Immigrant Hall of Honor Launches “Beyond the Stories” to Explore the World Behind Immigration
New initiative explores the histories, cultures, places and experiences that help put immigrant stories into context.
The Immigrant Hall of Honor has launched Beyond the Stories, a new initiative exploring the histories, cultures, places and experiences that have shaped the lives of immigrants and their families.
The new collection is designed to provide historical and cultural context for the personal stories in IHH’s growing digital archive, while inviting readers to look beyond an immigrant’s journey to better understand the world they came from.
The idea arose from conversations with first-generation immigrants who compared how much they learned about American culture before coming to the United States with how little some Americans knew about the cultures and places they had left behind. The contrast can create a one-sided cultural exchange, with immigrants often carrying much of the responsibility for helping others understand where they came from.
Those conversations prompted IHH to look for a way to bring more world history and culture into the immigration conversation. The opportunity to put the idea into practice came while developing the story of Tampa artist Tatiana Mesa Paján, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 2013.
During conversations about her life in Cuba and her decision to immigrate, Mesa Paján introduced IHH to the Movimiento San Isidro, a group of Cuban artists and other independent cultural figures who began pushing back against government restrictions on artistic expression in 2018. The movement later became part of the larger story of dissent surrounding Cuba’s historic July 11, 2021 protests, known as 11J.
The history was important to understanding the world Mesa Paján came from, but IHH did not want the broader story to overshadow her personal immigration experience.
“That conversation made us realize that sometimes the most interesting parts of an immigrant story lead us into much bigger stories about history and culture,” said Jen Ring, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Immigrant Hall of Honor. “We wanted a place where readers could explore those connections without taking the focus away from the person whose story brought us there.”
As more immigrants share their experiences, their stories will introduce new places, histories, cultures and events that may be unfamiliar to U.S.-born readers. IHH will use those connections to build an expanding, searchable collection of historical and cultural resources.
IHH is also working with a web designer to develop an interactive world map that will eventually connect these stories and resources geographically. Visitors will be able to explore stories of American immigrants based on the countries and regions they came from, along with Beyond the Stories features that provide additional context.
The project is still in its early stages, but the goal is ambitious: to build a growing resource for understanding world history and cultures through the stories of the people who brought those worlds with them to America.
