Immigration Stories

12/13/2016

America is a great big nation comprised of immigrants, and each of our ancestors left their home countries to come to America for a myriad of reasons. I recently had my DNA tested and have discovered that my ancestors mainly descended from Africa. Prior to submitting my DNA for analysis, as far as I knew, my mother’s family came from the Cape Verde Islands and my dad’s family came from Jamaica and the Prince Edward’s Islands. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was 72% African when my actual test results were returned. As we are studying Immigration, I would like to know your family’s unique immigration experience. Ask your parents, or another elder in your family, where your ancestors came from. Also, ask what the push and pull factors were for leaving their homelands and settling in America. Ask when they arrived to America, and what their early experiences were like. Did they work? What types of work did they do? Once you have all these questions answered, start blogging. I want to know all. Also, make sure to reply to at least one classmates post, and don’t forget the rules and etiquette of our blogosphere. Use your full name (no pseudonyms), and don’t be mean.

73 Comments

Carina S.

12/13/2016 06:43:21 pm

I am roughly 50% African American (my mom's side) and 50% Cape Verdean (my dad's side). This I have known forever. I don't know where from Africa I descended from, I don't even think my mom knows. And my grandparents can't tell me because they're deceased. But my mother's stepmother is Cape Verdean. I'm sure she knows where she's from, but she is out of town at the moment. I know that I am the third generation born in America on my dad's side (fourth if we're talking about citizenship), but my mom doesn't know what generation she is (I've asked), which means I don't either. I think I've heard my dad say once or twice that the only thing my grandmother (his mom) could get for a job was as a maid. I'm not sure if this happened to her, but he also said that the rich Caucasian owners of the house would hide jewelry or other valuable items in their house. When their maid would find it and keep it (because they needed the money), they would call the cops and have them arrested. My dad also mentioned that his grandparent came by boat (I think). I'm also pretty sure my mom mentioned that her (possibly great) grandmother is Native American. That is all I know about my heritage. I know, very sad.

Jaden L.

12/14/2016 01:10:26 am

Even though you don't know that much about your heritage, from what you said there seems to be a very interesting story to it.

Jayden R.

12/14/2016 06:27:26 pm

I agree with Jaden, it was interesting how you talked a little bit about what her job might've been.

Nicolle C.

12/14/2016 08:03:31 pm

I agree with Jaden. Even though you have little information about where you descended from it was still interesting to read about. I liked how you described what experience they might have gone though as a maid.

Amaris F.

12/13/2016 06:59:53 pm

My mom lived in Dominican Republic with her mother, father, and two sisters. My father lived with his mother, father, five sisters and one brother in D.R. as well. My mom says that one of the push factors were the fact that life in Dominican Republic was hard and dangerous. There was a lot of poverty and you never knew when you could be the next person to be killed or to end up broke. A pull factor was the fact that everyone talked about America. There was a lot more opportunity to really be something in the United States. My mom doesn't really remember what her early experiences were in the U.S. because she was three the first time she came here. My mom didn't work when she was a kid, but the first job she wasn't really an official job. she would just go outside and help her dad with his fruit stand. She would get 70 dollars a week and she would use that money to buy her school supplies since she only worked in the summer. Her first official job was in a factory at 15, where she packaged clothes with her aunt. She would get paid $100 dollars every week while working in the factory.

Amahri G.

12/13/2016 07:09:56 pm

Wow! Your mom worked really hard! Reading that she always used her money to but supplies. Nowadays when kids see 100 dollars they are ready to go to Providence Place Mall and blow it all on new shoes.That was interesting to read about your mother's stories. Thanks for sharing.

Chanel P.

12/13/2016 07:31:53 pm

I agree with what Amahri said, it's very true.

Deijah PP.

12/13/2016 08:05:01 pm

I can't believe that your mother made $100 dollars every week. That is so cool. I it so cool to read about our parents ad relatives lives as immigrants. It is cool learning about how your mother used to work at a fruit stand with your grandfather.

Carina S.

12/14/2016 12:36:23 pm

Your mom is a really hard worker! She must have been really determined to make something of herself.

Kevin G

12/15/2016 08:06:37 pm

Wow Amaris, it looks like your mom has worked a lot for you. You should be proud of her.

Chanel P

12/13/2016 07:02:17 pm

I remember I had an assignment about my parents' immigration story in the second grade. My parents are originally from the Dominican Republic, but not long ago I found out that my grandmother's father (on my mother's side) was from Puerto Rico and my grandfather's father (also on my mother's side) was from Spain. My parents were both born in the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. My grandmother on my mother's side was born in Puerto Plata and my grandmother from my father's side was born in San Cristóbal (also a part of the Dominican Republic).

My parents came to America shortly after they got married, when they were 21 years old. My dad had to start earning money in the DR, since my grandfather left them to go to America, and my grandmother also needed help with money. Once my dad, aunt, and uncle were adults, they came to Providence to live with their dad (my grandfather). When my dad came to America, my mom came a while later to live with him since they were in love. My mom tells me at first they were both really upset when they left their country because neither of them had family here, except for my grandfather. Back in the Dominican Republic, my mom worked with a travel agency. When she came here, she worked at an office as an accountant (she prepares taxes). My dad now works as a racing performance mechanic and he sometimes flies to Florida since he is also a race car driver.

