Immigrant Contributions

These messages focus on individuals who came to America and have made major contributions to our society.

    • George Berci

      George Berci was born in 1921 in Hungary. As he was growing up, fascism was becoming a threat to those of the Jewish faith. George was forced to sit in the back row in his classes and ostracized by his former friends. Eventually, he was barred from school altogether....

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    • The Opening Up of America

      “From sea to shining sea.” These are part of the lyrics to America the Beautiful. Until 1869, there was no easy way to cross America and go from sea to shining sea. Asa Whitney (a distant relative of Eli Whitney) was one of the first persons to support a...

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    • Preserving Our Music

      Chris Strachwitz was born in Germany in 1931. At the age of 14, he and his family were forced to move to what became West Germany. Two years later they emigrated to America and eventually ended up in California. Chris attended Pomona College and was introduced to jazz...

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    • Cultural Understanding through Fiction

      Khaled Hosseini was born in Afghanistan. He grew up with a privileged background. When he was growing up, Kabul Afghanistan was a modern city. His father was a diplomat so Khaled spent time in Tehran and Paris growing up. When the Soviet Union began a war in...

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    • Lifting Lives

      Dikembe Mutombo was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1966. His original intent was to become a doctor, but his family encouraged him to explore a career in basketball due to his height. He would eventually grow to be 7’2”. When Dikembe came to America...

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    • Everyone a Star

      Steven Chen was born in Taiwan in 1978 and immigrated with his family in 1985. He studied Computer Science at the University of Illinois. He worked for PayPal after graduation, where he met Jawed Karim and Chad Hurley. Jawed Karim was born in 1979 in East Germany. His...

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    • A New Style of Journalism

      József Pulitzer was born in Hungary in 1847. When his father died, the family business went bankrupt. József tried to join various armies in Europe to support himself. He was rejected by Austria, France, and Britain. He was finally accepted by Germany and sent to the...

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    • The Father of Video Games

      Ralph Baer was born in 1922 to a Jewish family. In 1938, he and his family immigrated to American just prior to the imprisonment of Jews in Germany. Ralph was largely self-taught because he had to work to help support his family. He quit his job to study electronics...

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