Origin Stories: How You Got Here

In the early 1830s Michigan promoted immigration to Michigan by sending flyers to German cities promoting the State. The Historical Society of Greater Lansing will tell this story and 49 others as part of a special grant from the Michigan Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment of the Humanities.

The project is called “Origin Stories: How You Got Here” and it is a collection of recorded oral histories and an exhibit detailing the arrival of Lansing residents from across the globe. Selections as broad as a Vietnamese boat person, the son of a Ukrainian shepherd, a family who made their way via the Erie Canal; a young couple from Alabama who were part of the Great Migration, a family member who survived the Indian Boarding School Incarcerations and other individuals who were part of the many refugee resettlements in Lansing. Many came fleeing war, famine, religious oppression, and many others saw opportunities not available to them in their original countries. Immigrants made their way from Haiti, Ireland, Nigeria, France, Cuba, Canada, Vietnam, Scotland, and scores of other countries.

The video histories and the exhibit will be hosted by the Library of Michigan and will open in early Spring 2024. In addition to text and video the exhibit will be supplement with artifacts carried by the immigrants to their new home. They will range from treasure photographs, letters to jewelry that reminded them of home and family members and friends left behind.

Special items from the exhibit will be duplicated including three dimensional items so the blind and deaf can follow the roots of the immigrants. A short history of immigration law and their impact will also be explored.

Visitors will be able to sit in a waiting room and click on videos of individuals who immigrated to the Lansing area. Archival recordings and video messages from descendants and or historians will supplement those whose story is told posthumously.