Migration & Immigration

A group of women prepare for forced relocation to Manzanar Relocation Center during World War II.

Photo by Ansel Adams. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2002696026/

Life in America began with migrations many thousands of years ago and many Native peoples consider their people to be here from "time immemorial." Migrations and encounters have resulted in innumerable forms of individual and group interactions. The places associated with migration and immigration includes stories of conquest, violence, exploration, and growth. Countless women are part of the American migration story due to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the forced removal of Native people, and the expanding boarders of the US due to political policies and European settlement.

Places such as Manzanar National Historic Site in California and the Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial in Arkansas speak to the forced removal of Japanese and Japanese Americans living in the US during World War II. Other places such as New York’s Ellis Island and California’s Angel Island speak to the obstacles overcome when trying to establish a new life in America.

Other places are beacons of hope, such as Nicodemus National National Historic Site, a town in Kansas founded by African Americans seeking refuge from the Reconstruction-era South.

The places associated with these migrations-whether forced or voluntary-changed the formation of family and community. They also changed the fabric of the nation as the country is a mosaic of the migration stories of the people here today. Distinctive and important regional patterns join together to create microcosms of America's history and to form the "national experience."