xi

What Unites Us

The Golden Door

Immigrant Story-Emma Lazarus

Controversy

Not All of Us Are Immigrants

Why It's Important

Chapter 1 Who Was Here First? 1

New News from Old Bones

Before We Were Even a Country

New England

Immigrant Stories-Children of the Mayflower

Chapter 2 Women Take the Lead 15

Immigrant Story-Anne Bradstreet

Immigrant Story-Anne Hutchinson

Immigrant Story-Margaret Brent

Immigrant Story-Elizabeth Glover

Immigrant Story-Anna Zenger

Immigrant Story-Mary Musgrove

Immigrant Story-Ann Lee

Chapter 3 From New England Outward 26

Middle Colonies

The Frontier

The South

Slaves, Not Immigrants

Immigrant Story-Claude McKay

Servants, Not Slaves

What the Founders Said

Chapter 4 Hamilton versus Jefferson 40

The Law Steps In

Perhaps the Ultimate Immigrant Story-Alexander Hamilton

Chapter 5 America Opens Its Arms 45

Immigrants Welcome!

Brief History of Germans in America

Immigrant Story-Levi Strauss

Immigrant Story-Edward Stratemeyer

Immigrant Story-Frederick Trump

Immigrant Story-Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Brief History of the Irish in America

Those Who Know Nothing

Immigrant Story-Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.

What the Civil War Meant for Immigration

Chapter 6 Annie Moore and the Millions Who Followed 60

Ellis Island Opens

The Statue of Liberty, Another Immigrant Story

Reasons an Arrival Could Get Rejected

Immigrant Story-Isaac Asimov

Like a Little City

Where Next?

Immigrant Story-Annie Moore

How the Other Half Lives

Immigrant Story-Nikola Tesla

Blowback

Immigrant Story-Júlia Warhola

End of Ellis Island

Chapter 7 Poems on the Walls 78

Gold!

Immigrant Story-Wong Chin Foo

Immigrant Story-Chang and Eng Bunker

A First in American History

The Purpose of Angel Island

Sons of Paper

"America Has Power, But Not Justice"

Apologies

Immigrant Story-Judy Chu

Immigrant Story-Yo-Yo Ma

Chapter 8 More Ebbs and Flows into the 1900s-and Why 99

Immigrants from South and East India

Muslims in America

Immigrant Story-Zarif Khan, Hot Tamale Louie

Immigrant Story-Luther George Simjian

Immigrant Story-Steve Jobs

Wars Intervene

Immigrant Story-Peg O'Connor

Emergency Quota Act of 1921

Immigrant Story-Bela Lugosi

Immigrant Story-Ralph Baer

Chapter 9 A Dark Chapter 115

Japanese in America

The Roundups Begin

The Camps

Immigrant Story-Madeleine Sugimoto

Life at Manzanar

Immigrant Story-George Takei

Aftermath

Immigrant Story-Yoshiko Uchida

Other Enemies

Apologies

Chapter 10 Open Arms, Then Closed 133

Refugees

Immigrant Story-Albert Einstein

Another Kind of War

Immigrant Story-Sergey Brin

Immigrant Story-Gloria Estefan

The Push-Pull Continues During the Cold War Years

Immigrant Story-Nadia Comaneci

Immigrant Story-Martina Navratilova

Chapter 11 The Sixties Bring an Epic Change 144

People Behind the Change

What the Hart-Celler Act Did

Immigrant Story-Jerry Yang

Some Examples of Changes After 1965

Immigrant Story-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Immigrant Story-Elon Musk

Women Again Take the Lead

More Refugees

A Clustering Phenomenon

Chapter 12 The History of Mexicans in America from 1846 Onward 161

Up and Down

Immigrant Story-Amelia Morán Ceja

Needing Documents

Immigrant Story-Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa

Immigrant Story-José Quiñonez

Chapter 13 Helping Children 170

Immigrant Story-Henry Armetta

Operation Babylift

Immigrant Story-Andy Hoang

The Lost Boys

Immigrant Story-Alephonsion Deng

Chapter 14 The Food Chapter 177

Immigrant Story-David Tran

From German to Chinese

Immigrant Story-Henry John Heinz

Immigrant Story-Dr. Yamei Kin

And Much More

Immigrant Story-Ranji Smile

Immigrant Story-Roy Choi

Immigrant Story-Reuben and Rose Mattus

Can Food Be More than Food?