Hearing my parents' immigration story really interested me because I wasn't very aware of what their experience was like. It also made me realize that a lot of immigrants come to the U.S. for similar reasons.

Amaris F.

12/14/2016 12:35:52 pm

I really like how it seems like your family came one at a time, like a domino effect or something. I also find so sweet how your mom came to the U.S. since they were in love

Aileen S.

12/14/2016 10:41:48 pm

I like how you made that conclusion about immigrants at the end.

Amahri G.

12/13/2016 07:03:56 pm

My step-dad told me about his parents immigration. His parents came from Columbia both father and mother. He was born in America however. More specifically Providence RI. He says his parents were pulled here for a better opportunity. What made his mother leave was his grandmother and everyone else in the family were moving to America. Her rational was that there are better jobs, more money to make, and the thought of less oppression he also said. He also adds in Columbia you are either very poor or very rich. His parents arrived in about the 70's. He notes that he doesn't know much about his dad. He left at an early age. Therefore I can't really get information about his dad. Some early experiences his parents experienced were language problems. They had to learn English and adapt to culture. The type of work his mother was working in the medical field. She wanted to be a doctor but she couldn't afford to at the time. That was pretty much it. My mom went somewhere so I couldn't ask her. My blog was an interview like style.

12/13/2016 07:24:51 pm

Deijah PP.

12/13/2016 07:56:14 pm

My mother's side of my family came from Cambodia. My mother's side of the family was alive during the Khmer Rouge Regime. Nearly three million people died during this war. My mom and her family had a lot of struggles in Cambodia like her other five siblings dying of starvation or because of the war. her and her family also had to win a lottery to make it to America. The push factors that made them leave Cambodia was obviously the war and the pull factor was that they wanted a better life. When my mom arrived in America she was 3 years old and it was the year of 1981. She obviously did not work because she was to young. For the rest of my moms life she was in America her sister was born in Cambodia and her brother was born later. When she got older she had to help take care of her brother and sister and she had to also go to school.

Learning about my moms immigration story had made me think about how lucky I am to be in America(sometimes when you don't think about what is happening with the african american community). I am glad that I did not have to experience what she went through.

Ger L.

12/13/2016 09:29:47 pm

I feel you Asian sister, my mom and dad had suffered just as much. I can relate to you a lot. ( I think it's because we are both Asian)

Sophia A.

12/14/2016 12:00:48 am

Lol Ger.

Quincy G.

12/13/2016 10:07:08 pm

Your mother's story also makes me feel lucky to be in America. I couldn't imagine the hard times that her family had to go through during the war.

Derik T.

12/13/2016 10:46:30 pm

Wow, I couldn't imagine what I would've done if I was in your mother's family with a war like that going on. I am extremely grateful that I live in America where I don't have to worry about wars affecting the way I live.

Sophia A.

12/14/2016 12:04:10 am

I love hearing the story about how she came here because knowing her now she is such a cool person. I am very happy that she was lucky enough to come here to America.

Amaris F.

12/14/2016 12:36:53 pm

Oh cool! My mom came when she was 3 too!

Jayden R.

12/14/2016 06:31:02 pm

That must've been really hard.

Tessah A.

12/14/2016 10:27:00 pm

Very interesting story even though it is also unfortunate.

Maeve C.

12/13/2016 08:19:15 pm

I’m mostly Irish, German, Dutch, and Welsh. My uncle had put together a big binder full of my family's history dating back to 1691. My family's history is pretty confusing because like some cases, not everyone immigrated to America at the same time. On my dad’s side, I am the 4th generation to be born in America, and on my mom’s side I am the 5th generation to be born in America.

I am going to start by breaking down my dad’s side. On my grandmother’s side, my great great grandparents immigrated from Ireland. My great grandfather’s ancestor was on one of the navy ships during the American revolution as a “deck-boy’ of some sort in 1776. My great grandfather’s family has been in America since before the American Revolution. They came here from England and Holland most likely. On my grandfather’s side, my great grandparents immigrated from Ireland. His family came in 1929 after the Irish Civil War. After any war, time were tough, and they were basically starving. They came to America to work and they sent money to their families in Ireland. My great grandma worked as a domestic servant and then became a cook. My great grandfather worked on the railroads and in the box company, which made cardboard boxes. They came here separately and didn’t know each other. They met in a citizenship class, while they were trying to become American citizens. My great grandparents raised a family in New Haven and lived a mostly Irish and Italian, working-class neighborhood. A little fun fact, my great grandmother’s cousin, Stephen Casey, was know as the crusher. He came to America in the 1930’s to become, and became the wrestling champion of the world. He then went onto own a bar in Boston.

Next is my mother’s side of the family. On my grandmother's side, my great great great great great grandfather came to America from Germany in 1790. His family’s last name was originally Ludwig, but was later changed to Lewis, like many immigrants that we read about in our book. Later, on my grandmother's dad’s side, my great great grandfather came to America in 1869. On my grandfather’s side, my great grandparents came from Ireland and Wales. I don’t know as much about my mom’s side but I hope to find out more about them.

Liam Shibles

12/14/2016 09:21:45 am

This is really interesting Maeve. I like how you managed to dig up so much information about your family's history.

Chanel P.

12/14/2016 12:53:42 pm

I like how you added so much information about your family.

Yasira p.

12/14/2016 07:37:41 pm

I liked how you explained and described your parents/grandparents information a lot. I could tell you really dug deep for you information and you put a lot of time into this.

Liam Shibles

12/13/2016 08:28:29 pm

On my dad’s side, my ancestors left Scotland to come to America. They left in the early 1800’s and traveled by boat. They ended up settling in Maine and became farmers. The farm that my dad lived on as a kid was the farm his ancestors originally settled on.

On my maternal great-grandfather’s side, my ancestors left Italy to come to America. He arrived in America in the mid 1930’s. A pull factor was he wanted to work in America. His brothers had come before him and helped him find a job and a home in New York. He became a farmer in New York. His family left Italy because they only things his family could grow were grapes and olives. This made them very poor. So they also came to America because of money problems.

On my maternal grandmother’s side, my ancestors came from Ireland. The people who emigrated were my great grandmother’s great grandparents. They left Ireland because of the potato famine. Also because they couldn’t make enough money to support themselves in Ireland. They came to the U.S because they knew they could get jobs and support their family. My great-great-great-great grandfather transported goods in Manhattan using a horse drawn carriage. His wife didn’t work.

Kevin G

12/13/2016 08:43:27 pm

Both my mom and dad were born in Mexico. I was born here in the United States. Back in Mexico, both my parents didn’t get much educations. My dad stopped going to school when he finished the 8th grade to work with my grandfather. My mom stopped when she was in 6th grade and couldn’t go because it was to expensive. Her dad(my grandfather) wasn’t really around because he drank too much. When my mom was 15, her dad died because of drinking too much alcohol. They both had to work hard to help out their family. Sometimes they were forced to do things they didn’t want to do(Personal things). A push factor my parents wanted to leave home was to make money and send it back to their families. My dad arrived in 1997 illegally. It only took him once to get here. He already knew some people who lived here so he stayed with them. Then my mom came in 2000, it took her two tries to get here because she got caught the first time. When she came here, my dad helped her a lot(My parents knew each other in Mexico).

A pull factor was that there was jobs in the U.S. They both had one thing in mind. They wanted better lives. They wanted to get jobs and make some money to send back to their parents. None of them knew English so it was pretty hard for them to adapt to the place. My dad was the one who learned English first just so that he can work and understand people. When he came here, I have heard him say that he was scared to be by himself because he didn’t know any English. My mom wasn’t really scared but sad because she had to leave her family. She was nervous that she wouldn’t find a job. In the end everything went well. My dad worked for some time and then got promoted as supervisor like in 3 years. My dad is the one who helped my mom get her first job. As time passed my mom stopped working, she had my brother and I and is now living happily. My dad, is still working very hard everyday for us. The one wish both my parents ask for me is to get a good educations and live a better life than they had.

Abygail G

12/14/2016 05:38:58 pm

A lot of this stuff sounds pretty personal, so props for sharing it. It's really interesting how hard it sounds like your family worked to get where they are.

Nicolle C.

12/14/2016 07:55:46 pm

This was interesting. Your parents really worked hard to get to where they are now.

David G.

12/14/2016 08:56:02 pm

I agree with Aby a lot of this sounds really personal.

And your Parents must've had a really hard time coming here and getting started.

$tephe D.

12/31/2016 03:36:42 pm

Wow that's really personal, like Aby said. It's cool that you shared that. But tell your parents that they are the most persistent people and it really paid off. I love that they both helped each other out, too.

Ger L.

12/13/2016 09:26:31 pm

My mom and dad were born in Thailand and escaped from the Vietnam war at a very young age. My dad was born in 1960 and my mom was born in 1965, so there is a 5 year gap between the two of them. My great grandfather from my dad's side, which I never got to meet, fought in the Vietnam war. Growing up my dad never really had parents, while on the other hand my mom had her mom and dad. My mom and dad got married in Thailand, and had 2 kids. By the time there was a 3rd kid they have migrated to the U.S., the reason they went to the U.S., was because they were refugee so if they didn't move they would have been killed. My grandparents arrived in the U.S., so we decided to follow them. In 2007 my grandpa had passed away, 2 years later so did my grandma.

Like I have said a push was the Vietnam War, and a pull was the possibility that America offered to us. They arrived in 1988, and they were very shocked, by many things like the weather. They also came from a refugee camp. When they first arrived they worked in the textile factory, which is a place that make fabrics. They didn't know much English at the time of their arrival. My parents had sponsors from a catholic church who helped them with settling in the U.S., then they had to be on their own after that.

Gianny S

12/13/2016 10:05:14 pm

I read to my mother your families immigration story and she really enjoyed. It's really cool how different and interesting everybody's immigration story is. My parents lived in a very poor country while others parents were experiencing war.

Gianny G

12/13/2016 09:48:34 pm

My mother was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She lived with her parents and sister until she was 9 years old. Because of the poor economy, it was a lot of peoples goals to enter the United States do to the job opportunities and to live the American Dream. When she was 9 years old, she immigrated along with her father to the United States. Via her paternal grandmother, on July 20, 1994, they were both able to legally enter the United States by airplane. Her mother was left in Dominican Republic causing my grandfather to work hard to be able to support his wife and younger daughter, who was 2 years old. My grandfather started working in a jewelry factory getting paid approximately $5 an hour.

My grandma was able to legally enter the United States in the year 2000, along with my moms two other sisters. Here they were all able to join and continue as a family. My mother proceeded to attend school, including college, and became a successful Registered Nurse.

Quincy G

12/13/2016 10:00:05 pm

On my mother's side, her family immigrated from Cape Verde. My great grandmother's father moved here around the years 1917 to 1920. When he arrived, he was in his late teens and came alone. When he got here, he stayed with relatives. He worked as a longshoreman, which is a person who loads and unloads ships. His family sent him to America, because they was poor and his parents didn't want him to live in those conditions. They also felt like he'll get a better education and will have a better life in America, rather than Cape Verde.

(My family doesn't know a lot of information about this)

Derik T.

12/13/2016 10:26:53 pm

I asked my mom about our ancestors on her side of the family. She said that my grandparents, from Guatemala, came to the U.S. in 1982. When they came they did not know any English, had low pay, worked in factories, and had no rights. If there were ever problems at their jobs, they couldn't say anything otherwise they were threatened to be deported. When they came they weren't completely lost like many of the other immigrants because they had friends that would help and support them. The push was that there was no opportunity to get substantial income back in Guatemala, there were unsafe living conditions, and they were struggling to keep afloat. The pull was that there was a promise to have a better life and get money so they could support family members in Guatemala. Fast forward 34 years, they are legal residents, own a home, and have the means to help out others in need.

When it comes to my dad's side of the family, I believe my ancestors came directly from Africa. I think I would be safe to say that they were pushed onto a slave ship with the destination being the colonies. My grandparents and great grandparents grew up in Georgia and South Carolina. My grandfather, Samuel, states that he remembers his mom carrying him while working in the cotton fields. around 1951. The racial relations were really bad so he moved to Rhode Island along with his dad when he was 4 years old in search for work. They stayed with his aunt until his dad found a job. My great grandmother worked at a laundry facility and my great grandfather worked at Electric Boat.

Fiona R.

12/13/2016 10:55:45 pm

My ancestry is very very confusing since I am just so many things! My father is mainly German and Portuguese, while my mom is Ghanian and Cherokee. It is very difficult to trace back all the way to the originals who were from Ghana since they were slaves and are not known a lot about. The main thing we know is that I am a 5th generation Ghanian. They were brought here as slaves in the late 1800s and were sent to Kentucky. They worked on a plantation with Native Americans as well. Kentucky was one of the few states that mixed slaves of different ethnicities. They worked under torturous conditions and rarely had breaks. They were treated terribly and in result the husband became abusive and also very mentally ill. My great grandmas family secretly crossed the border into Ohio, which was a free state and settled in Cleveland where that side of the family still resides. Somewhere along the way though, my great great great grandfather had children with a Cherokee women at the plantation where he labored. A cool fun fact was that my great great uncle "Leon" was the first black mail carrier in the United States!

Jazzy D.

12/14/2016 08:26:34 pm

You have a cool background.

Sophia A.

12/13/2016 11:58:49 pm

Very interesting story.

Sophia A.

12/14/2016 12:10:21 am

My mom was living in her state in Nigeria but decided to move to the United States. She had recently graduated the University of Lagos in Lagos, Nigeria. When she moved to the United States, it wasn’t because of a war or the fact that they were poor. She simply just wanted to get a job in America. After moving, she got her first job at a place called Tim Hortons while going to school at Rhode Island College (no push factor).

My dad also lived in Nigeria but moved before going to college there. He moved because he wanted the education from America and he got it at Providence College. While at Providence College, he had his first job at Bess Eaton Donuts.

Sophia A.

12/14/2016 12:11:34 am

(My father also had no push factor)

Amida A

1/10/2017 08:05:34 pm

Cool. My mom also came to America for the same reason as your dad!

Jaden L

12/14/2016 01:01:20 am

My mother is 100% Cape Verdean, and my father is 75% Cape Verdean and 25% Portuguese. My mother family dates back to the beginning to the colonization of Cape Verde to have lived there. My father's grandmother was Portuguese and had moved to Cape Verde and married a native. I don’t know much about my father's immigration to America, so I’ll talk about my mother. She and my grandmother came to America when she was 11. They came to America so my mother could have a better education. During her early years in America my mom grew up in the projects of RI. Even with the location and lack of money, my mom made the best of it. She already had cousins in America, so she would hang out with them and help them with their chores. In school my mom was an excellent student, which surprised a lot of teachers. When told that she should join an ESL class my mother refused, due to the fact that she spoke better english then most of the class. My mother started working when she was 14. A big majority of her earliest jobs were waitress and she did them very well. The one that real stuck out to me was a job at a Chicken restaurant where she had lied and said she was 15 and when they found out she had already accepted another job and was quitting. From there she graduated high school, got a full ride to B.C. (Boston College), did her graduate at Lesley University, marriage my dad and had me.

12/14/2016 06:28:13 am

Abygail G

12/14/2016 06:07:04 pm

My dad's side of the family is Swedish, Irish, Scottish, and a mix of other European countries. His mom, my grandma, has a direct link to Sweden with her own grandma (my great great grandma). She came as a nanny for a rich family in 1920, when Narragansett was like Newport with all the wealthy people there. She taught herself how to speak, read, and write in English from the radio and newspapers. She really didn't know anything about America, and didn't even speak English to the kids she watched. She eventually got married. Also on that side of the family, my great grandfather was mostly Scottish. Through him marrying someone, we have connections as far back as relatives on the Mayflower and records of people settling here in 1640. As for my grandfather, he's fully Irish. We don't know when they came here, but the push factor there was probably the potato famine. They ended up changing our last name (from something else to Goodwin) to avoid any harassment from others and other kinds of discrimination. My great great great grandfather (I think) on that side also served in the civil war and lived sixty years with a bullet in his head.

My mom's side doesn't have as much diversity. It's all French Canadian and a tiny bit Blackfoot Native American. Her mom (my late grandma) was born during the depression and was part of a set of twins. They were really poor at the time and had a 3 bedroom for the two parents and eight kids after the twins were born. The twins were too small and were actually kept in the oven to keep warm since they were born in a snowstorm and they had to wait for a doctor to come. She ended up having to drop out of school in 10th grade and worked in a factory in order to help support the family while her twin stayed in school. My grandma's parents had two kids when they originally came here, and it was up to the kids to teach them English from school. We don't really know why they came down here, but a lot of French Canadians did, although it was probably for the promise of “prosperity” and “opportunity” in the US. As for my grandfather on this side, we don't know much about him at all. His family came down before 1900 and settled in central falls. He served two tours of duty, and went to Vocational school to learn mechanics.

Jazzy D.

12/14/2016 08:25:31 pm

I didn't know you were Irish. Maybe you, and Niall Horan are cousins! Cool beans!

Jayden R.

12/14/2016 06:26:06 pm

I am about 50 percent African American, from my dad’s side of the family and on my mom's side I am 25 percent Italian and 25 percent Irish. I’m not sure about my story of where my African descent came from and my dad doesn’t know that much either. But I know that my mom gets her Irish ancestry from her father's side, but we’re still not sure if there are any members of our family who are Irish. But about my Italian side I know that my great-great grandmother moved from Italy to America, sadly she is dead now so there is not a lot to really say about her, I don’t think my mother even knows much about her just that she moved her from Italy. It’s too bad that I don’t know that much about my ancestry, but I plan to find out.

Yasira P.

12/14/2016 07:35:05 pm

My mom was born in the United States but her parents were born in D.R. She says her ancestors came from the Domincan Republic. They were from Africa and Spain. A push factor that my mom said was that her family wanted to leave the Dominican Republic beacuse they wanted to better their life and their familys life. To better their life they wanted to find better oppurtunities for work. The did factory work. They didnt choose to come to America they were forced to due to poverty,misery,unemployment, poor living conditions and hoplessness. My dad came to the united states in 1989. He was about 8 years old. He moved from the Dominican Republic to New York with his mother.

Nicolle C.

12/14/2016 07:52:02 pm

My father lived in Guatemala. He would work at his family's store. He didn't earn a lot of money each week. He came to the U.S. on December 12, 1988. My dad said that one push factor was that here was a civil war happening in Guatemala. That meant it was very dangerous to be there. He also said that there was a lot of poverty. There was also a lot of crime and they weren't able to gain enough money to support your family. One of his main push factors was that two years before, my sister was born. They didn't want her living in those types of conditions. One of the pull factors was the way people would talk about America. It was one of the safest and wealthiest countries. He thought they would have a safer life in the U.S. and they could get more opportunities. When he first got here he said it was hard to adjust. In Guatemala it either rained and was hot or it was just hot. But he found it hard to adjust to the cold. He also had a hard time learning the language. His first job here was in a factory. He would do jewelry casting and then he was a mold maker. At the end of the week he would keep some money for himself and send the rest to my mom and sister.

Jonathan V.

12/14/2016 09:54:03 pm

I think that alot of people had your dad's pull factor where people said that America was a great and rich place to be. My father had the same idea about that and both my parents had the same idea to send money. They sent money to my family in their countries.

Jazzy D.

12/14/2016 08:24:25 pm

My mom was born in Puerto Ricco, and my dad was born in New York. Both my parents are legal citizens, and my grandma was a legal citizen too. My family members who are not ciizens are still in Dominican Republic. Both my parents were born citizens. My mom didn't work, because she was too young, but she would help my grandparents out around the house. She was very helpful, and she would pick up my uncle's, and cook dinner. My dad's ancestors from his mother's side were from Virginia, and his ancestor's from his dad's side was South Carolina. His ancestors were forced to come here, because of slavery. That's all my parents know.

