A. This interview was with my mother, Sharon Martin. I conducted it over the phone on March 20, 2019. The interview took place in my dorm room, when my roommate was not in the room, so I had a quiet place to conduct it.  I did not have to edit much of my interview. The only part was the beginning where I was testing out to make sure the microphone was picking up my mom’s voice from the phone. I did test out the audio recording on the “garageband” app on my Mac laptop. I did not face any issues while doing the interview, and I think it went over smoothly.

B. Sharon Ann Morgan, now Martin, was born on July 11, 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland. She grew up with her mother, father, older sister, and younger brother. When she was about five years old, they moved to a small town called Dumbarton. When she was eleven years old, her father decided it was best at the time to immigrate to the United States, and live in New Jersey, where he would continue his job working for Singer Sewing Machines.After high school, she first went to Ursinus College for her first year, and then after her fall semester of her sophomore year, she decided to go back home to New Jersey. Her father told her then he would not pay for the rest of her college education, so she decided to take a semester off and work full time to make money to pay for classes. She then was able to get her bachelor’s of arts degree in Sociology at Rutgers University. And then took the alternate route to receive her teaching certificate at the College of New Jersey. Around the time she was graduating from Rutgers University, she met my father, Christopher Martin. They got married in 1994, and then a couple years later in 1997, my older brother, Colin, was born. Then in 1999, my mother decided it was time to become a United States citizen. She went through the process for that, which included having a one-on-one test/ interview. At this time, she was pregnant with me. Then about 16 months after I was born, my mom had my younger sister, Katie. Sharon is now a fourth grade teacher at Immaculate Conception School in Somerville, NJ, where she also lives.

C. When researching about Scotland in the 1960s, there were no large or important events that occurred. So I decided to research more about my grandfather’s job working with Singer Corporation. Singer Corporation was a very large American manufacturer of sewing machines. In 1963, it was renamed to The Singer Company. The first large factory for mass production was built in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After my mother and her family immigrated to the United States, my grandfather worked in the factory in Elizabeth, New Jersey, along with traveling to various states and Europe. I also researched and found out that the Singer Company opened a large factory in Glasgow, Scotland in 1867. Glasgow was known for their “iron making industries, cheap labor, and possibly because at the time the General Manager of the US Singer Manufacturing Company was George McKenzie, who was of Scottish descent”. So when learning about the company’s history, I learned a lot about why my grandfather chose this job. Also, I researched about the work visa my grandfather had to get to work in the United States. My mom told me about how the Singer Company was their sponsor to immigrate. My grandfather had a L1A work visa, which allowed him to work within the United States for a year. After the one year was up, my mother’s family had to go back to Scotland to immigrate back to the United States properly with their green cards. They all had to get green cards to immigrate back to the United States so that their family would stay together.

Chloe Martin:  Hello my name is Chloe. Can you talk I can just hear it. OK. When you’re ready Go ahead.

Sharon Martin: Hello my name is Sharon Martin.

Chloe Martin: OK. So when and where were you born?

Sharon Martin: I was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967 .

Chloe Martin: Can you describe the area of where you grew up?

Sharon Martin: I was born in Glasgow which is a city. And when I was five years old we moved to a little town northwest of Glasgow called Dumbarton.

Chloe Martin: And how was your schooling there?

Sharon Martin: We attended Catholic school. So it was a very small school. Boys and girls. And my sister was in high school and she went to an all girls high school.

Chloe Martin: OK. So when did your Dad, my grandfather, bring up the idea of moving to United States?

Sharon Martin: He had been traveling a lot across Europe. And had come to the United States a number of times during the 1970s. And when the idea came up for him to move here he thought it would be a good time because he wanted us to attend American universities.

Chloe Martin: And what was his job exactly?

Sharon Martin: He was a mechanical engineer for Singer sewing machines.

Chloe Martin: OK. So how was like the process of immigrating to the United States?

Sharon Martin: Well first my Father had a working visa where he could only work. So my mom my mom obviously was just a stay at home mom at the time and we were here for one year. Then we then had to go back to Scotland and legally immigrate. Singer sewing machine was our sponsor and we applied for our green card when we returned in 1979.

Chloe Martin: Why did you come exactly to New Jersey?

Sharon Martin: The Factory where he worked was in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Chloe Martin: So after moving you were how old were you exactly?

Sharon Martin: I was eleven and my sister was 16. My brother was six.

Chloe Martin: And how was that for each of you living here?

Sharon Martin: The first year was very difficult. Obviously we had very strong Scottish accent which. People didn’t really understand us and we all attended public school so that was a big change. And I think my sister had the hardest time because she was a teenager and missing her friends. That was, that was very difficult.

