Dr. Wilson's History Blog

Immigration Interview Questions

1.  What was the process of your immigration?

1. When did you immigrate and with whom?

1. Why did you emigrate (family? Economics? Freedom?)  What was life like in the old country?

1. Has anyone in your family remigrated? Did anyone go back to the old country?

2.  Where and why did you settle where you did?

1. Where did you first settle and why?  Did you move once in the United States and why?

1. Did you settle with others family members and with others from your group?

3.  What jobs have you had?

What was your first job?  What jobs did men in your family get?  What jobs did women in your family get? Did you get a job where there were other immigrants from your group?

4.  What parts of your culture have you kept and in what ways have you assimilated?

1. Did you keep your native language?  Oral? Written? Only in ceremonies?  Do your children speak the language? Do you read literature, see theater, listen to music, dance, or art particular to your group?  What native foods do you cook?  Is your culture evident in the Hartford area? What traditions did you pass on to your children?

1. Did you marry someone from the same immigrant group?  Here or in the old country?  Did you marry someone of the same religion?

1. What role has education played in retaining your culture or in assimilating? How much education did you have?  Can you read and write English?  Did you go to a school for just people from your ethnic group or religion?  What is the educational background of your family in the old country and in America?

1. How has religion been part of your identity as an immigrant and as an American? Do you practice religion?  Which?  Has it changed from the old country?  Are there any churches, synagogues or mosques in the Hartford area for your group?  Describe.

1. Do you belong to any groups particularly for your immigrant group?  Even if you don’t, do you know of any that exist?  Are there any local newspapers for your group?  Have you gotten involved in politics here?  Have you ever been discriminated against because you are an immigrant?  Have you become a citizen? Has the role of women and children changed here from that in the old country?

5.  Do you consider yourself to be an American?  Why or why not?  What of your children?

Add other questions that are particular to your immigrant.