Talk, show to explore Mennonite influence on Plains

A historical prologue to a new TV film about ethnic migration, including Mennonites’ journey to the U.S., is planned for Sunday at Bethel College.

The film, “America: Promised Land,” will air in two parts Monday and Tuesday on the History Channel.

In addition to Mennonite migration, which will be in the Tuesday installment, the film will deal with Dutch fur trading, Irish immigration, the California gold rush, Germans aiding Union forces during the Civil War, the transcontinental railroad, and migration of African Americans from the south to the north and west.

History professor David Moon of the University of York in Britain will speak about Mennonite influences at 3 p.m. Sunday at Bethel College’s Kauffman Museum.

His free talk, “The Amerikan Steppe: Influences from Russia and Ukraine on the Great Plains, 1870s-1930s,” will focus on how migration helped transform the Great Plains from grassland to a major agricultural region.