Connecting our stories to understand one another’s journeys

Where are your roots strongest?

Roots & Routes: Digital Storytelling Project

The Roots & Routes digital storytelling initiative highlights the stories, experiences, and contributions of Latinx and Hmong immigrants and refugees.

Digital stories explore the following questions:

What are the important paths that you have traveled?
What do you want your community to know about your experiences?
How do we center and amplify immigrant voices?
What does it mean to you to be an immigrant or child of an immigrant

Several teacher-storytellers collaborated to develop lesson plans based on the videos, housed under the “Curricular Resources” tab. We invite you to explore the stories and resources, and we hope you will share them with the students, teachers, and families you work with!

About the Project

Purpose/
Mission

North Carolina is a state rich in cultural and linguistic diversity, and yet, the histories of many NC residents are often overlooked. Hmong refugee and Latinx migrant families have helped to shape our state’s social, cultural, and economic landscape, and their histories and experiences deserve to be heard. Who better to tell these stories than members of these communities?

In 2021 and 2022, the Roots and Routes project brought together Latinx and Hmong community members to name and share their collective strengths and struggles. Through sharing stories with one another, we worked together to build knowledge of self and community.

As a result of this work, each person created a digital photostory, which they would like to share with you. We invite you to explore their stories.

Popular
Education

The concepts and tools we used in our workshops come from the tradition of popular education. Popular education recognizes that people’s personal experiences are important and powerful sources of knowledge. It also emphasizes that people’s experiences are often shared by others in their communities. Sharing our challenges and having those challenges affirmed by others, can help us continue to advocate for empowerment and change.

To learn more about popular education, explore the Highlander Center’s Mission and Methodologies.

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