Our Stories

My dad’s name is Jie Xing. We currently live in Cary, but my family was originally from China. My father was from Beijing, China and at first, he really hated the idea of coming to the to the United States. His parents were not rich but they had enough to support my dad and his two sisters to get an education. After high school, he went to Shanghai Jiao Tong University to get a degree in mathematics. My dad got his master’s degree easily and wanted to continue his studies and get a doctor’s degree. He applied to Chinese colleges and one college in the United States which was NC State. At first, my dad despised the idea of applying to NC State but my mom, who already applied to NC State, talked him to applying and then talked him into going to NC State. One of the main reason’s my dad did not want to come to the United States was that he did not like English. However, after accepting the invitation to NC State my dad practiced his English until he was fluent. Unfortunately for him, he practiced British English instead of the English spoken in the United States. He also adopted a British accent from watching videos and from his teacher in China. On the first day, my dad walked into class with a startling realization that everyone sounded very different from what he heard on the videos. He also realized that the professor had a very confusing accent. Not only did my dad learn a different type of English, but his professor also had an accent which made comprehending seem almost impossible. His grades dropped, and he thought about dropping out and going back to China but with the help of his friends and my mom he persevered and slowly learned regular English. He became friends with the professor and talked to him during lunch. My dad is still friends with his old professor and they still eat lunch together sometimes. After four long and difficult years, he finally got his doctor’s degree and became what he is today.

“You get the impression even when you haven’t been there yet…an image of freedom, that you can spread your wings much easier.” Gabriele Verhoeven and her family immigrated to the U.S. when the pollution, crowds, and traffic of Paris became unbearable; her husband’s parents and sisters also lived in America. Her husband’s American background enabled Frau Verhoeven to converse in English at home, which built upon the English that she had learned in school. Since she was born and raised in Karlsruhe, Germany and then lived in Paris, France for ten years preceding her move to the United States, Frau Verhoeven is trilingual. This eased communication once she immigrated, but she believes that she would have been welcomed even if her English was not as developed. “What I really appreciated was the warmth and welcoming of the American people…I had not such a good experience being welcomed by the French people,” she said. However, her immigration story was not devoid of struggles. “It was quite a scary picture for me…the first day of arrival here because going through customs and having your papers checked and being questioned about this and that…was very frightening,” she reflected. Other struggles included the shock of the differences between American and European housing, daily life, and transportation; accustomed to the buses, cable cars, and trains in Europe, Frau Verhoeven was startled to learn that getting from place to place in the United States is nearly impossible without a car. There was also a significant cultural difference surrounding the simple question: “How are you?”. “I wished that friendships would not just stop on the surface…I see that more happening in Germany…Once you ask somebody how they are doing, you want to really hear how the person is doing,” she lamented. She believes that there is a special confidentiality about telling someone about one’s state of being that is not desired in America. However, she does believe that people are genuinely interested in her story and that her accent is a wonderful conversation-starter. She has established roots in the United States and has formed connections with others, but she has not abandoned her German roots. “When I go back [to Germany], I want to take that life back here, but my American life back to Germany, so I feel so much good in both worlds.”

My mom is from Jundiai and my father is from Campinas, both from neighboring cities in Brasil. They met in college in Campinas, got together and they eventually moved in together. With both of my parents working at the same job, at IBM, they thought that they would spend the rest of their life in Brasil as a happy family. However, after recently purchasing a new apartment and just having moved in, IBM had a large staff cut and both my parents were short of a job. With a lack of computer programming jobs in Campinas, their only option was to transfer to the US and work there. The decision was difficult, having to leave your family and friends behind is never an easy thing to do. However, IBM, having offered to sponsor my parents’ green cards, transportation to the US, and the moving fee fully, somewhat swayed the decision to favor of moving. Because of IBM’s full sponsorship and the fact that both of my parents already had a job coming into the US, they had not faced many of the immigration struggles that most immigrants face while attempting to move to the US. Once in the US, my parents had encountered the biggest obstacle yet, the massively apparent language barrier. Even with their small English background from college, the divide was difficult. It was different being in an environment where you could barely understand what was going on around you. Now what became apparent was the need for a home, they needed a place to stay. They resided in an apartment complex for a month trying to find a more permanent place to stay. Their next step was to move into an apartment building for 6 months. My parents wanted something more, like a house, but the lack of credit history in the US made them settle for much higher interest rates. Eventually, they had become somewhat proficient in English and could navigate their way through the complexities of everyday life. Now my parents have been living in the US for almost 18 years, they still work for the same company that brought them over here, and they have settled and have had kids. They believe that coming here was the right choice because of the opportunity to raise a family in a privileged country like the US. They now live a more privileged life as opposed to their family members that stayed in Brasil.

