Up the Golden Stairs: Dreams of Being American
President Kennedy wrote A Nation of Immigrants. For all the controversy around immigration, we are still a young nation, fed by nearly one million newcomers each year. The nation remains a land of dreams for many and this lecture will explore the history and current story of those who started life again in the States and made America the ‘nation of nations’ we know.
Join Westy Egmont in a fascinating talk about immigration during the SCC’s closing reception for “A Multicultural Landscape: Photographs of New Americans” by Mark Chester. Chester will offer an artist talk at 2:30pm prior to Egmont’s talk.
Event details:
2-5pm Reception: “A Multicultural Landscape: Photographs of New Americans”
2:30pm Artist Talk: Photographer Mark Chester
3pm Westy Egmont – “Up the Golden Stairs: Dreams of Being American”
About Westy
Professor Westy Egmont of Boston College is an associate professor of practice in social policy and social work with a specialization in immigrants. He directs BC’s Immigrant Integration Lab and there pursues comparative studies of the US and other developed nations on how best to include the foreign born in the social, civic and economic life of the community.
Dr. Egmont has served five governors of Massachusetts as co-chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Immigrants and Refugees and was formerly President of the International Institute of Boston. His long history of social involvement includes work as a missionary educator in Kenya, church work locally, developing the Greater Boston Food Bank and more than a decade as a talk show host on WBZ-TV as well as leadership within many community organizations from the arts to immigrant affairs.
Westy lives in Boston. He is married, is the father of four and grandfather of six. When not consumed by his grandchildren, he occasionally sails and sculpts.