“The poignant accounts in An Immigrant Class are the backbone of our shared American experience and Jeff Libman does a true service in recounting these often overlooked human stories.”
Studs Terkel, Oral Historian
An Immigrant Class
documents the human experience of immigration through 20 first-person stories and photographs of recent immigrants to Chicago from around the world. Each reveals the unique elements of his/her life before immigration, the circumstances that motivated the move, the experience of immigrating, and the impressions of life and identity that continue to unfold and change in the United States.
Through the voices and images of those who have made this journey, An Immigrant Class shares the hopes, fears, tragedies and triumphs that make up the complexity of the immigrant experience. Some share their expectations and encounters with success, freedom and opportunity.
Others tell of their disappointments, frustrations, and regrets, but all have come, like many before and many after them, to make a new home in the United States.
Chicago Book Clinic’s 2005 Crystal Book Award
An Immigrant Class was awarded the Chicago Book Clinic’s 2005 Crystal Book Award for excellence in non-fiction at the 54th annual Book and Media Show in November, 2005. The Chicago Book Clinic is an organization that promotes and encourages excellence in all aspects of the publishing industry in Chicago including book and media publishing, printing, editorial, and design.