Story Map
Statue of Liberty (New York City)
The Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of immigration in the U.S. since its implementation in 1886. The statue is famous around the world as a symbol of freedom and democracy, and also for immigration (The Statue of Liberty). “The New Colossus,” a poem written by Emma Lazarus to raise funds for the statue, is famously etched into the base of the statue, declaring, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” (1883)
Immigration in the United States is not as simple as the idealization of the poem, nor is the true potential of the country realized, however the statue still stands as an internationally recognized symbol of immigration. With the exception of Indigenous heritage, all U.S. citizens can trace their ancestry to some other country–myself included. This story will center around the places that create me, and explore their relationship to immigration. I hope to make connections to what Maylei Blackwell explores with transnational indigenous identity, and explore the ways in which my identity has been affected by location, even though I have lived in the same place my entire life. Furthermore, I hope by documenting the various places relevant to who I am and telling the story of my family, I hope to embody the ideals of the (digital) humanities research that Alex Gil emphasizes: work that is not only encyclopedic, but also “will motivate people to [revolt or vote]” (2020, p. 31).
Baltimore, Maryland
This story begins in the late 90s, when a young woman from a small town in Minnesota moved to Baltimore. I’ve heard this story a thousand times, how she thought her friend’s car was stolen, how she cried eating pizza her first night, how she was terrified and wanted to go home. But she persevered, and at Johns Hopkins University my mother met my father. Their romance was born in a microbiology lab and persevered through their doctorates, family tensions, and the weight of the world. They lived together in Baltimore for years, settling roots especially at Camden Yards that have passed down to their children–to me who lives in Baltimore now, just 3 miles away from where they first met.
Baltimore is a primarily Black city, with only a 2.5% Asian population and an 8% foreign-born population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Baltimore has been ranked as one of the U.S. cities where the most immigrants are thriving (Stebbins, 2022). Dr. Filomeno’s research (2017) on Baltimore and other rustbelt cities further explores the policies that Baltimore has taken on to create an immigrant friendly environment in a post-industrial city. Despite a harsh reputation within the U.S. for being a violent city (Rodricks, 2022), the city and surrounding metropolitan area continues to be supportive of immigrants and refugees.
Taishan, Guangdong, China
But to fully understand how I came to exist, it is vital to first explore my parent’s histories. My father’s parents both came from tiny villages in the Guangdong province of Southern China. While I still don’t know the actual name of their villages, Taishan is the nearest city to where they are both from. My grandparents left China together to escape Mao Zedong’s policies, first to Hong Kong, where my father was born in the late 60s, then finally to the United States in 1970, where my aunt was born and she and my father grew up. In 2012, my family had the opportunity to return to my grandparents’ villages (though due to weather conditions, we only visited one village). While I was ultimately too young to realize the true gravity of where I was, I still remember being awestruck by the whole experience.
Taishan and its surrounding villages have historically been a major source of emigration to the United States (Pierson, 2007). Many of the Chinese that were integral to the U.S. gold rush were from Taishan, and an estimated half a million Chinese in the U.S. can trace their roots back to Taishan (Pierson, 2007), myself included. The relationship between the villages in Taishan and the Chinese abroad (like my grandparents) has deeper connections than simply the people that leave. Transnational identity features a lasting connection between immigrants. Ana Patricia Rodriguez’s work explores the relationship between transnational laborers and their home villages, focusing on Salvadoran immigrants. There is a similar relationship between Chinese abroad and these Salvadoran migrants; (colonialist) borders cannot fully define the relationship that exists. Immigrants bring their culture with them and often recreate the vital parts of home. Their identity as Chinese, or Taishanese, did not end with their immigration to another country, even moving to the literal opposite side of the world like my grandparents. For many years, my grandfather ran a Canton style restaurant, and to this day, many of the restaurants are influenced by the majority emigration of those from that region.
