Ja fled Laos when Vietnamese troops came and crossed the Mekong River into Thailand. She met her husband at the Ban Vinai Refugee camp. They arrived in Minneapolis in 1993. Ja has four children including Dee Pha, who created this digital story.
Creator:
Pha, Ja
Contributor:
Pha, Dee (Editor, Translator)
Created:
2014-03-20 - 2014-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
JeongHeon Cho experienced the frustrations of setting up a new life in Japan after moving there from South Korea to study. Transactions which were simple back home and came naturally to Japanese were confusing to an outsider unfamiliar with the system and the language.
Creator:
Cho, JeongHeon
Created:
2019-07-12
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
This story is about how the parents of Jesus Balderrama immigrated from Mexico in order to give their children better opportunities. Balderrama recounts the struggles of growing up in poverty and of being an intermediary between his parents and the English-speaking world around them.
Creator:
Balderrama, Jesus
Created:
2019-05-30
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
John discusses family “ghosts,” deceased family members in both the paternal and maternal branches of his Italian-American family. His paternal side’s ghost was Giovanni (John) Andreozzi, his father’s biological father. Giovanni came from Falvaterra, Lazio, Italy to the United States in 1909. He married John’s grandmother, Vincenza Limongiell...
Creator:
Andreozzi, John
Contributor:
Schell, Justin (Editor)
Created:
2013-03-20 - 2013-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Jonathan is a student at the University of Minnesta-Twin Cities from St. Paul, Minnesota. His mother, Ephrosine (Frances) Elizabeth Willard, is a Greek American originally from Rochester, Minnesota. Her grandparents came from the Peloponnese at the beginning of the 20th century. She married a non-Greek.
Creator:
Willard, Jonathan
Created:
2014-03-20 - 2014-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Jonathan Shia Yang (Jonathan Siab Yaj) was born in Fresno, CA in 1991 and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1996, where he grew up. He graduated from Bethel University in 2014 with a degree in Reconciliation.
Creator:
Yang, Jonathan
Contributor:
Venditto, Elizabeth (Editor)
Created:
2015-05
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Jose-Angel Lombera left Mexico at a young age to escape his impoverished conditions and seek new opportunities. The border crossing was harrowing and traumatic, and once in the States, he had to overcome a learning disability to learn English and adjust to the culture. He eventually became the head of a construction business and started a family.
Creator:
Lombera, Alejandra
Created:
2019-03-21
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
This is the story of an Italian immigrant in the early 1900s starting a family and pursuing the American Dream. It involves hard work, family, Catholicism, and organized crime.
Creator:
Swider, Kara
Created:
2018-11-27
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Born in Russia in 1889, Joseph Helinski left his family in Russia (present-day Poland) in 1907 to avoid being drafted into the Russian army. He came alone and never went back. According to his descendants, he did not immigrate through Ellis Island but jumped off his boat when it was near shore. The 1919 birth certificate of his daughter, Gert...
Creator:
Helinski, Joseph
Contributor:
Yulga, Abigail (Editor)
Created:
2014-03-20 - 2014-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Juan Carlos grew up in Cuba and came to the United States in 2006. He shares his story of growing up and observing life in his country, where life is based on survival. Juan Carlos was excited to come to the United States and find a job, but leaving was bittersweet because his parents remained in Cuba.
Creator:
Van Eijl, Katie
Created:
2018-05-04
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Agnish Prasad migrated to the United States in 1992 from Fiji with her family. Her family had migrate to Fiji from India starting in 1879. She now goes by Julie and lives in the United States with her husband and children.
Creator:
Hildreth, Monica
Created:
2017-07-25
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Julie Sinn was born in Pusan, South Korea, in 1994. For two month Julie was raised by a foster mother who named her Kyung Hwa Lee, Peaceful Good Event. In October 1994, Juliewas adpoted into a family in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Creator:
Sinn, Julie
Created:
2017-07-30
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Even though his last name is German (from my Dad's father, who was adopted) the rest of his family on both sides is Italian, with names like Milano, Laporte, Christianelli, and Terlizzi dominating both sides. All of his great-grandparents on both sides came to America during the early 20th century. Justin grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from...
Creator:
Schell, Justin
Created:
2014
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Kaochi Pha’s family was forced to flee Laos because of the Secret War. Her parents met in Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand and married in 1988. Her parents moved from Ban Vinai to Wisconsin, where her uncle lived, in 1993. Kaochi was the first US-born child in her family. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is a student at the University o...
Creator:
Pha, Kaochi
Created:
2015-03-20 - 2015-06-20
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center
Karin shares the story of her maternal great-grandmother, Karin Svenson Berg, who emigrated from Sweden 1902 for marriage. Her journey brought her to Mora, Minnesota and many of the items she brought with her have been passed down for generations, along with her life story.
Creator:
Sonneman, Karin; Katie van Eijl, Katie
Created:
2018-05-09
Contributed By:
University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center