156 Straub Hall
1451 Onyx Street
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Define American: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant featuring Jose Antonio Vargas
Jose Antonio Vargas will discuss how American identity and citizenship are construed in culture and policy, through the telling of his own story. Vargas, the 2017-18 Wayne Morse Chair, is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and filmmaker. He is the founder of Define American, a nonprofit organization that uses storytelling to shift the conversation about immigration, and #EmergingUS, a multimedia startup for a new multi-ethnic, multiracial America.
In 2011, Vargas wrote an essay for the New York Times Magazine in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up story he wrote. He also wrote, produced, and directed Documented, an award-winning documentary on his experience. Vargas will be in residence at the Wayne Morse Center mid-October to mid-November 2017. His visit is in conjunction with the Wayne Morse Center’s 2017-19 theme of inquiry, Borders, Migration, and Belonging.
See the article from Around the O.