Signature Assignment: A Historical Narrative of a Local Immigrant You will be writing a well–
researched historical narrative of an immigrant or refugee to the greater New Jersey – New York
metropolitan region. This signature assignment will address the relationship between history on
the local and small scale (i.e., the immigrant’s narrative) and global scales (i.e., the broader
forces that contributed to his or her migration). This two-part project measures your semester’s
progress toward developing effective writing skills and responsible attitudes toward citizenship
in a culturally complex world. Your project grade will be based on 1) your effort to design and
revise an effective project and 2) your project’s efficacy as measured against standard university-
wide learning goals rubrics.
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In this paper, I will discuss an interview that I had with my parents. My father is from
Peru and my mother is from Honduras. When I was little about two, three years old I went to
both Peru and Honduras. I wish I knew what I was doing when I was there so I can learn about
where my parent is from and the background of their birthplace. It would be a great experience
and would also be something that will be great to know and gain knowledge of everything such
as their heritage. My goal was to gain knowledge about their life from the start of it until this
day.
I started off the interviewing my mom separately from my dad first trying to find out if
both stories match up once I get both sides of the story. For starters, I began to ask the basic
questions, where are you from when, where were you born, and similar questions as to that. She
that she was born on July fourth and the year is something she did not want to tell me. She was
born in Honduras. I asked her how many brothers and sisters did she have? She told me she has
one sister and three brothers. Where did you live in Honduras? They all lived in La Ceiba with
their mother. How was life like when you were little growing up? Tells me how it was a
difficult situation growing up because it was hard because they were not a wealthy family and it
was mostly just her mother bringing home most of the salary because her father was in and out of
her life.
Was there ever a turning point in your life? When all the siblings were able to work they,
all pitched in so they could help out the family and be able to feed themselves, maintain the
family all together, and help pay for what is needed. What were some of the jobs that were
available and that you guys had? Some of the jobs that were available to us that was well paying
at the time was working with the post office and working with the government. My mother and I
both worked with the post office, my sister worked with the air force for Honduras and my
brothers all worked in different fields one was two were in the electrical field of work and one of
them worked on boats with repairing boats. What was it like when you guys were all working?
It was a great learning experience for all of us it showed us how to be responsible and to gain
