It is a chapter in American history that few people, let alone tweens, know much about. From 1854 to 1929, some 150,000 children were transported by trains from New York City and state orphanages to America’s Midwest.

When the trains reached the Midwest, the children would be taken off at various stops, herded to a local church or school, and displayed for potential adoptive parents. This social experiment started with the best of intentions: to get tens of thousands of children out of orphanages and into real homes with real parents. But the era was one where children were given little respect and few rights. Too often, children were seen as a source of labor rather than as young people who needed to be loved and cared for.

In 1898, at the age of eight, Lee Nalling lost his mother. Soon, his father decided he was incapable of supporting Lee and his two younger brothers. So, his father placed Lee and his brothers in a New York City orphanage. After two years in the orphanage, Lee and his brothers were given one-way tickets on an Orphan Train bound for Texas. This program tells the story of Lee’s sad and touching journey–as his brothers are split apart and Lee is moved from family to family–in search of a place he could finally call home.

LESSONS: The Nalling story will allow us to explore the nature of urban America, the rise of immigrants and the role of families and children in turn-of-the-century America. In an MTV America, it will be enlightening for middle school students to learn that childhood was once seen as just a younger adulthood.

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