1944.

A man merely 18 faced with a choice.

Flee his country, his family, all he’s known.

Live with the consequences of staying.

The consequence, being drafted by the Soviets.

He chose to flee.

Germany, the location of his escape.

He worked until the dust had settled and the war was done.

Next stop, the land of the free.

He applied for a scholarship, an interview was necessary.

Knowing no English, he hired a tutor for a month.

A month was enough, he did well in his interview.

For a year he heard nothing.

When he did hear something, it was never a promise for America.

A connection to his friend and their American family.

That was his ticket.

2 years he waited before crossing over on boat.

Upon arrival, he began college immediately.

For 9 years he studied.

Those 9 years gave him a Doctorate in chemistry.

He worked only for two companies.

He was not an expendable mind.

50 years later he visited the Ukraine.

His parents.

Gone.

To him, it was not a surprise.

He knew his fate with them before he left.

He had taken a picture with his family to remember them forever.

He has a book of pictures to celebrate his story,

To celebrate everywhere he has been.

He was the first of his family in America.

He is forever proud, grateful, and humble.

“Travel,” Mr. Slish told me, “the world is beautiful.”

My name is Thomas Owens. I was born in 1836 in England. I became a US citizen on the sixth day of October 1888, though I came over a few years before that. I first voted only a month later, on the sixth day of November 1888. My wife, Maria Fenn-Owens, was born in Ohio. We lived together in Waterford, Erie County, Pennsylvania. My first child, Grace, was born on the twenty-sixth of November 1865. Two years later came my first son, Leroy, and two years after him came Eugene. Three years after Eugene was my second daughter, Hatty. Two years after her was Daniel, and two years after him came Blanch. My next son, three years after Blanch, was named Thomas, after me. Next was Mariah, only a year after Thomas, and three years after Mariah came Arthur. My last child, Alice, was born on the thirteenth day of April 1887, and died on the seventeenth day of May 1889. She was my tenth and last child.

Arthur’s wife, Cora Hill, was from Canada. They lived at 16 Pooley Place when they had a daughter, Naomi, in 1902 and a son, Clarence, in 1904. Cora died in 1913, only getting to see her children grow to 11 and 9 years old. After her death, Arthur married Catherine Collins. Arthur died on the twenty-fifth day of April 1961.

I died in 1912, at the age of 76 and was buried with my daughter, Alice. Maria joined us two years later.

My mother recalled the last words her sister told her before she embarked on her journey to the United States, “Good luck Euisook, never forget your identity and who you are.” This theme of identity would stick with her through the rest of her life and still does today.

My mom was born in Seoul, Korea into a wealthy family with two siblings. She worked extremely hard in school and placed first in her class, earning her spot in the top university in Korea. Throughout this time, she gained a passion for music and won many competitions throughout the country. Although she was mostly content with her life in Korea, she yearned to travel somewhere else, especially the United States. She applied to many music schools throughout the United States and was accepted into the Julliard Music School. She gladly accepted the offer from the school and embarked on her voyage into a different world of culture, food and community values.                                                                                 When she first arrived in the United States, everything was a blur. Despite learning English in school, hearing hundreds of people speaking a foreign language confused and startled her. Throughout the next ten years, she would struggle dealing with the language barrier, being the greatest hardship, she faced. Luckily, her school supplied her with a temporary VISA to study in the United States and so she was able to not worry about receiving citizenship through a lottery.

At her college, she met other people who had a passion for music like she did and she became good friends with my father. After a few years, they married each other and my mother received her full-time citizenship soon after. By this time she had become well-accustomed to the United States, but she still had lingering cultural ties. Firstly, she was homesick all the time. With all her family still in Korea, it was hard to only see them once every two years. She had to adapt to living without them and communicated with them whenever she could. Secondly, the food was very different. Korean food is unique compared to American food, and my mother always has a special Korean soup. This is one of the few traditions she has kept since moving from Korea.

Through moving from Korea, my mother has adapted to a new culture and is thriving in the United States today.

Thomas Sowell once said “Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them.” Because immigration laws were broken, I am here today telling the story of my mother Yuying and her immigration journey to America.

