Today’s news is full of stories of poor families crossing US borders. It brings back memories of similar hardships more than a century ago. The Tenement Museum on 103 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan tells the story.

It portrays the life of poverty, large families living in small ghetto rooms, racial prejudice and daily efforts to survive. The museum exhibits furniture, clothing and other authentic items of the era. Visitors are greeted by guides dressed as immigrants to explore the buildings and surrounding neighborhood where it all happened from the 1890s through the 1920s. For tickets and other info, go to www.tenement.org