This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how backlash against Chinese Workers in the 1850s led to the Chinese Exclusion Act, perhaps the harshest anti-immigration legislation in American history.

Anti-immigration feelings are captured in an 1891 cartoon that highlights Jewish and Italian immigration. Cartoon historian Josh Brown of the American Social History Project explains.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the wave of thousands of German immigrants that arrived in America between 1820 and 1860. These immigrants contributed to many early reform movements, and made cultural contributions as well.

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Scholar and author Nancy S. Seasholes follows the history of landmaking in Boston, looking at the history and means of creation of fill in the city.

Another version of this lecture is available in our database. The other (node identification number 2005) is slightly more recent.

Populism and Progressivism developed in the early 20th century. Professor Steven Hahn of the University of Pennsylvania compares the two political movements.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how the discovery of gold in California in 1848 led to an unprecedented migration, as thousands of people traveled west in the hopes of making it big.

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Michael Ray narrates a basic introduction to indentured servitude and slavery in the North American colonies. The presentation looks at the transition from indentured servitude as the most common form of forced labor to the use of African slaves and the development of the slave trade. It includes excerpts from the oral history of a former slave.

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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces immigration to America, which began in the Colonial Period but took off following the War of 1812, and the arrival of a giant stream of refugees on American shores.

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Professor Gerald L. Early discusses cultural observations on Jackie Robinson, a staunch civil rights activist, successful businessman, and the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball. Early focuses on the significance of sports as a public arena and form of performance and on African-American perception of baseball.

This lecture is no longer listed on WGBH Boston.