Nashville's New Americans: Tracing the Journeys of Our Immigrant Neighbors - Paperback

by Sheri Lea Sellmeyer (Author), Andrea Flores (Foreword by), Jamie L. Winders (Foreword by)

Whether it's building skyscrapers, running successful restaurants, researching diseases, performing music, cleaning hotel rooms, or holding public office, immigrants are changing Nashville from a mid-sized city known for its country music industry to an increasingly diverse, multicultural destination. In Metro Nashville schools today, students speak more than 120 languages. The city is bigger, more congested, and more expensive than it's ever been, drawing criticism from both longtime residents and newcomers. But growth has also brought top-notch scientists and educators, a world-class symphony, major league sports teams, investment from major corporations--and a wide range of immigrants whose talent and hard work have helped make all of that happen.

Through its profiles of 39 immigrants from 38 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Australia, Nashville's New Americans provides a case study from one of the fastest-growing cities in the country on the contributions immigrants are making to its culture and economy.

Author Biography

Sheri Lea Sellmeyer worked as a journalist for many years, as a reporter at the San Angelo Standard-Times and Hays Free Press in Texas and as a freelancer for organizations such as the Bureau of National Affairs. Later she worked as vice president for an international corporation, Decision Resources Group, that produced market research on the health insurance industry, overseeing a staff that covered health care reform and trends in managed care. She and her husband live in Nashville.