Abdi was born and grew up in Kismayo, Somalia. After the outbreak of civil war in 1991, he went to a small town, Doble, near the Kenyan border. Two years later, he returned to Kismayo and ran his own business. He later went to South Africa, where he again ran his own business. He began the resettlement process in 2010 and finally came to the ...
Creator:
Khalif, Abdi
Created:
2014-11
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Abdirahman Kahin was born in Djibouti and immigrated to the United States in 1996. He has lived in Minnesota since 1997. After working for several years in media production, he created Afro Deli, a popular East African restaurant in Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis. In 2015, he opened its second location in St. Paul.
Creator:
Kahin, Abdirahman
Created:
2015
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Abdul compares his education experiences in Kenya and Minnesota; Abdul tells his journey to the United States and what it means to him; Abdul talks about his life early life in Kenya.
Creator:
Abdirahman, Abdul
Created:
2011
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Immigration History Research Center Archives.
Abdullah Lami immigrated to the United States from Iraq along with his family to attain a better education. While life was initially challenging as he missed his culture, learned a new language, and faced racial discrimination, life eventually became easier.
Creator:
Lami, Abdullah
Created:
2019-06-05
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Adam Chisholm was born around 1695 in Scotland. Due to being a rebel soldier in the Jacobite Rebellion, he was exiled to the American Colonies where he worked as an indentured servant for seven years before starting a family.
Creator:
Davidson, Isabelle
Created:
2018-11-27
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
This is the story about the narrator's parents, who found love after coming from different backgrounds. The mother was a Moroccan Jew who had fled to Israel , and the father was a Polish Jew who had fled to the United States and met his wife on a trip to Israel. They moved to the United States and started a family, raising their children with el...
Creator:
Fine, Adam
Created:
2019-03-26
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Adam's father was born in Mexico and grew up in Los Angeles. His mother was born and raised in the Twin Cities. They met in Los Angeles in the 70's, where he and his brother were born. The family moved to Minnesota when he was still a baby. He has lived in Minnesota his entire life.
Creator:
Martinez, Adam
Created:
2014-03-20 - 2014-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Afsaneh Nozari and her family fled Iran after the Shah was overthrown. After enduring several hardships, she made it to the United States and began a new life there.
Creator:
Crawford, Catherine
Created:
2018-12-10
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Ahmay Ya was born in Burma in 1987. Her father is a well-known Karen activist, and Ahmay was forced to hide her true identity while growing up. During her final year of university, the Burmese government discovered the truth and she was forced to flee the country. She lived in a Thai refugee camp for several years before coming to the United St...
Creator:
Ya, Ahmay
Contributor:
Venditto, Elizabeth; Yang, Mai (Editor)
Created:
2015-03-20 - 2015-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Ahsan is a refugee from Afghanistan. He was separated from his family as they fled the Taliban and was the only one able to escape to Europe. He must now deal with a new culture while worrying about his family back home.
Creator:
Demmelmaier, Franziska
Created:
2019-01-31
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Aide Esthela Garcia was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She first came to Los Angeles, CA to visit her father. Nine months later, she moved to Minnesota. After working there for nine years, she began her studies at Century College in 2014.
Creator:
Garcia, Aide
Created:
2015-03-20 - 2015-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Aki Berndt was born in 1955 in Mönchengladbach, Germany. He married an American woman and lived in Berlin before moving to Minnesota in 2000. After he lost his job as an architect in 2009, he began to bake bread and opened his own bakery, Aki's BreadHaus, in Minneapolis in 2014.
Contributor:
Smith, Madison
Created:
2017-05-02
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Alaina Qurshi was born in Karachi, Pakistan. She moved to America with her mother at six months old to be with her father, who had been adopted into an American family at a young age. Although her father became very americanized, he still kept close contact with his family back in Pakistan remaining some tradition within his life, which then lea...
Creator:
Ryan Whitacre
Created:
2018-05-01
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Alejandra's mother was her first family member to emigrate to the United States. Alejandra stayed in Mexico with her father while her mother and later brothers emigrated, but she finally joined them in Minnesota years later.
