In my grandmother’s living room, placed atop her plush white carpet and among her pink and green accented couch and chairs, stands a heavy, wooden, and intricately engraved hope chest. Her parents purchased the chest while they were living in China before she was born. Bringing the chest from China back to Germany where they were from, and finally to New York when they immigrated to the US as a family in 1951. The chest is very important to my grandmother, even though she remembers little about why her parents bought it and even the experience of bringing it across the ocean to the US, as she was 7 years old when they arrived in New York. The chest is a reminder of my grandmother's heritage and the importance of immigration to our family history. Even if we struggle to carry on cultural customs, the chest remains a physical embodiment of this history and an important heirloom to be passed down through generations. 

– Margaret Barnsley

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant