Today I got the chance to photograph a "rite of passage" for a group of 30 or so immigrants who became US Citizens today in Lake County at the James A. Garfield Historic Site. This is my first naturalization and I was excited to get this assignment for today. It was a nice ceremony outside where the immigrants picked up their citizenship, shook a bunch of hands, and got to pin their old home country on a map. Families came out to support their mom, dad, or even grandparents. While shooting my images, I found out these new citizens have to take a test before they become citizens. I also heard, this test if taken by naturally born US citizens would probably return a very high failure rate. Found this to be an interesting little fact for the day and really admire the devotion these people have to get a US citizenship.
Chris Langer/CLanger@News-Herald.com
Benedicta Evangeslista Anderson, left and Rena Semenovna Ivanova take the citizenship oath at the Oath Ceremony at James A. Garfield National Historic Site on July 1st, 2010.
Chris Langer/CLanger@News-Herald.com
Ziba Naseri, who emigrated from Iran, looks at the map to place a pin in Iran during the Oath Ceremony at James A. Garfield National Historic Site on July 1st, 2010.
Chris Langer/CLanger@News-Herald.com
A member from the Board of Elections helps Cyrus Tamba Toe register to vote after the Oath Ceremony at the James A. Garfield Historic Site on July 1st, 2010.
Extra:
Molly and Colin Atkinson enjoy American styled cookies after the ceremony.
Beautiful ceremony - beautiful pictures!
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