Newest Americans

Newest Americans is a multimedia and multidisciplinary collaboratory of journalists, media-makers, artists, research faculty and students documenting the stories that radiate from the most diverse university in the nation. Based in Newark, NJ, a city shaped by migration, our project affords a glimpse into the world of the newest Americans, and a crystal ball into our demographic future.

The project is coordinated by the Center on Migration and the Global City and faculty in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at Rutgers University Newark in partnership with VII Photo and Talking Eyes.

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The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Newest Americans a Community Conversations grant. Beyond financial support, this prestigious award acknowledges the mission and relevance of Newest Americans in a time of extreme scrutiny over immigration. The grant enabled us to continue publishing our online magazine, host community programming in Newark, and develop a Newark History Bus.

National Geographic awarded Newest Americans a grant to develop curriculum using Newest Americans media.

Newest Americans won Online Storytelling Project of the Year in Pictures of the Year International 2020.

Newest Americans at Photoville 2017

Talking Eyes kicked off Photoville 2017 with work from Newest Americans. We opened the festival with Fighting Chance, Hijabi World, Off the Rails, American Sueño, and Notes for My Homeland, along with Q&As, spoken word, live music, and even a whirling dervish.

Over the next two weekends, hundreds of students visited our exhibit on Education Day, and over five hundred visitors took part in our Arrivals Booth, in which participants take a photo and share the story of how they or their family arrived in this country in a brief audio recording. We also piloted a new app, used as part of a portrait series of immigrant detainees, which allows visitors to text a phone number with the name of the detainee in the portrait and receive a call back with an audio recording of that person's voice, recounting their experience in detention.

Photoville visitors pass through the Newest Americans Exhibit on opening day. (Photo by Gareth Smit)

Newest Americans partners Tim Raphael, Julie Winokur, and Ed Kashi smile for the camera in our container exhibit. (Photo by Gareth Smit)

(Photo by Gareth Smit)

Associate Producer Stephanie Khoury talks about Ashley Gilbertson's Portugal Day photos. (Photo by Anthony Alvarez)

Visitors pass through the Newest Americans exhibit on opening night. (Photo by Anthony Alvarez)

The crowd at Photoville's Beer Garden watches Newest Americans projections on Opening Night. (Photo by Anthony Alvarez)

Newest Americans partners Ed Kashi, Julie Winokur, and Tim Raphael introduce the project in the Beer Garden at Photoville's Opening Night. (Photo by Stephanie Khoury)

Julie Winokur interviews Mike Steadman (left) and Gary Bloore after screening Fighting Chance on Opening Night. (Photo by Stephanie Khoury)

Ed Kashi interviews Dina Sayedahmed (left) and Hamna Saleem after screening Hijabi World on Opening Night at Photoville. (Photo by Anthony Alvarez)

Dina Sayedahmed (left) and Hamna Saleem crack up during a Q&A with Ed Kashi after screening Hijabi World at Photoville's Opening Night. (Photo by Stephanie Khoury)

After a screening of the latest episode of American Sueño, Marisol Conde-Hernandez takes the stage to talk about the precarious state of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. in the current climate, and challenges American citizens to use their privilege to help. (Photo by Stephanie Khoury)

Marisol Conde-Hernandez and Tim Raphael talk about undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and their precarious position in the current political climate. (Photo by Anthony Alvarez)

After a screening of Notes for My Homeland, Mohammed Alsaidi and company perform traditional Syrian music in Photoville's Beer Garden on Opening Night, accompanied by a whirling dervish. (Photo by Stephanie Khoury)

A whirling dervish spins to traditional Syrian music at the end of Newest Americans' Opening Night presentation at Photoville 2017. (Photo by Stephanie Khoury)

A violinist plays traditional Syrian music at Photoville's Opening Night presentation by Newest Americans. (Photo by Anthony Alvarez)

Students examine photos in the Newest Americans exhibit during Photoville's Education Day. Over 500 middle and high school students visited the photo village for an inside look at the exhibitions, artists and curators. (Photo by Julie Winokur)

A Photoville volunteer prompts students with questions about their own immigrant backgrounds at the Newest Americans exhibit on Education Day, when over 500 students visited the photo village for an inside look at the exhibitions, artists and curators that make up Photoville. (Photo by Julie Winokur)