Immigrant Voices: Twenty-Four Narratives on Becoming an American

With narratives from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, this anthology provides a historical and uniquely personal perspective on the immigrant experience and illuminates the often difficult dream of becoming an American citizen.

From Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s defining statement of Americanism to Harlem Renaissance figure Claude McKay’s observations on race, here are both rousing and heartbreaking impressions of those who departed from their homlands in the hopes of making a new life. Reconciling their old traditions with their new land, these immigrants faced such adversity as assimilation, prejudice, poverty, homesickness, and identity.

Filled with inspiring stories of immigrants who traveled from Mexico, India, China, Korea, Syria, and beyond, Immigrant Voices reveals—in their own words—how these newcomers were able to persevere and make their mark on the “New World.”