With Good Reason, a radio show and podcast produced by Virginia Humanities, releases “New Virginians.”
“New Virginians: 1619-2019 & Beyond,” an exhibit at The Library of Virginia in Richmond, features oral histories and photographs recorded by Pat Jarrett (Virginia Humanities). In the exhibit, immigrants share their personal stories of how they journeyed from Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Republics to make Virginia their new home.
David Bearinger (Virginia Humanities) introduces excerpts from the interviews and discusses the complexity of the immigrant and refugee experience. “Many people do come here to better themselves economically. That’s very common,” Bearinger said. “But there are a lot of reasons why people come here and so it’s important not to be too categorical.”
Later in the episode, Maureen Fitzgerald (William & Mary) speaks about lessons learned from the Irish immigrant experience and Cindy Hahamovitch (University of Georgia) compares the history and experience of guest workers in the United States to other countries.
“New Virginians,” is available today. Find it on local public radio, on popular podcatchers including Apple Podcasts and Google and on With Good Reason’s website. With Good Reason publishes weekly and is available for free.
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