August 31, 2021, marked the last day of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. The world witnessed footage from Kabul’s airport of Afghans desperate to leave the war-ravaged country now under control of the Taliban. As the occupation ended, more than 122,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, including more than 5,400 U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

Two days prior, on August 29, 2021, the U.S. State Department had launched Operation Allies Welcome to help vulnerable Afghans resettle in the United States. The most likely method of entry will be “parole” after being vetted overseas. Parole is a temporary status granted for up to two years. Although parolees may have work authorization, they do not have immigration status or access to public benefits. Once paroled, Afghan nationals may be eligible to apply for immigration status, primarily a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) or asylum, both of which are severely backlogged and can take years to complete.

The SIV program was launched in 2008 to grant visas to Afghan and Iraqi nationals who worked for or on behalf of the U.S. government. Many SIV holders were interpreters and translators for the U.S. military, assisting American troops in carrying out delicate military operations. Many evacuees coming in the next year are expected to be given SIVs due to their work alongside the U.S. military.

The Biden administration plans to resettle 95,000 Afghans. This would nearly double the nearly 100,000 Afghans who moved to the United States from 1990 to 2020. Starting in 2010, SIV holders made up 67,995 of these individuals.

The State Department has identified an initial group of 37,000 evacuees to be resettled in the United States. As of September 2021, about 24,000 have already arrived, 23,000 are on U.S. military bases and 20,000 are waiting in other countries. States that have already resettled the largest number of Afghans over the last 20 years, such as California, which alone hosts one-third of Afghans resettled since 2001, Maryland, Texas and Virginia, will continue to receive the majority of these new evacuees. Massachusetts is expected to welcome and resettle 900 of this first group of Afghan evacuees.

The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute sourced the data below from the Refugee Processing Center and cross-referenced them with state-wide data collected by the Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants. The data shows that between fiscal years 2010 and 2016, 13,086 people from 59 countries were resettled in 132 cities and towns across Massachusetts, primarily from, in order of number of refugees from greatest to least, Iraq, Bhutan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burma. Only a fraction of this total was comprised of refugees from Afghanistan. The top destination cities were Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell and Lynn. Historically, displaced people have been resettled in places with the highest concentrations of their countrymates. It is likely that the Operation Allies Welcome evacuees will be resettled primarily in these aforementioned top cities.

Massachusetts Cities with Highest Rates of Resettlement, Fiscal Years 2010 – 2016

Number of Refugees by Country of Origin in Top Massachusetts Cities for Resettlement

Distribution of Refugees by Country of Origin in Top Massachusetts Cities for Resettlement

There are 13 refugee resettlement offices and affiliates in Massachusetts anticipating the arrival of Afghan evacuees. Not surprisingly, they are clustered in areas with the highest concentration of refugees.

Map of refugee resettlement offices and affiliates in Massachusetts anticipating the arrival of Afghan evacuees

= concentration of resettled Afghan refugees and immigrants

Although the Fiscal Year 2022 Continuing Resolution that was passed in September 2021 does include funding to provide arriving Afghans with resettlement services and supplemental funding to resettlement agencies, it expires on December 3, 2021, and is thus a temporary patch. The resettlement community is hoping that more robust spending will be included in the final budget to provide Afghan evacuees access to permanent protection, services and benefits. For now, the majority of evacuees will be arriving in Massachusetts with “parolee” status and depend on local not-for-profit and faith-based resettlement agencies and community organizations to help them transition to their new American lives.

The sustainability of this model depends on private support to facilitate job searches, job placement, school placement, English instruction, basic financial and civic education, and arrangement of medical and social services. This initial investment in helping Afghan evacuees become new Americans will likely pay off well for both the evacuees and the community at large. Looking at the example of refugees, several research findings indicate that on average, refugees pay taxes that far exceed the relocation costs and social benefits they receive. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found in 2017 that refugees are a net benefit to government revenues, bringing in $63 billion more in revenue to federal, state and local governments than they received in benefits from 2005 to 2014. The ILC’s calculations corroborate this finding as well. Refugees, who make up less than one percent of the population of Massachusetts, contributed nearly three percent of total state taxes paid in 2015.

Massachusetts expects to resettle 900 Afghans over the course of the next year. The economic and social contributions they will eventually make will not only outweigh the initial cost of resettlement but enrich the cultural landscape and strengthen local communities.

Books can transform, transport and inspire. Whether you’re a teacher trying to expand your classroom library, a parent looking to introduce their child to diverse perspectives or an adult who just wants a rich, interesting novel to read, you are bound to find something on this list that’s for you.

We’ve curated this list of books that are good reads and represent many facets of the immigrant experience, with an emphasis on books by authors who are immigrants themselves. We’ve also divided our selections by age groups, into picture books, elementary and middle grade books, young adult books and books for adults.  

If you’re more interested in finding a TV show, film or documentary, check out our collection of recommendations here. We hope you find something transformational, transporting or inspirational below! 

Jump to: Picture | Elementary and Middle Grade | Young Adult | Adult

A Different Pond

by Bao Phi and Thi Bui

Prose | Fiction

Caldecott-winning A Different Pond follows a Vietnamese father and son who go fishing for a day. It’s a simple, relatable premise that the author uses to explore cultural differences and connections within the family. The author emphasizes the affirming connection between father and son while still gently acknowledging the challenges both face.

All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel

by Dan Yaccarino

Prose | Fiction

All the Way to America follows a simple shovel as it’s passed down through many generations of an Italian American family. Each generation finds a new use for the tool, tracing the evolution of their immigration journey. The book is a wholesome embrace of a family tradition. 

Dreamers

by Yuyi Morales

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Dreamers is a great story for reluctant readers. The book beautifully depicts how Morales and her son see a world of opportunities appear for them when they find a library near their new home. The story is told from the mother’s perspective but is still accessible to a child.

Dumpling Dreams: How Joyce Chen Brought the Dumpling from Beijing to Cambridge

by Carrie Clickard and Katy Wu

Poetry | Nonfiction 

This charming picture book introduces young readers to an under-appreciated immigrant entrepreneur and chef, Joyce Chen. The story follows Chen as she comes to the United States and adapts her beloved Chinese recipes for her new circumstances, bringing fresh flavors and foods to her new community. Poetry brings a lyricism to the tale. 

The Keeping Quilt

by Patricia Polacco

Prose | Fiction

Beloved children’s book author Patricia Polacco tells her own family’s immigration story in this picture book. After immigrating to the United States, Great Grandma Anna turns her dress and babushka into a quilt in order to hold onto her heritage. The quilt gets passed down through the generations to the author, who discovers and shares the heirloom’s story. 

Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story

by Reem Faruqi and Lea Lyon

Prose | Fiction

Faruqi based this book on her own childhood experiences navigating Ramadan as a new immigrant to the United States from India. Lailah is fasting for Ramadan for the first time, but she doesn’t know how to explain it to her friends or avoid food in the cafeteria. She learns that adults can be more helpful and peers can be more accepting than Lailah expects.

The Little Black Fish

by Samad Behrangi

Prose | Fiction

This picture book has the distinction of being banned for more than 20 years in Iran for its pro-immigration messages. It’s also one of the few translated picture books to achieve widespread recognition. Told through allegory, The Little Black Fish follows a fish who dares to literally swim against the current to explore a wider world. 

Mango, Abuela, and Me

by Meg Medina and Angela Dominguez

Prose | Fiction

This story flips the usual angle on the immigrant language barrier, exploring the perspective of a child who already speaks English and wants to reach out to someone who doesn’t. Mia wants to talk to her recently immigrated abuela (Spanish for grandmother), but her abuela is still learning English.

My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta alla

by Amada Irma Perez and Maya Christina Gonzalez

Prose | Fiction

Perez uses a diary as a framing device, following a child who shares the hopes and fears of her journey to the United States. My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta alla is bilingual, making it a strong choice for empowering Spanish-speaking students and widening the viewpoints of students who only speak English. 

My Name Is Sangoel

by Karen Lynn Williams, Khadra Mohammed and Catherine Stock

Prose | Fiction

My Name Is Sangoel follows a Sudanese war refugee child as he adapts to a new life in the United States. Young Sangoel is proud of his name but struggles to get his classmates to pronounce it correctly. The story can gently introduce children to the concept of refugees while steering clear of any heavy, explicit discussions of violence or conflict.

Name Jar

by Yangsook Choi

Prose | Fiction

In this sweet book by a Korean immigrant, a Korean child wrestles with her “foreign” name in a United States classroom. Her well-meaning classmates encourage her to pick a new name, prompting a journey toward self-acceptance and embracing her culture.

A Shelter in Our Car 

by Monica Gunning

Prose | Fiction

The close, supportive bond between mother and daughter makes this story of a pair of immigrants fighting homelessness less heavy for young readers. Jamaican American Zettie and her mother come to the U.S. for a better life after the passing of Zettie’s father, but Zettie soon faces bullying for living in a car. The ending reassures readers that the love of her mother and possibility of a bright future will see the pair through their struggles.

Two White Rabbits

by Jairo Buitrago and Rafael Yockteng

Prose | Fiction

Two White Rabbits follows a father and daughter making a perilous journey to the United States. It offers a child’s eye view of the difficult events, softening the subject matter. More advanced readers may pick up on symbolism in the things the daughter spots on her journey.

Watercress

by Andrea Wang and Jason Chin

Poetry | Fiction 

Wang drew on her own immigrant experience to pen this story of a Chinese American girl who is embarrassed to gather watercress from a ditch for dinner, until a story from her mother sheds a new light on the meal. Written in free verse poetry with a more complex syntax than most picture books, this story might be more suitable for more advanced picture book readers.

90 Miles to Havana

by Enrique Flores-Galbis

Prose | Fiction

Flores-Galbis highlights a little-known chapter of immigration history in 90 Miles to Havana. Cuban-born Julian is sent to the United States by his parents as part of the “Operation Pedro Pan” that brought thousands of unaccompanied Cuban minors to the United States.

Enrique’s Journey

by Sonia Nazario

Prose | Nonfiction

When journalist Sonia Nazario met Enrique, an undocumented immigrant teen, she was stunned by his story of immigrating to the United States alone. He braved dangerous conditions on the trip in order to reunite with his mother, who had immigrated when he was just a child. Penguin Random House has created a teacher’s guide to Enrique’s Journey. 

Esperanza Rising

by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Prose | Fiction

Ryan touches on migrant labor, the Great Depression and the Mexican Repatriation Act without ever making this story too challenging for young readers. Esperanza and her family are forced to flee Mexico after her father is murdered and she has to learn how to start over as a farm laborer in California.

Front Desk

by Kelly Yang

Prose | Fiction

Many immigrant children may be able to relate to the story of Mia Tang, who helps with her immigrant family’s business after school. In addition to minding the front desk at the family motel, Mia dreams of being a writer and worries about the immigrants her parents hide in the motel rooms. This book earned the 2018 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. For a book about immigration for teens, check out Yang’s YA novel Parachutes in our Young Adult section below. 

Grandfather’s Journey

by Allen Say

Prose | Fiction

This Caldecott-winning book tells the true story of the author’s grandfather. Grandfather’s Journey bucks convention by giving its main character, a Japanese immigrant, wanderlust and a yearning to return to Japan. This story could introduce children to a more complicated immigrant narrative.