Mora, Minnesota
On the other side of the world, in Kanabec county of Minnesota, the city of Mora tells a similar story. A city with a population under 4,000 people, in the late 1800s, a settler suggested it be named after his hometown in Sweden (City of Mora, n.d.). The town still has strong connections to its Swedish roots, from the Dala horse to the skiing competitions with international participants that my mother told me about witnessing while growing up. Like other immigrant communities, the settlers of Mora did not take the land and generate a new culture. They brought pieces of their homes, though it has since developed into an amalgamation of various European countries. I can trace my own history to Germany, Finland, Sweden, Bohemia, and other Western European countries. Minnesota itself has always been on the greater end of receiving immigrants, boasting a rich immigrant history.
Mora is not only where my mother was born, but where she lived and grew up until she moved to Maryland. It is where the entire side of the family remains: where my four aunts and uncles, twelve cousins, grandmother live, and where my grandfather is buried. We visit at least once a year, sometimes even more often, and I am reminded that my family is not just in Maryland. Though Mora is 1,153 miles away, it’s still a part of who I am.
Maryland
The story ends where it began: Maryland. I have lived in the state my entire life, moving out from my childhood home for the first time a few months ago. Maryland, more specifically, a small city called Derwood that sits between Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Olney, is where my brothers and I grew up: where we went to school, where all of our childhood friends lived, the place that I call home. It is the only place in the country that I can imagine living in; partially because of the familiarity, but also because it is literally the most diverse place in the country. A 2023 report named three cities in Montgomery County the most diverse in the country (Gaithersburg, Germantown, and Silver Spring) (MCS Staff, 2023). 2022 Census data reports a 16% Asian population, 59.1% white, 3.6% mixed, and 32.2% foreign-born (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). I cannot imagine living in a space that I cannot see myself represented in. From my childhood, I have been lucky to know other mixed Asian children, a reminder that my brothers and I are not individual in our experiences. I can visit restaurants that serve the same types of food as the villages my grandparents came from; I can go to my childhood home that has artwork my mother’s father made while he was still alive; I can visit my friends, who all have their own stories but remind me that my scattered history is not an isolating one. Maryland, to me, has become home.
References
Blackwell, M. (2017). Geographies of Indigeneity: Indigenous Migrant Women’s Organizing and Translocal Politics of Place. Macmillan Publishers. 10.1057/s41276-017-0060-4
City of Mora. (n.d.). Early Mora History. https://www.ci.mora.mn.us/community-development /pages/early-mora-history
Filomeno, F. A. (2017). The Migration-Development Nexus in Local Immigration Policy: Baltimore City and the Hispanic Diaspora. Urban Affairs Review, 53(1), 102–137. https://doi-org.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/http://uar.sagepub.com/content/by/year
Gil, A. (2020). Digital Humanities and Social Change: an Interview with Alex Gil. Palimpsesto, 19(33), 27-47. 10.12957/palimpsesto.
Lazarus, E. (1883). The New Colossus.
MCS Staff. (2023). Gaithersburg Named 2023’s Most Diverse City in the U.S. The Moco Show. https://mocoshow.com/blog/gaithersburg-named-2023s-most-diverse-city-in-the-u-s/
Pierson, D. (2007). Taishan’s U.S. well runs dry. The LA Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-21-fg-taishan21-story.html
Dan Rodricks. (2022, June 22). Dan Rodricks: Baltimore has a reputation for violence. So does the nation. The Baltimore Sun. https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/dan-rodricks/bs-ed-rodricks-0622-baltimore-crime-20220621-jcwh3lgdfzatbkzattlvoy7rse-story.html
Rodriguez, A. P. (2015). “Entre Mundos/Between Worlds:” Digital Stories of Salvadoran Transnational Migration. Letras Hispanas, 11. 326-336.
Stebbins, S. (2022). Baltimore Ranks Among The Best U.S. Cities For Immigrants. Patch. https://patch.com/maryland/baltimore/baltimore-ranks-among-best-u-s-cities-immigrants
The Statue of Liberty. (n.d.) The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation. https://www.statueofliberty.org/statue-of-liberty/overview-history/.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). 2022 U.S. Census Data. [dataset]. https://data.census.gov/.