My family has multiple photo albums in our house. Most of the pictures in our photo albums are pictures of me and my brother from when we were babies until now. This object represents my family’s cultural identity by taking pictures and saving memories of stages of change. My grandparents took pictures in Vietnam before coming to America. Most have been destroyed, but there are a few lying around my grandparent’s house. After coming to America, we would take more and more pictures for a small or big event. Why do we take pictures? Pictures represent past memories of stages in people’s lives, happy or sad. There is one picture of when my grandma was younger in her school days. She lived in Vietnam and met my grandpa there. During World War II, my grandparents decided to escape from Vietnam to America along with my three uncles and my mom. When they safely came over to the US, they settled in Boston with my grandma’s siblings. My grandparents on my dad’s side immigrated to America because they wanted my uncles and aunt to have a better life and have more opportunities. My family’s story is unique because of the adversity they faced. Both sides of my family faced racism when they first settled. Although they had nothing, they started at the bottom and climbed their way up the working class. My family’s stories are similar to other stories because they share the same theme of wanting new opportunities and choices. People come to America having a mindset of achieving a dream.

– SC

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