Skip to content
  • — DONATE NOW —
  • Like it? Steal it
  • IowaWatch
  • IowaWatch
  • About IowaWatch’s role with Investigate Midwest
  • Contact Us
  • Global Navigation
    • — DONATE NOW —
    • Like it? Steal it

IowaWatch - Part of The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

IowaWatch (https://www.iowawatch.org/2017/09/25/first-gen-americans-walk-a-bridge-when-explaining-their-roots/)

  • About IowaWatch’s role with Investigate Midwest
  • Contact Us
  • Don't Miss
  • The IowaWatch Connection radio program archives
  • News about IowaWatch 2010-2022
  • Databases
First-generation Americans

First-Gen Americans Walk A Bridge When Explaining Their Roots

By Krista Johnson, Lyle Muller and Jeff Stein | September 25, 2017
LikeTweet EmailPrint More
  • More on First-generation Americans
  • Subscribe to First-generation Americans

Submitted by Isaac Medina

The Medina children, originally from Marshalltown, Iowa, their current ages and place of birth, in this undated old photo: (left to right) Elizabeth, 23, born in Los Angeles; Alfonso, 26, born in Roanoke, Virginia; Marcos, 14, born in Marshalltown, Iowa; Omar, 19, born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Isaac, 21 born in Davenport, Iowa.


They were born in the United States and consider themselves full-blooded Americans. But the fact that their parents immigrated to this country means first-generation Americans often have to explain their ethnicity, and citizenship.

“In a lot of senses you have two masks,” Isaac Medina, originally from Marshalltown, Iowa, said about living as a Mexican-American. “That’s part of living on the hyphen.”

Former IowaWatch reporter Krista Johnson, now a reporter for the San Angelo (Texas) Standard-Times, spoke with three first-generation Americans in an early 2017 report about the challenge they face being caught in the middle of two different cultures and countries. The report was part of a project she did as a University of Iowa student and then turned over to IowaWatch to be published.

This radio podcast lets you hear from the people with whom Johnson spoke, and to go deeper into the matter with an interview about cultural and ethnic diversity in Iowa.

 

LikeTweet EmailPrint More
  • More on First-generation Americans
  • Subscribe to First-generation Americans

Related Series

The IowaWatch Connection

The IowaWatch Connection, a statewide audience engagement program, is sponsored by the Iowa State Bar Association. This program involves developing a weekly, statewide news and public affairs radio program and series of community forums that reach a broader audience for the stories IowaWatch reports. Catch up with our latest developments here.

Tags
  • The Lead Story
  • Black Hawk County Commission on Human Rights
  • diversity
  • ethnic cultures
  • First-generation Americans
  • inclusive communities
  • Iowa ethnic diversity
  • University of Iowa

Read Next

  • Podcast: Growing Demand For Rail Shipping In Iowa

    Iowa’s 3,851 miles of track won’t be enough to carry all the freight state Department of Transportation planners think Iowa will handle in the future. Those planners expect demand on Iowa’s railroads for shipping goods to increase 52 percent from 2014 to 2040.

Previous Story
Iowa’s 1880s Big "Beat ‘Em-all Barbed Wire Company" Patent Controversy
Next Story
USDA Fails To Monitor Farmland's Foreign Owners
  • IowaWatch
  • Donate
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Staff & Contributors
  • Ethics & Accuracy
  • Work With Us
  • Our Supporters

Search This Site

Browse Archives

© Copyright 2023, Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism

IowaWatch is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