  Far red spectra for 34 stars with V magnitudes between 15 and 18 in the
direction of the North America and Pelican nebulae (NAP) star-forming region
are obtained. Some of these stars were known earlier as emission-line objects,
others were suspected as pre-main-sequence stars from photometry in the J, H,
Ks and Vilnius systems. We confirm the presence of the H alpha line emission in
the spectra of 19 stars, some of them exhibit also emission in the O I and Ca
II lines. In some of the stars the H alpha absorption line is filled with
emission. To estimate their evolutionary status, the spectral energy
distributions, based on Vilnius, 2MASS, MSX and Spitzer photometry, are
applied. Only eight emission-line stars are found to be located at a distance
of the NAP complex. Others are either chromospherically active stars in front
of the complex or distant luminous stars with H alpha absorption and emission
components. For five stars with faint emission the data are not sufficient to
estimate their distance. One star is found to be a heavily reddened
K-supergiant located in the Outer arm. The stars, for which we failed to
confirm the emission in H alpha, are mostly red dwarfs located in front of the
NAP complex, two of them could be binaries with L-type components. Taking into
account the stars suspected to be YSOs by their 2MASS colors we conclude that
the NAP complex can possess a considerable population of young stars hidden
behind the dust cloud.