Immigrant Story-Hamdi Ulukaya

Chapter 15 The Attacks of 9/11 and Immigration 188

American Response to 9/11

Backlash Against Immigrants

The Weaponizing of Immigration

Chapter 16 The Never-Ending Immigration Debate 194

Mini Melting Pots

Immigrant Story-Zahraa Naser

Immigrant Story- Ruhatijuru Sebatutsi

Playing by the Rules

The Push-Pull of the Obama Years

Immigrant Story-Indira Isias

Immigrant Story-John Lennon

Enter Trump

Immigrant Story-Wolf-Leib Glosser

Border Wall

Immigrant Story-Guadalupe Garcia Aguilar

Immigrant Story-Larissa Martinez

The Zero-Tolerance Border Policy

The Facts

Immigrant Story-Juan

Manuel Montes

Immigrant Story-Melania Trump

Chapter 17 The Future 234

Changes to Come

Refugees

Immigration Benefits

Immigrant Story-Mike Krieger

Immigrant Story-Max Lechvin

Changing Attitudes

Immigrant Story- Khizr Khan

Sources 247

Photo credits 251

Index 253

Timeline 256

Editorial Reviews

09/01/2020

Gr 4–8—Immigration is a timely issue and one that is not as clear cut as many people would imagine. There is so much more to immigration in this country than Lady Liberty and her torch imply. Krull offers a well-balanced account here, touching on policies that are far from perfect, inconsistent, and often influenced by ignorance and fear. Native Americans were here when Europeans arrived. Were the Europeans immigrants or invaders? The influx of Africans brought here in bondage was less an immigration concern than an economic one. America has a long history of keeping people out: the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1881, aggression towards Native Americans, the 1924 Exclusion Act preventing Eastern Europeans from coming here. During World War II citizens of Japanese descent were interred in camps. Krull has also given listeners a series of small vignettes which highlight particular immigrants such as Albert Einstein and Levi Strauss. Kyle Garcia's narration is solid and well-articulated. VERDICT A great resource for students studying the ins and outs of U.S. immigration. —Joan Kindig, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA

School Library Journal - Audio

05/11/2020

This volume tackles the seesaw history of U.S. immigration: “Debates over immigration have been noisy and emotional.... This book tries to explain why.” Krull (The Only Woman in the Photo) begins by pointing out that the people often thought of as “settlers” were actually immigrants. From there, she traces continuous waves of immigration to the country—German groups in the 18th century, Chinese and Irish Catholics in the 19th century, and Cuban refugees in 1980, among others—tracking the oscillation of public opinion and government policy between acceptance and rejection. Key pieces of U.S. legislation, shaped by fear and inclusive idealism, are discussed, from the white-men-only 1790 Naturalization Law through the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act abolishing racial quotas, up to President Trump’s family separation policy. Capsule biographies of U.S. immigrants (from Trump’s grandfather to Larissa Martinez, an undocumented high school student) punctuate the chapters. Throughout, Krull’s efforts are complicated by choices that range from problematic to debatable (an uncritically positive view of “assimilation,” for example), dulling the luster of Krull’s otherwise persuasive argument that “America came from nothing to be what it is today because of immigrants.” Ages 8–12. (June)

Publishers Weekly

A clearly written, informative, and timely discussion of immigration.” — Booklist

“Krull’s book presents the good, bad, and ugly truths about immigration and should be required reading for everyone.” — Emily M. Schell, Executive Director, California Global Education Project, San Diego State University College of Education

From the Publisher

Krull’s book presents the good, bad, and ugly truths about immigration and should be required reading for everyone.

Emily M. Schell

A clearly written, informative, and timely discussion of immigration.

