Conclusion

It was standing-room only in the South Graham Elementary School (SGE) gym at the “Latin America through the Decades” event on a September evening in 2016. Principal Elizabeth Price welcomed students and their families, speaking Spanish and English in her usual fashion. An audience of more than two hundred people cheered and clapped as kindergarten classes walked onstage wearing white gloves and jean jackets, Michael Jackson– style. They performed choreographed dances to Latin pop music from the 1980s and sang songs with great enthusiasm and huge smiles. Older students followed with different performances highlighting music from the Americas. Afterward, a salsa band appeared onstage and played music as families met teachers and students got stamps on “passports” they had made in school. Despite the fact that the gym was crowded and hot, the audience lingered, laughed, and learned about the extraordinary work of the SGE community, which has embraced learning models that celebrate the heritage and linguistic skills of its Latino students....

Introduction

On April 20, 2006, Latinos in North Carolina took a break from their jobs to join thousands of people participating in marches around the state. In Charlotte, restaurants closed and almost four hundred students walked out of public schools. In Raleigh, three thousand people gathered at the capital to support immigrants. In Lumberton, employees of Smithfield Foods, the largest slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant in the world, marched miles to a rally....

La Nueva Generation

Chapter 5 highlights the stories of Latino youth—immigrant and U.S.-born—growing up in North Carolina. It considers the multigenerational process of incorporation into U.S. society that consists of navigating a hyphenated identity; learning the English language, societal norms, laws, and institutions; and exploring a sense of identity and attachment to communities of settlement. Integration is a two-way process, and many factors in receiving communities can facilitate or impede immigrant and youth incorporation. The chapter explores factors that shape the economic outcomes of immigrants as they adapt to a new society, underscoring the importance of educational opportunities in the integration process. We meet several young Latinos whose experiences are emblematic of the newest generation of North Carolinians.

Immigration in North Carolina’s Past

Chapter 2 recalls North Carolina’s four-hundred-year history of migration to the state. Immigrant populations from Europe and Africa provide a background for later Latin American immigration to North Carolina. Importantly, the chapter places North Carolina immigration history in a larger national context. U.S. policies have shaped who has migrated to North Carolina by dictating the inclusion and exclusion of immigrant groups throughout the nation’s history. Political and economic relations between the United States and Mexico have also created extensive migration networks between the two countries and have led to the formation of centuries-old Latino communities in border states that now look to North Carolina for new opportunities. In more recent years, Asian immigrants have settled in the state and represent one of the fastest growing demographic groups.

Preserving Our Heritage?

This chapter considers the reception of migrants as an introduction to issues of demographic change and economic transition in the state. Using Alamance County as a case study, this chapter discusses how immigration has reopened debates on race, resources, and diversity in the South. It examines the impact of local deportation policies on Latino communities and considers long-term consequences for the county and state as a whole.

The Dreamers

Chapter 6 describes the efforts of North Carolina’s “Dreamers,” young undocumented people who were part of a national social movement for immigrants’ rights and access to higher education. Dreamers began to mobilize throughout the United States soon after the implementation of local immigration enforcement programs in the mid-2000s and an increase in restrictive state and local policies. The Dreamers’ generation came of age in a society that barred them from attending college, obtaining a driver’s license, applying for jobs with a liveable wage, joining the military, or starting a business. Many of these problems had persisted for decades for immigrants, and Dreamers both engaged in and diverged from a tradition of immigrant advocacy led by Latin Americans and others since the 1980s in North Carolina. Dreamer actions publicly exposed the inequalities and dysfunction in the U.S. immigration and educational system and influenced President Obama to create the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Burying the Knife, Building Communities

Chapter 4 profiles the migration stories and integration processes of three individuals from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean who have settled in different parts of the state, forming transnational communities linking North Carolina to cities and towns in Latin America. We observe how Latinos are building communities in North Carolina. We also witness how the migration process leaves an indelible imprint on immigrants’ communities of origin. These stories are emblematic of the challenges and opportunities that people face moving to the United States, settling and integrating into a community that may or may not be receptive to migrants, maintaining connection with home countries, and raising children in a new society. They highlight the diverse experiences of migrants that are shaped by circumstances in their countries of origin, their socioeconomic status and level of education, their experiences living in other parts of the United States, and their legal status.

Bienvenidos a Norte Carolina

Chapter 3 takes up the story of contemporary Latin American immigration to North Carolina from the 1970s to the present. The chapter seeks to answer such questions as what Latin American migrant and refugee groups are currently moving to North Carolina and why? Where do they come from? What global and local factors precipitate and sustain migration to the state? How has immigration affected state and local economies? How do native North Carolinians play a role in these processes, and how do they perceive immigrants?