Immigrant Voices

With narratives from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, this anthology provides a historical and uniquely personal perspective on the immigrant experience and illuminates the often difficult dream of becoming an American citizen.

From Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s defining statement of Americanism to Harlem Renaissance figure Claude McKay’s observations on race, here are both rousing and heartbreaking impressions of those who departed from their homlands in the hopes of making a new life. Reconciling their old traditions with their new land, these immigrants faced such adversity as assimilation, prejudice, poverty, homesickness, and identity.

Filled with inspiring stories of immigrants who traveled from Mexico, India, China, Korea, Syria, and beyond, Immigrant Voices reveals—in their own words—how these newcomers were able to persevere and make their mark on the “New World.”Introduction
Letters from an American Farmer
Hector St. John de CrevecoeurInquiries of an Emigrant
Joseph PickeringA True Picture of Emigration
Rebecca BurlendAutobiography of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew CarnegieFrontier Mother
Gro SvendsenThe Nun of Kenmare
Margaret Anna CusackA Woman's Quest
Marie ZakrzewskaStory of a Pioneer
Anna Howard ShawMemories of Henry Villard
Henry VillardThe Making of an American
Jacob RiisThe Promised Land
Mary AntinFrom Alien to Citizen
Edward SteinerA Far Journey
Abraham RihbanyThe Americanization of Edward Bok
Edward BokUp Stream
Ludwig LewisohnCaste and Outcast
Dhan Ghopal MukerjiA Daughter of the Samurai
Etsu SugimotoFrom Immigrant to Inventor
Michael PupinThe Soul of an Immigrant
Constantine PanunzioA Long Way From Home
Claude McKayChinaman's Chance
No-Young ParkAmerica Is in the Heart
Carlos BulosanBarrio Boy
Ernesto GalarzaQuiet Odyssey
Mary Paik LeeEditor Gordon Hutner is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the editor of the journal American Literary History.