Public Radio East serves Eastern North Carolina by providing news, fine arts, and informational programming that challenges, stimulates, educates, and entertains an intellectually curious audience.

© 2026 Public Radio East

Public Radio East
800 College Court
New Bern, NC 28562

EIN 56-1802728
Public Radio For Eastern North Carolina 89.3 WTEB New Bern 88.5 WZNB New Bern 91.5 WBJD Atlantic Beach 90.3 WKNS Kinston 89.9 W210CF Greenville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
US

Citizenship Through Art: New York Historical Society Invites Immigrants To Learn In Its Galleries

One of the pieces of art featured in The Citizenship Project: Johannes Adam Simon Oertel, Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, New York City, 1852-53. (Courtesy New York Historical Society)
One of the pieces of art featured in The Citizenship Project: Johannes Adam Simon Oertel, Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, New York City, 1852-53. (Courtesy New York Historical Society)

A painting of revolutionaries toppling a statue of King George III; President Franklin Roosevelt’s leg brace; a drum-shaped lottery barrel used to pull draft numbers during the Civil War — all are examples of artifacts used in a unique civics class taught at the New York Historical Society.

The Citizenship Project, now in its ninth month, teaches immigrants the American history they need to know to pass the country’s citizenship test. Participants say the the vivid images, sculptures and stories make the information much more meaningful than simply memorizing pamphlets of facts.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young (@hereandnowrobin) visits the museum to find out more.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

US