every archive begins with a single story
FOUNDING VOICES
These individuals helped lay the foundation for the Immigrant Hall of Honor during its inaugural Founding Voices campaign. Some preserved their family’s immigration story by contributing it to our growing digital archive, while others made a financial gift to help ensure those stories can be collected, preserved and shared for generations to come.
Together, they are building a lasting record of the immigrant experience in America—one story, one family and one act of generosity at a time.
Ready to become a Founding Voice? Share your family’s immigration story, make a donation, or do both, and help preserve the journeys that shaped our nation.
FROM OUR TEAM
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Building a Life in Sweden’s Second City—Oscar Johanson’s Immigration Story
Oscar Hjalmar Johanson thought he’d left economic hardship behind when he boarded the RMS Lucania for America at age 18. In Chicago, the young Swedish immigrant reinvented himself, earning a pharmacy degree from Northwestern University, building a career as a neighborhood druggist, getting married and raising a family.
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Building a Life Across Borders—The Education of Rafaela Prieto Ochoa
When Rafaela Prieto Núñez crossed the Rio Grande to attend school in Laredo, Texas, she was only 16 years old. She did not arrive by chance. She came because an uncle believed that education could change the course of a young woman’s life—and because she was determined to prove him right.
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From German Immigrant Farmer to Bank Founder: William Witte Helped Build Modern Queens
William Witte, great-grandfather of Immigrant Hall of Honor board member Jim Witte, was a farmer, father and businessman who immigrated to the United States from Germany as a teenager in 1884.
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From Russian-Ruled Poland to the Coal Mines of West Virginia: The Journey of Konstanti Cybulski
By the time Konstanti Cybulski entered the world on August 24, 1892, Poland had ceased to exist as an independent nation.
