Immigration Narrative

I tried to find a first person narrative online, but failed. It was hard!! So I investigated famous immigrants to America, and I've researched Charlie Chaplin. I understand its not first person narrative, however I still found his story interesting because of his exile from America.
He was born in 1889 in London.

"Charles Spencer Chaplin was a British actor who was famous worldwide for his comedic silent films. Though successful in his adult life, Charlie had a difficult childhood. His alcoholic father died when he was twelve, and his psychotic mother was confined to an asylum when Charlie was seven. However, one characteristic he inherited from his parents was the ability to act (both had been performers in their healthier years).

Charlie went on several overseas trips during his career. In 1910, he went on his first U.S. and Canadian tour with the Karno Troupe. It was followed by a second tour in 1912, after which Chaplin decided to stay in California and didn't return to Great Britain with his troupe. On a 1917 immigration record, he is listed on a ship arriving from Honolulu. Charlie also traveled to England in 1921 to bring his mother to America. In the 1930s, Chaplin toured the Orient where he met and married his third wife, Paulette Goddard. Although no records were ever made public validating the union, the couple both claimed the foreign marriage when they divorced in 1942. A 1936 immigration record shows that Chaplin was indeed in Japan around that time.

Chaplin was famous for many years until his popularity turned to infamy because of his perceived political opinions. In 1940, Chaplin produced and starred in the film, The Great Dictator. Political figures considered the film to be a method to influence Americans to support going to war and was branded as communistic. In 1942, journalist Westbrook Pegler wrote widely-read articles encouraging Chaplin's deportation. Pegler insinuated that Chaplin displayed un-American sentiments and didn't support the American ideals of home and family because he had divorced three times. Chaplin's public image rapidly declined until many people considered the formerly beloved comedian to be little more than a morally bereft communist. In 1952, Chaplin was barred from the United States while he was on a visit to England. His re-entry permit was revoked on the trip as punishment for his supposed communist sympathies and questionable character. Chaplin subsequently exiled himself to Switzerland.

In 1972, Chaplin's film, Limelight was re-released. Despite the controversy surrounding the film in 1951, the theme song became a hit and won an Academy Award in 1972. Eighty-three-year-old Charlie returned to the U.S. without resistance to claim his Oscar. In 1974, his name was restored to the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" from which it had been removed in 1958. Then, in 1975, Queen Elizabeth II recognized Chaplin's achievements and knighted him Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin. England was proud of its native son who, despite years of living elsewhere, had never given up his British citizenship. Chaplin lived the remainder of his life in Switzerland where he died on Christmas Day in 1977.

Earlier immigration records show that Charlie's North American tours may have been similar to the tours of his actor/singer father, Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr. In an 1890 immigration record, a twenty-four-year-old actor named "Mr. Chas. Chaplin" from England is listed among several other actors and a director. This record is too early to have been Charlie, but it seems likely that it was his father."

(taken from http://www.ancestry.com/learn/contentcenters/contentcenter.aspx?page=immigration&sp=chaplin)

Charlie Chaplin was originally welcomed into America, because of his talent and ability to entertain, but then year later refused entry because of his 'un-americanness'. He went through divorces and seemingly had 'anti-america' and 'pro-war' views. America is the land of liberty and freedom, until of course you are 'un-american' in your lifestyle. They removed his star from the walk of fame, and later on in his life won an Oscar for one of his films which was re-released.