Creator:
Cruz Blanco, Alejandra
Created:
2014-09-22 - 2014-12-21
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Alessandra Inojosa was born in Fortaleza, Brazil. She moved to the United States with her husband and son on September 3, 2011 because her husband, who worked from 3M, was transferred to Minnesota.
Creator:
Inojosa, Alessandra
Created:
2015-03-20 - 2015-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Alexa Brill was born in China in 1996. She was adopted at 9 months old and grew up in Seymour, Wisconsin. Alexa studied sociology and economics at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin.
Creator:
Sabrowsky, Kelly
Created:
2016-03-20 - 2016-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Alex Philstrom moved from England to the US with her family in 1982 when she was two years old. Because she was so young when she immigrated she quickly lost her accent, which she laments as an adult. Alex’s parents both have British accents. Alex passes as an American because she does not have an accent. Her parents, however, are asked where th...
Creator:
Philstrom, Alexandra
Created:
2017-08-25
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Alfonso Tinoco was born in 1999 in Uriangato, Mexico. In 2012 he moved to the United States with his mother and father. After a short time in Missouri, the family moved to Ohio. Though he spent his first two years in ESL courses, Alfonso moved into AP English in his third year.
Creator:
Whitted, Benjamin
Created:
2018-05-01
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Ali Salbri was born in Tunis, Tunisia in 1959. In 1981 Ali moved to Paris, France to study and returned home in 1983. He spent several years in Brussels and Oslo before moving back to Tunisia in 1989. In 1990 obtained a Canadian tourist visa and attempted to move there, spending 6 months in Berkeley. In 1995, after not being allowed to move to C...
Creator:
Raach, Malek
Created:
2017-11-27
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Alma Price was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1976. After the death of her husband she decided to move to the United States with her two children. She now lives in Anchorage, Alaska.
Creator:
Pierce, Alma
Created:
2017-12-14
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Amara Baja was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. His family was resettled in the United States on August 10, 2010. The family first lived in Twin Falls, ID before relocating to St. Paul, Minnesota.
Creator:
Baja, Amara
Created:
2016-03-20 - 2016-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Amilyn grew up in the province of Abuyog Leyte, Phillipines with her parents and sibligns. She met her husband, an American, in the Phillipines. Amilyn came to the United STates in March 2006 to be with her hsuband. They live in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Creator:
Theisen, Amilyn
Created:
2015-01
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Amina was born in Somalia and came to Kenya as a refugee in 2005. She met and married her husband in Kenya. On July 23, 2013, she came to the United States. She lived in Boston for two months and then moving to Minnesota. She works and attends English as a Second Language classes. She had her husband have four children.
Creator:
Shire, Amina
Created:
2014-11
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Amir Hisham came to the United States from Malaysia to further his education. He dealt with language barriers and cultural differences, which he overcame with the help of friends and hard work.
Creator:
Takeshita, Dennis
Created:
2018-12-13
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Anab Adan Gulaid grew up in Hargeisa, Somalia. After the outbreak of the Somali civil war in late 1990, she left Somalia with several family members and moved to Toronto, Canada, where she went to school and became a Canadian citizen. After marrying her husband, she moved the United States, living first in Chicago and then Minnesota. She is a me...
Creator:
Gulaid, Anab
Created:
2015-07-11 - 2015-07-12
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Angelica Garcia was born in Cuichapa, Veracruz, Mexico in 1977. She moved to the United States with her husband without knowing much English. In 2014 she began taking English classes at Second Start.
Creator:
Garcia, Angelica
Created:
2017-09-19
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Anh-Thu Phan is a social justice activist who was born in Saigon, Vietnam. Her family left the country at the end of the American war in Vietnam. They resettled in Minnesota with the help of a Lutheran church. Motivated by her family’s experiences, Anh began her work as an anti-war activist with Amnesty International in her high school and joi...
Creator:
Pham, Anh-Thu
Created:
2014-09-22 - 2014-12-21
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
