The story of the immigrant is one that you can still hear today, but the story of changing identity can be a little harder to pin down. When does someone consider him or herself an American vs. when is one seen as an American? Is it when they are officially a citizen? When they participate […]
Read more "Do as the Americans Do: Cultural Dialogue and Being American"What does immigration mean to you? How has immigration affected your family? What are the best ways to help current immigrants? The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience probes into these questions in its new exhibit, Belonging: Before And After The Immigration Act Of 1965, on display from March 2015 to February […]
Read more "Belonging: Immigrant Experiences at the Wing Luke"Immigration policy is a contested and challenging issue that continues to shape the United States as a nation with profound effects on the individuals that hope to gain opportunities in America. According to America in Progress there are1.3 million undocumented Asian immigrants in America. Asian Americans have played a significant role in advocating for immigration reform and […]
Read more "Misguided Opportunities: The Undocumented Immigrant Experience"This week’s class discussion on Latino immigration to the United States was probably the most personal for me so far. As a descendent of Mexican immigrants who grew up in California, I’ve always been surrounded by this topic, both consciously and subconsciously. What struck me about our readings and discussion was the role that identity […]
Read more "Identity and Immigration"For most Americans the images of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Angel Island have become iconic depictions of brave immigration stories. These images tell a tale of people dreaming of starting over in a better place than they left, but in reality often finding an incredible struggle for acceptance, and at times facing […]
Read more "Exile Experience: Journey to Freedom"Every day we hear about the loss of jobs in America. Congress, the President, legislators, all assure us they are creating new jobs and addressing the alarming unemployment rate. At the same time, people use the media to claim that the decline in jobs is due to an increase in Mexican and Latin American immigration. They […]
Read more "The Great Job Debate"“A few months later, they were ready to rent a house in a nice neighborhood in Jersey. The government had helped them out with some emergency funds… Instead of being cramped up in someone else’s apartment with rattling pipes and damp plaster walls that seemed ready to fall in, they had a three-story house with […]
Read more "The Cracks in the Chain: The Immigration Story of Cuban Americans"In 2009 the Brooklyn Children’s Museum did a program on Haiti cultural exchange titled: Krik? Krak! Storytelling & Songs at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. The program was the first in a series of cultural programs focusing on oral history traditions.[1] Caroline’s Wedding a chapter in Krik? Krak!, explores the themes of cultural betweeness and assimilation […]
Read more "Haitian Cultural Stories and Immigration Experience in America"Immigration issues are not often looked at through the eyes of a teenager. We hear of the hardships immigrant parents face when moving to a new country. Parents struggle to balance the new world with the old one they left behind. They face language barriers and find that their traditions lose relevance with their children. […]
Read more "Teenage Dream: Becoming American"Naturalization Ceremony, Naval Air Station Sigonella “[We] had all paid dearly for this piece of paper, this final assurance that I belonged in the club. It had cost my parent’s marriage, my mother’s spirit, my sister’s arm.”[1] My friend Arroldo from Guatemala once told me that naturalizing himself in the United States was the hardest […]
Read more "Naturalization: What it Takes to Belong in the Club"