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
Latest Stories
A Rebellion Against Silence
Sindy Avila-Gutierrez looks back undaunted on her life as an undocumented immigrant. “I’ve always been a rebel in that way,” she says. “You tell me
Struggling to Stay in the U.S. of A.
Sometimes persistence pays off–especially when wending one’s way through the morass of the U.S. immigration system. Zhou Fang learned this lesson first-hand
East-West Encounters
The first time Susan Chan saw snow was also the first time she spent a winter in the United States, away from her childhood home in Hong Kong.
Featured Stories
Gaza Is Full of Dreams
Living in Gaza — one of the most dangerous places on earth — the Al Ghussein family learned years ago that where there is smoke,
History Keeps People Thinking
Jack Boas counts his career as historian as beginning at conception. “Or maybe even before,” he suggests. “I could not avoid it, as a child of
It’s All a Matter of Perspective
His left arm lay dangling from his body. The angle was alarming–entirely unnatural. His midsection was in shreds, ripped apart by Serbian shrapnel that had punctured
Latest Podcast Episodes
Something Greater in Life
Vasyl Matsyuk, a Yale Divinity student, grew up in the fully Democratic Ukraine only to see it ravaged by a war with Russia that began a year ago in February. […]
A Different Kind of Inner Calling
Balamurali Balu, who goes by Bala, immigrated to the United States from Southern India. He completed his PhD at Georgia Tech.
Conversation Series: 200% American
Mitzi Asai Loftus and her son Toby talk frankly about her memories of growing up in Hood River, Oregon; her childhood incarceration
Featured Movies
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, to America.
To Bear Witness: Even in Chaos
Teenagers when they met and fell in love, Abdullah and Hatidza did not let war stop them. After Abdullah joined the Bosnian army to fight for his country,
The Immigrant Story Live!
Temple Romance – Live on Stage
Temple Romance goes to South Indian classical flute melodies blended with a strong string and chorale harmonies. Bala’s inspiration for this piece is derived from
Magic Gem – Live on Stage
Magic Gem takes a classic Western melody and adapts it to an Eastern classical vibe using the Chinese erhu, played by Jerry Lin.
Hit the Strings – Live on Stage
Hit the Strings is based on a Middle Eastern musical scale and features the Japanese koto played by Masumi Timson. Many cultural influences flow between
What We Carried
Fabric, Nyarugusu, Tanzania
Jeanette Amisi Mmunga: when the world unravels before you and even your dreams are crumbling stones when everything you dare to touch is set on fire and all
Birth Certificate, Goma, DRC
Johana Amani: I lost my birth certificate while fleeing for safety from my home country Congo, DRC. I never thought I would lose my sense of belonging
Bowl, Central African Republic
Mariamou’s Abdoulye: It’s called tummude and we use it to hold milk. In the Fulani tradition we use it every morning to milking our cows or where we carry the […]