Hedy’s Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust 

by Michelle Bisson

Prose | Nonfiction

Bisson uses illustrations to illuminate the true story of her mother’s flight from Nazi forces to the United States. The story follows young Hedy as she is separated from her family and forced to travel separately, offering an age-appropriate introduction to the trials and dangers facing Jewish refugees of the time.

Inside Out & Back Again

by Thanhha Lai

Poetry | Fiction

Lai fictionalizes her own childhood as a Vietnamese immigrant to the southern United States to create this novel in free verse. Her poignant depiction of a Vietnamese girl growing up in the South won her a Newbery Honor and National Book Award.

Kiki and Jacques 

by Susan Ross

Prose | Fiction

The unlikely friendship between a Franco American boy and a Somali American refugee girl takes center stage in Kiki and Jacques. Jacques is initially resistant to the influx of Somali refugees who change the routines of his small town, but his friendship and decency eventually turn him into a good role model for acceptance and inclusion. This story is great for learning about adapting to new community members. Readers looking to learn more about Somali migration specifically might benefit from further reading.

My Chinatown

by Kam Mak

Poetry | Fiction

Mak wrote and illustrated this collection of poetry, based on his own childhood spent in Chinatown. This book is a great option for introducing elementary school kids to both poetry and the immigrant experience.

My Family Divided

by Diane Guerrero

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Diane Guerrero, best known for her roles on Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, turned her successful acting career into a platform to speak about immigration reform. She draws on her own experience as the daughter of two undocumented immigrants who were deported when Guerrero was just 14 years old. My Family Divided is a child-friendly version of her memoir, In the Country We Love: My Family Divided (see Books for Adults, below).

One Good Thing About America

by Ruth Freeman

Prose | Fiction

The story is structured by nine-year-old Anaïs’ letters to her grandmother about “one good thing” she discovers about her new home in the United States. Many American customs and expressions become fresh and funny through her eyes. Freeman balances Anaïs’s longing for her old country with her growing excitement about her new community.

The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time Travel Adventure

by Elvira Woodruff

Prose | Fiction

Woodruff takes the idea of transporting her readers into another world seriously. The story centers on a contemporary U.S.-born child who is magically sent back in time to join a group of boys travelling through Ellis Island. This book works as a good introduction to early 20th century European migration.

Sea Prayer

by Khaled Hosseini

Prose | Fiction

Hosseini is best known for his books on the Afghani and Afghan American experience for adults (see The Kite Runner in the Books for Adults section), but he was inspired to write an illustrated book that would be accessible to children after the tragic drowning of Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi in 2015. The story is written as a letter from a father to a son, focused on their shared hopes for the future.

When Stars Are Scattered

by Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Jamieson tells Mohamed’s story of caring for his little brother in a Somali refugee camp with vivid, colorful illustrations. Telling the story visually could help young people imagine themselves in Mohamed’s shoes.

American Street

by Ibi Zoboi

Prose | Fiction

In American Street, Fabiola has to adapt to life in the United States alone after her mother is deported to their country of origin, Haiti. Her solitude compounds the struggles of being a new immigrant and a teenager. American Street highlights immigrant resilience.

Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card

by Sara Saedi

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Discovering their lack of documentation in their teens is a depressingly common and devastating experience for undocumented young people. Saedi shares how this struggle played out in her tight-knit family of Iranian refugees.

The Book of Unknown Americans 

by Cristina Henríquez

Prose | Fiction

This sweet teen love story is complicated and given depth by the main characters’ immigrant backgrounds. The Book of Unknown Americans explores the differences between the experiences of Mayor Toro, a Panamanian American with long term residency in the United States, and Maribel, a newly arrived Mexican American girl grappling with language and cultural barriers.

Denied, Detained, Deported: The Dark Side of American Immigration

by Ann Bausum

Prose | Nonfiction

For teens who are interested in learning the history of immigration, this sweeping nonfiction exploration of immigration to the U.S. could be a great entry point. Bausum uses illustrations to enliven the subject matter. 

The Good Braider

by Terry Farish

Poetry | Fiction

Farish uses free voice poetry to tell the story of Viola, the teen daughter of a family of Sudanese refugees. Her close-knit community of Sudanese Americans in the United States is both supportive and stifling, a conflict that many young people, both foreign-born and U.S.-born, might relate to.

A Long Walk to Water 

by Linda Sue Park

Prose | Fiction

Park bases this novel closely on the real-life experiences of Salva Dat, one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan displaced by the Sudanese Civil War. By following both Dat, who finds refuge in the U.S., and Nya, a girl who remains in Sudan and spends hours every day retrieving water, Park provides a holistic look at this recent chapter of history. The book also highlights Dat’s real life not-for-profit that builds wells in Sudan, giving both the characters and readers agency and the ability to take action. 

Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town

by Warren St. John

Prose | Nonfiction

This is a great option for young adults interested in a nonfiction immigration narrative. Clarkston, Georgia, made headlines for resettling a large number of refugees from all over the world, some of whom formed a soccer team called the Fugees. Outcasts United follows them and their coach as they adapt to their new lives.

Parachutes

by Kelly Yang

Prose | Fiction

Claire Wang is a “parachute” kid, a teenager sent from China to the United States to stay with a host family and gain an American education. Parachutes follows her and her new host-sister as they manage cross-cultural conflict alongside the normal turmoil of a high school year. The story also deals with sexual violence and harassment, so it might be more suitable for older and more mature readers. For a book by Yang for children, see Front Desk in our Elementary and Middle Grade Books section above. 

Persepolis

by Marjane Satrapi

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

While it grapples with complicated themes of sexuality and life under an oppressive regime, the graphic novel format makes this memoir a short, accessible read. Satrapi recounts her adolescence in turbulent Iran and the eventual freedoms and challenges of reaching the United States. The novel was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, which you can learn more about in our blog post What to Watch: 43 Films, TV Series and Documentaries Featuring Immigrants.

Something in Between

by Melissa de la Cruz

Prose | Fiction

Immigrant author Melissa de la Cruz explores the experiences of undocumented teens in Something in Between. The revelation that overachieving Filipino teenager Jasmine de los Santos’ family is undocumented sends Jasmine spiraling. Many teens might relate to her struggle to figure out her future as her plans are upended. 

The Sun is Also a Star

by Nicola Yoon

Prose | Fiction

New York Times-bestselling author Nicola Yoon writes the story of Natasha Kingsley, who meets a boy and starts to fall in love with him a day before she’s scheduled to be deported to Jamaica. The book follows the two teens over a single, meaningful day. To learn more about the movie adaptation, check out our list of films and TV shows about immigration.

This Land is Our Land

by Linda Barrett Osborne

Prose | Nonfiction

Osborne organizes her history of immigration to the United States into waves of immigrants, making it an excellent resource for highlighting parallels in the immigrant experience through time. Using illustrations and language accessible to younger readers, she gives an excellent broad perspective on the topic through its 2016 publication date.

We Are Displaced

by Malala Yousafza

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Most readers will be already familiar with the story of Malala Yousafzai’s fight for girls’ education, but the first half of this book highlights the less famous story of her family’s displacement by war when Malala was a child. The second half of the book shares the stories of other internally displaced and refugee girls. We Are Displaced offers more insight into the life of an extraordinary woman, and an introduction to lesser-known conflicts and refugee experiences around the world.

We Are Here to Stay: Voices of Undocumented Young Adults

by Susan Kuklin

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Anonymous young writers share their stories of being undocumented. The collection includes people from a variety of countries, including Korea, Colombia and Ghana. These stories can reflect the experiences of undocumented teens or build empathy in citizen and authorized immigrant teens alike.

Welcome to the New World

by Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan

Prose | Nonfiction

Jake Halpern met the Aldabaan family after they fled Syria and came to the United States as refugees. He visited and interviewed the family for years, chronicling their refugee story in a New York Times comics series in collaboration with illustrator Michael Sloan, which they later expanded into the book Welcome to the New World. The ILC has created a free curriculum based on the novel for Social Studies and English teachers of grades seven through 11. Explore it here.

Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child

by Elva Treviño Hart

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Hart recounts her childhood as a migrant farmworker. She includes form-breaking elements, featuring poetry and a newspaper article alongside a more conventional memoir narrative.

The Best We Could Do 

by Thi Bui

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Thi Bui began this project as a grad student, interviewing her parents about their experiences fleeing Vietnam to create an oral history. Wanting to share their story with a wider audience, Bui spent more than a decade learning how to draw comics to create this graphic novel. Her exceptional writing and illustrations won an American Book Award and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist.

Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa

by Rigoberto González

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

González recounts a childhood spent as a migrant worker slowly awakening to the realization that he’s gay. He wrestles with a culture of machismo that’s hostile to his gayness and an American culture that’s hostile to his race. His wrenching and ultimately encouraging memoir earned the American Book Award.

Call Me American

By Abdi Nor Iftin

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Iftin recounts growing up obsessed with American pop culture and life from afar in Somalia. He didn’t get his chance to come to the United States until extremists forced him to flee his homeland and apply for a visa to immigrate. His love and his fears for both his country of origin and his newfound home are shared beautifully in this book. His story was first documented in an episode of the popular radio show This American Life.

Exit West

by Mohsin Hamid

Prose | Fiction

Exit West explores immigration through a magical realism lens, following a young refugee couple from an unnamed country as they wander the globe in search of a safe place to call home. Their ability to use special doors to magically traverse continents gives this story a complex, unusual dimension. Hamid won the first-ever Aspen Words Literary Prize for his lyrical work.

How to American: An Immigrant’s Guide to Disappointing Your Parents

by Jimmy O. Yang

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Yang brings a light, funny touch to his story of breaking free of his parents’ expectations to pursue a career in stand-up. Both the highs of his comedy success and the lows of his citizenship struggles offer a unique spin on a classic “making it big” Hollywood story.

Immigrant Struggles, Immigrant Gifts

edited by Diane Portnoy, Barry Portnoy and Charlie Riggs

Prose | Nonfiction

The Immigrant Learning Center gathered 11 experts on 11 immigrant groups to write essays about their experiences. The book illuminates both the tremendous diversity and the common experiences between waves of immigrants. Learn more here. 

In the Country We Love: My Family Divided

by Diane Guerrero

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Diane Guerrero, best known for her roles on Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, has achieved fame and success as an actor, but this memoir chronicles her difficult, pre-fame adolescence. When she was just 14 years old, she came home to discover that her parents had been detained and would be deported. Guerrero, a U.S.-born citizen, was left to fend for herself.

Infinite Country 

by Patricia Engel

Prose | Fiction

Infinite Country covers 20 years in the life of a Colombian American family pulled apart by immigration policy. The relatively short novel provides a sweeping overview of the experiences of Elena and Mauro, a couple who flee to the United States to give their children better lives, and their three children, who wrestle with their parents’ sacrifice.

The Joy Luck Club

by Amy Tan

Prose | Fiction

This classic novel follows four Chinese women who have immigrated to the United States and explores the effects their journeys have on them and their children. The story explores many dimensions of the Asian American and female migrant experience. The popular film adaptation made our list of 32 Films, TV Series and Documentaries Featuring Immigrants.

