As our families age and we move further away from those family members that left everything behind to build anew in America, I often wonder what will our diaspora look like in 10 years, 20 years, even 50 years. It may sound ridiculous, but it weighs heavy on my mind.

I have said in the past, I started down this road of history and heritage in a desperate effort to keep the connection to my family members that had passed away. I wanted to keep them alive in my memory. Someone I interviewed in my book had a quote that really spoke to me, “I couldn’t go forward, so I had to go back.” I have been looking back for years.