Heritage: civilization and the Jews

Part 7 the golden land : describes one of the most important and exciting chapters in Jewish history--the relationship between the United States and the Jewish people. Never before in their 3,000-year history, had Jews made such a significant contribution to the shaping and growth of a country. The program examines the role of American Jews from the days of George Washington. With the rise of anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe in the late 1800s, a new chapter in the American Jewish story was written. Some two million Jews from all over Eastern Europe converged on the United States from 1880 to 1920. The program captures in archival photos and rare documentary footage, the voluntary "ghettos" in which they settled--cramped, dirty and unlit sections, the best known of which is New York’s Lower East Side.