Drawing immigrants into the light

Ciara Coradin, 1, (left) dances, and Warren Goldstein-Gelb (right) speaks at a gathering celebrating the exhibit "Immigrant City." (PHOTOS BY ZARA TZANEV FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

Somerville declared itself a "Sanctuary City" for immigrants 20 years ago. Though the designation was rescinded in 1993, Mayor Joseph Curtatone upholds the sentiment.

"This is everybody's city who wants to live here, work hard, and make a positive contribution. I don't care what your status is," said the mayor, whose parents were born in Italy.

His quote is included in the Welcome Project's "Immigrant City: Then and Now" exhibit at the Somerville Museum, which aims to ease local tensions by showing the similarities between current and past waves of immigration.

The people who attended the Nov. 10 celebration of the exhibit at the museum agreed with the concept. "Regardless of when you immigrate," said Regina Bertholdo, 45, who left Brazil 22 years ago, "I think immigration has something in common for everyone: You pick yourself up from the ground."

Haitian-born activist Franklin Dalembert, who is quoted in the exhibit, said Irish- and Italian-American residents "know what we are facing because they've been through it."

Irish immigrants arrived in Somerville before 1900, said historian and Welcome Project board president Jim Green. Italian, Portuguese, and Greek people came around the start of the 20th century, with additional family members joining them after the Family Reunification Act passed in 1965.

The city's population then remained stable until the 1980s, when immigrants began coming from Haiti, Brazil, El Salvador, and Southeast Asia. The Welcome Project, which works with recent immigrants, opened in 1987 and has English as a second language classes and a youth program.

Today, about 30 percent of Somerville residents are foreign-born. According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, last school year almost half of Somerville's public school students grew up speaking a language other than English.

The exhibit places quotes from interviews alongside ESL books, newspaper clippings, and artwork. Themes include the pain of leaving the home country, experiences at school, and first glimpses of the United States.

The city's multicultural director, Aru Manrique, is quoted as saying, "There's a smell that every country has that you only get in the first three inhalations, and after that, you become used to it and you never really notice it anymore."

Tufts University students designed the display; Somerville students interviewed residents in spring and took photographs of immigrant families - often their own. Visitors can thumb through the interviews.

"They learned that history, it's very real," said high school teacher and interview subject Adda Maria Santos, who came from Brazil 18 years ago. Eight students from her class participated.

"I feel pretty welcome," she said. At the high school, "we feel here we can speak our language freely and expose our cultures."

She added that Brazilian students have become more involved in activities, and there is less separation in the lunchroom. "We all seem to get along very well. . . . There are very few incidents of hate."

Artwork includes paintings of Somerville triple-deckers, an iron piñata, and a video installation with a low-slung bike. A map and bulletin board invite attendees to show where they were born; as of Nov. 10, most pins clustered in the United States or Europe.

Many visitors to the exhibit expressed optimism as they ate Brazilian bacalhau and coxinha, listened to Central American music, and socialized. When Yliana Coradin moved to Somerville with her Salvadorian parents in 1990, "we couldn't even sit on the front steps without someone calling the police on us."

However, some underlined the darker side of the immigrant experience today. "Things are perhaps a little more frightening," said the Welcome Project's Green, referring to immigration crackdowns after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "There wasn't this sense that you had to hide - the feeling that you have to be shadow people."

Welcome Project director Warren Goldstein-Gelb pointed to anti-immigrant comments on local websites, recent Immigration and Customs enforcement raids, and opposition to day laborers at Foss Park. "We're part of the overall climate in the country," he said.

"The worst thing is that you are always alert and afraid," said a quote from "Javier X."

Bertholdo thought the exhibit came at the right time. "Immigration really could use a booster on the positive side," she said. "New immigrants lately are the target of everything that goes wrong."

A panel of second-generation residents will discuss their experiences Nov. 29. The exhibit is at the Somerville Museum, 1 Westwood Road, until Dec. 22.