Both insider, and outsider—still American.
Al P, Tustin, CA Being a 1st Gen American is perhaps one of the most unique experiences to live. Where one is simultaneously an American,...
first generation Mexican, pressure to succeed
Carla Jean Perez, Boone, IA As a Hispanic with a father from Mexico, there is always the pressure to exceed to be better, it will...
I am a Black Dominican and Jamaican
Brittany Baxter, Lake City, FL I am a first-generation American. I speak English and Spanish I have experienced racism from everyone simply because I don’t...
Ashamed by parent’s accents. I’m American!
Caroline Correia, Edina, MN Growing up 60 miles away from New York City in the 70s and 80s may as well have been 600 miles....
The Day After The World Changes
Duryan Bhagat-Clark, Aberdeen, NJ. My father is an immigrant from Bombay, India. He moved here to go to college and graduate school. He is Muslim....
Seasonal confusion; your problem not mine
Courters, Bay Area, CA. I grew up in a latin home, of a first generation born parent. By DNA–I am native-american sicilian. I was raised...
“Russia? Never been,” mom said, perplexed.
Eileen Spiegler, Fort Lauderdale, FL My parents were both first-generation American Jews — their parents moved to New York from Romania and Russia. Before I...
First generation immigrant; you’d never know.
Choua Yang, Green Bay, WI. I was one of the lucky to escape Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War conflict. It was 1980 and I...
How do you pronounce your name?
G, Mission Viejo, CA My whole life has been slightly more challenging due to the fact that I am a first-generation American whose name is...
I am white. So?
Alan S. Doctor, Cambria, CA. I was born in San Francisco on 15 Sep 1930. Dad was Scotch/English and Mom was Polish with a dash...
Soul Surfer is Light without color
NanJo Carter, Richmond, CA. I grew up in the fifties and sixties. We moved to Japan when I was 2. We moved to Montgomery, AL...
It is exhausting living this way.
Delfina Bernucca, Kensington, CT. I am first generation born in USA and grew up in a 70s and 80s Midwest farming community where I was...
Belonging nowhere, I inhabit all spaces
Anthony Chicaiza, Belleville, NJ. Collection: The Race Card Project, On Location, Hood Museum of Art, Witness I’m a first-generation Latino-American stuck between cultures and expectations...
¿Eres mexicana? Entonces, ¿por qué el disfraz?
Maria Seattle, WA You’re Mexican? Then why the disguise? I was asked this by a viejito selling his wares in Tijuana, México, probably about 20...
Yeah, but you’re not BLACK black.
Ruthie Mengistu Memphis ,TN What does that even mean? Is it because I look biracial? Or is it because my parents are first-generation Americans from...
Ni de aqui, ni de aya!
Yesenia Chavez, Houston, TX. I’m a first generation Mexican- American, born and raised in Houston, Texas. Sometimes it feels like I’m too in between both...
