This is backstory. I'm Peter Onough. Immigration was one of the most divisive

issues of the 2016 presidential campaign. What about immigration? While America

has always been a nation of immigrants, there have been times when large groups

of people have left the country. Today on backstory, we're asking why. We'll hear

the story of an American man in the 1920s who saw a better society taking shape

on the other side of the world. My grandfather fought why only white had such

an opportunity to build the new world. So he made a group of African-American

families and they all decided to go to Russia. We'll also hear why tens of

thousands of citizens were in such a rush to move away after the Revolutionary

War. Everybody is wildly selling off their stuff, getting ready to set off for

the unknown. A history of immigration coming up on backstory. Major funding for

backstory is provided by the Shia Khan Foundation, the National Endowment for

the Humanities, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation and the

Arthur Vining Davis foundations. From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities,

this is backstory with the American History Guide.

Welcome to the show. I'm Brian Ballot, 20th century guy. I'm here with Ed Ayers,

not Decentral Guy and Peter Onives with us. 18th century guy, which is where we're

gonna start the show today, right around 1778 in the midst of the American

Revolution. It's there that will meet Jacob Bailey, a missionary for the

Anglican Church and he's living in New England. On what at the time was a really

wild northern frontier. This is in the borderlands between Massachusetts and

Maine. So think of Maine as a wild frontier. Which is not that hard. This is Maya

...