American Immigrant Literature: Web Resources

The Ellis Island Archive contains the passenger lists of more than 51 million immigrants, passengers, and crew members who came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York from 1892 to 1957. The period from 1892 to 1924 at Ellis Island was the largest human migration in modern history!

The ship companies that transported these passengers kept detailed passenger lists, called "ship manifests" which were used to examine immigrants upon arrival in the United States. Thanks to the generous efforts of volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these manifests have been transcribed into this vast digitized archive, which you can navigate for free in search of an individual passenger.

The Ellis Island Archive contains Passenger Records which provide 11 fields of information including passenger name, date of arrival, ship of travel, age on arrival, and more; Historical Manifests scanned from the original microfilm, showing the same fields of information and much more; and over 900 Ship Images along with the history and background of each ship that brought immigrants to America. (Note: In the 1940s the U.S. government had the original ship passenger manifest pages microfilmed for storage prior to discarding them.)

"Immigration debates flood news sources today, but the realities experienced by those who flee their homes in search of new opportunities — even political asylum — oftentimes end up shoved to the margins. Though mostly fiction, the following literary works offer up a valuable, varied glimpse into what life is like in America for immigrants and their families. Many of them emphasize familiar themes regarding balances between old and new, allegiances to family and the unique hardships faced once settled. Do not think this list comprehensive. Plenty of other excellent books exist out there to educate an open-minded populace about the issue from the perspective of those it impacts most. This is merely a sampling of some of the most notable examples."

Phillip Lopate writes an astute essay on the nature and history of immigrant fiction in America for the Gilder Lehrman institute of American History, and includes references to many outstanding works of fiction through America's Twentieth century literary history.

"The extraordinary ethnic diversity of the United States is due to the vast numbers of immigrants who have settled here. Many Americans today grew up listening to stories from their parents or grandparents about what it was like to come to a new country and struggle to build a life for themselves and their families.

In relocating from one country to another, newcomers have had to find a way to make a living, in addition to adjusting to an unfamiliar culture and often a new language. Through expressive novels, short stories, poetry, plays, biographies and memoirs that have been recently published, the books on this list describe the immigrant experience by those who have lived it.

We have included titles for all age levels, and from authors who came from different countries of origin. Although Puerto Rico is a part of the United States and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, the cultural and language barriers many Puerto Ricans face when they migrate from their Caribbean Island to the mainland are similar to an international migration.

This booklist was prepared by the following staff members of The New York Public Library: Ismael Alicea, Yolanda Bonitch, Susan Gitman, Harriet Gottfried, Susan Pine, Verónica Reyes, Erika Yánez, Hong Yao.

For Young Adults
For Younger Readers
For Older Children
Novels, Short Stories, Poetry
Biography and Memoir
Non-fiction"

A curated directory of links to digital resources on Minority Literatures, with specific categories for African American, Asian/Pacific American, Hispanic American, and Jewish American literature.

"From the first incursions of Europeans into the “New World,” American history has been one of immigration and migration. Explore that history from the conquest through Ellis Island and beyond through the work of noted scholars."

This series of lectures by noted scholars covers the history of American Immigration history, particularly with lectures on Jewish and European immigrants, from the period of Exploration through modern times.