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

Prose | Fiction

The book opens with the adventures of two Afghan boys who face sharply diverging paths, one immigrating to the United States while the other is left behind. Hosseini, himself an Afghan American, explores the effects of immigration on relationships and families as he follows the two boys into adulthood. 

One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger

by Matthew Yglesias

Prose | Nonfiction

Yglesias tackles immigration from the unusual angle of how it could benefit U.S.-born people. He argues that dramatically increasing the U.S. population via immigration could spur innovation and economic prosperity for everyone. It’s a provocative argument that could help start discussions.

Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee

Prose | Fiction

Lee became a National Book Award finalist for her sprawling depiction of several generations of a Korean family that moves to Japan. The family struggles with the loss of their homeland and cultural estrangement. This book is a great exploration of an immigration narrative that doesn’t center the United States.

The Refugees

by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Prose | Fiction

If you enjoy short stories, The Refugees is a good choice. Pulitzer-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen’s collection uses short narratives set in both Vietnam and the United States to explore the many facets of Vietnamese American migration.

The Son of Good Fortune

by Lysley Tenorio

Prose | Fiction

Our colleagues at the Institute for Immigration Research have partnered with the literary arts not-for-profit Fall for the Book to create the New American Voices award for immigrant authors of immigration stories. Tenorio, their 2020 awardee, writes beautifully about an undocumented Filipino family at a crossroads.

Unaccompanied

by Javier Zamora

Poetry | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Zamora uses poetry to share his extraordinary story of traveling 4,000 miles by himself at the age of nine to reunite with his parents in the United States. This story is especially resonant while unaccompanied minors routinely make the news.

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You

by Dina Nayeri

Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography

Nayeri wrote her memoir to challenge U.S.-born readers’ ideas of what refugees should believe or say. Her story of fleeing Iran for Oklahoma with her family as a child complicates conventional narratives about asylum-seekers and how the United States receives them.

This Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting the stories of eight extraordinary women immigrants. Despite the limits that are often placed on women and immigrants, these eight pioneers have made impressive contributions in fields as varied as medicine, acting, activism and physics.

Elizabeth Blackwell, Physician / Activist, 1821 – 1910

Elizabeth Blackwell was motivated to become the first female physician in the United States by the belief that women might receive better medical care from female physicians. More than a century later, there’s research that backs up her theory. In 1849, she graduated from the only medical school that would admit a woman at the time, Geneva Medical College (a forerunner of Hobart College). She had hoped to become a surgeon, but that dream was dashed when she lost an eye to an infection she contracted from a patient. When she opened her own practice, few patients would be treated by her since women in the medical field were assumed to be abortionists. Despite these setbacks, Blackwell succeeded in opening the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, which still operates today as the not-for-profit New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital.  

Blackwell was also active in various reform movements, including campaigns for women’s rights and better preventive medicine. She even collaborated with Florence Nightingale and other prominent women in medicine to found the first medical school for women in her native England. Blackwell’s accomplishments have been honored with a statue at her alma mater, induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and a Google Doodle on her 197th birthday. 

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, Activist, 1837 – 1930

Marry Harris Jones was a troublemaker. She made what Rep. John Lewis would have called “good trouble.” In fact, a prosecutor labeled 65-year-old Jones “the most dangerous woman in the country” when she was jailed for speaking at a meeting of striking mine workers. She found her life’s work as a labor activist in middle age and adopted the name “Mother Jones” as a reflection of the protectiveness she felt for the much younger workers she championed. She had lost her own children and husband to yellow fever many years prior.   

Jones was a child when she and her family immigrated to Canada during the Irish Potato Famine. She came to the United States as an adult to work. It was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that sparked her interest in labor organizing after destroying her business and much of Chicago. While helping to rebuild Chicago, Jones joined a labor federation and became steadily more involved in organizing labor strikes. Her work spread from Chicago across the country giving speeches, organizing on behalf of unionizing efforts and encouraging striking workers. Jones was so relentless that for some time she had no permanent address. She attracted national attention when she organized the “March of the Mill Children,” a march of child millworkers to President Roosevelt’s doorstep. Almost a century after she began her work, a group of journalists chose her name to represent their new, progressive-oriented magazine, Mother Jones.

Marlene Dietrich, Actress, 1901 – 1992

Groundbreaking German American actress and style icon Marlene Dietrich pushed boundaries in every area of her life. After she starred in the first German feature-length “talkie,” the film’s Hollywood director encouraged Dietrich to move to the United States to pursue a career in filmmaking. She was an immediate success in the U.S., starring in a series of blockbusters and garnering an Academy Award nomination. She was known for her glamorous, androgynous looks and preference for wearing men’s clothing, once remarking, “I am, at heart, a gentleman.”

The advent of World War II activated her social conscience. Dietrich was fiercely opposed to the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich, turning down lucrative offers to return to the German film industry. When she did return to Europe, it was to provide so many morale-boosting performances to U.S. soldiers that one observer commented that she was “at the front lines more than General Eisenhower.” In the U.S., she produced anti-Nazi albums, raised money through war bonds and financed the escapes of Jewish German friends. Her work earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she considered the highest honor she ever received.

From one of her earliest roles, when she dressed in a men’s tailcoat and kissed a woman, to her late-career popularity as a cabaret star, when she was known for wearing men’s costumes and singing songs written for men, Dietrich was never shy about challenging gender roles. She was equally fearless in her personal life. For the era, Dietrich was relatively open about her bisexuality, referring to her female lovers as her “Sewing Circle.” She remains an icon in the LGBTQ+ community for her willingness to live the life she wanted in defiance of social norms.

Chien-Shiung Wu, Physicist, 1912 – 1997

Chien-Shiung Wu was christened the “First Lady of Physics” for her extraordinary accomplishments in the field, which included work on the atom bomb and a discovery that many think should have garnered her a Nobel Prize. After immigrating from China, Wu attended Berkeley University, where she obtained a PhD in physics. Despite the sexism and anti-Asian prejudice of the World War II era, she was so productive in the field that she was recruited for the Manhattan Project. Her research proved key in the United States’ successful effort to create an atomic bomb. Wu is best known for her experiment proving that during beta decay the “law of conservation of parity” does not apply, a significant development in the study of atoms. Her work was controversially passed over for a Nobel Prize, though others who worked on the project were recognized. Some believe that this was because of her gender. Over the course of her career, Wu became the first female president of the American Physical Society, the first female winner of the Wolf Prize in Physics and first female recipient of an honorary degree from Princeton University. She capitalized on her success to call for better treatment of women in science, famously asking an MIT symposium, “whether the tiny atoms and nuclei or the mathematical symbols or the DNA molecules have any preference for either masculine or feminine treatment.”  

Hedy Lamarr, Actress / Inventor, 1914 – 2000

Are you using your WiFi or Bluetooth to read this story? You might have Hedy Lamarr to thank. She is best known for her high-profile career as an actress in the Golden Age of Hollywood, but her engineering accomplishments, which led to the development of such technologies, are arguably her greatest legacy. Lamarr was born in Austria to a wealthy, Jewish family. In 1937, she moved to London, fleeing both an abusive husband and the advance of Nazism. There she met Louis B. Mayer, the co-founder of MGM who was born to a poor, Jewish family in Russia. Mayer offered her an acting contract in Hollywood. Lamarr’s film career took off quickly, with magazines heralding her as “the most beautiful woman in the world.”  

Privately, Lamarr nurtured her passion for inventing despite her lack of formal education. She even volunteered to join the National Inventors Council during WWII, but she was directed to campaign for war bonds instead. After hearing about radio-controlled torpedoes being jammed, Lamarr and her friend George Antheil co-developed and patented a “secret communication system” for “frequency hopping” to prevent the enemy from blocking radio waves. The military never used her idea as she intended, but the concept she invented was fundamental to the development of technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. During her life, Lamarr was mostly known for her film roles playing glamorous women, but in 2014 she was posthumously given the recognition she deserved for her intellect when she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. As Lamarr once said, “The brains of people are more interesting than the looks, I think.”

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Psychiatrist / Activist, 1926 – 2004

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ adolescence in World War II-era Europe heavily influenced her groundbreaking work creating the five stages of grief model and revolutionizing end-of-life care. Her relief work as a young person exposed her to concentration camp survivors and severely wounded refugees, sparking an interest in caring for the ill, injured and dying. Kubler-Ross immigrated to the United States from Switzerland to study psychiatry. When she worked in a hospital as a psychiatric resident, she was horrified by the disregard she saw for patients with terminal diagnoses, then referred to as “hopeless patients.” The new protocol she developed for treating dying patients significantly improved their mental health in 94 percent of cases. Kubler-Ross went on to create the theory of the five stages of grief, which suggests that grieving people experience denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  

Her work helped create a dramatic transformation in hospice care in the United States. Her efforts were timely, popularizing the idea of organized and compassionate end-of-life care shortly before the onset of the AIDS crisis. Kubler-Ross attempted to create a hospice for abandoned children and infants with AIDS, but locals protested and her home was burned down in a possible arson attack. When her health declined, Kubler-Ross declared that she was ready to accept her own death, memorably stating in an interview that, “I told God last night that he’s a damned procrastinator.”

Isabel Allende, Writer, 1942 –

Isabel Allende, the world’s best-read Spanish-language writer, was born into a privileged Chilean family. After General Augusto Pinochet overthrew President Salvador Allende, who was also Isabel Allende’s uncle, her family and their peers found themselves facing political persecution. Allende helped smuggle families who were targeted by the dictatorship out of the country and was eventually forced to flee to Venezuela herself. While in Venezuela, she worked as a reporter but didn’t gain widespread recognition as a writer until she turned to novels. Her debut book, The House of Spirits, began as a letter to her dying grandfather in Chile, whom she couldn’t visit without risking political violence. The House of Spirits was a breakthrough triumph, receiving enormous critical acclaim and commercial success.  

Allende moved to the United States in 1987 and continued writing many novels, memoirs and essays. She is an outspoken feminist focused on women and girls in the developing world. Her TED Talk on creativity and feminism has been viewed more than 120,000 times. Allende’s books have sold more than 74 million copies around the world in more than 40 languages. After her daughter died tragically young, she started the Isabel Allende Foundation in her honor to support women and girls in both the United States and Chile. In recognition of her work, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.

Grace Jones, Model / Singer / Icon, 1948 –

What do Madonna, Björk, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga have in common? According to Kyle Munzenrieder of W magazine, they have all “taken more than a few pages from her [Grace Jones’] playbook.” Jones came to the United States with her family from Jamaica while she was a child. She started her modeling career at 18 and quickly became known for her androgynous style, angular features and dark skin. Although none of these features were considered popular or desirable by a mainstream audience at the time, Jones’ unique look captured people’s imagination. Jones launched her music during the height of the disco era, and she quickly became a notable figure in disco culture. As the times changed, so did her music, moving into new wave, reggae and pop styles.

