In the Fall of 1935, President Roosevelt made the first allotment of
funds to the Office of Education for educational broadcasting. In
discussing the idea, he emphasized the need for programs that would make
more significant the human struggle to achieve our freedom as safeguarded
by our Constitution; the values of inter-American understanding and
friendship; and the processes of building a finer and more enduring
American culture by developing a greater appreciation of the rich
heritages that have come to us through the many races and nationalities
which make up our population.
Hence, the first series, “Let Freedom Ring,” traced the evolution of
human freedom and presented the contributions which old-world settlers
had made to our conception of civil liberty. Then came “Brave New
World,” portraying the Latin-American contributions to democracy and to
the general culture of the Americas. In April, 1938, the President in
addressing the Daughters of the American Revolution unknowingly gave
the title to the series “Americans All—Immigrants All” when he said,
“Remember that all of us are descended from immigrants.”
(_Continued on page 16_)
What Brought Us to the United States?
_Have you ever played with a magnet and a bunch of iron
filings? Wasn’t it amazing to see the bits of iron leap across
space to reach and cling to the magnet? This story is about
a magnet much larger and more powerful than you have ever
imagined—one 3,000 miles long and 1,500 miles wide. A different
kind of magnet, too, one that attracted not iron filings, but
human beings, real live people. A magnet that attracted every
type and variety of human being alive! White people, black
people, yellow people; Catholics, Protestants, Huguenots,
Quakers, Baptists, Methodists, Unitarians, Jews; Spaniards,
Danes, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Bohemians, Italians,
Austrians, Slavs, Poles, Roumanians, Russians—and I’ve only
just begun; farmers, miners, adventurers, soldiers, sailors,
rich men, poor men, beggar men, thieves, shoemakers, tailors,
actors, musicians, ministers, engineers, writers, singers,
ditch-diggers, manufacturers, butchers, bakers, and candlestick
makers. That magnet was AMERICA.—From “We the People”—by_ LEO
HUBERMAN.
Ever since the dawn of history, man has been on the move, restlessly
seeking new environments in an effort to satisfy his physical and
other needs. In the main, his wanderings have been local in character,
highlighted by occasional mass migrations which have had a marked effect
upon the history of the world. Among such mass migrations may be cited
the migration of the Israelites from Palestine to Egypt, of the Germanic
tribes into the Roman Empire, of the Saxons and Danes to England, of
the Moors from the north of Africa to Spain, and of the Mongols and the
Tartars from the Orient to Central Asia.
Great as these migrations were and important as their effect was on the
course of history, they did not compare with the stream of humanity that
began to flow to this country early in the seventeenth century—a stream
that assumed flood proportions toward the close of the nineteenth century.
Not only did the movement of peoples to our shores differ in magnitude
from other migrations, it also differed in character. Whereas earlier
mass migrations had consisted of the movements of tribes and distinct
racial groups, the migration to the New World consisted of men of all
races, nations, and creeds—a pageant of all the nations.
_Great Historic Freedoms_
What motives impelled these people to uproot themselves from their
homelands and to transplant themselves to a country where it was
necessary to adjust themselves to a new environment and culture pattern?
Many came for the love of adventure, answering the challenge of the
unknown. Some were mercenary soldiers seeking new exploits. Others came
because they were friendless down-and-outers and “ne’er-do-wells,”
seeking a chance to begin life anew. There were still others, like the
Negroes, who although the majority did not come of their own free will,
nevertheless contributed toil and labor to the making of America.
Commercial enterprise and the hope of economic gain have, of course, been
important factors in the peopling of our country. So also has the search
for freedom. In fact, the cherished moral ideals and objectives of the
immigrants laid the foundations of our democratic ideals. These great
historic freedoms include: