We are all Immigrants

“Of course, we couldn’t all come over on the Mayflower. But I got here as soon as I could, and I never wanted to go back.”

Anton Cermak

We are America

“Speaking different tongues, we nevertheless meet here today as brothers…Henceforth we have one country, one hope, one destiny”

Justice Nathaniel Bennett

These are our Stories

“One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say,

You’re not as alone as you thought.”

John Steinbeck

Read a Story

Latest Stories

Sankar Raman

My Heart Has Two Countries

Kseniia Hnatovska never kept up with the news. Instead, she was a planner. She loved scheduling vacations and weekend activities,  

Sankar Raman

Getting Down to Business

For Abiba Magba Magba, running a business was a means of survival.  Her mother taught her this while Magba was growing up in Bangui,  

Karen Weliky

Flavors From Home In A Suitcase

Ask almost any refugee from war-torn countries how they arrived on these shores, and at this specific place, and you will inevitably hear of radical choices  

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Featured Stories

Karen Weliky

Opportunity in Every Hurdle

Ng Lai Goon, eager to fit in with her American grade school peers, chose her American name, Sally, from an elementary school reading primer,  

Sankar Raman

Following Music to Freedom

It has always been music that has guided Ahmad Fanoos’ life. “My whole family liked music,” he explains. “And it was part of my life from a very early age.”

Sankar Raman

Finding Strength in a Complex Heritage

“Being 100% American means fully accepting your heritage — whatever it is,” Mitzi Loftus says, reflecting on her experience growing up in Oregon

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Live! Stories

Behind the Mountain: A Story

Naw Abikaila Ki (Nawbi) started life in a refugee camp in Thailand. As members of the ethnic minority, the Karen, Nawbi’s family has no territory to call their own  

I Am An American: I Do Belong Here

Growing up in Vietnam, Thao Nguyen always felt like an outsider. As one of 23,000 mixed-race children left behind by US servicemen,  

A Love Worth Fighting For

It took sneaking out of school for a coffee date, countless phone calls, a year of opening just one love letter a day, getting two families to agree  

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Latest Podcast Episodes

Jacqueline Pagano

The Immigrant Story Live Podcast II

Welcome to The Immigrant Story Live, where we feature stories from the stage. In each episode of this new series we weave together three stories that were originally

They Will be Free Soon

Veronika Levytska  and Ian Levytsky  grew up in Ukraine but dreamed of an easier life – away from the shadow of Russia – for themselves and their loved ones.

Sankar Raman

Pioneering Pilot Breaks Barriers

As a young woman growing up in a conservative society, Safia Ferozi overcame intense expectations and restrictions placed on women  

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Latest Conversations

It Takes a Yes from One Person

This episode brings together two remarkable women, both public servants. Sophorn Cheang is the director of Business Oregon, the economic development  

Life is a Work in Progress

What does a mental health journey look like? How can art, music, and therapy bring us to better self understanding and self love? In this episode, Portland Community

Sankar Raman

I Am An American – Panel Discussion

Panelists explored their experiences as Asian American women, offering personal reflections  as well as highlighting current xenophobia and intolerance against  

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Featured Movies

To Bear Witness: Closure

On a journey to come to terms with their losses, a group of Holocaust survivors from Portland, OR, travel together to six of the locations where concentration camps

To Bear Witness: Reconciliation

A survivor of the genocide in Rwanda when he was a teenager, Emmanuel Turanturanye has a theory about why he is alive: to tell rest of world what happened

To Bear Witness: Building Community

After the Khmer Rouge killed her husband, Saron’s mother gathered her three small children and made her way to a refugee camp in Thailand and, finally,  

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Live! Music

A Transatlantic Journey Home

Mimy’s composition traces the history of Afro music as it accompanied its people, who were enslaved and transported to the Caribbean  

Rimbognala: Echoes of Eden

“Rimbognala,” a Malagasy term, translates as “the leftover remnants of the forest.” This title serves as lament etched into the soul of the song and its composer, Mimy.  

Lomalilay: A Melody of Deepest Thanks

“Lomalilay” is a response to the welcome given in the first piece, banaike. The piano takes the spotlight, conveying the heartfelt response of the guests. 

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What We Carried

Jim Lommasson

Painted Letter #2, Berlin, Germany

Eva Rickles: This is the second letter from Peter, expressing the joy he felt to receive my parents’ response to his first letter written from Shanghai. 

Jim Lommasson

Painted Letter #1, Berlin, Germany

Eva Rickles: Jou and Peter’s Departure (Text below the letter) This picture depicts the exodus of friends of my parents who had to flee from Germany in 1938

Jim Lommasson

Photographs, Budapest, Hungary

Eva E. Aigner:  Our apartment became a house marked by a Jewish star, during the Holocaust. We were taken to the ghetto from here.

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