Jones broke gender and racial barriers that many others have walked through. Music critic Barry Walters wrote of her influence, “Her image celebrated blackness and subverted gender norms.” For all the famous, successful people she has inspired, Jones told The New York Times in 2015 that she doesn’t find imitation the highest form of flattery because her “whole view is being unique and finding yourself.” From her first job as a model to her 2021 concert tour, perhaps Jones’ greatest influence has been inspiring people to be themselves.  

For more stories of extraordinary Black immigrants, check out our Black History Month blog post featuring seven famous immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean.

Azar Nafisi, Writer, 1948 –

Azar Nafisi’s groundbreaking “memoir in books,” Reading Lolita in Tehran, has changed countless people’s perceptions of both the experiences of Iranian women and classic works of literature. As a young woman, Nafisi studied abroad in England, Switzerland and the United States, eventually obtaining her PhD in English and American literature and becoming an English professor in Tehran. Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the ensuing crackdown on women’s rights, Nafisi struggled with restrictions on her work, including attempts to censor her curricula and demands that she wear a hijab. The latter expectation led her to leave her university and organize a secret study group for young women in her home. Under threat of reprisal from an increasingly authoritarian state, she persisted in providing an education for Iranian women who had few other options.

This experience formed the basis for Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, which she published after finding her situation in Iran untenable and immigrating to the United States. The book was an immediate success, spending more than 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The book inspired fierce debates, translations into 32 languages and even an opera adaptation. Since the book’s publication, Nafisi has worked as a professor at Johns Hopkins University and published several more books. She has also received honorary doctorates from eight colleges and universities. Policy makers and human rights organizations have consulted her about issues related to human rights and Iran, and she has published articles on these topics in newspapers including the New York Times and Washington Post. Azar Nafisi has used her platform to advocate fiercely for the rights of other women, immigrants and refugees.

Martina Navratilova, Athlete / Advocate, 1956 –

Martina Navratilova is an undisputed champion. Over the course of her tennis career, she’s won 59 major championships, including one just shy of her 50^th birthday, and a world-record 167 singles titles. By the time she retired, she had lost just 13 percent of her matches.

Pursuing this extraordinary career required defecting from Czechoslovakia, then part of the Soviet Union, for the United States when she was just 18. The move divided her from her family for years, but she couldn’t tolerate the Czech government’s decree that she reduce her commitment to tennis because she had become too “Americanized” in her touring.

Navratilova was not openly gay early in her career, in part because it would have prevented her from obtaining her U.S. citizenship. After being outed against her will in 1981, she became an outspoken advocate for gay rights. She spoke out about the AIDS crisis, despite the endorsement deals it cost her, participated in a lawsuit against an anti-gay ballot measure and protested the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

When she reclaimed her Czech citizenship in 2008 to make it easier to visit family and do business in the Czech Republic, she described her relationship to her new and old homes:

I love my birth country and the fact that it is now a free country and a true democracy. But my home is here, in the U.S. I have lived in America since 1975 and I intend to always live here. This is my home and it feels almost gratuitous to me that I have to affirm my love for the USA. I live here, I vote here, I pay my taxes here and yes, I will do my jury duty.

-Martina Navratilova

Salma Hayek, Actress / Producer, 1966 –

Salma Hayek’s career as an actor and producer has broken ground for Latinas and Arab-American women, but her bravery in speaking up and exposing sexual harassment and abuse in the entertainment industry has impacted women of all backgrounds in all walks of life. Most famously, she publicly shared her experiences with Harvey Weinstein in the first months of the #MeToo movement, writing that, “Men sexually harassed because they could. Women are talking today because, in this new era, we finally can.”  

As a telenovela star in her mid-20s, Salma Hayek took the enormous risk of moving from Mexico to the United States to advance her acting career despite her lack of connections and limited English. She struggled with Hollywood directors who found casting a Mexican-American lead “inconceivable” and visa problems that briefly left her undocumented. Her unrelenting efforts paid off when she produced and played the lead in her film Frida about the famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Hayek led the film to critical and commercial success and garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.  

Since then, she has focused on producing and acting in projects that highlight the Latinx experience including the movie In the Time of the Butterflies and the television show Ugly Betty. Hayek’s father is Lebanese-Mexican, a background she says makes her “very proud.” Her part in the Marvel movie Eternals made her the first Arab-American actor and one of the first Latinas to have a major role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

All Women Immigrants Deserve Recognition

Many of these famous women immigrants struggled to receive the recognition they earned. Countless more have made contributions to the United States that still go unrecognized. Women and immigrants have always been well-represented in health care and education, but this essential work is often underappreciated. This Women’s History Month, we encourage you to use these stories as a jumping off point to explore the stories of women and immigrants who historical narratives often leave out.

We at The Immigrant Learning Center strive to inform Americans about the economic and social contributions of immigrants in our society. In honor of Black History Month, we are highlighting some Black immigrants who influenced, and are still influencing, the national conversation.

John Brown Russwurm, Journalist/Activist, 1799 – 1851

John Brown Russwurm was one of the first Black men to graduate college in the United States, a co-founder of the first Black-run American newspaper and the governor of a nation of Black Americans in Africa. Before he reached these extraordinary heights, however, he was the unacknowledged son of a white, English, merchant father and a Black, Jamaican, enslaved woman. Russwurm’s prospects improved when his father brought Russwurm with him from Jamaica to Maine and married a white American woman who insisted that her new stepson take his father’s name, giving him new opportunities not available to most Black people in the colonial United States.

With their support, he became the first Black man to graduate from Bowdoin College in 1826. Russwurm used his education to co-found Freedom’s Journal, an abolitionist newspaper and the first paper in the United States to be owned, operated and published by Black people. The publication blazed a trail for the many Black-owned abolitionist papers that followed. By the end of his life, there were nearly 30 Black-owned newspapers operating in the United States.

While Freedom’s Journal proved very popular, Russwurm grew frustrated with the slow progress of abolitionism and concluded Black Americans would be more likely to thrive if they moved to Africa. He worked for a time for the American Colonization Society to resettle Black families in Liberia before quitting in protest of the United States’ colonization policies. He went on to become the first Black governor of the Republic of Maryland, a nation of Black Americans who immigrated to Africa, which would eventually be annexed by the adjoining nation of Liberia. There, he accomplished another first by instituting public education for girls as well as boys.

Claude McKay, Author / Journalist, 1889 – 1948

Claude McKay is famous for inspiring the Harlem Renaissance, a prominent literary movement of the 1920s. A prolific author, he wrote his first poem at the age of 10. He arrived in South Carolina from Jamaica in 1912 and published his first poems in 1917. His most famous poem, If We Must Die, was published in 1919 during “Red Summer,” a period of intense racial violence against Black people. Although he was known for the directness with which he wrote of racial issues, this poem spoke to resistance movements worldwide, and was even quoted by Winston Churchill during World War II. McKay’s most successful novel, Home to Harlem, gained recognition as the first commercially successful novel by a Black writer. Current scholars recognize him as a fixture of African-American studies. His last novel, Amiable With Big Teeth, was published posthumously in 2017.

Celia Cruz, Singer, 1925 – 2003

Celia Cruz was on track to become a literature teacher when a talent competition win convinced the Cuban-born woman to try singing professionally. It was a wise decision, launching a career that would conclude with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cruz achieved her first major success when she became the first Black lead singer for La Sonora Matancera, a longstanding Cuban orchestra. Her mastery of many Afro-Cuban music styles helped lead the already popular group to new heights. 

Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the orchestra left the country and Cruz settled in New Jersey. She capitalized on the opportunities of her new home, launching a solo career and becoming an acclaimed salsa performer. Cruz was especially well known for her astonishing work ethic. Over the course of her career, she put out 37 albums, won accolades for an acting debut in her sixties, and earned three Grammys and four Latin Grammys. 

Her departure and international tours upset the Cuban government, which banned her from returning to the country, even to visit her dying mother. Cruz finally saw Cuban soil again in 1990 on a visit to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. She collected a small amount of dirt outside the base. When she passed away in 2003, having won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, been given the highest honor offered to artists by the U.S. government, and cemented her legacy as one of the most successful Afro-Latina artists in history, she was buried with that handful of dirt. 

Chinua Achebe, Author / Activist / Educator, 1930 – 2013

Chinua Achebe is known as the father of African literature. He became the first African author to achieve mainstream success in the Western world with his first novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958. Prior to that, most stories published about Africa were by Europeans. Achebe’s success paved the way for many more African writers.

That first book was just the start of a long career as a teacher, writer and political activist. Not even losing the use of his legs in a 1990 car accident could derail him. He used a wheelchair for the rest of his life and continued to work for another 23 years. He immigrated from Nigeria to the United States to teach at Bard College and later Brown University, and continued to publish his fiction and poetry. To this day, he is still best known for his first novel. Things Fall Apart has been translated into 50 languages and has sold more than 10 million copies. His body of work has impacted countless people, including Nelson Mandela who once said that with Achebe’s writing for company “the prison walls fell down.”

Miriam Makeba, Singer / Activist, 1932 – 2008

Born under apartheid in South Africa and popularly known as “Mama Africa,” Miriam Makeba spent a lifetime advocating for the liberation of Black Africans and the African diaspora more broadly. After seeing her in an anti-apartheid documentary, Harry Belafonte encouraged her to move to New York City. She recorded dozens of records in English and languages of sub-Saharan Africa like Xhosa, Swahili and Sotho, and she became the first Grammy-winner born in Africa for her album An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba. She is perhaps best remembered for her traditional Xhosa song “Qongqothwane,” known to U.S. audiences as the “Click Song.” It has been covered by many artists over the years, including Cher.

When Makeba used her new platform to speak out against apartheid, South Africa revoked her passport. This only led her to advocate more passionately on behalf of Black people in both South Africa and the United States. She became an exile for the second time in her life after her marriage to civil rights activist Kwame Ture brought her under the suspicion of the CIA. While the couple was out of the country, her return visa to the United States was cancelled. Makeba would eventually return to South Africa at the urging of Nelson Mandela. There she created an orphanage and advocated for children with disabilities, HIV-positive children and child soldiers. She continued to perform until her passing in 2008, when she suffered a heart attack while performing in a memorial concert.

Kwame Ture (born Stokely Carmichael), Civil Rights Activist / Author, 1941–1998

Ture came to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago at age 11 and he became a U.S. citizen at the age of 13. While a student at Howard University, Ture was jailed for 49 days in Jackson, Mississippi for his participation in one of the first Freedom Rides. Being only 19, he was the youngest Freedom Rider to be imprisoned. Undeterred, he stayed active in Freedom Rides and demonstrations before obtaining his degree in philosophy with honors in 1964. In 1965, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sent him to “Bloody Lowndes” County, Alabama, which was infamous for lynchings. Although the population was 80 percent Black, there was only one Black registered voter. In one year, Ture managed to raise the number of registered Black voters to exceed the number of white voters by 300. In 1970, that original Black registered voter, John Hulett, was elected sheriff.

Ture became the chairman of SNCC, and in 1966 he led a group of volunteers in the March Against Fear. It was there he coined the phrase “Black Power.” In his 1968 book with Charles V. Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation, the term is defined as, ”a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.” He and Hamilton are also credited with coining the phrase institutional racism in that same book.

Iman, Supermodel / Entrepreneur / Philanthropist, 1965 –

Iman, born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid, has always insisted that her looks are merely “typical Somali,” but there is nothing typical about what she’s done with them. While she was attending college in Kenya, a photographer encouraged her to pursue modeling. She took a risk and moved to the United States. It didn’t take long for her to capture the imagination of editors and designers. Eventually her face would be known worldwide.

Iman used her success to advocate for pay equality for herself and other Black models. Inspired by her own struggles to find makeup that suited her skin tone, she launched Iman Cosmetics with the tagline “Makeup for Women of Color.” Her next thriving venture was Global Chic, a popular clothing design line inspired by time she spent in Egypt as a child. Iman has two children of her own, and her philanthropic work has mostly centered on children. As CARE’s first global ambassador, she campaigned to end poverty. She has also worked with the Keep a Child Alive program, the Children’s Defense Fund and Save the Children.

Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo, Athlete / Humanitarian, 1966 –

National Basketball Association (NBA) Hall-of-Famer Dikembe Mutombo originally came to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo on an academic scholarship. He went to Georgetown University hoping to become a doctor, but his prospects changed dramatically when he was recruited into Georgetown’s basketball program. After graduating with a degree in linguistics and diplomacy, he was drafted into the NBA by the Denver Nuggets. His long and distinguished career was bookended by making the All-Star team his rookie year and becoming the oldest player in the NBA during his final season in 2009. To basketball fans, “Mt. Mutombo” is known as one of the best defensive basketball players of all time.

Mutombo once said, “We all are here for a purpose. My purpose is to make a difference to society, not just by being a good human being, but to contribute to lives.” He has certainly lived up to that mission. In 1997 he launched the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve health care in central Africa. In 2007 the foundation opened the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital (named for his mother) near his hometown, Kinshasa. That same year, he was recognized by President George W. Bush during the State of the Union address. Mutombo also works as a spokesperson for CARE and has done extensive work on behalf of the Special Olympics, including serving on their board and starting the first Special Olympics program in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Author / Activist / Educator, 1977 –

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an award-winning, bestselling author and MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow whose work has been translated into more than 30 languages. Her work tackles themes such as politics, religion and love in contexts such as the Nigerian Civil War, the immigrant experience in the United States and feminism. At the age of 19, Adichie left Nigeria for a scholarship in the United States. She graduated summa cum laude in communication and political science from Eastern Connecticut State University and went on to earn master’s degrees in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University and African Studies from Yale University, all while writing and publishing. Most American students between 14 and 22 have been assigned her work.

Adichie has been invited to speak around the world. Her 2009 TED Talk, The Danger of A Single Story, is now one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time. Her 2012 talk We Should All Be Feminists has been viewed more than 2 million times, started a worldwide conversation about feminism and was published as a book in 2014. In Sweden, it was distributed to every 16-year-old high-school student. Parts of the speech were even featured in Beyoncé’s song “Flawless.” Adichie’s most recent book, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, was published in March 2017.

Trevor Noah, Comedian / TV Show Host, 1984 –

Trevor Noah is now one of the most successful late-night hosts and stand-up comics in the world, but few would have predicted his current success based on his beginnings. Noah was born to a white father and Black, Xhosa mother, which was a crime in Apartheid South Africa. After a childhood marked with poverty and abuse from his stepfather, Noah’s fortunes turned when he tried stand-up for the first time on a dare and was immediately popular. His profile steadily rose in South Africa as he toured, sold out stadiums and broke sales records. 

Most Americans first discovered Noah when he took over for comedian Jon Stewart as the host of the late night show The Daily Show, a move that required the already-accomplished comedian to take a pay cut. He brought a fresh, young, international perspective to the immensely popular program. His outspoken views on gun violence, race and current events transformed the show and brought in a new audience. On top of hosting a daily TV show, Noah has continued to tour internationally to sold-out audiences. 

Noah’s memoir Born a Crime about his upbringing in South Africa reached the top of The New York Times bestseller list and another accomplished Black immigrant, Lupita Nyong’o, will portray his mother in a forthcoming film adaptation. In 2018, he founded the Trevor Noah Foundation to improve educational opportunities for South African young people, saying, “We all deserve to achieve our fullest potential no matter where we come from.” 

Learn More

Because of the legacy of slavery and racism, voluntary Black immigration is a relatively recent, although growing, development. Immigrants from Africa were among the fastest-growing groups within the U.S. foreign-born population from 2000 to 2009. The Census Bureau projects by 2060 the share of Black Americans who are immigrants will rise to 16.5 percent. That means we will continue to look forward to important economic and social contributions from both native- and foreign-born Black Americans. To learn more about Black immigrants to the United States in the present day, check out our blog post What Does it Mean to Be a Black Immigrant in the United States?.

In order to understand immigrant trauma, it is necessary to understand acculturation. But what exactly is it? Clinical psychologist and director of the mental health counselling program at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education, Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra, describes psychological acculturation as “the dynamic process immigrants experience as they adapt to the new country.” For some immigrants, this process can be swift and easy, but for many immigrants acculturation can be extremely stressful. Factors that may contribute to this stress include language barriers, financial struggles, changing gender roles and downward social mobility in their adopted homeland.

For more curated, on-demand resources, including tools from our own webinars, explore our comprehensive, searchable Immigrant Trauma and Mental Health resources page.

Acculturative stress can be particularly difficult when the two cultures are in conflict. This is especially true for the 4.5 million citizen children who have undocumented parents. Dr. Tummala-Narra says that “first-generation immigrants may experience less psychological distress than second-generation immigrants.” American behavioral acculturation occurs rapidly for children, and Dr. Nakamura writes that “parents may feel that their children are becoming too American too fast, and children may feel their parents don’t understand them.”Child and parent may have different expectations for the child’s autonomy and supervision, and children may view their parents as an obstacle in achieving their goals. While acculturation to American culture is “successful” in these cases, this success and overacculturation can lead to new levels of stress and intergenerational disagreements when the two cultures are in conflict with one another.

Dr. Tummala-Narra has seen a rise in acculturative stress for her patients due to uncertainty surrounding immigration policy, and fear of deportation is noted as the presenting problem in many instances. In addition, some immigrants experience racism, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment, and this discrimination can be a key cause of acculturative stress. It is therefore no wonder that immigrants of color experience higher levels of acculturative stress, or that many immigrants feel like they have to hide their ethnic identity.

When acculturative stress combined with prejudice strikes, immigrants are less likely to seek out mental health services, says Dr. Nadine Nakamura, of the University of La Verne in California. If they do seek out care, there are numerous barriers such as “difficulty finding transportation or child care and communication problems—not just language differences, but cultural nuances that a clinician might not recognize,” Dr. Nakamura writes.

This 37 minute presentation, “Strategies to Mitigate Immigrant Anxiety, Fear and Trauma,” was part of the 2018 webinar Tackling the Hidden Crisis: Immigration Anxiety and Trauma.

One solution to combat this stress is to ensure immigrants have consistent access to their “heritage” culture. While it is acculturation to the host culture that gives access to society and institutions for first-generation immigrants, it is the heritage culture that can provide access to cultural resources and support, as well as address trauma. For second-generation immigrants and citizen children, familiarity with one’s heritage culture and native language can ease familial conflict and improve grades and literacy.

Ultimately, acculturative stress can be overcome if it is understood that ethnic identity, which includes heritage culture and racial identity, and national (i.e. American) identity are not mutually exclusive and can successfully coexist.

Presenting with Politics: The Psychological Effects of Current Immigration Policy and Sentiment, a recording of Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra’s presentation in our 2017 webinar One Year Later: Immigrant Trauma and How to Deal with It.

Immigrant Identity: Mind and Motivations of Foreign-Born Students, Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra’s presentation from our 2016 webinar Student Success: Models and Tools for K-12 and Adult Educators.

Helping New Americans Find Their Way, an academic paper by Tori DeAngelis, Dr. Nadine Nakamura, and Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra in American Psychologist 42.

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With thousands of options to choose from, do you still find yourself thinking, “there’s nothing to watch”? Maybe it’s because there are so many options that it’s hard to find the ones worth watching. Choose wisely. Just like the old adage, “you are what you eat,” the media we consume can influence who we become and how we see the world.

Research by the Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project at USC Annenberg demonstrated that by and large immigrant characters on television don’t reflect reality. Instead, they tend to reinforce false stereotypes, distorting audiences’ understanding of the immigrant experience. Follow up research by Define American further showed that what we watch can influence our attitudes toward immigrants and even our behavior.

The good news is that it’s not all “junk food.” Despite a long history of immigrant characters being played by non-immigrants who don’t share their genuine accent, background or even ethnicity, more and more immigrants are able to tell their own, authentic stories. Instead of Mickey Rooney’s “yellowface” depiction of I. Y. Yunioshi Breakfast at Tiffiany’s, we have Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever.

To help you find those authentic stories, we have compiled a watchlist of comedies, dramas and documentaries that prominently feature immigrants and immigration storylines in film and TV. From goofy sitcoms to children’s animated shorts to intense docudramas, these stories highlight immigrants in a diverse set of contexts and perspectives. Happy viewing!

If you’re more interested in reading a book about immigrants and immigration, check out our recommendations here.

Jump to: Films | TV Series | Documentaries and Docuseries

An American Pickle

Comedy | Rated PG13 | 1h 30min

Using the goofy premise of an Eastern European immigrant being miraculously resuscitated and reunited with a descendant in the contemporary United States, An American Pickle explores how the impact of immigration can ripple through generations. The two men, both played by actor Seth Rogen, have to reconcile their competing visions of what success, family and the American Dream look like. 

Where to watch An American Pickle 

An American Tail

Animation, Drama/Comedy, Musical | Rated G | 1h 20min

An American Tail is a great introduction to 19th century immigration for children. When the “Mousekewitzes,” a family of animated mice living in Russia, move to the U.S., they deal with sweatshops, poverty and family separation. A band of villainous cats provide an allegory for oppression and bigotry for the mouse heroes. These tough topics become more palatable and accessible for children when filtered through the fun, friendly animation.

Where to watch An American Tail

Avalon

Drama | Rated PG | 2h 8min

Several generations of a Jewish Polish family wrestle with assimilation, family conflict and the American Dream in mid-20th century Baltimore. This film sensitively portrays both the cultural and the intergenerational differences that arise as the family chases prosperity and security. It also serves as a prequel to the movies Diner and Tin Men but focuses more closely on the immigrant experience.

Where to watch Avalon

Blue Bayou

Drama | Rated R | 1hr 59min

The hero of Blue Bayou, troubled Korean American adoptee Antonio LeBlanc, is building a happy life when a run-in with a police officer lands him in ICE custody. The movie spotlights the plight of adoptees whose parents never correctly filed their citizenship paperwork, putting their immigration status in jeopardy decades after their adoption. LeBlanc is a realistically flawed but sympathetic character as he struggles to stay with his wife and children. This little-known corner of the American immigration system gets an emotional dramatization in Blue Bayou. 