Robert R.

12/14/2016 10:01:31 pm

This is very interesting Jazzy

Melanie N.

12/14/2016 10:10:47 pm

Great background knowledge Jazz. I can also relate with the helping out at home part, my mom, being the oldest, helped a lot in the house. For example, she cooked a lot of the dinners for herself, her three younger siblings, and her parents. Her mother wouldn't always have time to make food, so she would do it sometimes to help out.

Lesley

12/14/2016 08:42:58 pm

My mom was born in Suchitepequez Guatemala along with her two sisters. My grandfather and my grandmother were also born there. My two aunts and mother lived in Guatemala until they came over to Boston in October 1985. My mom was around the age of 9, her youngest sister was 2, and her older sister was 14 when first arrive in the united states. My grandfather was the first to come to the United States in 1970, while my mom, her sisters, and her mother stayed in Guatemala. My mom says that living in Guatemala was difficult. My grandparents didn't have a job or a place to call home. This was one of the reasons my grandfather decided to come to America for a better life. Once he was settled in America my grandmother decided to come here and find a good job and saved up in order to get legal immigration papers for her children and eventually brought them. They ended up moving to New York for the majority of their life. All my aunts and mom grew up there. My grandparents worked for the same company since they arrived to New York and finally retired 3 years ago. All that hard work paid off and they are very proud. Now my grandparents enjoy there life by coming back and forth from Guatemala to here. They stay for at least 6 months there and come back here for about 3 months.

My dad is from El Salvador. He was born in San Salvador City in 1976. He has a very similiar situation as my mom, coming for a better life. He come with his father around 1985 and left his mother in El Salvador. They arrived in California and lived there for about 5 year with his father, waiting for his mother. Once my grandmother made it to the United States, she took my dad to Boston where she and my grandfather live now. She had a successful business making authentic Salvadorian food. She ended up selling the business and staying with us. My grandfather is enjoying his new life with his family.

Camren D.

12/14/2016 09:37:44 pm

My Mother and grandma came from Liberia but i’m not sure where my father came from. My Grandmother along with her children left the country because of bad rulership and it was there was a lot of war going on so of course, it wasn’t really safe. When they first arrived in New York they were surprised. My mother thought it was full of skyscrapers and mansions, but were proven wrong when they moved to Rhode Island. They got all the way here by driving. My Grandma’s first first job was a factory job. They used to pack jewelry and assembly line, and tend to the machines. She got 3.50 per hour. After that she got a nurse's aide job and she got 5.00 per hour. Later on she opened a grocery store, and then she opened her own restaurant. She had it for 17 years and it's still going now. That’s all I they know.

Jonathan V.

12/14/2016 09:49:40 pm

I interviewed my mother about this. She didn't really know most of her ancestors and I barely know my grandparents so we both don't know who was the first to come to America. She talked about how she wanted to come to the U.S. because she wanted to visit and maybe live here for a bit. This meant that she could only come if she left college and she made that sacrifice and came here anyway. When she came here she met my father and I was made. She started working on jewelry making and she had a somewhat good wage. Since my father helped it sort of didn't matter. My mother did mostly jewelry but my father did a lot of other typed of work.

My father isn't here to answer exactly so I'll do it by memory. The first thing I remember he worked as was a cleaning service for churches and other things. He used to go during the week when mass wasn't happening and clean the entire church (like a janitor). The other thing he worked as was a nighttime cleanup crew for parking lots. This was around the time when he had to work in jobs that wouldn't cause much suspicion because he was an immigrant. My mother was legal my father was not. At some point my father made a mistake and was sent to court. Through his trial the judge found out that he was illegal and was deported. His whereabouts are unknown, by the way.

$tephe D.

12/31/2016 03:59:51 pm

That's really personal stuff. But, I'm glad you were brave enough to share that about your dad. But it does seem like a few of our parents worked at a jewelry factory at some time.

Robert R.

12/14/2016 10:00:18 pm

My mom doesn't know much of our ancestors besides the fact that she's originally from Puerto Rico and her family been there since all the way back till over 200 years ago.
On my dad's side though is that my family bloodline goes all the way back the the Vikings. That's the widow's peak I have on my head. My family was in Italy. When they moved over to America. It was tough for them. I was told once that one of the uncles in my family tree created a stealth bomber. That's as far as I know as of right now.

Melanie N.

12/14/2016 10:03:16 pm

My family (My mom’s side) had went from Puerto Rico to America in 1994. My mother had lived in Dominican Republic from birth to seven years old. She moved to Puerto Rico when she was seven and after another seven years had passed, they came to America. So, my mother (at 14 years old), my uncle, my aunts, and my grandparents had travelled by plane to Rhode Island. They have been here for 22 years and counting. A push factor for them to come to America was that my grandparents had wanted a better life for their four kids; “They were looking for the American dream.” The pull factor for them was that hey already had some of their family was already here so they decided to join them in America/ Rhode Island. Since they came so early, her and her siblings didn’t work, they were students, but her parents did work though. My grandmother worked as a factory worker, she assembled jewelry from an assembly line, for ten years. She still has the same job today, but she does packaging for products now (Ex.Febreze). She operates the machines. As for my grandfather, he worked as a business owner, his own business. He’s a self employed truck driver and he’s been doing this for 22 years (all throughout being in America). They both continue to have these jobs today. As for my mother, her first job was working with my grandmother in the factory, she did this for six years. Two years with jewelry and four years with packing. Later on, she became a medical claim adjuster, she has been doing it for 12 years and still continues to do it now. She started working as that when she was 24. Early experiences were tough for my mom, everything was so new to her. She had no clue how to speak the language. She was used to the hot weather from Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, so the change in climate was difficult. The environment was also hard to take in. “They looked weird. They looked like paper houses”, being that she was so used to cement made houses from both Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Today, she has a 14 year old daughter who is telling her immigration story.

