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Ironbound Ties to Portugal

Ironbound Ties To Portugal, an NJN Documentary that looks at the strong cultural ties of Portuguese immigrants in Newark, NJ, have with their homeland. Through food, music and sports they maintain this vital cutural existance that defines them as Portuguese.

NJN Public Television’s one hour documentary, Ironbound Ties to Portugal, takes an inside look at the unique culture of Newark’s Ironbound section, a thriving community with the largest concentration of immigrants of Portuguese descent in the United States. Ironbound Ties To Portugal takes viewers on a journey from the fishing ports, small villages and cities of Portugal to the Ironbound section of Newark’s bustling Ferry Street with its Portuguese bakeries, cafes, social clubs and shops. Traveling through Portugal, viewers are immersed in the beauty of the Portuguese people and the breathtaking views of islands, mountains, and shores. Food, wine, folklorica and Fado music fill the senses.

Portuguese families have come to live in the United States since the early 1930s to the present for political and economic reasons. Many settled in the Ironbound section in Newark, an area surrounded by railroad tracks (thus giving it the name “Ironbound”.) Ironbound Ties to Portugal follows several families through their emigration paths from Portugal to Newark, and explores the strong familial and financial ties that many of these immigrants maintain with their homeland. Family members remember their homes in Portugal, the reasons they came to this country and their distant feeling to the Portuguese government. Personal tales reveal what assimilation into mainstream American culture has done to change their daily lives and how they struggle to keep their rich Portuguese heritage alive in the United States. Also highlighted are the new wave of Portuguese speaking Brazilian immigrants moving to the Ironbound, their transition into a dominant traditional Portuguese culture and their unique struggles and successes in the United States.

Special attention was paid to the music recorded for the program. Portuguese artists performed live at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and at Fado Houses in Newark and Lisbon. Folklorica (folk dancers and musicians) performers are included from Lisbon and at a yearly “Ironbounders” gathering at the farm of a wealthy Portuguese immigrant. All performances were recorded in the field, in stereo and were digitally enhanced at NJN Studios in Trenton. NJN’s award winning Camera, Sound and production team brought all elements together to produce a winning program. Ironbound Ties To Portugal was said to be NJN’s most successful local production during an NJN fundraising drive.