Where to watch Blue Bayou

Brooklyn

Drama | Rated PG13 | 1h 57min

This film, starring Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, follows an Irish immigrant to 1950s Brooklyn. Like many young women, she sets out in search of work and a better life but finds there are more obstacles than she expected. The film balances its portrayal of the residents of New York City, who are in turn inhospitable and supportive. It’s a family-friendly introduction to mid-century European immigration to the United States.

Where to watch Brooklyn

I Carry You with Me

Drama | Rated R | 1h 51m

Director Heidi Ewing closely based this story of a gay, undocumented immigrant couple on two of her real-life friends. Their story of falling in love in Mexico and making the risky decision to move to the United States, despite the discrimination and hardships they might face, makes for an affecting and complex movie. 

Where to watch I Carry You with Me 

In America

Drama | Rated PG-13 | 1hr 45min

An Irish American family struggles to make it in New York City. This film is set apart from most Irish migration stories by being set in the 1980s and grappling with contemporary issues, including HIV/AIDs and drug use. Despite touching on tough topics, the movie is ultimately an uplifting, heartwarming story about a family that comes together in the face of hardship. Director/screenwriter Jim Sheridan loosely based the family on his own experiences, lending the film a powerful authenticity. 

Where to watch In America

The Joy Luck Club

Drama | Rated R | 2hr 19min  

Based on the classic book by Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club traces the lives of four women who have immigrated from China and their daughters. By interweaving flashbacks to the lives of the women before they came to the U.S., the movie helps the viewer understand the push and pull factors that lead to immigration, as well as the challenges that are faced by people after they arrive. It also focuses on the unique experiences, challenges and strengths of female immigrants.

Where to watch The Joy Luck Club

Man Push Cart

Drama | Not Rated | 1hr 27min

A Pakistani immigrant struggles to make a living from a food cart in post-9/11 New York City. The film was praised by reviewers for its observational and realistic approach, giving the audience the impression that they’re peeking into the life of a real person. This film avoids idealizing or stereotyping its lead. It intentionally avoids the “exceptional immigrant” trope, instead encouraging the audience to respect a man performing menial labor for little respect or pay.

Where to watch Man Push Cart

Minari

Drama | Rated PG13 | 1h 55min  

Three generations of a Korean-American immigrant family attempt to start a farm in the 1980s. They struggle with the land, their new, mostly white community, and the intergenerational and intercultural conflicts within their family. Minari shares an underrepresented chapter of Asian-American history.

Where to watch Minari

The Namesake

Drama | Rated PG13 | 2hr 2min

Fans of Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake will also enjoy this adaptation. Ashoke and Ashima are immigrants to New York from India, but their son, Gogol, feels largely cut off from his Indian heritage. His conflicting desires to push away and embrace his culture make up the core of this film. The Namesake offers a strong depiction of the tension between assimilating to a new culture and retaining a heritage culture.

Where to watch The Namesake

Persepolis

Animated, Drama | Rated PG13 | 1hr 36min

The famous graphic novel Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, was adapted into a feature-length animated film in 2007. Marjane, the Iranian protagonist, chafes under a regressive Iranian regime and longs for freedom, culminating in a move to the United States. This is an excellent film for exploring the variety of “push factors” that can lead immigrants to leave their countries of origin. This film is animated but not for children, as it explores both sexuality and violence under a totalitarian government.

Where to watch Persepolis

The Sun is Also a Star

Drama | Rated PG13 | 1h 40min

The Sun is Also a Star integrates the topic of immigration into a teen romance drama. Natasha is an undocumented immigrant about to be deported with her family to Jamaica. Daniel is falling in love with her. The teens have a short window to navigate family conflicts, their personal differences and an unforgiving immigration system. This is a great film for building empathy with a capable, likeable protagonist who happens to be undocumented, especially for teens who might relate to the teen leads.

Where to watch The Sun is Also a Star

Under the Same Moon

Drama | Rated PG13 | 1h 44min  

In this movie, a child immigrates from Mexico to the United States by himself to rejoin his mother. Along the way, he encounters both people who seek to take advantage of him and people who seek to help him. While told from the perspective of a child, this film deals with some heavier themes and is more appropriate for older kids.

Where to watch Under the Same Moon

Wind

Animation, Drama | Rated G | 0h 8min  

This Pixar short was designed as a metaphor for the family immigration story of the writer and creator, Edwin Chang. A child and his grandmother live at the bottom of a deep chasm and plan their escape. The grandmother must make sacrifices to ensure her grandson can have a better life. Wind is a fanciful introduction to immigration and children might have to unpack it with an adult in order to grasp the themes.

Where to watch Wind

Bob Hearts Abishola

Comedy | Rated TV PG | 30min

This sitcom follows Bob, a U.S.-born entrepreneur, who falls in love with Abishola, a Nigerian-born nurse, after she cares for him following a heart attack. The show mines their cultural differences for humor, but respects both characters’ and their families’ beliefs. Bob Hearts Abishola is a rare depiction of Black immigrants, who are infrequently represented in media despite making up one in 10 Black Americans.

Where to watch Bob Hearts Abishola

Fresh off the Boat

Comedy | Rated TV PG | 30min  

Based on Eddie Huang’s memoir Fresh off the Boat, this sitcom follows a pair of immigrants from Taiwan as they navigate raising children and starting a “cowboy-themed” restaurant in Florida. The show is sympathetic and thoughtful in its portrayal of the perspectives of both the immigrant parents and the more “Americanized” children. Issues of assimilation and representation are prominent. When this sitcom premiered in 2015, it was only the second U.S. sitcom to focus on an Asian-American family.

Where to watch Fresh off the Boat

Gordita Chronicles

Comedy | Rated TV PG | 30min

Writer Claudia Forestieri drew on her own experiences as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic to Florida to craft this charming, family-friendly sitcom. The show follows 12-year-old Cucu and her quirky family as they navigate their new lives in the U.S. Gordita Chronicles juggles fish out of water humor with a more serious examination of the family’s trials as non-white newcomers. With the show’s focus split between the children and parents of the family, this is an option that could appeal to the whole family. 

Where to watch Gordita Chronicles

Jane the Virgin

Drama/Comedy | Rated TV14 | 1hr  

The American remake of the popular Venezuelan telenovela features three generations of a Venezuelan-American family in Florida. The culture clash between the traditional, immigrant matriarch, Alba, and her more Americanized child and grandchild is a central plotline of the show. Alba’s slow, difficult progression toward achieving her citizenship was praised in particular by Opportunity Agenda for both its realism and how it didn’t wholly define her multi-dimensional character.

Where to watch Jane the Virgin

Kim’s Convenience

Comedy | Rated TV14 | 30min

A Korean-American immigrant family running a convenience store may sound stereotypical, but this Canadian sitcom shows the full humanity behind the archetype. The characters wrestle with cultural differences, discrimination, family conflict and more while keeping the family store afloat. The show is adapted from a play of the same name, written by Ins Choi, himself an immigrant from Korea to Canada. Choi called the story a “love letter to [his] parents and to all first-generation immigrants who call Canada their home.”

Where to watch Kim’s Convenience

Little America

Drama/Comedy | Rated TV14 | 30min  

This anthology show, created in part by actor and immigrant from India Kumail Nanjiani, sets out to depict a diverse set of immigrant narratives based on true stories. Eight half-hour episodes follow eight different immigrants through important chapters in their lives. Characters include the child of deported business owners, a gay Syrian refugee seeking safety, and a Chinese mother wrestling with her and her family’s understanding of the American Dream. The show made headlines when, in a moment of political resonance, filming had to be reworked to accommodate a Syrian actor who was unable to come to the U.S. to work under current immigration policy.

Where to watch Little America

Master of None

Drama/Comedy | Rated TV MA | 30min  

Stand-up comedian Aziz Ansari’s Netflix show features a diverse array of characters, including the main character’s parents, immigrants from India, and a friend whose parents immigrated from Taiwan. Ansari, who plays the lead, dedicates a standout episode, “Parents,” to exploring the migration stories of his father and his friend’s father. Children of immigrants watching the show responded to the episode with enthusiasm, saying that they had “never seen anything so relatable on television before.” It’s a story that rings unsurprisingly true, given that Ansari cast his own mother and father in the parental roles.

Where to watch Master of None

Never Have I Ever

Comedy | Rated TV14 | 30min 

Mindy Kaling’s semi-autobiographical Netflix show follows the daughter of Indian immigrants as she navigates sex, adolescence and the loss of her father. In an interview, the showrunner described having a writers’ room with multiple children of immigrants who contributed authentic anecdotes and details to make the story more compelling. This show has the potential to be a funny, relatable story that could connect teenagers with an experience removed from their own.

Where to watch Never Have I Ever

One Day at a Time

Comedy | Rated TV PG | 30min 

This Netflix reboot of the classic 1970s sitcom focuses on three generations of a Cuban-American family, the matriarch of which is an immigrant. The show depicts a loving, close-knit family wrestling with issues of mental illness, addiction and sexuality. Fans launched a campaign to save the show after Netflix cancelled it, citing its compelling and unfortunately rare depiction of a Latinx family, leading to the show’s resurrection on Pop TV. It can serve as a lighthearted introduction to the immigrant experience.

Where to watch One Day at a Time

Party of Five

Drama | Rated TV14 | 1hr

The writers of Party of Five updated the premise of the classic 1970s television show in this reboot. Instead of losing their parents in a car accident, the five Accosta siblings are left adrift when their parents are deported. Family separation is a hot button issue, and this series sensitively depicts the human fallout of the family’s rift. The show aired just one season before getting cancelled, but it packed a lot of thoughtful discussion of contemporary immigration issues in its 10 episodes.

Where to watch Party of Five

The Promised Life 

Drama | Not Rated |1hr 45min 

The Promised Life is a foreign language drama firmly rooted in the immigrant perspective. It tracks multiple generations of the Carizzo family through the 1920s after they’re forced to flee their native Sicily for New York City. Their determination in the face of many obstacles highlights the strength and dedication of immigrants to the U.S. Don’t let the subtitles deter you from enjoying a compelling, uplifting family drama. 

Where to watch The Promised Land 

Ramy

Drama/Comedy | Rated TV MA | 30min

Ramy features a family of Muslim, Egyptian immigrants living in New Jersey. Ramy, the title character, grapples with coming of age as a millennial, immigrant Muslim-American. Over the course of the series, he struggles to reconcile his faith, sexuality and family traditions. Creator Ramy Youssef, himself a child of Egyptian immigrants, plays the title role. He also shares the focus with the rest of his fictionalized family, giving a more Americanized, feminist sister and a closeted uncle opportunities to share their perspectives on the Muslim immigrant experience.

Where to watch Ramy

Sunnyside

Comedy | Rated TV14 | 30min

Kal Penn, the son of Indian immigrants, created a sitcom that follows a group of immigrants in New York City. He also stars, drawing on his real-life political experience working in President Obama’s administration to portray a disgraced former politician attempting to regain political favor by coaching former constituents on their paths to becoming citizens. The show balances goofy fish out of water humor with the very real perils the immigrant students face, including poverty, discrimination and ICE enforcement.

