Truxal Library Special Topic Guide: Immigrant Heritage Month 2024

Unlike every other immigrant to America, the Black African came to a land of bondage, not freedom. This provocative film explores how the African American has used education, economic strength, and political power to overcome a legacy of racist obstacles.

Starkly shot in black and white, this multi-festival film captures the unabashed xenophobia of a number of Americans living in California along the U.S.-Mexican border. They are reacting to the influx of undocumented aliens, who they believe are draining community resources and committing crimes. Nativist organizations have been formed such as "Light Up The Border" which masses cars along the border with head-lights blazing at possible intruders. The film critiques the nativist position by contrasting the professed love of country with racist and anti-democratic attitudes. One white-haired couple advocates machine-gunning down a few at the border as a warning. Other residents complain that "the illegals bring drugs and disease, multiply like rabbits, fill up the jails, and go on welfare."

Sold into slavery by her parents, Polly Bemis faced discrimination as a Chinese immigrant in America – but became something of a pioneer of the West.

The remarkable true story of Donald Trump’s family history – one of the most extraordinary immigration success stories ever told – and what this background reveals about the United States’ 45th president. Drawing on an incredible archive, it looks back at Trumps' roots, from his immigrant German grandfather Friedrich, who built the beginnings of the Trump fortune on vice and shady dealings during the gold rush, to his father Fred, a real estate tycoon and master of self-promotion. As the world looks for answers on who Donald Trump really is, this fascinating program shows that the forces that have shaped him more than anything else can be found in his family tree.

People tend to promote foreigners by broadcasting their economic and scholarly value, instead of their intrinsic humanity.

Understanding the histories of immigrants is critical to appreciating their lived experiences. This presentation highlights the socio-political and historical legacies that have shaped the South Asian immigrant experience in the U.S. From the late 1700’s to 2014, Dr. Inman elucidates the immigrant policies and practices that influenced the opportunities, behaviors, and identities of South Asian immigrants.

This instructional video, from the 'Reaching Teens: Strength-Based Communication Strategies to Build Resilience and Support Healthy Adolescent Development' series produced by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is a speech by adolescent medicine specialist Dzung X. Vo about creating medical care environments that are immigrant youth-friendly.

For many of the immigrant families now separated in the U.S. by Trump administration policy, their stories began with terror and persecution in their home countries. In Mexico City, Nick Schifrin meets two Central American families making the arduous journey north.

Thousands of Afghan boys are fleeing their war-torn country to make it to Europe -- a nearly 10,000-mile journey. As Anderson Cooper reports, it's one of the largest child migrations in modern times and some of them die along the way.

This multi-festival film is a portrayal of the fortitude of an immigrant 'war bride' in America. Seventy-six-year-old Young-Ja Wike is one of the 10,000 Korean women who married American G.I.s. after the war. For them marriage was the only escape from the crushing poverty of post-war Korea. 'Grandma' lives in South Jersey with her uncaring, rather brutish husband in a kind of domestic servitude. She has brought up three unappreciative children, working doggedly to feed the family and run the household. On her own she cultivates a colorful garden of chili peppers which she dries and sells. Never having learned English, she is isolated from the community, and from her family as well. 'Grandma' opens her heart to the Korean filmmaker, revealing the pathos of forty years in exile.

My Name Is Belle presents an autobiographical snapshot of the immigrant experience through the eyes of a 7-year-old child. Belle Yang, artist and writer, uses herself as the model for the fictional pig-tailed girl named Hannah who arrives from Taiwan. Belle, as Hannah, faces change and loneliness – the difficulty of learning a new language, a new culture, even a new name, and of living with tension while waiting for green cards, longing to be citizens.

"Food is everyone's first language," says Paul Kwan, the Vietnamese-born immigrant who fashioned this film out of the rich sensory memories of his childhood. He tells his story of finding a new life in America while maintaining his cultural connection through cooking, eating and sharing the rich and varied food of his native land. This dazzling film is a gigantic stir fry of savory images - Paul and his mother cooking in his San Francisco kitchen, street vendors simmering their soups, bustling markets piled with peppers, cilantro, and chilis. In America, cooking is often a solitary experience, but in Vietnam it is a family affair, with everyone cutting, chopping, and stirring while chattering. An undercurrent of longing for the motherland runs through this nostalgic film. The death of his father in Vietnam is the occasion for his visit to Saigon. Now at last memory and reality are reconciled, and he is ready to return to his adoptive country. This film is the first in a trilogy, with Pins and Noodles and Wok in Progress.