TV DOCUMENTARIES
TV DOCUMENTARIES
INTRODUCTION TO THE TV DOCUMENTARIES
The three television documentaries are about Danish migration to America between 1850 and 1920. During those 70 years, 350,000 Danes—about 10% of the total population at the time - immigrated to America. Poverty drove them to leave. Some were quick to find prosperity and happiness, but for most it was hard going. The Danes made their mark on America and those marks now tell the story of dreams, disappointments, and the strong determination to create a better life than the one they left behind in Denmark. Each of the three episodes lasts 28 to 30 minutes.
PART 1
PART 1
Part 1 is about the first emigrants who left around 1850, thus paving the way for the many who followed in later years. They were poor farm workers and Mormons, who were driven across the Atlantic by lack of opportunity and, for the Mormons, harassment. At that time the journey was by sailing ship and took several months. For the Mormons, it took over half a year, as they also had to the make the longer trip to Salt Lake City.
PART 2
PART 2
is about the big wave in Danish immigration history. In the 1870s and especially the 1880s, emigration takes on speed and peaks. Travel fever is stoked by modern steam ships—which shorten travel time significantly—enticing letters from the first countrymen to depart and pave the way, and new legislation in the United States that entitles anyone to free land, if one settles and cultivates it.
PART 3
PART 3
is about the influences the Danish immigrants had on the United States. There were those who succeeded, like landscape architect Jens Jensen, and also many thousands who never became famous, yet left impressions of Danish culture in the form of small towns, churches, newspapers, and universities in their attempts to ensure a little “Danishness” in an unfamiliar land.