Where to watch Sunnyside

Superstore

Comedy | Rated TV14 | 30min

Superstore is a kooky workplace sitcom that takes on some big topics. Fan-favorite character Mateo, played by Nico Santos, is a queer, undocumented, Filipino immigrant whose ongoing search for stability and legal status becomes a prominent plot thread. Santos, a gay Filipino immigrant himself, says he received an outpouring of messages from people who saw themselves in his character. In interviews, Superstore writers have discussed reaching out to immigrants and immigration professionals to refine their plotlines. The show isn’t afraid to get overtly political, but the focus remains on portraying the characters as full, funny human beings.

Where to watch Superstore

Transplant

Drama | Rated TV14 | 1hr

The lead of this NBC medical drama is a Syrian refugee. When Dr. Bashir flees Syria for Canada, he’s stuck working in the kitchen of a Middle Eastern restaurant before a chance encounter with an injured hospital worker lets him prove his medical skills. Even once he returns to working in a hospital, the show takes care to explore his struggles as a doctor in a new culture and the challenges he faces as a refugee. The show captures the reality that immigrants are overrepresented in both the food and health care industry, as well as the uphill battle many immigrants face in translating their education and credentials to a new country.

Where to watch Transplant

The Facility

Not Rated | 26min

Filmed via tablets and a video messaging app, this short documentary chronicles almost a year of life inside an immigration detention center. The film follows Nilson Barahona-Marriaga and Andrea Manrique, two detained migrants who engage in civil disobedience to resist poor treatment that’s worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Facility uses the communication technology provided to detainees to offer a rare, unstaged look inside of the U.S.’ controversial immigration detention centers. Given its sometimes harrowing subject matter, this documentary may be more appropriate for adults. 

Where to watch The Facility

Flee

Not Rated | 1hr 29min 

Afghan refugee Amin Nawabi sits down with his friend, documentary filmmaker Jonas Poher, and tells the story of his flight from Afghanistan for the first time. His narrative is depicted through beautiful, evocative animation. Nawabi’s refugee story is complicated by his realization that he’s gay and falling for a man in his new home. Flee was the first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature and Best Animated Feature simultaneously. 

Where to watch Flee

I Learn America

Not Rated | 1h 30min

I Learn America is a kid-friendly introduction to five children of immigrants adapting to their new country. Facing History and Ourselves developed an accompanying learning guide to help students learn from the film. The film and its supplemental educational materials prioritizes “youth-led” storytelling. This documentary is aimed at young people but could also be helpful for teachers seeking to better understand and serve their immigrant students.

Where to watch I Learn America

I’m Leaving Now

Not Rated | 1hr 14min 

Felipe Hernández is an undocumented New Yorker who desperately misses his family in Mexico and is conflicted about staying to work or returning to them. The documentary follows him as he struggles to maintain his bonds with his faraway family while financially supporting them. It also includes some staged and fictionalized elements.

Where to watch I’m Leaving Now

Immigration Battle

Not Rated | 1hr 54min 

This two hour Frontline documentary delves into the policy side of immigration. It aired in 2015, and therefore doesn’t cover many key developments in the immigration landscape since then, but it provides a clear-eyed look at how immigration policy is shaped and settled behind closed doors. Unlike most of the films listed here, it focuses more on the policymakers who shape immigration policy than the immigrants affected by it.

Where to watch Immigration Battle

Immigration Nation

Rated TV-MA | 1hr

Documentarians embedded within Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) for years to capture this series’ footage. The mechanics of the organization’s enforcement actions are shown from start to finish in stark, sometimes upsetting detail, and the human cost is evident. This series is appropriate for anyone seeking to understand how contemporary immigration practices are carried out.

Where to watch Immigration Nation

Liberty: Mother of Exiles

Rated PG | 1hr 23min

This feature-length film traces the history of American immigration through the history of the Statue of Liberty. The famous figurehead has been a symbol of welcome and a site of protests, both of which the film examines thoughtfully. The documentary also explores the meaning of the poem inscribed on the statue’s base, “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus, from which the film derives its name: “A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame / Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name / Mother of Exiles.”

Where to watch Liberty: Mother of Exile

Living Undocumented

Rated TV MA | 45min

This series follows eight undocumented immigrants in the U.S. It also interviews immigration attorneys who tackle common questions about undocumented immigrants, like, “Why don’t they come the right way and get in line?”. In a piece for Time magazine, Selena Gomez shared that she was drawn to join the project as a producer because members of her own family came to the U.S. without documentation and she recognized their stories in the footage she was shown.

Where to watch Living Undocumented

The New Americans

Not Rated | 1h 

PBS’s seven-part documentary series takes an unusual approach, offering minimal narration or interviews as it tracks the lives of immigrants over four years. Instead, the immigrants to the United States are observed at work, at home and over the course of the rest of their daily lives, affording the viewer an intimate and personal look at their experiences. It doesn’t explicitly delve into politics or policy, instead creating a humanizing chronicle of individual lives.

Where to watch New Americans

Strangers in Town

Not rated | 43min

For anyone looking for a portrayal of what it means to be a “welcoming community,” this film could provide some answers. Garden City, Kansas was challenged and ultimately strengthened by several unexpected waves of migration. The response of U.S.-born residents runs the gamut, but the benefits of welcoming their new neighbors become clear.

Where to watch Strangers in Town

Helping families with at-home learning

Families everywhere are struggling with how to educate their children during this pandemic. The problem is even more complicated for immigrant families. Parents who are not native English speakers often find it particularly difficult to navigate U.S. school systems or help children with their homework. With the move of so much instruction online, things have not gotten easier.

After a month or so of home quarantine, a team of Boston-area high school students decided they could do some good for area children while keeping themselves intellectually challenged by offering free tutoring services. In April, David Min, Nathan Bornstein, Dan Bi and Dylan Higgins launched Boston COVID Tutoring (BCT). Since then, BCT has expanded to 72 volunteers tutoring 67 elementary and middle school students in subjects including math, science, English, history, social studies and various world languages.

The Immigrant Learning Center’s students are adult immigrants and refugees who desperately want to learn English to improve their and their family’s lives in this country. We have heard first-hand from many of our students the difficulty of trying to ensure their children’s education during this crisis without abandoning their own studies. When Boston COVID Tutoring approached us for mentoring, we were well aware of the need for these services and pleased to be able to help these enterprising young adults create something that will have lasting impact. Through this partnership, The Immigrant Learning Center offers organizational guidance and oversight of the volunteer program to BCT and in return directs immigrant families to this valuable new resource. Everyone wins.

The relationship between Black Americans and migration is complicated. For many African Americans, the idea of an immigrant heritage can be a painful reminder that their heritage was erased when their ancestors were enslaved and brought to this country. More recent Black migrants may know and be proud of their heritage, but the United States’ legacy of slavery means they face challenges that non-Black immigrants do not. Their immigrant status means they also face challenges that U.S.-born Black Americans do not. Ultimately, like all immigrant groups, Black immigrants from around the world find both challenges and opportunities for themselves and contribute to a stronger United States.

I came here as a refugee but not as a white refugee. My permanent home is the U.S. and my permanent color is Black.

–Tiha Jibi, refugee from South Sudan

The longstanding racial inequities in the United States combined with a history of blaming immigrants for so many societal problems have too often led to Black American and immigrant American communities being pitted against each other. Although there is little evidence to support it, some Black Americans have been led to believe that immigrants are to blame for Black communities’ economic struggles. On the other hand, the discrimination and marginalization that U.S.-born Black communities face can lead some Black immigrants to hold U.S.-born Black communities at arm’s length. In an interview with the Minnesota Digital Library, Somalian refugee Mohamed Jama describes being “warned against mixing with [B]lack Americans,” and first-generation Caribbean immigrant and professor Pedro Noguera writes in an essay that his parents “wanted to be distinguished from [B]lack Americans” to the point of telling him he wasn’t Black. 

In reality, Black, immigrant and Black-immigrant communities have significant shared interests and a long history of collaboration. Many immigrants are aware of and respect the long struggle for civil rights in the Black community and how it relates to their own struggles.

I wouldn’t be able to be at this institution today without the work of African Americans who have laid the foundations for me.

–Deborah Alexis, Haitian-American college student

In our webinar “Building United Communities of Immigrants and African Americans,” four experts discussed tools for building collaboration and solidarity in Black and immigrant communities:

Black Immigrants Are More Likely
to Speak English Very Well

Source: Pew Research Center

Black Immigrants Have Lower Average Income Than All U.S. Residents and All Other Immigrants

Source: Pew Research Center

The answer does not lie in education. Black immigrants have similar levels of education as all immigrants on average, and sub-Saharan African immigrants are the best educated of any immigrant group. A partial explanation is that highly-educated immigrants can have difficulty finding work in their field because of barriers to transferring skills and accreditation from their home country. Given that Black people in the United States make less money on average than white people, even while working the same jobs at the same skill level, a more complete answer involves taking a look at the role of racial as well as anti-immigrant bias.

Despite these disadvantages, Black immigrants make significant contributions to the United States economy. In 2018, Black immigrant households earned $133.6 billion in income, paying $22.8 billion in federal income taxes and $13.2 billion in state and local taxes. Black immigrant entrepreneurs from singer and beauty mogul Robyn Rihanna Fenty to cybersecurity expert Herby Duverne create jobs and strengthen the economy.

More Than a Quarter of Black Immigrants Have College Degrees

Source: Pew Research Center

Black Immigrants are Least Likely to be Home Owners

Source: Pew Research Center

As a group, Black immigrants have a better than average knowledge of English, but four in 10 still need help learning the language. The disproportionate focus on Latinx immigrants in media creates a stereotype of English language learners that Black immigrants don’t match, which can make it harder for them to access the resources they need. As an example, an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher described in an interview with Colorín Colorado, another teacher thinking her Black, English language learners were “in the wrong room.” These assumptions can be alienating to students who are often also facing racial discrimination for the first time.

Research shows that teacher expectations can have a meaningful impact on student performance. Too often, implicit racial bias leads teachers to set lower expectations for Black students. The same is true for bias against students who are not native English speakers. Black immigrant students who don’t speak English well face a double bind of lowered expectations. Despite studies indicating that Black immigrant children are well-prepared for schooling at home, a report on Black immigrant students found that even high-achieving students were deemed to be “academically inferior” if they were also English language learners. This can translate into measurable differences.

A report from the U.S. Department of Education shows that Black, English language learners (ELLs) perform worse on reading and math exams than either non-Black ELLs or Black native speakers. Bias in schools can have even more serious consequences. Black students are more likely than non-Black students to be arrested for the same behaviors, which in turn funnels them into the criminal justice system.

Being around everybody that’s white, predominantly, and you’re the only person of some type of color in there … I’ve never really done it, so that’s one thing I’ll be kinda nervous about.

–Robert, college student from Trinidad and Tobago 

When the vulnerabilities of race and immigration status intersect, they form a “prison to deportation pipeline,” a term used to describe a system that works to funnel Black and Latinx immigrants from the criminal court system into Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) custody. Black immigrants are more likely to be detained, returned to their home country and prevented from returning than immigrants of other races or ethnicities. They are also less likely to have their application for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) accepted. This is not surprising when you consider the experience of Black, U.S.-born people in the United States. Black people are equally likely as other Americans to commit crimes, but they are significantly more likely to be stopped, questioned, arrested, charged, denied bail, convicted and serve longer sentences.