Booklist

A clearly written, informative, and timely discussion of immigration.

Booklist

05/01/2020

Gr 5–8—Krull explores the history of immigration in America and strives to offer a comprehensive view of an issue that continues to impact many young people. The text traces the country's complicated relationship with immigration and immigrants up to the current rulings of the Trump administration. Breaking chapters up with "Immigrant Story" and "Pro and Con" subsections, the narrative moves quickly. However, factual errors, misrepresentations, and oversimplifications prevent the book from achieving its full objective. For example, chapter 12 states "America won the (Mexican-American) War and promptly swallowed, or took over, present-day Texas." Texas was annexed by the U.S. in 1845 and became the 28th state before the war started the following year. The admittedly brief section regarding Andrew Jackson's treatment of Native people omits the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Throughout the text, and particularly beginning in chapter eight, the word "Muslim" is used as a term denoting both religious and ethnic identity. The interchanging usage of the word without proper explanation could confuse young readers. The text also lacks a substantive discussion of the role the U.S. played in creating the military and humanitarian crises that have driven and continue to drive waves of immigration from around the world. There is little to no mention of U.S. sanctions, coups, puppet governments, or many other destabilizing interventions. VERDICT An admirable attempt to address complicated and timely issues concerning immigration throughout U.S. history up to the present day, but the text is unfortunately marred by factual errors, misrepresentations, and oversimplifications.—Ted McCoy, Austin Public Library, Austin, TX

School Library Journal

Kyla Garcia’s narration moves quickly through this history of immigration in the United States, starting with the arrival of the continent’s first Indigenous inhabitants and ending with events following the 2016 election. Tracing the country's complicated political, cultural, and social relationships with immigration, the audiobook depicts continuous waves of immigrants, such as German groups in the eighteenth century, Chinese and Irish Catholics in the nineteenth century, and Cuban refugees in 1980. Breaking chapters up with immigrant stories, such as profiles of the children aboard the MAYFLOWER, helps make the history more engaging. Garcia’s neutral tone reflects impartiality when discussing both the contributions of immigrants in the U.S. and current anti-immigration critics’ claims. S.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile

Kyla Garcia’s narration moves quickly through this history of immigration in the United States, starting with the arrival of the continent’s first Indigenous inhabitants and ending with events following the 2016 election. Tracing the country's complicated political, cultural, and social relationships with immigration, the audiobook depicts continuous waves of immigrants, such as German groups in the eighteenth century, Chinese and Irish Catholics in the nineteenth century, and Cuban refugees in 1980. Breaking chapters up with immigrant stories, such as profiles of the children aboard the MAYFLOWER, helps make the history more engaging. Garcia’s neutral tone reflects impartiality when discussing both the contributions of immigrants in the U.S. and current anti-immigration critics’ claims. S.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile

2020-02-26
Beginning with the arrival of the continent’s first Indigenous inhabitants and ending with events following the 2016 election, this book chronicles the social, cultural, and political trends that have shaped the United States’ historically fraught relationship with immigration.

Krull contextualizes important pieces of legislation such as the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, tracing how everything from labor demands to world wars shaped American attitudes toward newcomers. The text is peppered with profiles of immigrants, ranging from the children onboard the Mayflower to cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who immigrated to the States from China via France, and Apple founder Steve Jobs, whose birth father and adoptive mother were both immigrants. Laudably, Krull categorically dismisses the classification of slaves as immigrants, and she frankly recounts the genocide of Native Americans. Too often, though, Krull approaches immigration from a deficit mentality. For example, she characterizes immigrants who are learning English as poor performers in school rather than framing them as bilingual; uncritically recounts America’s openness to “any able-bodied immigrant”; and praises the fact that ”all” newcomers to America “have assimilated,” without acknowledging the cultural loss that entails. Most problematically, she asserts without any context that “it’s human nature to be suspicious of people different than us,” seemingly excusing the very xenophobia the book clearly wishes to fight.

This comprehensive take on American immigration history is strong on facts and weak on analysis. (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews