The subject of immigration has never been more visible in the news media than it is today. As defined in this collection, an immigrant is a person who voluntarily left his or her country-of-origin seeking refuge, freedom, or simply the hope of a better life. Immigrants also include the children and families of these individuals, as well as succeeding generations who continue to identify with their places of origin.
The news media captures the immigrant story in all its richness and complexity. Some immigrants have faced internal and external fear and pressure. Some have been characterized as the backbone of the nation, others a threat to its soul. Some found what they were seeking, others not. Despite the often-contradictory receptions from their new home and country, American immigrants have shared a common objective over four centuries: the improvement of their lives.
Immigrant Life in America, a new primary source collection from Readex, offers researchers a powerful new way to explore one of the most enduring and complex themes in American and global studies. Drawing on millions of documents from more than 20,000 news sources, the collection traces how immigrants have been represented, debated, and understood across U.S. history. Navigation tools make it easy to explore the collection and engage with focused topics such as Activism and Activists, Arts and Entertainment, Court Decisions, Deportation and Restrictions, Education, Healthcare, Government, Labor, Notable People, Science and Technology, Unrest and Violence, and more.
Students seeking background, context, or ideas for related projects will find Immigrant Life in America easy to navigate using Suggested Searches (more than 700 of them) and categorization by important Eras (for example, “Early Arrivals to Know-Nothing Riots, 1705-1854”). Advanced researchers will benefit from the collection’s depth and completeness. Immigrant Life in America supports research across multiple disciplines, including history, government, law, international relations, anthropology, migration studies, urban studies, ethnic studies, and others.
To facilitate research, the collection is divided into three series:
Series 1: 1705-1992. 15 million archived records address the immigrant experience from its first appearances in the American press to the U.S. Congress 1992 Immigration Amendments. Look for coverage of the First Decennial Census (1790), the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), Emma Lazarus’s “New Colossus” (1883), Anarchist Exclusion Act (1903), Mariel Boatlift (1980), and more.
Series 2: 1993-2021. Chronicles immigrant life in the final decade of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century. This series contains over 23 million records covering thousands of events, people, and topics such as “The New Americans Report” (1997), The DREAM Act (2001), birtherism, and others.
Series 3: 2022-Today. Available as a subscription from NewsBank, Series 3 focuses on more contemporary places, people, and events associated with American immigrant life. Includes millions of content records and daily updates.
