Viewing NYC Articles Categorized Under Immigration

Vintage Maps From 1894 Show Manhattan Densely Populated With Immigrants

2025-11-21T09:00:00-05:00

New York City is a city rich with immigrant population, and it has been this way for a very long time. In these vintage maps from 1894 recently relocated by Slate , you can see just how dense the immigrant population was in New York City, showing the distribution of the principal nationalities by sanitary districts.

These two maps don’t represent the total diversity in any given sanitation district. They only show the largest two or three groups that made up two-thirds of each district’s population. The decision ultimately dramatized the strong presence of foreign-born citizens from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Russia throughout Manhattan. Pierce told Harpers’ Weekly at the time that Scotch, English, Welsh, Scandinavian, and Canadian New Yorkers were not recorded due to “being in small numbers and perhaps less foreign than the others.”

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[WATCH] Learn About the New York City Immigrant Experience at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum

2025-05-22T12:00:00-04:00

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …" stated the poem by Emma Lazarus about America's promise. New York City's Tenement Museum has recreated the apartments of immigrant families who lived in the very same building on the Lower East Side decades ago for a new exhibit, "Under One Roof." Correspondent Martha Teichner joins members of the families revisiting their childhood home at 103 Orchard Street.

Visit the Tenement Museum for more.

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[WATCH] Peek Inside the Lower East Side's Amazing Tenement Museum

2025-01-09T12:00:00-05:00

The Lower East Side's Tenement Museum is one of New York City's more fascinating museums, giving you a peek into tenement life from the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries. Normally, the Tenement Museum doesn't allow photographs or video inside, but sometimes exceptions are made. Our friends at Curbed recently seized the opportunity to capture the inside of the museum, showing the apartment of Josephine Baldizzi Esposito, an Italian woman who grew up in the tenement in the early 1930s with her family.

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[WATCH] Henry 'Adrian' Arango Fled Cuba to Pursue Drag in New York City

2021-06-21T16:00:00-04:00

Meet Henry Arango, a.k.a. Adrian. Henry Arango began his performing career as Adrian when he was a teenager in Cuba in the 1950s. As Fidel Castro was coming to power, Adrian embarked to America, determined to make it in New York City as a female impersonator. Within days of his arrival, Adrian secured a spot at the legendary Club 82.

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[VIDEO] Meet Juan Rodriguez: The First Immigrant in New York City

2021-04-20T12:00:00-04:00

In this short video from Daniel de Jesús, watch and learn all about Juan Rodriguez, New York City's very first immigrant.

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[WATCH] New York City's Tenement Museum Tour

2020-11-27T12:00:00-05:00

The Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side is one of the best attractions you can visit in NYC. It's filled with history! Here's a look inside.

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[WATCH] "The Fruit Guy", Short Film About a Fruit Stand Street Vendor on the Upper West Side

2020-11-25T12:00:00-05:00

A New York fixture, open-air fruit stands can be found peppered around the city, peddling wares at dirt-cheap prices. More than a business, these stands also a source of revenue for immigrants new to America. This documentary short takes a glimpse into the life and work day of fruit vendor and Turkish immigrant Cihan Camak who works at a cart on the Upper West Side.

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[VIDEO] Meet Satoshi Okamoto, Bassist for the New York Philharmonic

2020-10-29T16:00:00-04:00

Building on our legacy as New York’s Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic explores New York’s roots as a city of immigrants with “New York Stories: Threads of Our City.” One of these immigrants is New York Philharmonic bassist Satoshi Okamoto, who tells his story in this video.

Check out Satoshi Okamoto's profile to learn more about the musician.

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Check Out This Restored Vintage Film Showing Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island in 1903

2019-05-28T12:30:00-04:00

Restored and uploaded by YouTuber Guy Jones, this fantastic video from 1903 shows a ferry boat transporting hopeful immigrants from their larger trans-Atlantic vessel onto Ellis Island for processing. Dozens of families disembark the ferry with children and all the personal belongings they could carry. The sound isn't original but adds a pleasant ambiance and realism to the scene.

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Here's How One Immigrant Went From Dishwasher To Chef At Bodega Negra at Dream Downtown

2019-03-26T14:00:00-04:00

Arriving to the US at age 16, Victor Santibanez now celebrates his Mexican roots as chef de cuisine at Bodega Negra at Dream Downtown. Customers can experience some of Victor's Mexican roots in the $85 Fiesta Suprema seafood tower. About 43% of restaurant chefs in the US are foreign-born as of 2016.

You can try Victor Santibanez's food at Bodega Negra in the Dream Downtown hotel in Chelsea.

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