First Generation

Trailblazing a New Life in America

Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 4:00 pm

Speakers: Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace

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In this family-friendly presentation, award-winning authors Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace honor the trailblazing new Americans elevating the country today and over the past century in their timely book, First Generation: Trailblazing a New Life in America.

Focusing on several people in First Generation who came to this country as immigrants and refugees, the authors explore identity, adversity, and empathy by highlighting what connects us across human experiences. From Somalia to Sweden, they discuss the personal items these trailblazers brought with them to remind them of family and their birth countries and how they maintained tradition and adapted to a new culture while becoming leaders in the fields of science, journalism, the arts, athletics, and more.

The authors weave in their personal experiences with Sandra touching upon being first generation herself and becoming an American citizen, while Rich highlights the ways they are welcoming newcomers today and becoming trailblazers in their own community.

Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace are award-winning writers of nonfiction for young readers including, First Generation: 36 Trailblazing Immigrants and Refugees Who Make America Great and Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and His Sacrifice for Civil Rights, which won the International Literacy Association’s Social Justice Award and was named an American Library Association Notable Book. Sandra is a former news anchor and ESPN sportscaster and the first generation in her family to attend university. The daughter of a refugee, she became a US citizen in 2016. Rich was a longtime senior editor at Highlights for Children magazine. Both Sandra and Rich are members of the advisory council for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College and are founding-year members of the Keene Immigrant Refugee Partnership.

Following the presentation the authors will be signing copies of First Generation: Trailblazing a New Life in America.