Her story starts out in a small improvised town off the coast of Shanghai. As the youngest of three siblings, they thought were often regarded as more important or superior, but she was the most determined and the bravest. With barely enough food to survive, she was resolute to achieve a better life for her and her family. She believed that education was the avenue to a successful life. Consequently, she focused on studying hard throughout the early stages of her life. In turn she was accepted into the best university in all of China. Her parents were extremely proud of her accomplishment, and my mother was one step closer out of the perpetual state of poverty which she lived in. After graduating out of the class of 69’, she was uncertain about her future, but like before she was persistent about her education. However, this time she decided to study in America, but money was still an obstacle for her and her family.

One day when my mother was desperately looking for a way to make money, a student attempting to pass a placement test for college asked my mother to take the test for her. Given the desperate situation, my mother decided to take on the task despite it being highly illegal in China. Impersonating the student, she took the placement exam for the student. Earning fantastic marks on the test she was paid the money for her journey to America. However, at the time you needed a family relative outside of the country to leave. Again, faced with another obstacle as she didn’t know anyone outside of America. She finally chose to lie to the Chinese government. If she were caught, she would never achieve her dream of reaching America. Despite all of this she was confident. With her travel papers, she explained to the government that she had an “uncle” that lived-in Hong Kong. Believing her story, the government allowed her to board the plane that was the key to her future. After landing in America with 91 dollars in her pocket, she realized her journey had just begun.

Alma Logue, a good friend of my mom, came into the United States when she was 24 years old. She grew up as the youngest of 9 kids, which is actually quite common in Mexico. She had lived in Tampico, Mexico her entire life until coming to the States. She originally came to the US with a tourist visa as a young girl, but when she turned 24 she applied for a work visa, received it, and moved to the United States, specifically Austin, Texas. However, when she met her husband, she moved to Greensboro, North Carolina to be with him. She then started the process to becoming a full-fledged citizen of the United States of America. The process went quite smoothly for her, given the fact that she had been fortunate enough to enter the country legally and without issue. An amusing issue that arose during the process were her fingerprints, which were always impossible for the scanners to read, and she ended up having to have them documented twice each time she visited the Immigrations Office in Charlotte. She also found that the process of becoming a legalized citizen, while not particularly difficult, was quite lengthy, given the amounts of applications they receive on a daily basis. The drives to Charlotte on a monthly basis were also an ordeal unto themselves. However, she became a legal citizen of the US 3 years ago and has been happily living here ever since. One of the biggest culture changes she noticed when she moved here was how little connection we have with our families, both immediate and extended. In Mexico, families will often live very close to one another in order to be able to hang out with each other on a regular basis. However, here in the US, families will often spread apart and only come together for significant holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.) and scheduled family reunions. Ms. Logue is definitely a success story, showing how a person from an entirely different country can successfully find a home here. However, for every case like Ms. Logue’s, there are dozens more who weren’t so lucky, and Ms. Logue even called herself “extremely fortunate” for the ease in which she entered the country. Special Thanks to Alma Logue for agreeing to meet with me. 

Eloisa was born in Mexico City, but lived in Zacatecas City, located in north central Mexico. Zacatecas holds a special place in her heart, but she doesn’t miss it as much now because most of her family left. She came to America in her early 20s because her brother lived in Houston, and she was visiting him for a week. She decided to stay in Texas for 6 more months on a visa because she loved Texas so much, then renewed her visa. She met her husband in Texas, and he was from New York, but also immigrated as he was Italian. He was the one who helped her gain her American citizenship, which was her most special moment for her in the United States. She loves the United States more than her home country and vehemently disagrees with anyone who thinks coming illegally is okay.

The hardest part about coming to America for Eloisa was the language. It was so difficult for her, but she really wanted to speak English. She didn’t go to school for English in Mexico or the United States, she just picked it up by watching and reading things in America. It was hard for her to teach her kids as well because when they started learning English, she couldn’t help them that much with spelling and learning. Family was very important to her in Mexico as well, and they would always get together and have meals, and share stuff with each other. The familial culture was different here, as well as the food. She also didn’t have any family here in America for her to lean on. It wasn’t a change that hampered her life in America, but it made her want to go back to Mexico at times.

She didn’t experience much discrimination in Texas, but had one experience to share in North Carolina. A man walked up to her at a light and started yelling at her about how bad she was driving and how she should “go back to her country”. Eloisa said “I don’t have problems with you, God bless you, don’t hate others” and the man got mad and left. She said aside from this one incident, she hasn’t really faced much discrimination in the U.S.

Today, Eloisa has her own housekeeping business that she participates in part time and works in the cafeteria at St. Mary Magdalene. She has two children, one is a computer programmer and her other one is a commercial real estate agent. She is truly happy with what America has given to her.