John James Audubon

Country of origin: Saint-Domingue

John James Audubon (Jean-Jacques Audubon) (April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of North America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon identified 25 new species and a number of new sub-species.

To read more about John James Audubon, visit his page on Wikipedia.

Eleuthère Irénée du Pont

Country of origin: France

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (24 June 1771 – 31 October 1834), known as Irénée du Pont, or E.I. du Pont, was a French-born Huguenot chemist and industrialist who immigrated to the United States in 1799 and founded the gunpowder manufacturer, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His descendants, the Du Pont family, were one of America's richest and most prominent families in the 19th and 20th centuries.

To learn more about Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, visit his page on Wikipedia.

Samina Ali

Country of origin: India

Ali was born in Hyderabad, India, and emigrated with her parents to America when she was six months old. She spent half of each year in India, where she attended school. In 1993 she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in English. She received an M.F.A. from the University of Oregon. She lives in San Francisco with her son, and is working on her second novel.

To read more about Samina Ali, visit her page on Wikipedia, or an interview with her here.

Today is National Immigrant's Day

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Branka Katić

Country of origin: Serbia

Branka Katić (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранка Катић; born 20 January 1970) is a Serbian actress known for appearing in the movies Black Cat, White Cat and Public Enemies, and in the TV series Big Love.

To read more about Branka Katić, visit her page here.

Janet Nguyen

Country of origin: Vietnam

Janet Q. Nguyen (born 1976) is the County Supervisor from the First District of Orange County, California. She won her seat following a historic special election where two Vietnamese-American candidates received half of the total votes cast in a field of 10, separated from each other by only 7 votes. She was sworn in on March 27, 2007, after a lengthy court battle. She won a full, four-year term in 2008 in another historic election when all three major candidates were Vietnamese Americans. She is the youngest person to be elected to the board of supervisors, the first woman to be elected from the First District, and the first Vietnamese-American county supervisor in the United States. Prior to her election to the Board of Supervisors, she served as a city council member for the City of Garden Grove.

To read more about Janet Nguyen, see her Wikipedia page here.

Marina Belotserkovsky

Country of origin: Russia

Marina Belotserkovsky immigrated to the United States in 1989 as a refugee from the Former Soviet Union. She started her career at HIAS in 1990 and currently is Director of Russian Communications and Outreach, where she is responsible for assisting over one million members of the Russian speaking community in America. Ms. Belotserkovsky produces and hosts “HIAS Answers” for both radio and television. These programs have been hugely popular and helped countless thousands of new Americans find their way in their new world. Together with her HIAS’ colleagues, she has been instrumental in the success of LOREO and the Civic and Voter Educational Initiative – HIAS’ key national outreach programs for Russian Americans.
Before coming to the United States, Ms. Belotserkovsky founded and ran a school for gifted children in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has a Masters Degree in linguistics and teaching from the Pedagogical State University of St. Petersburg. She currently lives in Edison, NJ.

The above is from this page.