Browse Items (42 total)

Yan Tai Lau emigrated from Hong Kong to Philadelphia in 2016. The interview discusses Lau's migration from China and the challenges she faced in trying to assimilate to American culture, as well as her long-term goals for the future.

Matt Zhang discusses his journey from Shaanxi Province, China to Delaware, then to Northeast Philadelphia. He starts by discussing his childhood and what he knew about the United States growing up. From there, the conversation shifts to how Zhang…

Sam Spritz was born (circa 1898) into a Jewish family in pre-revolution Russia.  In 1913, he moved with his father and brother to Philadelphia, attracted by the promise of freedom, democracy, and easy access to education.  In the early 1920s,…

Sam Brosilow was born to Jewish immigrant parents who fled Russia around 1900. The Brosilow family lived on 11th and Cherry Street before moving to 22nd and Lehigh Avenue. He began working in the men’s clothing industry at the age of thirteen and…

Al Mudaris talks about his life, beginning with his early childhood in London, his struggles to learn Arabic in school after the family’s return to Iraq; his high school education at Baghdad College, the most prestigious school in Baghdad; the 1991…

As part of the “Oral History of Philadelphia Immigration” course at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Mingchu Pearl Huynh was interviewed about her journey to the United States. Pearl shared stories of her transition from wealth to poverty,…

Wang details the journey her husband made to America before they were married. He lived in Philadelphia for ten years, and now has his citizenship. She then briefly describes three main reasons for immigrating: education, air pollution, and food…

Interviewed at the Marconi Center in South Philadelphia, these two Italian-American men recount their early experiences with education and work life. Giovanelli emigrated with his family from Naples in 1918, working at Hog Island Shipyard during…

Max Tannenbaum (b. 1905) was 7 when his father left Ukraine in 1912 for the United States. For the next decade, Tannenbaum worked to provide for his mother and younger brothers. Conscripted into the Red Army after the Bolsheviks took over Ukraine, he…

Jara begins by reflecting on his early childhood memories and family in Mexico City; he remembers his first home and the family and pets that lived there with him as well as the bigger home his family moved to outside of the city. He continues to…