The United States is a country of immigrants, but the issue of immigration has long divided its citizens.
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Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd
Painted after the end of World War I and amid pressure to "represent his race" as a Black man, Tanner brings biblical scenes into the modern world
Rosa Rolanda, Self-Portrait
Rolanda, a close friend of Frida Kahlo, explores her Mexican identity in the 1930s with surrealism and a volcano
Nativism and the Know-Nothing Party: American Art in Context
The Know-Nothings: a short-lived party with long-term influence.
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Little Joe with Cow
Kuniyoshi came to the US as a teen and loved his adopted country, but was considered a possible enemy during WWII.
George Luks, Street Scene (Hester Street)
Between 1880 and 1920, more than 20 million immigrants came to America.
Superman, WWII, Japanese Americans
Superman makes an appearance in what looks (at first sight) like a Japanese print.
Light of democracy, the Statue of Liberty
Two countries honor their love of democracy with a huge statue of a woman! Neither let women vote, though.
Prejudice at the trial of Sacco & Vanzetti
Shahn makes an not-so-subtle comparison between Christ and two Italians executed for a crime they didn’t commit.
Strange Worlds
Geller captures the tensions of the Jewish immigrant experience in the early 20th-century United States.
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