About This Lesson
In the first decades of the 20th century, Americans embraced a revolutionary new technology—motion pictures. This lesson, which features Charlie Chaplin’s silent film classic "The Immigrant" (1917), introduces students to the influence of movies on immigrants and working-class Americans during this period. Thanks to generous funding from AFSCME, the lesson is one of many in “Portraits of America: Democracy on Film,” a free cinema literacy curriculum using classic films to explore ideals and challenges of immigration, labor, and civil rights. All materials available free at http://storyofmovies.org.
