I'm An American -- Vilhjálmur Stefánsson

On June 8, 1941 Vilhjálmur Stefánsson spoke with William H. Marshall, Assistant District Director of Immigration at Ellis Island, about his experience as an immigrant living and working with the Inuit community. The two men discuss Stefánsson’s ethnicity and immigration story. Stefánsson reveals why he believes his ancestors may have been some of the earliest American immigrants. He also discloses historical and geographical facts about Iceland and Greenland. The Nordic explorer goes on to explain why he believes the Nordic countries are important to the defence of American Democracy. Stefánsson shares a few stories from his expeditions and explains what it was like being foreign born living with Eskimos. Vilhjálmur Stefánsson, a Nordic, closes the program by dismissing the belief that the Nordic race is superior and destined to rule the world. Vilhjálmur Stefánsson (b. William Stephenson) was born on August 28, 1962 in Arnes, Manitoba, Canada to Icelandic parents. In 1880, his family moved to North Dakota. Stefánsson studied anthropology at the graduate school of Harvard. After adapting himself to the Inuit (Eskimo) way of life, the explorer and ethnologist spent five consecutive record-making years exploring vast areas of the Canadian Arctic. From 1906 to 1907, Stefánsson lived among among the Inuit acquiring an intimate knowledge of their language and culture; as well as forming the belief that Europeans could live off the Arctic land by adopting Inuit ways. He and the Canadian zoologist Rudolph M. Anderson carried out ethnographical and zoological studies from 1908 to 1912. The explorer’s knowledge and understanding of the Canadian Arctic led him to believe the area would one day become economically important. During World War II Stefánsson advised the U.S. government on surveyed defense conditions in Alaska, as well as prepared reports and manuals for the armed forces. He wrote a number of books, including My Life with the Eskimo (1913), The Friendly Arctic (1921), Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic (1939), and Discovery (1964).