every archive begins with a single story
FOUNDING VOICES
These individuals helped lay the foundation for the Immigrant Hall of Honor during its 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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Sumrin Kalia finds a world of knowledge in her journey to the United States
IHH Board Member Sumrin Kalia dreamed of studying in the United States ever since her parents emigrated from Pakistan around 2004-2005. Dissatisfied with Pakistan’s governance, Kalia craved outside knowledge. She wanted to understand how different political systems work and why some societies function better than others. Then, she thought, she might be able to improve lives in Pakistan.
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Oscar Johanson Builds a Life in Sweden’s Second City
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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Across the Rio Grande—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 OUR COMMUNITIES
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John K. Manos: From the Mountains of Sparta to the Industrial Midwest
John K. Manos first came to America as a teenager, returning to Greece after a devastating leg injury before making his way back to the United States in 1898. Over the next several decades, he would try his hand at a succession of businesses, marry and raise a family, all while struggling to find lasting stability in America.
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