CLEVELAND – The first anthology compiling stories, poems and artwork by Ohio immigrants from around the world will be published in August by the Ohio Immigration Alliance.
“Far From Their Eyes: Ohio Migration Anthology” includes work by a descendent of African Americans who came to Cleveland during the Great Migration; an essay by the daughter of Holocaust survivors; a 12-year-old girl’s reflection on her immigrant grandfather; paintings by Cuban and Sundanese artists; and much more.
The anthology’s editor and Ohio Immigration Alliance Director Lynn Tramonte worked with Awa Harouna to produce the first volume. Harouna, who is Mauritanian, appears in an episode of Netflix's “Living Undocumented,” after she fought on her father’s behalf when he was unexpectedly deported.
In reference to the title of the anthology, Tramonte said the terms “migrants” and “immigrants” are both about the movement of people, but “immigration” has been criminalized.
“Immigration refers to people moving from one country to another,” she said. “Migration is just the general movement of people, so that can include people moving from one state to another. That can also refer to international immigration.”
Either way, migration is a human condition, she said.
“People have moved for either opportunity or because they had to, since the start of human kind,” she said. “So, you know, we all have a migration story. The question is how far back does it go?”
When Tramonte and her team put out the call on social media for contributors, they were pleased at the speed at which responses came in, and the diversity of the submissions, she said. Contributors ranged from age 9 to over 60 years old.
The youngest contributor, Skye Nguyen, now age 12, originally wrote her composition at age 9 for an assignment at Old Trail School in Hudson. When her mom, Dr. Jodie Skillicorn, also a published author, learned about the anthology’s call for submissions, Skye’s essay was sent in.
Skye wrote about her Vietnamese grandfather, a retired physician and cancer survivor, who she said inspires her to be strong and brave.
Skye’s grandfather, who now goes by Harry, was an army doctor during the Vietnam War. He fled the country on a U.S. Navy ship with her six-month pregnant grandmother, now Sarah, in 1975 while Saigon was bombed.
"They brought only a small duffel bag to America with some clothes, a watch, cigarettes, and film with pictures from their wedding. They had no money," Skye wrote. "On the ship, there were no baths, and they ate army rations. During all the time on the ship, my grandpa spent his time trying to help anyone who looked sick, since he was already a doctor.
"When my grandpa first arrived in America, his starting impression was that it was humongous, and that the people were very compassionate and considerate," Skye wrote. "They were taken in by the Diamonds, a sponsor family, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. A sponsor family is a family that takes refugees into their home until they can find a place to stay. Describing the Diamonds, he said, ‘They were poor, but had good hearts.'"
Skye’s narrative then takes readers through the years following her grandparents’ harrowing escape, including the loss of the twins her grandmother was carrying when they fled Vietnam.
Her grandfather stays busy these days, Skye said. “He's a pretty chill guy,” she said. “He’s retired and he’s learned Spanish.”
Now going into seventh grade, Skye said she is hoping to soon visit Vietnam with her grandparents, after their trip last year was cancelled because of the pandemic.
“It's a beautiful country and I'd like to meet some of my other relatives and family members,” she said. “I won't be able to understand what they're saying. But I think it'd be cool just to meet them.”
Her grandfather wrote in an email he enjoyed reading Skye’s story.
“This article brings back lots of memory of my first few years in America, memory of my first two jobs here and I feel very lucky to live in America,” he wrote. “How lucky I am as compared to my classmates in Vietnam, they were really mistreated for almost 10 years, from 1975-1985. But most of all I’m so proud of mi nieta.”
Telling stories of immigrants is important, Skye said, because it gives others a better idea of who immigrants are as people, and what they’ve been through.
“America is an incredibly wealthy country,” she said. “And we should share our resources with immigrants and refugees in need. And America needs these people because they bring new ideas and perspectives into America.”
Among the submissions in the anthology, editors sought out a story from the Cleveland Association of Black Storytellers because there’s a discrepancy over Ohio’s role in the Civil War, Tramonte said.
A romanticized notion of Ohio portrays the state as free, with a prominent role in the Underground Railroad, she said.
“That comes up against the reality of racism in Ohio, and being one of the epicenters of white nationalism, even to this day,” she said.
The anthology’s editors wanted a more accurate portrayal of the African American perspective, she said.
For this volume, almost all submissions were accepted, she said. The editors will create a selection process if the number of submissions increases for upcoming publications, which will likely be published about every two years.
One aspect of the anthology Tramonte is particularly proud of is the ability to pay contributors for their work from the anthology’s proceeds, she said.
“I've been working for decades asking people to tell their stories in the media, and sometimes I'm asking them to talk about the most traumatic event of their life in very personal detail,” she said. “You know, it's really traumatizing. And rarely do we ever say you know, ‘Here's compensation for that.’”
In addition to paying contributors, some of the proceeds from the book will go to the Ohio Center for Strategic Immigration Litigation & Outreach and the Cleveland Association of Black Storytellers.
The anthology will be available in hard copy and digitally. Sign up online to be notified when the book is released.