DESTINATION AMERICA, New Four-Part Series From David Grubin, Debuts October 19 and 26 on PBS

DESTINATION AMERICA, New Four-Part Series From David Grubin, Debuts October 19 and 26 on PBS

Largest Human Migration in History and Forces Driving It Examined through US Immigrant Experiences Past and Present

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- With immigration issues on the front pages of newspapers day after day, DESTINATION AMERICA, a new, four-part PBS series from David Grubin Productions and Penguin Television, puts immigration headlines into historical context. Immigrants have come from all over the world since America's earliest beginnings. Their faces have changed, not their reasons: in flight from poverty, persecution and war, they are drawn by the shimmering promise of America.

The new series of four one-hour episodes debuts Wednesday, October 19 and 26 from 9 to 11 p.m. ET on PBS stations (check local listings). A companion book based on the series, and bearing the same title, is being published by Dorling Kindersley in conjunction with the PBS broadcast.

DESTINATION AMERICA is organized around some of the driving forces that have compelled individuals to immigrate to America for centuries and have remained constant throughout history -- economic opportunity, religious freedom and artistic expression. As well, the series looks at the particular forces that drive women to come to America in search of opportunity and the basic human rights they had been denied in their homelands.

Dramatic contemporary stories are the centerpiece of each episode along with historic portraits of immigrants who came before. The past and present day experiences of immigrants resonate with each other. To say goodbye to everything you have known and loved and set-off for another country has always been a wrenching experience. The films focus on the world the immigrants left behind, the roots that defined them, and the frustrations, hardships, discontents and ambitions that made and continues to make America their destination.

Wednesday, October 19 from 9 to 11 p.m. ET on PBS

The Golden Door -- America is a country founded and built by immigrants. From the beginning, most have come looking for a better life for themselves and their families.

MANUEL, a Mexican migrant worker, cannot tell us his last name. He is one of millions of Mexicans who illegally cross America's borders every year. It is a dangerous journey, but for most, America is their best, possibly their only opportunity for economic survival.

Manuel's story is put into historical perspective by looking at the sweep of immigration across more than 350 years of American history, focusing on the early history of Mexican immigration, the Norwegian immigrants to the Midwest and the Irish famine.

The Art Of Departure -- Creative spirits have come to America from all over the world, drawn to the possibilities of a free society, but it has never been easy to leave home.

FANG-YI SHEU always loved to dance, but the island of Taiwan was too small for her ambition. She wanted to dance on the world stage -- which meant she had to leave her uncomprehending parents behind and come to New York City, the capital of dance. It has been a long and difficult journey, but today she is the star of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

After Russia's most famous artists ILYA AND EMILIA KABAKOV fled the oppression of the Soviet Union, they never thought they would return - until they were offered the chance to exhibit their work at the Hermitage, Russia's greatest museum. The exhibition was an extraordinary success, but it brought back memories of why they fled.

The Art Of Departure also tells the story of the unprecedented array of scientists, artists, and intellectuals who fled fascism in the 1930's, focusing on Arturo Toscanini, the world's most renowned conductor, the maestro who defied both Mussolini and Hitler.

Wednesday, October 26 from 9 to 11 p.m. ET on PBS

The Earth Is The Lord's -- Ever since the Mayflower pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, immigrants have come to America to escape religious persecution: Amish and Mennonites, Jews and evangelical Christians, Huguenots from France, Baha'is from Iran, Chinese practicing their esoteric Fallon Gong, Tibetan Buddhists. The idea of America as a haven for those seeking freedom to worship looms large in the American imagination.

TSERING fled Tibet in the year 2000, a victim of religious persecution by the Chinese communists like everyone in her family. Her escape is a harrowing tale and resonates with the flight of Gehlek Rimpoche, the Tibetan leader who escaped in the 1950's with the Dalai Lama.

Jews have found a haven in America since 1654, but D'VORAH and HIRSCH SPIRA never wanted to come here. Even as Hitler rose to power in Germany, they wanted to stay in Europe. They are Hasidic Jews, who feared their religious traditions would be destroyed in America.

JOHN RUTH is a Mennonite minister and historian. He tells the story of his ancestor, Hans Landis, the last of the Anabapist martyrs, and how his death is connected to the immigration of the Amish and Mennonite people to America more than 300 years ago.

Breaking Free: A Woman's Journey -- In the world they left behind, women were second-class citizens, dominated by law and custom by men. Some feared for their lives. Others were searching for new opportunities.

Guatemala native RODI ALVARADO fled after a decade of beatings by her husband. Her petition for political asylum may become a landmark case. If she wins, it will be the first time the American government has ever granted asylum to a woman fleeing domestic violence.

ROSA CAVALLERI left Italy in 1887, a simple woman married to a brutal husband. Today, she is celebrated in her home town as a woman who challenged tradition, who broke away and made a new life for herself in America.

FERDOWS NAFICY and her two daughters, MAHNAZ and FARAH became independent women in America. Their story of why and how they left Iran is a chilling, instructive tale of what it takes to break free.

From the time the US government began keeping official records in 1820, more than 70 million people have immigrated to the United States. The migration began as a trickle, and the trickle became a flood -- the largest migration to a single country in human history. Today, America continues to open its doors to more immigrants than all of the countries in the rest of the world combined.

A Web site for DESTINATION AMERICA -- http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica -- will be launched just prior to the October broadcast premiere.

For additional press information and downloadable jpegs, visit:

http://www.pbs.org/pressroom

Source: PBS

CONTACT: For press preview screeners or talent interviews contact: Fisher Company, +1-845-526-0182, tf@fishercompany.net

Web site: http://www.pbs.org/

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