Chloe Martin: Did you have a lot of issues with like school after like your first year or was it easier?

Sharon Martin: No. It was easier. Yes. We adjusted very quickly.

Chloe Martin: Yeah. So there was not really any more cultural issues after that?

Sharon Martin: Obviously food. Food was a big issue we missed. Missed having our regular types of things that we were so used to and obviously children are tend to be picky eaters. And that was that was hard from my mom had to learn how to shop. And find things that we would like to eat. We didn’t eat out a lot because. We’re really. Going to restaurants was even more difficult than eating at home.

Chloe Martin: And so your dad, my grandpa, obviously he worked with Singer until when?

Sharon Martin: He worked for them all the way until I went to college in 1986. And then he worked for Brother.

Chloe Martin: Which also did sewing?

Sharon Martin: Yeah, Singer was selling all their products to Japan. Poppa was traveling to Japan a lot. And then he worked for brother and it was in the same area.

Chloe Martin: When did grandma start working?

Sharon Martin: Grandma did not start working until after we got her green cards and we didn’t get her green card until I guess I was in high school. When we got our green cards. It took a long time for some reason where We had Having them sponsor us was a little challenging. It took a lot longer. They said it should only take two years and end up taking like six. Yeah. And then by the time we got our green card, Aunt Michelle was already 21 then she had to immigrate by herself.

Chloe Martin: Oh That’s interesting. Yeah, so it was a little difficult

Sharon Martin: Yeah, difficult, but we all got our green card and the only reason I became a citizen was because after college I got married and I Had my Teaching Certificate and in New Jersey. It was only a provisional license because I was not a citizen. So I looked into finding out how to change that and they said I needed to become a citizen to get a permanent resident, a permanent license for my teaching. So that’s when I started to apply and I was pregnant with you.

Chloe Martin: Okay cool. So after you became a citizen was it different like anything differently or?

Sharon Martin: Well taking the citizenship test, it was really challenging. Yeah. You saw the paperwork then all the questions I’d give you. So it was a little.

Chloe Martin: Did you get a little nervous?

Sharon Martin: Well seeing that I had just taken my exams for teaching. The history part of the test for was like the teaching test, is it is basic US government.

Chloe Martin: So a lot of the questions were very similar to that?

Sharon Martin: But I, you go and you have like an oral presentation like a basically an interview with someone and they say you’re not like writing down answers. They ask you them in person in person. Yeah. So they get to know the person. The day that I went for my test.

Chloe Martin: Where was it?

Sharon Martin: In Newark. I think there was me and one other girl from Ireland. The only English speaking people. Yeah.

Chloe Martin: So you had a one up on everyone else

Sharon Martin: You have a one on one interview with the agent that is giving you the test. And they asked the same type of questions like, Why are you becoming an American citizen? How long have you been like this? That was the big question. I had been in the country since 1978 and now was nineteen ninety nine and they’re asking why why now am I becoming a citizen explained to them about my teaching certification and that I was married and now having my second child I want to become an American citizen. They asked you like 10 questions out of those one hundred but it didn’t feel like I was being tested. Test is really more of a conversation. Yeah.

Chloe Martin: Do you ever wish you stayed in Scotland? What do you think you would have been like?

Sharon Martin: I think that I probably would have. Gone to university anyway. Yeah. It was just that I thought this would, would have opened up more opportunities for us because we lived in such a tiny little town. Yeah. I mean it was really small so you would have gone probably. It was very it was lots of farm Yeah and a very small Catholic school. Yeah that Michelle was 16. Yeah we really wanted her to go to A big university and to have more opportunities here.

Chloe Martin: OK cool. I think that’s everything.

Sharon Martin:  Good.

Chloe Martin: Thank you very much.

Sharon Martin: You’re very welcome.

E. Overall, I think this interview went very well. I know it is only a little over 9 minutes, but I tried my best to ask as many questions as I could and learn as much as possible about my mom and her experience. I felt like it was a regular conversation that my mom and I would have and it very natural. I think I tried to stay on my script, but when my mom would answer questions, sometimes I then wanted to ask more about something else.

Works Cited

Batalova, Jeanne, and Jie Zong. “Green-Card Holders And Legal Immigration To The United States.” migrationpolicy.org. N.p., 2019. Web. 22 Mar. 2019.

“L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive Or Manager.” USCIS. N.p., 2018. Web. 21 Mar. 2019.

“Singer Corporation.” En.wikipedia.org. N.p., 2019. Web. 21 Mar. 2019.