Families of future United States citizens gather for a naturalization ceremony at the Robert H. Jackson Center (October 1, 2024)
51 people became United States citizens at a naturalization ceremony held at the Robert H. Jackson Center Tuesday morning.
This is the first time the Center has held such a ceremony.
The new citizens came to the U.S. from 27 countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Poland and more.
Petar Novakovic led the new citizens through their first pledge of allegiance to the flag.
He came to the United States from Germany 30 years ago, “I got married to a U.S. soldier. And, she had to serve one more year in the United States. That’s how we moved over here and never left.”
Novakovic said he’s very excited that he’s now a U.S. citizen, “Well, number one, I can vote and fully participate and my voice means something now.”
Novakovic lives in Tonawanda with his family.
Robert H. Jackson Center President Kristan McMahon said the Center was looking for ways to tie in events with the “Voices and Votes” traveling exhibit that’s currently on display at the center, “How else can we be celebrating citizens? How else can we be showcasing that need for civic participation? And, so we reached out to the courts to find out how do we become a host site for one of these (naturalization ceremonies), so this has been in the work for months.”
McMahon said civic participation was an important part of Robert H. Jackson‘s life, “That’s really the hallmark of his entire career, from his time here in Jamestown as a lawyer through his Supreme Court service, obviously his Nuremberg service. And this is a way for us to showcase yet another aspect of the center and how we are participating in the community, as well as for us, encouraging this kind of civic participation.”
The Voices and Votes exhibition is adapted from American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith currently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Voices and Votes includes historical and contemporary photographs, educational and archival video, engaging multimedia interactives, and historical objects like campaign souvenirs, voter memorabilia, and protest material.
The exhibit is on display now through October 18.
For more information, visit roberthjackson.org
Leave a Reply