Interview with Jane Newton

Interview with Jane Newton

Jane Newton

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Interviewers

Kadence Koops, Willa Prinsen, Elizabeth Foster

Description

Oral history interview with Jane Newton was conducted by Kadence Koops, Willa Prinsen, and Elizabeth Foster on March 28, 2025. Interviewee Jane Newton was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she went to Wyoming Park High School and Michigan State University for her master's and bachelor's degrees. Jane and her siblings (one brother, and one sister) were raised by a Korean mother and a Cambodian father who immigrated to the United States. Although she spoke English at home, she grew up as a part of the Korean Church. As time went on, when Jane was in middle school she began to feel like an outsider, people not only made fun of the food she typically ate at lunch but also her first name. It was not until she was older that she had the opportunity to learn about her family's heritage. One Sunday she came in late to church, forcing her to sit in the front row. During the sermon, the guest pastor from Cambodia introduced a trip the church would take back to her dad's hometown. Jane ended up taking the opportunity to go but did not realize the true impact of what her parents went through until she toured the genocide museum. After taking this trip she asked her parents about their experience of immigrating. She learned that her mom immigrated during high school to live with her sister, whereas her dad came to the US to train as a helicopter pilot. Although she suspects that none of her father's family survived the genocide that happened during this time, causing many people to immigrate, most of her mother's family is still alive and she lives near them. As Jane surrounds herself with a Korean family she continues to carry out her culture for her kids. As a mother, she took on the role of exposing her children to her generational heritage by involving them in different school-related and outside activities. She and her family continue to embrace her heritage by honoring their ancestors and celebrating typical Korean traditions/holidays such as Hanbok and Jesa. Jane mentioned that her experience growing up was different but she is glad that she made a connection with her culture. She hopes to gain more courage to share her experience and advise young students and other immigrants to seek and explore opportunities to make intentional connections with their own culture.

Date of Interview

3-28-2025

Location of Interview

Grand Rapids, MI

Series

Telling Our Stories

Keywords

Oral History, AAPI, Michigan, Asian American, Korean, Cambodian, Immigrant

Disciplines

African American Studies | Oral History

Language

ENG

Document Type

Interview

Length of video

35:22

Length of video log

tbd

Interview with Jane Newton

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Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.