An important, current topic, but the images and text don't really merge into a comic. This is more of an illustrated essay, with sketchy, minimal art. Sometimes I found it hard to follow the layout, as topics jumped around. Then again, I wouldn't have read the book or learned about the topic without it being called a graphic novel, although "a history of racism" might have been a more accurate title.

Immigration to the United States is a tricky thing, because American politicians historically have hated non-white immigrants. Born in the USA: The Story of Immigration and Belonging sheds light on the centuries of hatred and the ever-changing definition of “white” in politics.

Lawrence Goldstone manages to weave a tale from slavery through the Chinese Exclusion to San Francisco trying to ban Japanese people to European Jews being denied entry at the beginning of World War III to Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Act passing.

A few years ago I read One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 from Jia Lynn Yang which goes into a lot more detail surrounding the events in that time frame. That’s a great look into but just what laws were passing but also who were passing them. It’s a great companion piece to this if you want to go more in depth into the subject

I remember 20 years ago when the movie Gangs of New York came out. I was in high school at the time and wasn’t fully able to grasp the whole racism from one group of white people against another group of white people.

As I grew older, it made a lot more sense as I learned more about history and events. “Whites” in America only consisted of northern Europeans and British. Then, they expanded to include the Irish. Then, they expanded to include southern Europeans. Then, they expanded to include eastern Europeans.

All in search of keeping out the “other”.

It didn’t matter whether that was eastern Asians (Chinese and Japanese), southern Asian (Indians), Middle Eastern, Africans (except they lived their white South Africans), or people from Central and South America.

The art from James Otis Smith is played well with the story, letting you feel the emotion on the page.

I really liked this book, and I think more people should check it out. If you have a kid in middle or high school, it’s a fantastic book for them to learn more about America’s racism in an easily digestible format.

Thank you Netgalley and First Second Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Since before the United States became an official country, white men have chosen who gets power. Non-whites and women were generally excluded from land ownership and voting. This power struggle hasn't changed much. Even laws enacted in the past 100 years that were designed to give all U.S. Citizens voting rights have been misinterpreted or changed to suit a few elites. This book illustrates the battle for belonging and includes a history of immigration in the U.S. From black slaves to Chinese and Japanese laborers to European immigrants bought as Democrat voters, this book covers three centuries of history.
This book isn't an easy read. Our country's leaders have notoriouly used greed, power, and position to diminish and demean humans. And our ancestors have denied basic human rights to anyone who's different. But hopefully, readers can realize the brutality of these mistakes and strive to be and do better.
The illustrations add depth and bring humanity to the story. I didn't like graphic violence, blood and war illustrations, though.
The authors do tend to sland against the political right even though not all Republicans or conservatives are against immigration and human rights.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.
Another excellent entry in the World Citizen Comics series. This takes birthright citizenship and, following the stories of groups trying to become citizens, describes how we ended up taking slow steps to treating everyone as people (yay, finally!) and then birthright citizenship. It has the important information for a much debated topic today, and tells the story in an accessible way. Recommended.

Who belongs in the USA? We pride ourselves on being a melting pot of humanity, yet at the same time many are working to deny access to this great country. Who does belong here? Who does the USA belong to?

Born in the USA, by Lawrence Goldstone, is another excellent nonfiction graphic novel from World Citizen Comics. Well thought out and researched, Born in the USA covers the history of immigration in this country, which can't be told without also including the sense of belonging, home, and basic human rights. This is an engaging and accessible way to learn about our country's history, and future. I'd encourage everyone to read it!

Thank you to NetGalley and World Citizen Comics for the egalley copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Informative and thorough, this book will inform readers about the complicated and thorny history of US citizenship. However, the sometimes strawman angle of the opponents through the authors' mouthpiece character got annoying.