Build a Better World: Coming to America

Chances are your family, like many other families, immigrated to America from another country. Americans hail from a wide variety of countries, cultures, and experiences but our reason for coming to America reveal that despite our differences we are very much alike. Whether your family arrived in America hundreds of years ago or a hundred days ago, the reason to come to America is strikingly similar: build a better world for your family.

In an effort to highlight these similarities, we are asking patrons participating in our Summer Reading program to tell us about how their families came to America. Below are three Coming to America stories. Despite the fact that each patron's background differs from the next, there is one theme that resonates strongly throughout each story: America, a place of refuge. 

My family came over by plane due to the Cultural Revolution, a harrowing time when cultural relics were destroyed, music and literature were banned, re-education took place, and countless people were imprisoned and killed. My parents don't speak much of it, and perhaps it's because it's prohibited in China.
~ Anonymous

My grandparents came to America from Germany in the late 1920's. My grandfather had fought for Germany in the first world war; he could see the writing on the wall, and did not want to fight for Germany again.
~ Sharon B.

My fraternal grandfather came to America during the Armenian Genocide as a child.
~ Danielle T.

Want to share your family's Coming to America story? Go to our Summer Reading site and complete the challenge today. 

Not sure of your families origins? We have plenty of resources at Worcester Public Library to help you get started, including a subscription to Ancestry!