Aileen S.

12/14/2016 10:36:19 pm

I like your ending and your whole explanation overall.

Tessah A.

12/14/2016 10:21:49 pm

My mother is an immigrant from Haiti. She first arrived to the U.S in December of 1993. She describes her first experiences as brutal. The language barrier made it frustrating to be here. Since she was black and couldn't speak english, she experienced a lot of racism. My mother knew that she had to work when she came here so her first job was a newspaper woman. She also focused on learning the english language. A little later on in her life, she moved to Rhode Island. She had my her first child (my brother) and had to stop working for a while. When she did return to work, it was with people with behavioral problems. Eventually she moved onto working in the health field.

For my mother, some push factors were the fact that Haiti had political instability. At that time, many people were being killed and she didn't feel safe. Her family and the need for security and a better life is what attracted her to
America.

Aileen S.

12/14/2016 10:33:09 pm

Both of my parents were born in the Dominican Republic. They also lived their whole childhood there. Unlike my father, my mother came here when she was about 17. My father stayed in D.R because he had a good job. My mom was young and pregnant so she found help here in the U.S. She had a few jobs while me and my sister were being taking care of by family members. My mom worked as a lunch lady in a cafeteria. Some push factors that my mom faced was the language that she had to adapt to and the way Americans do things. Some pull factors that my mother faced was that she needed to be somewhere with opportunities and me and my sister would be citizens and we wouldn't have to struggle with the same thing she has been through.

Marquis M

12/15/2016 07:08:28 am

Okay so my great grandmother is from Virginia and my mother said that she used to pick cotton for money and make 33 cent per pound. My great grandfather was in the army and I'm guessing that it was because in 1942 world war 2 was getting ready to start. I know that I am a third generation from my mothers side. I don't know which part of the world that I descend from. But I'm guessing that we were forced here to work. In conclusion I/my mom really don't
know about our ancestors that much but I'm guessing they were some hard working people.

Sebastian

12/15/2016 09:09:54 pm

I know that I am 50% African American from my dads and my mom is a little French and Irish. I really don't where my dad came from in Africa but I know that my grandmother knows. Both of my parents were born in America and lived there their whole life. On my dads side, I think my great grandfather and grandmother used to pick cotton in Africa somewhere and I think they were forced here to work in the U.S. I don't really know about my mom side and she doesn't either and that's all I really know about my ancestors. The reason I think I am here is because my ancestors came here because of work.

$tephe D.

12/31/2016 03:33:21 pm

My dad came to America because his wife was American and she went to Columbian because she needed to go to school there, since she was a really bad girl in America. They married in Columbia in 1978, and she went back to the U.S. to get my dad's papers done for legalization and requested him to come. He came to meet his son and he came in 1979. My dad said the worst experience was having to change from hot cities to the cold climate here and it was a challenge learning the language, since he spoke Spanish in Columbia, and trying to understand the point of view from people in the U.S. His first job was in a jewelry factory and he learned how to weld jewelry. He got paid $7.25 an hour. He worked in hospitals, sometimes as security, and he worked at Honeywell. Then he became a DJ for 23 years in Latino nightclubs and sometimes at a radio station. He works now as a dog trainer.

Marlon M.

1/4/2017 12:38:28 pm

Both my parent were born in Guatemala. My dad came to the USA when he was 11 years old. He came to the country because in Guatemala the jobs payed low pay. My dad was working in the fields at the age of 6. He rarely went to school and barely got money from work. He came to the USA so he can have a better education and better future. My grandpa thought that money will be needed too. So, he went to school and worked at DD after school. My mom came to the USA to have a better life in general. She came with my brother and grandma. She wanted to have a better education and life. Plus, she didn't want to have kids suffuring in a poor country. Especially how poor she was, she didn't want her kids to suffer. She used to work cleaning houses and earned a good amount of pay.

Jack M.

1/4/2017 01:15:11 pm

My great great grandparents on my father’s side of the family were both born in Italy, but they got in trouble with the law and had to move to England. My great grandfather was then born in England in 1905. He later moved back to Italy, and moved to America in 1918. His family moved to America to make a better life for themselves. When my grandfather's father came to America he was very overwhelmed by everything that he saw and experienced. He was also very scared, mainly because he could not speak a word of English. After being established in America for a short while, my great grandfather became a sign painter. His wife, my grandfather’s mother, was born in Providence, and met my great grandfather because they lived in the same neighborhood.

