Born in the USA: The Story of Immigration and Belonging

World Citizen Comics

by Lawrence Goldstone, James Otis Smith (illustrator)

WHO BELONGS IN AMERICA? The latest installment of the World Citizen Comics Line, Born in the USA, tracks the history of immigration to the United States, highlighting the twists and turns in the nearly three-hundred year old national debate to decide who gets to call themselves a US citizen.

The words carved into the Statue of Liberty make a simple promise— America will provide a home for anyone in search of a better life. However, the true story of immigration to America is full of complication and caveats.

Born in the USA tracks the history of immigration to the United States, revealing how economic interests and political winds have sculpted Americans' thoughts about who belongs in the USA. From black enslavement to Chinese exclusion and the modern-day debate over birthright citizenship, Lawrence Goldstone and James Otis Smith reveal the dissonance between the American Dream and the American Reality.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

Lawrence Goldstone is the author of fourteen books of both fiction and non-fiction. Six of those books were co-authored with his wife, Nancy, but they now write separately to save what is left of their dishes.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshire Eagle. He has also written for a number of magazines that have gone bust, although he denies any cause and effect.
His first novel, Rights, won a New American Writing Award but he now cringes at its awkward prose. (Anatomy of Deception and The Astronomer are much better.)
Despite a seemingly incurable tendency to say what's on his mind (thus mortifying Nancy), Goldstone has been widely interviewed on both radio and television, with appearances on, among others, "Fresh Air" (NPR), "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (NPR), "The Faith Middleton Show" (NPR), "Tavis Smiley" (PBS), and Leonard Lopate (WNYC). His work has also been profiled in The New York Times, The Toronto Star, numerous regional newspapers, Salon, and Slate.
Goldstone holds a PhD in American Constitutional Studies from the New School. His friends thus call him DrG, although he can barely touch the rim. (Sigh. Can't make a layup anymore either.) He and his beloved bride founded and ran an innovative series of parent-child book groups, which they documented in Deconstructing Penguins. He has also been a teacher, lecturer, senior member of a Wall Street trading firm, taxi driver, actor, quiz show contestant, and policy analyst at the Hudson Institute.
He is a unerring stock picker. Everything he buys instantly goes down.

Reviews

[Phillip Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immigration to the United States is a tricky thing, because American politicians historically have hated non-white immigrants. Born in the USA: The Story of Immigration and Belonging sheds light on the centuries of hatred and the ever-changing definition of “white” in politics.

Lawrence Goldstone manages to weave a tale from slavery through the Chinese Exclusion to San Francisco trying to ban Japanese people to European Jews being denied entry at the beginning of World War III to Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Act passing.

A few years ago I read One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 from Jia Lynn Yang which goes into a lot more detail surrounding the events in that time frame. That’s a great look into but just what laws were passing but also who were passing them. It’s a great companion piece to this if you want to go more in depth into the subject

I remember 20 years ago when the movie Gangs of New York came out. I was in high school at the time and wasn’t fully able to grasp the whole racism from one group of white people against another group of white people.

As I grew older, it made a lot more sense as I learned more about history and events. “Whites” in America only consisted of northern Europeans and British. Then, they expanded to include the Irish. Then, they expanded to include southern Europeans. Then, they expanded to include eastern Europeans.

All in search of keeping out the “other”.

It didn’t matter whether that was eastern Asians (Chinese and Japanese), southern Asian (Indians), Middle Eastern, Africans (except they lived their white South Africans), or people from Central and South America.

The art from James Otis Smith is played well with the story, letting you feel the emotion on the page.

I really liked this book, and I think more people should check it out. If you have a kid in middle or high school, it’s a fantastic book for them to learn more about America’s racism in an easily digestible format.

Thank you Netgalley and First Second Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Waffling between three and four stars here because, while I enjoyed what I read and learned plenty and especially appreciated that the author focused on immigration other than that which occurs at the southern border... I couldn't separate myself from the intense liberal lean within the storytelling. I mean, when you introduce Andrew Jackson as "Andrew 'Indian Killer' Jackson," you're not exactly being subtle. You're basically stating to the reader: this book is biased.

Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but I wish it had been left as a sentiment, not so often stated as fact. The author sometimes quotes from historical figures, but other times freely writes their villainous dialogue. But it's not always clear where the quoting ends and the narrative non-fiction begins! That's just bad storytelling. If we're trying to teach our children critical thinking through books such as this (which we should be doing!!!), we shouldn't make it so difficult for them to see where a historical figure was factually racist as compared to where the author has interpreted their actions as racist and is putting words in their mouth to make it easier for the reader to understand why those actions are racist.

Anyway. The author spends most of Born in the USA on immigration battles in American from the founding through the mid-20th century. We see a lot of Asian exclusion, which would likely be news to most readers. There's also a good deal of Black exclusion, primarily when it comes to voting rights. Belonging = voting, in the author's view. The whole tale is well laid out, smoothly told, with fine artwork that keeps you engaged.

A good read for adult readers who can see through the bias and understand that some elements have been emphasized to prove a point. A bad read for children who don't have a handle on such abilities yet.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since before the United States became an official country, white men have chosen who gets power. Non-whites and women were generally excluded from land ownership and voting. This power struggle hasn't changed much. Even laws enacted in the past 100 years that were designed to give all U.S. Citizens voting rights have been misinterpreted or changed to suit a few elites. This book illustrates the battle for belonging and includes a history of immigration in the U.S. From black slaves to Chinese and Japanese laborers to European immigrants bought as Democrat voters, this book covers three centuries of history.
This book isn't an easy read. Our country's leaders have notoriouly used greed, power, and position to diminish and demean humans. And our ancestors have denied basic human rights to anyone who's different. But hopefully, readers can realize the brutality of these mistakes and strive to be and do better.
The illustrations add depth and bring humanity to the story. I didn't like graphic violence, blood and war illustrations, though.
The authors do tend to sland against the political right even though not all Republicans or conservatives are against immigration and human rights.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.
Another excellent entry in the World Citizen Comics series. This takes birthright citizenship and, following the stories of groups trying to become citizens, describes how we ended up taking slow steps to treating everyone as people (yay, finally!) and then birthright citizenship. It has the important information for a much debated topic today, and tells the story in an accessible way. Recommended.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed other books in this series a bit more than this one. It felt like it jumped around a lot and picked out certain things to go into real deep, and other ones pretty surface. Also, it left me feeling less empowered and more like, oh, our country never really did want immigration, that's an old wives tale. We're screwed. But it was important and timely information, delivered in a format that was easy to take in, so I appreciated that.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel was long, but worth it. It is a contemplative history of what it means to be a citizen, and what it means to be born in the USA. It looks at this through the scope of history. Our laws, society's feelings at different times. This is well done. Sometimes it seems like a slough, but it was worth it.

[Matthew Noe]

Booklist review pending

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

USA’s terrible history of racist immigration policies in graphic novel version

And the ever morphing definition of “white” to fit convenience of current circumstance

[Sbwisni · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Learned new history. Still don’t like graphic novels as much as other books.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[RYAN PHAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a monograph, but an interesting look at who belongs and who does not, with a particular focus on San Francisco’s Chinatown and the Japanese immigrants

[Fiore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and moved at a good pace but with a bit too much time focused on Abe Ruef.