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built around my mother Helen Geller (5/23/1909 to 1/21/2011)
and other Immigrants who sewed for a living & lived to sew too

Welcome to America, The Promised Land of Dreams

Abstract of Proposal: through my mothers eyes and voice i proposed to create a feature film out of a one woman musical theater/play in the spirit of Fiddler on the Roof and a traveling exhibition engaging students & general public in learning about ImmiGREAT America and sharing their own & family Sewing and Immigration stories in interactive website

The SEWING Machine & Immigrant is a celebration of women and men who stitched America together. The sewing machine started a social revolution, and by 1873 there were 667,500 sewing machines.

My mother, Helen Geller, once said “If you want to know about America, ask an immigrant”. Like many immigrants my mother sewed for herself, her family and friends, and sewed samples for Oscar de la Renta and Ralph Lauren.

Made in America, means something different to immigrants. Throughout American history it was the immigrant’s like my mother & grandfather, like your relatives, immigrants everywhere sewed the threads that held and stitched America together, and together we all made America Great

In my mother and other immigrants heart of hearts being in America was something they were proud of and that the home of the brave and land of the free meant they made it to the promised land of dreams.

America for immigrants is still a magnet for dreamers, many come with their bags full of dreams with tools of their trade with needle and thread and cloth and sewing machines and then proceeded to weave their hearts and souls and magic into the fabric of our lives and into who we are today.

My Mother, like many, sat day in and day out in front of a sewing machine and dreamed the American Dream while blood, sweat and tears flowed from every pore of their bodies through unbearable heat in the summer and cold in the winter with slave driver bosses that treated them worse then slaves. They sewed their hearts out into whatever they made as they slaved and saved and slaved some more and every step and stitched along the way they bared joy, rage & hope with pride as each stitch in time moved them ever so closer towards a better future for themselves and for future generations.

Introducing My Mother, Helen Geller
Enlarged and printable

Portrait of