My other set of great grandparents on my father’s side were both born in Bari, Italy. My grandmother’s mother moved to America in 1910, also because her family wanted a better life. When she first came to America, she was given a job in a textile mill, and even though she could not speak any english, that did not matter as much for her because she moved to an ethnic enclave, Federal Hill. My grandmother's father moved to America when he was roughly 16 years old which would've been about 1901. He moved to America to make a better life for himself. He was well educated and could speak both Italian and English. When he came to America he was looking for work, so he learned how to bake, and eventually became a baker. He met his wife because his sister worked in a mill along with my grandmother's mother, and they became close friends. So, it was only a matter of time before my grandmother’s parents met.

Irca S.

1/4/2017 07:45:48 pm

My mother was born and raised in the rural part of Guatemala in a farm, and immigrated to America when she was twenty four. According to my mom, living in Guatemala with two sisters and one brother was fun, full of happiness, and full of freedom. There was fresh fruit and animals all around where she would go and pick her fresh eggs, vegetables, fruits, milk and much more. In Guatemala, she was an elementary school teacher for six years and she had to travel to the city part of Guatemala in order to become a teacher. She was working with an organization that was sponsored by the United States which helped kids that lived on the streets. My mother got to come here by using a VISA. Some of the reasons why she came to America was because of the poverty in the country, and she wanted a better future, better opportunities and education for her family. When she arrived in America, a big issue she faced was the new language and getting to learn it. Eventually, she learned how to speak English by taking free classes at a public library. My mother first started working at a jewelry factory and getting paid minimum per hour. She was laid off from her job, and then she decided to get enrolled in a program through the state for CNA (certified nursing assistant) classes. After that, she got her first nursing job at Providence Community Health Center. She worked there for nine years and accomplished her medical assistant in phlebotomy. Later on, she got another job at Women & Infants (where she currently works at today) and works with premature babies.

David G.

1/5/2017 01:17:45 pm

Both of my parents are from Medellin, Colombia. My mom came to the US at the age of 13 with her mom and her 15 year old sister. A push factor for my grandmother to make the decision to move her family all the way to the US was that my mom’s father died in Colombia. My mom lived in the US for about 1 year but my grandmother could not become accustomed to the way of living in the US and they ended moving back to Colombia. While my mom was in the US she met my dad in high school but she had to leave him and move back to Colombia with her mom and sister. After 8 years of living in Colombia her sister decided to come back to the US. After my mom’s sister moved back to the US my grandmother decided to move back to the US and then 5 months later my mom moved back here. When she came back to the US she met my dad again. Both my dad and mom came to the US legally. After a year of being back in the US my mom and dad got married and then 2 years later I came along and then my brother. When my mom arrived in the US she could speak a little english and she started to work in a airplane sensor factory. Where she had so saughter the pieces together. She worked in that factory for a year but then moved to another factory because of better pay. She worked there for 8 years but the company moved to China when the economy was really bad in the US. My mom decided to go back to school and she studied medical billing and the factory paid for her education

Amida A.

1/10/2017 08:01:17 pm

My family comes from Ikot Obiokoi, Akai Ibom State, Nigeria. My mom lived with my grandma and her husband, she lived with her grandma too. She also lived with 2 sisters and 3 brothers in a brick house. My mom helped grow all the food they ate in my grandma's farm. When my mom was a kid she played outside, climbed trees, and slept on bunk beds.

My mom was able to come to America because my grandpa lived in Ohio and helped here come over. When she first came to America, she stayed in Detroit, then stayed in Ohio to study in college. Originally my mom wanted to become a Doctor but my grandpa told her no.

My mom's first job was working at a nursing home. She felt bad for the elders because they seemed lonely, and there children barely visited. Nursing homes were new to my mom because back in Nigeria, the old people lived with their children, so they could take care of them and be with them. At her job she was an assistant nurse. She would also talk to the elderly about here journey to American, and tell them about Nigeria. She sang, to them, and gave them comfort. But other people didn't like my their. They would spit at her and call her 'Nigger'.

On the other hand, my mom had some adjusting to do because so many things were new to her. One time my mom screamed because she thought she ripped out a man's teeth, only to realize he was wearing dentures. Another thing that was new to my mom was the escalators because that wasn't a thing in Nigeria. That's probably why people thing Nigerians are afraid of escalators. Another thing my mom was shocked by was how much skin people would show when walking down the street. (She still doesn't like that). Which is probably why, again, there are so many videos of Nigerians yelling at people saying they don't were enough clothes. Another thing my mom didn't like was that so many people would smoke on the street.

Living in America, my mom had to get used to people speaking so fast because she couldn't keep up. She was also shy about here accent too. My mom also had to get used to the food. And basically the whole 'American lifestyle'. My mom had always wanted to come to America because of the experience. She would read about America in textbooks and watch movies about Americans. She liked the technology, cars, and felt like American was an Imaginary world she had needed to go see.

My mom came to America because of the education opportunity. She liked the education system and the fact that there were current textbooks and the internet. She also liked that there were so many libraries too. My mom says that coming to American had been a culture shock and says she still has much to get used to as times are changing.

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