Chloe's Story

My grandpa immigrated from Singapore. He came in on a boat in to San Francisco and went to graduate school at University of Arizona. Later he moved to New Jersey and had my mom which then had me and my sister, Siena! I am from Massachusetts which is close to New Jersey which also means that I get to visit him and my grandma often!

Sybylla's Story

I am second generation from four Irish born grandparents. Each arrived here individually from east west, south and northern parts of the island. One family lived in New York City , starting in Manhattan then moving to the Bronx. A working class family my father had to sacrifice his education to help support them. My other grandfather lived in the countryside of New York, in what is now a bedroom community. With 6 sons he created several businesses and was a successful entrepreneur who sent my mother, the only daughter, to college.

He lived through a rural upbringing to the invention of the telephone, cars and because of his long life he saw a man land on the moon. My mother was interested at the advent of commuters and became trained. She loved finding data on her parents migration, including seeing the data entry of her own mother's arrival on Ellis island.

Her two best friends were first generation immigrants, one from England and one from Iceland. They were life-long friends.

I was steeped in my Irish heritage. Both my parents visited more than once, however none of my grandparents ever returned.

JJL's Story

This is my mother’s story. My mom immigrated to the United States from China in the late 1980s. When she applied for college was the first year universities were accepting students after a decade of banning higher education during the re-education through labor campaign of the Communist party. Despite having a handicap from surviving polio as an infant, she was accepted into medical school and graduated at the top of her class and immigrated here to complete her Masters degree and medical training. She’s now a practicing anesthesiologist and I am in training to become a surgeon. She is and always will be my inspiration.

Steven's Story

My father and mother met while attending high school in Corinto, a port town on the western coast of Nicaragua. After the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, and in the midst of the Contra War that followed, they fled to the United States, where they gave birth to me, my twin brother, and my older sister. Miami-born and raised, I am so proud of them and thankful to them for giving me the opportunity to thrive in a place where anybody can truly be a somebody.

Ellie's Story

I am a second generation American. All four of my grandparents escaped the pogroms in Russia, the Ukraine, Lithuania to arrive by boat in Boston, at (I think) Castle Island. They never spoke about “the old country.” I have no idea whether they were “illegal” immigrants. No one talked of such things. One grandparent came as an infant, the three others came as teenagers. There was a story that my Bubbe lied and said she was someone else’s daughter when she came to America. I think how now that she would be seen as an unaccompanied minor and she could be detained if she’d come in 2019 instead of 1903. The risks my grandparents took to leave their homes to come to America have given me the opportunities for freedom. What a gift they gave me.

Isaac's Story

Most of my family comes from Eastern Europe - one great grandparent hid in a forest, one lied about being his dead brother to escape the Russo-Japanese War, several escaped Poland. I know little about dad’s side of the family, though I know that as Pennsylvania-Dutch they had to escape something to get to the South.

I’ve never seen the point to anti immigrant behavior. None of my ancestors are all too different from today’s immigrants and refugees.

Mónica's Story

My Syrian husband and I (a brown Mexican) met in Washington, DC during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. We are both safe, and yet we still feel the change in people’s faces when we tell them where we are from. Sometimes deflecting to spare us the stares, the condescension and, occasionally, to feel safer.

Brendis's Story

Born in Mexico, grew up in India, lived in South Carolina and finished high school in Wales, my life has always had movement. My identity exists past borders and within every home I inhabited. I identify as a queer transnational woman of color and find home more of a sentiment I carry within.

Since 2014, I have lived as a dual citizen as a Mexican and an American. These two identities however don’t overlap and frankly hold a lot of contrast and tension.

The white centric culture of the united states makes us forget. Forget lineage. Forget memories. Forget purpose and integrity. One way I have chosen to decolonize and center community is to remember where I come from and remember how I hold myself.

I have loved the exhibitions and encourage visitors to not just look at the stories of others but to dive deep and reflect their very own lineages. To center yourself and embody practices of remembrance.

Yesenia's Story

My mother’s father escaped with my mother and grandmother from Cuba in the 60s on a small raft to Florida. They moved to Michigan to find work in the auto industry but soon my grandmother grew sad and lonely from the cold weather. They heard of a “democratic” Cuba and when my mother was still quite young they moved to Puerto Rico and made their home there. My father’s family has been in Puerto Rico for many generations. I moved Stateside to go to college and have lived in ten different cities in the States. I have found my forever home in San Francisco, California. And that is the story of a lesbian Cuban Puerto Rican that landed in San Francisco.

Josué's Story

I was born in Panamá. When I was six, I moved to Miami with my mother. She was moving to be with my father who was working there at the time. Miami became home, and a place which is as foreign to American standards as any foreign location. It wasn’t my choice to move, but I had no say in the decision being six. Maybe one day I will return home.

Mie's Story

My father’s job moved us to different countries every few years and to keep our education consistent we went to American schools. My brother and I now live in the US and our parents live in South America. We only see our parents once a year and our relatives are all in Japan or Argentina.

Amara's Story

I came here when I was 3 years old, from Brazil. My parents came over first, my mom when I was 1, my dad when I was 2. They wanted to build a better life for me in the U.S., and they did. They worked really hard to make sure that I could achieve what they weren’t able to achieve back home. I miss my grandparents deeply. My grandfather is the medicine man for his village, and my grandmother talks to spirits. I discovered my psychic abilities only a couple years ago, and going back to see them was the first time I finally felt understood and seen for things that I find nearly impossible to describe to anybody else. I miss them a lot. I wonder all the time how different I, or my life would be, if I was raised with them.

T's Story

Coming from a family of 8, We grew up on the farmlands of Sarat with working to live. My parents worked hard to send us all to college and work in the US. 3 Doctors, 1 nurse, 1 pharmacist, 1 chemist and 2 engineers, later the Molina clan has left a legacy from Sarat, Philippines and branched out in the United States for the future Molinas to pave the new legacy.

T's Story

I’m a first-generational immigrant born of Vietnamese parents. We came to the States under the AmerAsian Act in pursuit of discovering my biological grandfather. He was an American USAF soldier during the Vietnam War. My grandmother was assigned to him to help with household chores and they fell in love over the months that followed. His tour of duty wrapped up prior to my mother’s birth and he was forced to return to America. He left behind letters, photographs and information so she could find him but my grandmother burned everything to protect them from the Viet Cong. My mother grew up in post-war Vietnam wearing the face of the ‘enemy’ - light-brown hair, honey-colored eyes and skin that was fairer than most. She was a social outcast for the early years of her life and rejoiced over news that (we) could pursue the ‘American Dream’. It has been my life’s goal to locate my biological grandfather. After decades of searching, this was made possible through AncestryDNA. He passed years ago but our family finally has more answers. She now has his dog tags from VN and his military medals.

Damon's Story

My great grandmother immigrated to Providence, RI during the the great migration. Our family immigrated from Southern Italy right before WWII, the youngest of my aunts and uncles that arrived were no more than 5. Her name was Vivian.