Your Story – My America: Immigrant and Refugee Writers Today

Share your family’s immigration story

Do you have an object story?

We asked writers to share objects that meant a lot to them, their families, or their cultural heritage. You can view them all and share your story with our partner, the Tenement Museum in New York, by going here.

We want to hear your story!

The tags below are immigration stories shared in-person at the My America exhibit at the American Writers Museum. Feel free to explore the stories, including the different categories at the bottom of the page. Click the button below to tell us about your family’s immigration story. Submissions will be added to tags and posted in the categories at the bottom of the page, so come back often to see new stories from your friends and neighbors!

Share your story here!

“I came to U.S. in August of 2001, a month before the heinous 9/11 attack, to study mathematics at University of Pittsburgh. I was a newly-wed Muslim women who was trying to navigate this new environment. Over the years, I realized why people from all over the world wants to come to America. As a Muslim, America has been the best country for me to live freely, be strong in my faith but also learn from other faith traditions or people that do not subscribe to a faith. I became a naturalized citizen in 2018 and I feel that I am an American.”
5/27/2020 Fatma Gurel Kazanci
Part 1 of 2

A luggage tag detailing a story written by a visitor to the My America: Immigrant and Refugee Writers Today Exhibit online at My-America.org

“My family moved to the US in 2018. My mom had gotten a promotion and needed to be in her company’s headquarters in Lexington Kentucky. I was 12 when we moved. Initially I was upset at the thought of leaving my friends, home and family to move to a foreign country and being a new kid. However, the thought of living in the land of freedom and opportunities was much bigger than the fear of change. We were thrilled about the life we would get to live in America.”
5/29/2020 Zoya Adwika Abbas
Part 1 of 2

“In the beginning, I used to feel very foreign. I live in a city where there aren’t that many Indian families which was very strange for me and I would feel like an outcast anytime I was in public. After getting over the initial insecurity, I took advantage of the place I was in. I signed up for any opportunity I got my hands on. Moving here helped me get so many new windows to improve and show off my interests and passions. That is why my family moved to America, for equal possibilities and platforms to excel.”
5/29/2020 Zoya Adwika Abbas
Part 2 of 2

“Havana, Cuba, 1996. In the middle of the worst economic crisis in the country, I entered the United States Interest Section to ask for a visa. The consular officer asked me why I wanted to emigrate. “To write in freedom,” I said. That probably wasn’t the most common answer applicants gave, but I got the visa nonetheless. More than twenty years later, having published twelve books, I found Mr. Steven Rice online and thanked him. I write in English and Spanish. My mystery novels, published by Soho Crime, feature Padrino, a Santero detective, and weave in Afro-Cuban beliefs and culinary elements: Death Comes in through the Kitchen (2018), Queen of Bones (2019, chosen by NBC News as “one of the top 10 books from 2019 by and about Latinos”) and Death of a Telenovela Star, upcoming August 2020. Muchas gracias.”
7/22/2020 Teresa Dovalpage
Opportunity & Freedom

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