Immigrants are actually less likely than U.S.-born people to commit a crime, but immigrants of color are still more likely to become involved with the criminal justice system. Black and Latinx residents in the United States are more likely to be stopped by police than white residents, and when stopped, police are twice as likely to threaten or use force against them. St. Lucian American immigrant Botham Jean made national headlines after he was murdered by a white police officer who had broken into his apartment.

Although they both face increased undue attention from police, the stakes are higher for Black immigrants than those born here or non-Black immigrants. Black immigrants make up one in five non-citizens facing deportation on criminal grounds, which is close to three times their share of the non-citizen population. Even a minor criminal charge can derail an immigration process or end in deportation. In fact, offenses that are treated as misdemeanors in criminal courts can be cause for automatic deportation in immigration court.

One in five non-citizens facing deportation is Black.

Although much needs to be done to level the playing field, each person must ultimately decide for themselves what it means to be Black and an immigrant in the United States. Like all immigrants, they come here with a fierce desire to improve their lives and their new homeland, and Black immigrants find ways to make a home for themselves here. Black history is full of stories of great achievement, including luminaries like Claude McKay, Kwame Ture and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Currently, Black immigrants contribute $36 billion in tax revenue every year, and they are more likely to start businesses than U.S.-born Americans, creating more jobs for everyone. With some help, they can be even more successful. Here are a few ideas for public servants, teachers, not-for-profits, community organizers and anyone whose work intersects with immigrants.

Get data:

Understand who is in your community and find out what they need. More than just foreign-born or not, try to discover the racial, ethnic, nationality, gender, etc. makeup of your community. Are there immigrants from Nigeria, Haiti or Zambia, for example? How are their needs different from immigrants from other countries, or Black or white U.S.-born citizens? A great source for such data is Immigration Data on Demand, a free service from the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University. There are several pre-existing fact sheets available, and you can request a custom fact sheet including the geography and demographic information that’s relevant to you.

Get trained:

There is a wealth of resources to help educators teaching immigrant students and address implicit bias in schools. The Immigrant Learning Center has eight years’ worth of recordings and resources from our free, online Educator Workshops.

“Know Your Rights” trainings can help Black immigrants navigate encounters with the police, decreasing the likelihood that they will be sucked into a criminal justice system that could endanger their immigration status.

Get together:

Immigrant–serving organizations must form stronger coalitions with racial justice organizations, recognizing the shared goals and needs of the two movements. The history of coalition building between immigrant and racial justice organizations shows that such cooperation is not only possible but powerful.  

In The Immigrant Learning Center’s conference on uniting immigration with other social causes, Dr. Kim Tabari of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California presented on the intersection of race and immigration. The video is cued to start when she offers six strategies for collaborative action:

• The Black Alliance for Just Immigration provides a wealth of information and resources for people seeking to learn and do more on this issue. 
• Organizations like the Black Immigrant Collective and the UndocuBlack Network offer more resources to support Black immigrants.
• Learn more about extraordinary Black immigrants throughout U.S. history in the blog post, Black History Month: Seven Famous Black Immigrants. 
• The book Immigrant Struggles, Immigrant Gifts is composed of 11 essays on 11 immigrant groups. Chapter Nine offers an in-depth discussion of the history of Black West Indian immigration. 
• The Education Week article Assumptions Teachers Often Make About Black Students and What to Do About Them describes common stereotypes of Black immigrant students and strategies for tackling them.
• Research shows that the media people consume can shape their worldview. These collections of books and film and TV shows include many representations of Black immigrants that can widen perspectives.

Learning a new language as an adult is hard. It not only takes hard work, it takes courage. You have to be willing to make mistakes, a lot of them. You are going to say and write things wrong, and you have to be willing to look foolish in order to improve.

We recently heard from one such hard-working, brave student, Yvens. He had never studied English before coming to the United States from Haiti. Not knowing English was a big obstacle. When he started at The Immigrant Learning Center, he was struggling to find work. As his English improved, he found a job, earned a promotion and entered an academic program designed to help him transition to college. He’s now working toward a nursing degree.

Research shows that when immigrants and refugees learn English, their employment and wages increases. More than economic and academic success, learning English allows immigrants like Yvens to share their unique perspectives with other English-speakers, and we all benefit. The following essay is a perfect example. Yvens shared it with us to inspire other students like himself.

It was a Monday morning, and I had my first writing class. Although the classroom was big, I sat in a small corner right next to the board because, at the time, all my classmates were strangers to me. That morning, my Professor came a bit late. I still remember his face with sweat all over, wearing a red shirt with a small backpack on his back. He reminded me of my brother when he is going to school. As he was approaching the teacher’s desk, he started to apologize for being late. In that little corner where I leaned on my desk, I was thinking of the reason why would he apologize for it? “He is the Professor, “I said to myself. “Doesn’t he have the right to be late? ” After a few seconds I realized why I was thinking that? I was impatient. I wanted him to start teaching so I could see what he had for us. When he finally started, he wrote ” WRITING” on the board and said, ” As many of you may have thought before, writing is not a thing, it is a process.” To this day I have the sound of his voice, and the gestures he made with his hands in my mind. That phrase has since then made me believe that using my heart when I’m writing is way better than using my brain.

I asked myself one question to see how true this statement is. I said,” why do writers follow the same rules, but each have their own style? How come they sound different”? I’m a horrible writer. You can see that as you are reading this paragraph; however, I love reading. I read lots of books, but they all have something different. It is not about grammar, the structure of the sentences, or the style per se. It is about an ingredient that the author puts in the writing that makes it natural and unique. That ingredient comes from the heart not the brain. When you write with your heart, you spend time reading and rereading your thoughts. You become passionate about it. You naturally have the patience to polish it. Artists, musicians, and poets have to love their work because it takes them time to design or create a great piece of art. It takes Stevie Wonder time to write a great song. It takes Maya Angelou time to write a great poem. However, they have all become great writers because they write with their hearts.

Another reason why I believe writing with your heart is better, with your heart, you cannot be wrong. You can misspell words, or not respect grammatical rules. Sometimes, you can even sound incoherent, but still, if it is coming from your heart that means it is true. I never realized that until I failed one of my essays last semester. My final test was to write a persuasive essay on abortion. I spent a lot of time researching; I read more than five articles on the subject. In other words, I had enough facts to even convince Congress to pass a bill against abortion. But one thing was missing: I failed to put my input in the writing therefore, the professor didn’t feel convinced enough to give me a good grade. I believe that my essay was well written, but it was not natural. It was not unique. I was focusing too much on getting a high grade instead of analyzing the issue from my perspective.

My brain, as the organ of intelligence, plays a significant role in the writing process. How would I be able to write these few paragraphs without using it? How would I process my thoughts? I would be wrong to think that I only use my heart in the writing process. I use my brain to structure the writing process, to make writing looks and sounds intelligent. But remember, as I mentioned before, great writers develop a great relationship of love with their work. This love for their writing would have never been possible if they didn’t put their heart in it. Oprah Winfrey is not known as a writer, but I still see the need to use her as an example for always saying,” If you do it with your heart, you will be successful.” And that is exactly why she is so successful in life.

I wrote this piece without thinking whether I can be wrong or not. To be honest, I’m not even trying to convince anyone anything except for this one, of course. I’m just sharing my thoughts on how simple the process of writing can be if teachers, professors, educators, or even parents make our children believe that the process of writing is simple. They just need to have something to say; whether it is wrong or right, whether the rules are respected or not, it doesn’t matter. What matters the most is just say it with your HEART.”

Immigrants are a key part of the U.S. economy in the best and worst of times. Right now, we are facing severe unemployment, stock market plunges and businesses closures due to the COVID-19 epidemic. As the United States struggles to come to terms with the challenges of both a public health and an economic crisis, one segment of the population is already in a unique position to help our recovery: immigrants. 

Welcoming immigrants is a time-tested way to ensure resilience and stability as the country moves forward. This was most recently apparent after the Great Recession of 2008 when the presence of foreign-born workers boosted the economy. They can do the same for the pandemic recovery. 

People migrate to take advantage of opportunities. When there are fewer job openings, fewer people decide to uproot their lives and move. During the Great Recession, the number of new arrivals to the country decreased, and resident immigrants experienced higher unemployment than U.S.-born workers. When the economy started to recover, immigrants went back to work filling in important niches in the economy. Because immigrants tend to be more flexible in terms of location and industry, they can be an important ingredient to kick-starting the economy. This is in keeping with research that shows immigrant populations are likely to flock to areas that are in a pattern of economic growth, and immigrant labor is key in maintaining growth rates in U.S. cities. As the Cato Institute says, “Immigrants are heralds of growth, not portents of economic disaster.”

Despite the historical record, when people are losing jobs they are tempted to call for restrictions on workers entering the country. The lessons from the Great Recession show us that such measures often backfire.

With the economy shrinking, the United States capped H1-B work visas at drastically low rates. While it seems that would leave more jobs for U.S.-born workers, New American Economy found that the reverse happened. The result was a shortage of high-skilled workers, which stunted revenue and job growth at a time when it was most needed, particularly in high-tech businesses.

A similar problem occurred in agriculture when the number of foreign-born farm workers decreased. New American Economy’s research shows that billions of dollars in revenue and job growth were lost for farms and related industries such as transportation.

With this in mind, it’s no wonder that the Brookings Institution suggested that increased employment among immigrants may be an indicator of the end of a crisis and the beginning of a recovery. By keeping our doors open to immigrants, the U.S. can position itself for a quicker recovery and the chance to expand the economy in new directions.

The United States is not just in the midst of an economic crisis, we are also the global epicenter of the deadliest pandemic in a century. Immigrant workers are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19. Essential fields such as health care, sanitation, agriculture, transportation and food services are heavily reliant on immigrant workers. They are putting themselves at risk to help us all get through this crisis. There are an estimated 263,000 additional immigrant health care professionals who could be activated if the U.S. government can find a way to recognize their credentials. If this crisis continues much longer, we may need them.

The country’s reliance on immigrants has never been as clear as it is in this moment, and not just as workers. Immigrants are also business owners. In fact, one quarter of new businesses in the United States are founded by immigrants. Many of these are “Main Street” business, exactly the kind of small businesses that are hurt most by this crisis. That hasn’t stopped some of these immigrant business owners from pitching in. There are restaurants serving free meals and nail salons making face masks. Both during and after this crisis, keeping the door open to foreign innovators and investors will be crucial to getting the country back to work.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) noted that such moments of crisis provide opportunities to see where economic systems are working well and where they must be reformed. During the aftermath of the Great Recession, CAP researchers suggested the country seize upon the chance to address the ways in which the immigration system impeded economic growth. The opportunity to plan for a recovery that helps both old and new Americans grow together is possible, and the country has the data to determine best practices for moving forward. In the midst of such difficult times, the United States can remember the value of diverse population and workforce and move towards unity.

• Read Three ways immigrants are fighting COVID-19.
• Read Immigrant Entrepreneurs Creating Jobs and Strengthening the U.S. Economy in Growing Industries: Transportation, Food and Building Services

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