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How and Why Did Your Family Come to the United States?

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How and Why Did Your Family Come to the United States?

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My father (who has no biological relation to me) knows that his paternal grandparents migrated from Sicily, Italy, to New Jersey. However, neither he nor I understand why they moved.

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What Was Going on Historically in the U.S. During this Time and Did It Affect Your Family?

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What Was Going on Historically in the U.S. During this Time and Did It Affect Your Family?

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I do not know the years they migrated or when they arrived in New Jersey.

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How and Why Did Your Family Come to the United States?

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How and Why Did Your Family Come to the United States?

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My biological father is a first-generation American. My grandmother was born in 1946 in Guanajuato, Mexico, and my grandfather was born in Jalisco in 1938. My father is the youngest of five, meaning he was one of his siblings born in America. I can only assume they migrated from Mexico to escape poverty and give their children a better shot at the American dream.

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My grandparents were migrant workers who knew no English and relied on their older children's labor and knowledge to translate documents and bring in extra income. Times were tough, and feeding seven mouths was hard on them. While in America, they hosted several other migrants, mainly from Mexico, and gave them jobs in the fields and factories. They slept in a small shed outside their house (the size of a small bedroom) and paid my grandparents a share of what they made working in the fields. Other families in that neighborhood hosted migrants from Mexico, and their practices were often harsher than what my grandparents offered. However, they never took a greedy amount of a person's wage and never had more guests packed into that shed than safe.

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What Was Going on Historically in the U.S. During this Time and Did It Affect Your Family?

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What Was Going on Historically in the U.S. During this Time and Did It Affect Your Family?

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I do not know what year my grandparents migrated. However, I know that my father (born in 1977) faced racism despite his hometown's high Hispanic population. White Americans did not hide their prejudices towards people of color, especially those who did not speak English fluently.

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I do not know much about them, and my father cannot remember his grandparents well.