Saturday, January 9, 2016

Michelle Caswell, an assistant professor of archival studies in the UCLA Department of Information Studies, is helping immigrants share these heartfelt recollections of their first days in the United States through the First Days Project. The First Days Project shares stories of immigrants’ first days in the United States. The Project was launched in 2013 because the stories of immigrants’ first experiences in the United States were not systematically being collected, preserved, and shared with others. Regardless of whether their first day in the country was five, twenty, or forty (or even more) years ago, it is a day that most immigrants remember very vividly. After all, the first day in a new country is so much more than just one day. A first day can be full of excitement, nervousness, loss, humor, sadness, adventure, confusion, and a mixture of many other emotions. A first day both encapsulates what came before and anticipates what will come after. The hope is that the diversity of stories represented in the First Days Project will reflect the diversity of the American immigrant experience. Browse the stories in the project and submit your own. Here is more about the First Days Project.

Here is one story: My first name is Macrina, my last name is Soto. I arrived in the United States in 1964. I was, I think I was 19. I was living in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. When I was growing up, according to the Mexican government, every child was entitled to an education. When registration time came for the kids to start school, the lines were long, long, long. If they didn’t make it there early enough, the child was likely to end up with no school.

KJ

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2016/01/the-first-day-project-documenting-immigrants-first-days-in-the-united-states-1.html