The Latino Migration Experience in North Carolina: New Roots in the Old North State

by Hannah Gill

Over recent decades, the Southeast has become a new frontier for Latin American migration to and within the United States, and North Carolina has had one of the fastest growing Latino populations in the nation. Here, Hannah Gill offers North Carolinians from all walks of life a better understanding of their Latino neighbors, bringing light instead of heat to local and national debates on immigration.

Exploring the larger social forces behind demographic shifts, Gill shows both how North Carolina communities are facing the challenges and opportunities presented by these changes and how migrants experience the economic and social realities of their new lives. Latinos are no longer just visitors to the state but are part of the inevitably changing, long-term makeup of its population. Today, emerging migrant communities and the integration of Latino populations remain salient issues as the U.S. Congress stands on the verge of formulating comprehensive immigration reform for the first time in nearly three decades. Gill makes connections between hometowns and the increasing globalization of people, money, technology, and culture by shedding light on the many diverse North Carolina residents who are highly visible yet, as she shows, invisible at the same time.

Genres: History, Southern

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

Reviews

[Mits · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to anyone living in North Carolina wanting to learn more about the history of Latinx people in the state and their current stories. This book is very readable and unique because of the first person stories that are the bulk of the book. Gill supplements these stories with many facts and figures that help place them in a broader context of Latinx communities in and migration to/from NC. I definitely recommend the newest edition of the book, as it includes context on DACA and the Trump presidency's effect on Latinx people.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

"We do not take a decision to cross the border lightly. We die crossing, and we suffer when we are incarcerated. Why would we risk our lives if all we had to do was get in line for a visa?"

Interviews with North Carolinians across the state shows what anyone with any sense already knows: immigrants are North Carolinians regardless of legal status.