Hollywood or History?: An American Tail

An American Tail (1986) is a cartoon about Fievel Mousekewitz and his journey from Russia to the United States. Although Fievel and his family are fictional mice, many events that occurred that are based on the experiences of real immigrants that left their home countries, were processed through Ellis Island, and lived in New York City. Film writers often use primary sources when creating works of historical fiction like An American Tail.

Evaluate the primary sources provided and summarize the information you learned in the first box. After watching the film clips, fill in the information you learned in the third box. After analyzing all the sources, write down the similarities in all the sources in the middle box. In the section located at the bottom of the page, explain whether you think these scenes from An American Tail (1986) should be used as an educational tool to teach about immigration to America and why.